5th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Australian government published a White Paper last week setting out strategic directions for “Australia in the Asian Century”. It outlined things Australia needs to do to increase its orientation towards the rising Asian countries, and things it needs to do domestically to improve its economic competitiveness in the face of ever more intense competition. […]
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29th October 2012
Paris, France
I wanted to talk to you this week about Franco-British cooperation on crisis management. I had the good fortune to go at the end of last week to the joint naval exercises held off Toulon, in the Mediterranean. This is all part of a process launched at the Lancaster House talks in 2010, where we […]
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1st October 2012
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest post by Lieutenant General Nicholas Carter, who was given responsibility for leading the UK’s Army 2020 Team to design the future Army. From October 2012 he will be Deputy Commander HQ ISAF and the UK’s National Contingent Commander in Afghanistan. Lieutenant General Nicholas Carter was visiting Washington last week and in this guest […]
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19th September 2012
Dublin, Ireland
I am delighted to announce that Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defence Minister Philip Hammond are visiting Warsaw today. This is the latest high level visit by UK Ministers to Poland. They will discuss a range of issues with Foreign Minister Sikorski and Defence Minister Siemoniak. These will include the Future of Europe and the […]
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20th August 2012
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest post by Nic Hailey, who was a Counsellor – Political, Press, and Public Affairs in the British Embassy in Washington, now the new Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy in Kabul. He writes about his initial impressions after his first few weeks in Afghanistan. After four wonderful years in Washington, I’ve […]
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26th July 2012
Washington DC, USA
I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks of the movie Top Gun when they hear about “fighter jets.” So when we learned that the UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was coming to the United States to officially accept the UK’s first of the next-generation stealth combat aircraft, I had a hard time not […]
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23rd July 2012
Washington DC, USA
British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was in the US last week. Nothing unusual there you might expect. British Defence Secretaries do indeed see their American counterparts pretty regularly. What struck me about this visit though was the focus on the future. For ten years we have been the closest partners in the military operations of […]
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21st June 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A group of senior MPs are currently visiting, to explore Australian thinking on Defence: Jim Murphy (Labour, Shadow Defence Secretary), Claire Perry (Conservative, PPS to the Defence Secretary) and Sir Bob Russell (Lib Dem, Member of the Defence Select committee). In Canberra they met the Australian Defence Minister and Opposition spokesman, as well as a range […]
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19th June 2012
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest post by SSgt Steve Arnold, who is one of eight British wounded servicemen racing 3,051 miles across America in eight days with the support of Help for Heroes. SSgt Arnold was carrying out search operations in Afghanistan when an IED exploded taking both his legs, and will be completing the […]
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19th May 2012
Washington DC, USA
The road from the previous NATO Summit in Lisbon to Chicago has had some bumps, but what the NATO/ISAF Alliance will focus on this weekend is the degree to which we have stuck the course and remained committed to Afghanistan’s future. At Lisbon, NATO and ISAF allies agreed that we would remain in a combat […]
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