India’s defence policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under renewed scrutiny amid reports of border confrontations and concerns over the

The Australian government's defence policy, particularly its focus on protecting maritime trade through a significant naval buildup, is fundamentally flawed according to defence analyst Albert Palazzo. The government claims the Australian Defence Force (ADF) must protect Australia's economic connections to the region and world, but Palazzo argues this is a disingenuous justification for the $200 billion investment in submarines and surface warships planned for the next decade, including the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines. The article points out that by 2040, the Navy will have only 5-8 submarines and about 25 surface warships, with only a third available for operations at any time. This limited capacity is insufficient to protect Australia's extensive maritime trade routes spanning thousands of kilometers, including routes from the Middle East to Australia (approximately 16,000km) and across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The government's claim to protect trade is further undermined by the fact that Australia controls only 53 registered vessels out of 5,841 cargo ships visiting Australian ports in 2024-25, meaning most trade is carried on foreign-flagged vessels over which Australia has no control. Palazzo argues that the government is prioritizing alignment with US interests (through AUKUS) over genuine Australian security needs, as a more practical approach to securing trade would involve electrifying transport and developing a strategic fleet, but this would undermine the US narrative about China as a threat. The article concludes that Australia is setting its Navy up for failure with a defence policy that cannot succeed, while diverting attention from the real strategic challenges.

The gap between Article 1’s sweeping (but non-specific) language and Article 2’s calibrated mechanism provides the manoeuvring space.

Former Swedish diplomat Sven Hirdman has died aged 87, SVT reports. “I am very proud of my brother,” his sister, Yvonne Hirdman, told SVT. Hirdman was born in Stavanger in 1939. After military service at the Armed Forces Interpreter School and studies including Slavic languages and political scie…

AUKUS has been sold as a plan to strengthen Australia’s defence. Its deeper purpose is to bind Australia permanently into US military strategy against China and make American security dependent on Aus...

Lithuania’s opposition Nemunas Dawn faction plans to ask the General Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Department to assess the activities of the Visuotinė gynyba association, LRT reported. Faction leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis said the request followed a parliamentary news conference on …

Martin Herem will begin his term as Estonia’s defence minister by examining the military’s warehouse accounting process, ERR reported. He said he wants to identify the obstacles preventing the system from complying with accounting rules and develop new solutions without dismantling measures alrea…

Swedish political parties broadly agree on the country’s defence policy, but differ over nuclear weapons, conscription levels and how military expansion should be financed, according to an analysis by SVT. Sweden’s military build-up has received hundreds of billions of kronor in recent years, yet…

Lithuania’s autumn parliamentary session will focus on defence and demographic improvement, LRT reported after President Gitanas Nausėda met with the Seimas leadership. Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas said faction leaders had discussed defence, demographic and social policy issues before the session…

British Army cuts combat training because budgets are broken. Replaces it with pub nights. This is real policy, not a joke we made up.

Faroese Prime Minister Beinir Johannesen has called for the Nordic countries to stand together on defence policy, according to KVF. Johannesen will co-host a meeting of the Nordic government leaders in Copenhagen on Thursday with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. All eight Nordic countries…