Andy Butfoy

Nuclear Hit-Job in the Middle East

30/11/2020

The assassination of leading Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh generated considerable speculation. Here's some of the better informed and/or more considered examples:

Mark Fitzpatrick, IISS, "Assassinating a scientist to kill the Iran deal".

Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, "Dear Joe, It’s Not About Iran’s Nukes Anymore".

Barbara Slavin, The New York Times, "Why Was Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Killed?".

David Patrikarakos, Spectator, "Why Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed now".

Nuclear Weapons Issues in 2020

13/10/2020

Something to take your mind off the COVID disaster... A gloomy article by Paul Sonne, in The Washington Post.

The US-China Strategic Balance?

5/10/2020

Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists has provided a critical assessment of the Pentagon's presentation of the US-China military balance in the Indo-Pacific. See also his look at the Pentagon's annual report on China's military developments.

Former Republican National Security Officials Attack President Trump.

22/8/2020

Scores of former Republican national security officials attack President Trump in this 10-point article.

The State of America

15/8/2020

Well-written, thought-provoking articles about the USA and its current woes (some are more polemical than others, but I have an anti-rant filter):

1. 15th August, Nick Bryant in The Age.
2. 6th August, Wade Davis in RollingStone
3. 23rd July, Fintan O'Toole in The Atlantic
4. 24th June, Tom McTague in the New York Review of Books
5. 3rd June, Max Boot in The Washington Post

Australian Defence Update

1/7/2020

How and why the Australian government intends to spend $575 billion on defence over the next ten years. (With a projected annual expenditure of $73 billion by 2030, up from about $40 billion today.) here to edit. The new Defence Strategic Update.

Some commentaries:

Michael Shoebridge
From The Guardian: Allan Behm, Ashley Townshend, and Brendan Thomas-Noone.
From Joseph Camilleri, there's this and this.
Mark Beeson
Geoffrey Barker
John Lee

Useful data (follow the links) from Marcus Hellyer (ASPI).

Russia's official statement about its nuclear deterrence

19/6/2020

Paul Dibb has an essay on the recently released Russian outline of its nuclear deterrence policy. It's inevitably a bit general and vague, but still: "This is the first time in the almost 30-year history of the Russian Federation that an explanation of Russia’s nuclear warfighting policy has been made public."