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.
Japan’s swing to the right: North Asia has become trickier
Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, may be a demon on the drum kit. She is most certainly a skilful politician. Her decisive victory in Japan’s elections last weekend shows just how deft she is in playing the China card.
When alliances fail: What’s next?
NATO is in its death throes, with US President Donald Trump smashing the trust that underpins it. But while NATO members have the ability to go their own way, things are not so clear-cut for ANZUS
Albo’s going to Dili: Why?
The final months of 2025 saw Prime Minister Albanese undertake a series of embarrassingly underwhelming visits to Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. The focus of the visits was enhanced security arrangements designed more to constrain China’s attempts to strengthen its own security relationships with the Pacific and less to build a sustainable security culture among the nations of the Pacific.
The Venezuela Crisis: Australia needs to do much more than issue a general “Get-Well” card
The abduction and subsequent arrest of the President of Venezuela is a dramatic re-statement of America’s dominance of the western hemisphere and its willingness to do whatever it takes – including defiance of international legal norms – to protect and promote its interests.
How we mourn reveals much about our society
The leaders of Sydney’s Jewish community have more reason to be appalled than most other religious leaders that the remembrance event in Bondi descended into cat-calling and insolence towards the nation’s highest democratically elected office holder.
Unity in our shared humanity
We may never understand what motivated two terrorist gunmen to kill sixteen joyful people celebrating the Festival of Lights at Bondi on the afternoon of 14 December 2025 – Australia’s “Bloody Sunday”.
An AUSMIN pantomime in Washington
It does suggest that there’s something odd happening when the BBC’s fabled Goon Show provides the script for the AUSMIN talks just concluded in Washington.
Parliamentary entitlements and family reunions: just let the pollie pay
The arbiters of ethical public spending have an odd set of tools at their disposal, to judge by the dismal saga facing Anika Wells and Don Farrell, among others.
Neoliberalism has won: Australia is privatising its foreign policy
Who would have thought it possible? The Government is reportedly going cap-in-hand to the corporate sector to fund its most recent foray into “soft diplomacy” – the PNG Chiefs NRL team.
President Xi rang President Trump – and President Trump missed the point
Western commentary on the Xi-Trump telephone conversation on 23 November has been muted. Understandably so – the primary source is Donald Trump’s take on the call, which he appears to think was about fentanyl, soybeans and “our great farmers”.
For the sake of taxpayers, let’s hope that the Audit Office is inspecting the AUKUS books closely.
Australian money is flushing into the US submarine construction system – a billion USD so far, with another billion by year’s end. And what will Australia have to show for it? Nothing.
AUKUS explained: key features and constraints
What does AUKUS envisage and what's been delivered so far?
