By Robbin Laird
I have been coming to Australia since 2014 to participate in and write the seminar reports for the Sir Richard Williams Foundation.
What started out as a Foundation focusing primarily on airpower has transitioned over that period to focusing on shaping the ADF as an integrated force, increasingly focused on their region.
The latest report focused on the core conference theme which was entitled: THE MULTI-DOMAIN REQUIREMENTS OF AN AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE STRATEGY.
I have included a e-book version of the book below.
But unique in my work has been providing a detailed look at the ADF transition since 2014, which I have provided in a series of books which I highlight below as well.
I am the only American who is a fellow with the Foundation, and find the recent surge of American expertise on Australia associated with AUKUS to be of some concern.
AUKUS is a Rorschach test. You can see in it what you want.
It is loaded with ambiguity, the kind that can lead to serious conflict in the United States, the UK and in Australia about who is supposed to do what.
Our alliance is too important to be reduced to chanting AUKUS, rather than frankly discussing our common interests and our differences.
And the domestic divergencies in our societies are very significant and has clear implications for the future.
An AUKUS totem doesn’t solve this.