2007

2007

November 2007

Richard Tanter: Tanter on Rudd and Australian Security Policy, Informed Comment, 2007-11-26.

“Rudd is very much persuaded of the “bad war, Iraq; good war, Afghanistan” position. There will be a redeployment of combat and support forces from one theatre to the other.

“Should the US attack Iran, Rudd would support the attack diplomatically with enthusiasm. Rudd is probably the most vocal supporter of the US alliance amongst postwar Labor prime ministers.”

Peter Hayes: Concerns remain despite NKorea nuclear dismantling, Connect Asia, ABC Radio Australia, 2007-11-11.

“The North Koreans are taking a very stringent line of this and that’s not surprising and I think that’ll be the be the case all the way through the disablement and ultimate dismantlement process,”

“There are power plants operating in North Korea for the first time in six years because of the heavy fuel oil that has begun to flow back into North Korea, it is small change but it is already resulting in the freezing of their plutonium activities. That benefit flow will ratchet up in a very strict sequence with their disablement and actual dismantlement process, but we’re a long way from that point at this time.”

Peter Hayes: Vietnam could be hit hard by global warming, Thanh Nien News, 2007-11-09.

“Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable environments due to its location on the planet. It is already subject to some of the earth’s most powerful weather systems and the increased frequency and intensity of storms will affect it often and directly, especially in coastal areas where most people live. The most directly affected sector will be agriculture, which is very sensitive to flooding and the effects of extreme weather.”

October 2007

Richard Tanter: Afghanistan and Iraq: quagmire or strategic priority? The National Interest, ABC Radio National, 2007-10-28.

“We’ve learned a lesson in Iraq, we have yet to learn the lesson in Afghanistan. There won’t be a military solution. Whatever solution is going to come will have to be, in some form or another, political.

“There’s a very strong argument to say that apart from the wars that we have really leapt into in Iraq and Afghanistan with the United States, and the peacekeeping interventions in our own region, more important security issues come from much more pressing things, such as climate change, infectious diseases and energy and security, which are certainly going to affect the interactions we have in Australia with countries like Indonesia, Papua-New Guinea and the Pacific.”

Richard Tanter: Nuclear Reactor Plan on Shaky Ground, Tom Hyland, Age, 2007-10-14

“The consequences of Indonesia and Australia pursuing their somewhat non-rational approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle could have very negative consequences for people who are already suspicious of each other,” says Dr Tanter.

Even so, he says climate change and the nuclear issue present an opportunity for greater co-operation between environmentalists, scientists and non-government groups in the two countries.

September 2007

Richard Tanter: JAPAN: Daunting task ahead for new PM, Connect Asia, ABC Radio Australia, 2007-09-26

“Mr Fukuda faces two sets of problems in this area. The one is how do you win the election. The second though is a much deeper one than the prevarication in the LDP, it’s turning from one leader to another is a sign that the old system in Japan is dead, but a new one has not yet emerged. The election next year promises to be the first time that an Opposition with some teeth might actually tackle the LDP seriously. Mr Fukuda doesn’t have too many domestic options as well and I think the importance in negotiating Mr Ozawa.

Richard Tanter: Abe a ‘fool,’ nukes not an option: Forum, Alice Coster, Jakarta Post, 2007-09-13

“Catastrophic” polling results and “collapsing support” inside Abe’s Liberal Democratic party was the real reason behind the resignation, said Richard Tanter. “The resignation was a failure to fulfill a promise to the United States, it was a very public, very explicit promise which will not be forgotten in Japan for a long time.” Regardless of the prime minister’s decision to resign, there was still growing concern among the scholars regarding Japan’s hardened stance toward China and the possibility of Japan developing nuclear weapons. He said this did not necessarily mean Japan would acquire nuclear weapons, but was a worrying possibility. “If Japan goes nuclear, it will be within the U.S. alliance, and with American blessing, even if it is not public,” he said.

August 2007

Richard Tanter: As Japan and India Forge Economic Ties, a Counterweight to China Is Seen, Heather Timmons, New York Times, 2007-08-21.

“India is a much safer bet, in business terms,” because it lacks the historical baggage, said Richard Tanter, professor of international relations at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.

