APSNet 28 June 2010
- Amid all the change, foreign policy a constant
- PM looks to a regional response to stem the flow of boats
- Combet fillip to defence contractors
- How much is enough? The disclosure of defence capability planning information
- Africa still excites Australian miners
- Australia’s strategic little dots
- Pakistan’s Plan on Afghan Peace Leaves U.S. Wary
- Afghanistan war: top three challenges facing General Petraeus
1. Amid all the change, foreign policy a constant, Dan Oakes, SMH, 2010-06-26
Julia Gillard may not be a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat and friend of sundry world leaders, but her ascension is unlikely to have much impact on foreign policy, according to experts.
- Asia ponders Rudd removal, Hamish Mcdonald, SMH, 2010-06-26
2. PM looks to a regional response to stem the flow of boats, Jacob Saulwick, SMH, 2010-06-28
Julia Gillard will try to take some of the political heat out of the asylum seeker debate by pursuing policies similar to those she advocated in opposition, working for closer co-operation in the region to reduce the flow of boats. The Prime Minister, who faces her first major decision on asylum policy in the next 10 days, indicated she wanted to see closer interaction between Australia and neighbouring states like Indonesia.
- UN tick for hard line on refugees, Paul Maley, Australian, 2010-06-28
3. Combet fillip to defence contractors, John Kerin, AFR*, 2010-06-26
Defence Materiel Minister Greg Combet has promised evolution rather than revolution in an industry policy statement released recently.
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- Skills, innovation and productivity critical to Defence, Media release, Department of Defence, 2010-06-25
4. How much is enough? The disclosure of defence capability planning information, Mark Thomson and Leigh Purnell, ASPI, 2010-06-24
This review was prepared under contract to the Department of Defence. In essence, the review was asked a simple question: how much should the government disclose about its plans for equipping Australia’s defence force? The answer, set out in the report, is that there are tangible benefits to increasing the current level of disclosure, and that the risks in doing so are manageable.
5. Africa still excites Australian miners, Tony Walker, AFR*, 2010-06-26
John Borshoff of Paladin Energy, with two operating uranium mines in Africa, describes the challenge of doing business in a raw political, economic and physical environment as “character-building’’. And, he has no doubt the rewards outweigh the risks.
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- Out of Africa… Dave Sweeney, Habitat, vol 38, no 1, Australian Conservation Foundation, January 2010
6. Australia’s strategic little dots, Bertil Lintner, Aisa Times, 2010-06-25
Together with Christmas Island to the north, the Cocos Island form Australia’s Indian Ocean territories. The territories give Australia – and indirectly its Western allies, including the United States – a strategic advantage in an increasingly important maritime area.
- Christmas and the Cocos Islands : defence liabilities or assets? Ross Babbage, Working paper 129, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1987 [Accessed on 2010-06-28]
7. Pakistan’s plan on Afghan peace leaves U.S. wary, Scott Shane, NYT, 2010-06-27
President Obama and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency both reacted with skepticism about the prospects for an Afghanistan peace deal pushed by Pakistan between the Afghan government and some Taliban militants.
- Karzai ‘holds talks’ with Haqqani, Zeina Khodr, Aljazeera, 2010-06-27
8. Afghanistan war: top three challenges facing General Petraeus, Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, 2010-06-24
Gen. David Petraeus, the commander viewed by some in Washington as the man who single-handedly turned around the Iraq war, will be taking on a bigger challenge than the one he confronted at the dawn of the Iraq surge in 2007.
- The Northern front: the Afghan insurgency spreading beyond the Pashtuns, Antonio Giustozzi and Christoph Reuter, Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2010-06-24
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