Germany Re-Boots its Defense Efforts in the Middle of the Russian Ukraine Invasion

03/10/2022
By Robbin Laird Recently, I had a chance to talk again with Lt. General (Retired) Klaus-Peter Stieglitz about Germany and the government’s recent decision to change course on defense and security. I first had the opportunity to meet Lt. General (Retired) Klaus-Peter Stieglitz, a former German Air Chief, last Fall…

Lessons that Australia Should Learn from Conflict in Ukraine

03/09/2022
In this radio interview with our colleague John Blackburn, he discusses what Ukraine demonstrates to Australians as they work on a resilience-based defense effort. This March 5, 2022 interview was conducted on the show Australia Overnight. John Blackburn AO, Air Vice-Marshal (Ret’d) / Chairman of the Institute for Integrated Economic…

Time for a Competitive Germany

03/02/2022
By Dr. Andrew Denison The invasion has made it all too clear that Germany is too big, too rich, and too geo-strategically important to forgo influence, to opt out of the competition with Russia and China. European security urgently needs German leadership in providing military capabilities, developing geostrategy, and mobilizing…

Putting the Ukraine Crisis in a Broader Global Context

02/28/2022
By Robbin Laird Recently, I had a chance to discuss the Ukraine crisis and its broader global context with Dr. Paul Bracken. Bracken started the discussion by focusing on the structural change aspect of the crisis. “The mainstream media focuses on the personalistic aspects of this conflict. "It’s interesting how…

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Its Initial European Consequences

02/25/2022
By Pierre Tran Paris - “The fate of not only our state is being decided, but also what Europe will be like,” the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Feb. 24. Zelenskiy was addressing the nation on the day of the Russian early morning missile attacks on the East European…

The Nordics, the UK and the Ukrainian Crisis

01/23/2022
In our co-authored book on the return of direct defense in Europe, we highlighted the importance of enhanced Nordic defense cooperation and NORDEFCO as a coordinating forum, and the high probability that the UK post-Brexit would deepened its relationship with the Nordics as they, in turn, deepened their defense cooperation.…

How Defence Leverages the Evolving Australian Space Industrial Eco-System

01/03/2022
By Robbin Laird A key element of the presentations and discussions at the 1 December 2021 Williams Foundation seminar on building out sovereign capabilities was how Defence could best position itself to nurture, leverage and work with the evolving Australia space industrial eco-systsem. AIRCDRE Terry van Haren (Retd.), former air…

Shaping an Australian Space Industrial Eco-System for Defence and Security

01/02/2022
By Robbin Laird Sovereign Australian space requires an Australian industrial space eco-system to be shaped and enhanced. How might this be done? Crafting, shaping, and building out an Australian space industry able to provide for sovereign capabilities for the Australian government decision makers is based on the enhanced opportunities in…