by Michael Shoebridge | Feb 27, 2026 | AUKUS, China
Kevin Rudd’s 3 years as Australian ambassador in Washington have shown he can ride rollercoasters and survive. In 3 short years, Kevin Rudd has had a box seat not available to any other Australian to watch the whiplashing changes in the US – and in American...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Feb 10, 2026 | Defence Budget, Featured, Podcasts
Australia’s defence budget update: a sugar hit fol | RSS.com The Grumpy Strategists pan for gold in 234 pages of dense, incoherent Government paperwork setting out the Albanese Government’s revised plans for our nation’s defence, and find some rather...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Feb 5, 2026 | Defence Budget, Podcasts, Strategy & Capability
Deceased estate: Oz Defence sells the silver to fu | RSS.com The Grumpy Strategists look at the recent ‘historic” plan for Australia’s Defence real estate (okay, a shameless Government asset sale of historic sites to perhaps produce a one-off cash...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Jan 21, 2026 | Podcasts, Policy, Strategy & Capability
Penguins, not principles, key to Australia’s Trump | RSS.com Marcus & Michael pull together a deal Australian PM Albanese can offer to his great & powerful pal, US President Trump, at his first meeting of the Board of Peace, with lessons in...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jan 5, 2026 | Policy, Strategy & Capability
Donald Trump ordered the US military and CIA to abduct Venezuela’s president Maduro and his wife – and in a stunning raid against the Venezuelan capital, the US military did just that. It was a confronting use of military force by America that will...
