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.
How to foster global lawlessness: Destroy the UN and its agencies
Here’s a question that everyone should be asking as global rupture (to use Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s word) spreads. What’s the best way to make the world more lawless, more chaotic and much more dangerous? The answer is stunningly simple. Defund the institutions responsible for managing the international rules-based order.
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?
