1. Australian, Dutch Forces to Join under NATO Umbrella
2. Papuans ‘Vanishing’ after Mine Protest
3. The Uranium Minefield
4. So Many Special Friends – Which One to Choose?
5. Iraq: Why a Strategic Blunder Looked So Attractive
6. Annual Defence Meeting Planned

1. Australian, Dutch Forces to Join under NATO Umbrella, Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2006-04-03

   Australia and Dutch troops could be involved in more joint operations under the NATO umbrella similar to that which begins in Afghanistan in July.

   • NATO in Afghanistan Factsheet

   • NATO Afghanistan International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)

   • NATO ISAF Afghanistan Map, 2005-12-08

      

2. Papuans ‘Vanishing’ after Mine Protest, Andra Jackson, Age, 2006-04-03

   At least 11 West Papuans have disappeared during reprisals by Indonesian authorities following a recent violent demonstration, it was claimed yesterday. Reverend Peter Woods, an Anglican minister recently returned from West Papua, told a rally in Melbourne yesterday that a man was shot in the stomach while sitting in his house.

    

3. The Uranium Minefield, Paul Barratt, Age, 2006-03-31

   Leaving aside the question of China being encouraged to find its own uranium in Australia, export of uranium to China for peaceful purposes under appropriate conditions would be unobjectionable, but it would be nice to hear the Government’s thinking about how this fits with a number of related issues. These include climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, the export of uranium to India, and safe disposal of nuclear waste.

   • No Uranium for China until 2010, AAP, Age, 2006-04-03

   • The Pandora’s Box of Nuclear Proliferation, Jimmy Carter, Age, 2006-03-31

   • Labor Faces a Tough Battle on Uranium Policy, Michelle Grattan, Age 2006-04-03

   • Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Transfer of Nuclear Material, DFAT 2006-04-03 [PDF]

4. So Many Special Friends – Which One to Choose?, David Martin Jones, AFR*, 2006-04-01

   At a time when the region is in tremendous flux Australia remains in thrall to the view promoted, for very different reasons, by ASEAN elites and a fashionable intellectual orthodoxy that assumes that nations – merely by talking unto nations – will transform themselves into harmoniously integrated supranational regions.
   * Subscription required.

   • A Changing Dynamic in the Region, Milton Osborne, Australian, 2006-04-03

   • Fear and Loathing in Asia, Dan Blumenthal, American Enterprise Institute, 2006-03-28

      

5. Iraq: Why a Strategic Blunder Looked So Attractive, Ron Huisken, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU, March 2006

   Finally, the paper considers some recommendations for policy adjustments in Washington and at what this recent experience means for the management of Australia’s alliance relationship with the United States.

    

6. Annual Defence Meeting Planned, Patrick Walters, Australian, 2006-03-29

   Australia and Britain will reinvigorate their defence ties and convene annual ministerial talks on security issues. The new forum will parallel the annual Australia-US ministerial talks with Washington and involve the foreign and defence ministers.

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