The Edge

ANZUS in the 2020s - A Blessing or a Curse for Australians?

The Security Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America (ANZUS)[1] came into force on the late Emperor Hirohito’s 51st Birthday the 29th April 1952. Without Japan’s warmongering in the Pacific, even given the rise of communism, it is unlikely to have existed. In 2020 the Australian Government’s Defence Strategic Update (DSU) stated: “the prospect of high-intensity military conflict in the Indo-Pacific is less remote than at the time of the 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP), including high-intensity military conflict between the United States and China.[2] This paper, in answering the question in the title, will also propose an alternative to ANZUS avoiding the Commonwealth becoming embroiled in a third world war. Any such option must still meet the government’s “firm commitment to the Australian people” in the first sentence of the DSU’s foreword “that we will keep our nation safe and protect our way of life for future generations.”

Commandant for a Day: Preparing War Colleges for the Future

War colleges around the world have endured significant challenges over the past two years. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on faculties as they wrestled with lockdowns and restrictions that tested the achievement of learning objectives.

To the credit of many, the show has gone on with minimal disruption. Yes, there have been a healthy dose of remote learning periods, but the lectures continued and the assignment deadlines remained largely untouched (much to the dismay of the students).

An Inclusive ADF Or The Dustbin of History?

Inclusivity and diversity are not about wokeness or being politically correct – they are the opposites of exclusivity and homogeneity.

Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

Bob Dylan, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ ‘

Let the War Games Begin!

Let the War (Games) Begin!'

Two gaming enthusiasts roll the dice at the Australian Command and Staff College to demonstrate how wargames can be a creative engagement and learning tool that enhances the learning experience.

Australia’s Military Strategic Challenges – Close to Home

The 16 September 2021 announcement of an enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) confirmed beyond any remaining doubt that the Australian Government considers its strategic environment to have permanently changed. The 2020 Defence Strategic Update presaged the announcement by highlighting a number of developments which had swiftly altered the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific region since the publication of Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper.

The Art of Pacifism in the Conduct of War

For some, pacifism is a dirty word, shorthand for an unwillingness to fight on behalf of your country. However, pacifism is not just about being anti-war or anti-fighting. It is also about how not to get into a war. It is this latter meaning of pacifism that I draw on in this essay to discuss ethical issues in security strategy, not to undermine the willingness to fight but to consider the pragmatic tools that pacifism provides to prevent the need to fight. I am an amateur boxer, so I understand the inclination to fight and the desire to confront an adversary with force.

Three words that conjure dangerous oversimplification

The Defence Strategic Update of 2020 provided three words that neatly encapsulate Government’s strategic objectives. The words also capture the raison d'etre of the Australian Defence Force and the tasks it is likely to execute in a period of ‘the most consequential strategic realignment since the Second World War’.^[1]

Streamlining Air Land Operations for Better Outcomes

Abstract

A Fistful of Dollars: the Changing Paradigm of the PMSC and Mercenary in the Modern Battlespace

How will a new security and economic epoch affect Australia

Beware the Intent of a Eurasian Entente

The most pressing national security and economic challenge facing Australia is an emerging epoch in which a Eurasian bloc changes the power and economic direction of the globe.

The suffering child in the basement of our civility—on the illusion of jus in bello

The Embed

I am an embed ally
A chameleon of war
I do not wear your emblems
a diff’rent loyl’ty I’ve swore

I’m lost amongst your accents 
Your different words and names
I’m searching for my own tribe
While this land around me flames

I am an embed ally 
I blend into your team
I drink the quenching koolaid^[1]
I know… a tad extreme!

You welcome me, as your own
I know you’ve got my back
Brother, sister, side-by-side
You’re there to take the slack