By Pierre Tran Paris - The chief executives of Airbus Defence and Space and Dassault Aviation are seen to be holding the future of European military cooperation in corporate hands, with a Dec. 18 deadline reported to be looming for a new fighter jet project. That mid-December deadline refers to…
By Robbin Laird Australia faces a strategic contradiction that reveals much about the complexities of navigating major power competition in an economically interdependent world. While Canberra signs billions in critical minerals agreements with Washington to counter Chinese dominance, Australian mines majority-owned by Beijing-backed firms continue supplying raw materials vital for…
In the landscape of modern historical scholarship, few figures have done more to illuminate the complex relationships between Portugal, Brazil, and the broader Atlantic world than Kenneth Maxwell. Over a career spanning more than five decades, this British-born historian has fundamentally reshaped how we understand the evolution of the Portuguese-speaking…
By Pierre Tran Paris - Patrick Pailloux has been appointed as the head of the Direction Général de l’Armement (DGA), with the senior official taking up Nov. 17 the top job at the arms procurement office, an official notice of the Nov. 10 cabinet meeting said. Pailloux, a former officer…
By Robbin Laird This is the second in our series about our 16-year path associated with our defense websites, Second Line of Defense and Defense Information. Recognition of the contribution of the many talented individuals who have contributed to the path forward is central to highlighting the path forward as…
By Robbin Laird Research Fellow, Sir Richard Williams Foundation, Canberra, Australia In an age of instant reactions, social media pile-ons, and policy-by-press-release, the University of Canberra has launched an audacious experiment: a center dedicated to the radical proposition that historical perspective and civil disagreement might actually improve public policy. The…
By Robbin Laird Sixteen years ago, we launched Second Line of Defense with General Patton's warning that "if everyone is thinking alike then no one is thinking" wasn't philosophical wisdom for it is operational necessity. When defense establishments fall into intellectual lockstep, people die. When military leaders embrace comfortable assumptions…
By Robbin Laird The war in Ukraine is the most documented conflict in human history, and at the center of this digital chronicle sits Telegram, a messaging application that has transformed from a simple communication tool into a multifaceted instrument of warfare. Since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022,…