Richard Tanter: Opposition could re-shape Japan-U.S. defense ties, Isabel Reynolds, Reuters, 2007-08-20

“I think this is a crisis for the alliance,” said Richard Tanter, director of the Nautilus Institute at RMIT in Australia. “But what that mainly tells us is how little the United States has been accustomed to serious negotiation and dialogue with its oldest alliance partner in Asia.”

July 2007

Australia’s relationship with Indonesia and the resources poured into ASIO since 2001 to combat terrorism, 6RTR, Perth, 2007-07-06

April 2007

Peter Hayes: North Korea’s nuclear identity on display in parade, Choe Sang-Hun, International Herald Tribune – France, 2007-04-25

“I do not believe that Kim Jong Il will trade off nuclear weapons for mere economic benefits,” said Peter Hayes, director at the Nautilus Institute, a research institute based in San Francisco. “The main benefit from becoming a self-perceived ‘dignified nuclear state’ that was 5,000 years in the making is political, not economic.”

Richard Tanter: JAPAN: One step closer to revising constitution, Sonja Heydeman, Radio Australia – Australia, 2007-04-17

“The fact that the ruling Liberal democratic party and its allies pushed this through the lower house of their parliament against the very vocal literally shouting opposition from the opposition parties just a matter of days after the visit by the Chinese premier is quite startling and undoubtedly China will react very strongly against this as will South Korea and probably less importantly North Korea.”

Peter Hayes: Missed N Korea deadline not a deal breaker, Central Chronicle – India, 2007-04-12

“If the U.S. and DPRK concur that they are both happy with a soft deadline that retains the substance but moves it back a few weeks, then … we will still be in agreement,” said Peter Hayes, executive director of the Nautilus Institute, a think-tank that focuses on North Korea.

Richard Tanter: In the Shadow of Hiroshima, David McNeill, ZNet – USA, 2007-04-06

The half-century taboo on going to war has kept uniformed Japanese troops mostly out of the sight. “Many Japanese people are unaware of the fact that their country has an army under another name,” writes Richard Tanter, senior research associate at Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, who points out that unlike America, uniformed troops are rarely seen in public here, even in Tokyo.

March 2007

Richard Tanter: The new security pact signed between John Howard and Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, 6RTR (Perth), 2007-03-14

Peter Hayes: White House claims on North Korea nukes to face test,Tim Johnson and Jonathan Landay, McClatchy Newspapers – USA, 2007-03-01

Another North Korea observer, Peter Hayes of the Nautilus Institute, a San Francisco-based group, said he believes DeTrani’s message was, “They don’t know what the DPRK managed to pull off with what little they actually got” by 2002.

February 2007

Peter Hayes: State of suspense: Unlocking the enigma of North Korea, The Independent – UK, 2007-02-17

Peter Hayes, director of the Nautilus Institute, says: “[A Corpse in the Koryo] is the best unclassified account of how North Korea works and why it has survived all these years when the rest of the communist world capitulated to the global market a decade ago. This novel should be required bedtime reading for President Bush and his national security team.”

January 2007

Peter Hayes: Ex-spy’s novel sheds light on N Korea, The Peninsula – Qatar, 2007-01-30

[Corpse in the Koryo] gives the “best unclassified account of how North Korea works and why it has survived all these years,” said Peter Hayes of the California-based Nautilus Institute think tank.

Richard Tanter: China’s weapons test, Viewpoint, News in Depth, ABC Radio National, 2007-01-23

“One of the difficulties at the moment is that while the Chinese test is in itself reprehensible, the Chinese have been asking the United States to negotiate on this matter, and the Bush administration, perhaps of all American post-war administrations, has been the most reluctant to even begin to think about arms control – in this case, arms control in space, which not only China but many other countries including the European Union have been calling for. It’s very important that we take this startling Chinese test as a reminder to us all of the importance of resuming negotiations about an end to the militarisation of space as a whole – China, the United States, Russia and other countries.”

Peter Hayes: North Korea: The Mystery, Glenn Kessler, The Register-Guard – USA, 2007-01-07

In fact, North Korea expert Peter Hayes – the executive director of the research group Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development – described the novel as “the best unclassified account of how North Korea works and why it has survived all these years when the rest of the communist world capitulated to the global market a decade ago.”