Allan Behm
Allan Behm is Advisor, International & Security Affairs Program at the Australia Institute. He has a significant publishing record and is a respected commentator in the media. He specialises in international and security policy development and policy analysis.
The attacks on Iran hurt us all
As we line up at the petrol bowser to pay 60 cents per litre more – and rising – than we did before the US and Israel attacked Iran, we should remind ourselves how indebted we are to Don and Bibi. And indebted is the word. Iran’s approach to asymmetric warfare hits the global community’s hip pocket hard, as it is intended to do. Erosion of political support is the result.
Can we trust the USA?
Prime Minister Curtin’s Christmas 1941 newspaper column advised the Australian people that henceforth we would look to America as our protector rather than Britain. To have questioned our trust in the USA at that time would have been unthinkable. A decade later, under Prime Minister Menzies, trust was cemented into the ANZUS treaty, which has remained the cornerstone of Australia’ security and self-confidence ever since. It has become an article of faith.
Stop trying to make the Quad happen – it’s not gonna happen
For some strange reason, foursomes are back in vogue. Maybe it’s the persistence of Bridge Clubs, or the strange return of American Foursomes in the golfing world. How else can one explain the hold that quadrilaterals have over the imaginations of defence planners in the US and Australia?
Adelaide gets its bit of AUKUS
On Sunday 15 February, Prime Minister Albanese and Defence Industry Minister Conroy, with South Australian Premier Malinauskas in tow, launched the new AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine construction site at Osborne, to the west of Adelaide. Defence Minister Marles was conspicuously inconspicuous.
