Kim Heriot-Darragh
@kimheriotdarragh.bsky.social
Researcher, Australia India Institute. Non-Resident Fellow at Council for Strategic and Defense Research. Interested in defence, strategy and international law. https://substack.com/@kimheriotdarragh
😬 www.propublica.org/article/anth...
Anthropic’s New AI Model Can Identify More Software Bugs Than Ever. Microsoft Is Struggling to Fix Them Fast Enough.
Anthropic’s Mythos has flagged bugs faster than Microsoft can fix them. Documents reviewed by ProPublica reveal the tech giant's “mad dash” behind the scenes to patch holes before hackers can find and...
propublica.org
So much public discourse on UNCLOS is tired and simplistic. This piece by Achin Vanaik is a refreshing critique of the treaty and its underlying logic. www.tni.org/en/article/t...
tni.org
Looking forward to presenting at "Imperialism & Resistance: Australia's First Wars" in September at the Australian War Memorial. Register here: www.awm.gov.au/conference
I’m open to being wrong, but I think some caution is warranted before we buy into too much hype about 🇦🇺🇮🇳 defence industry cooperation. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
Modi met with support and human rights protests as he arrives in Melbourne
A large swathe of the Indian diaspora wants to warmly welcome Narendra Modi to Melbourne, but others demand Australia put pressure on him over his human rights record.
abc.net.au
A nice overview of Australia-India ties ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia - by my colleague @teepra.bsky.social theconversation.com/narendra-mod...
Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia will be a display of strategic pragmatism
The Indian leader is visiting for the third time. Australia and India will be united in their shared geopolitical interests, if not their domestic approaches.
theconversation.com
I’m noticing a lot of commentary on the INDOPACOM ➡️ PACOM name change assumes the messages 🇺🇸 is sending are the same ones the region is receiving. They’re important to delineate, regardless what position you take.
I don’t know what military contributions 🇦🇺 will or won’t make to this campaign. But the fact that ADF elements are ‘planning’ doesn’t mean much. Their job is to continually plan for all sorts of scenarios (and planning is a useful exercise in its own right).
Senior ADF source confirms Australian Army preparing for war
A confidential source has told The Nightly that the Army has begun preparing for deployment, despite Foreign Minister Penny Wong ruling out combat operations.
7news.com.au
I’ve embedded in US defence organisations a few times. As an embed I’d be expected to remove myself from duties if certain thresholds were met, and as a boss I’d be expected to make sure foreign embeds didn’t have to make that call in the first place.
Australians on US sub sat out operation to sink Iranian ship, PM says
The prime minister confirms three Royal Australian Navy personnel were on board a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship earlier this week.
abc.net.au
I wonder how much all this chaos is raising two threats in the US and maybe Australia too: terrorism and espionage.
Analysis | George W. Bush's Iraq invasion was preceded by months of meticulous planning, and yet history regards it as a failure. Perhaps Donald Trump's loose, improvised approach to invading Iran will be the key to its success.
This’ll generate debate, and also comes at an awkward time given that US is processing its own GWOT history - with some convinced that we didn’t lose because of our inability to tie operations to strategy, but because we didn’t kill enough people.
Deputy chief of army warns ADF has become 'detached' from violent nature of war
Major General Chris Smith delivered an excoriating address to a major conference last year, declaring "managerial and advertising logic and double speak" had "polluted" the military.
abc.net.au
Nice piece. And gets to the heart of the dilemma that Australia hasn’t got an easy formula for: are we more likely to have influence by keeping these conversations private or making them public?
The Lowy Institute@lowyinstitute.bsky.social · 5mo ago“What distinguishes Khan’s case is not simply his fall, but his refusal to accept political extinction,” writes Shadi Khan Saif in The Interpreter. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/cricket-legends-are-speaking-imran-khan-why-won-t-governments
The Philippines’ arbitral tribunal against China was genius for its potential to build support and shape how the SCS is discussed - even if Duterte squandered it. Those days almost feel quaint now given current pressures on international law. To see Duterte before the ICC still blows my mind.
Duterte launched 'systematic attack' on Philippine civilians, ICC prosecutors say
An International Criminal Court prosecutor tells judges that former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte personally instructed members of a death squad to kill suspected criminals and drug users.
abc.net.au
Not sure exactly what airspace was involved, but this is probably a good reminder that China isn’t the only entity that sees freedom of navigation and overflight norms different than us. (It’s the only one that uses coercion and dangerous tactics to make the point though).
Taiwan’s military confronts Navy in sensitive waters transit
Taiwan’s Air Force has warned an Australian navy helicopter to leave sensitive airspace during an overnight maritime operation in which an Anzac-class warship transited through contested waters near C...
thewest.com.au
I was asked to lead a Southeast Asia team in government once and laughed at my boss who said ‘we’ve rediscovered Asia, so you’ll have resources.’ I’d heard that before. Government is invested now, but we shouldn’t conflate strong official ties with depth where it counts: people and economies.
Hunter Marston@hmarston.bsky.social · 6mo agoDespite recent wins, I argue @lowyinstitute.bsky.social Labor's Southeast Asia strategy risks imbalance if #Australia's economic footprint can't keep pace with its security/defence partnerships. Thank you @danielflitton.bsky.social for the opportunity to share! www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
To use Chinese police to threaten delivery drivers in Australia would tell us something about levels of confidence and impunity - and what else the state would be willing to do if the stakes for it were higher.
HungryPanda delivery drivers say police contacted family back home
Riders embroiled in a dispute over pay and conditions with food delivery company HungryPanda in Sydney say Chinese police have asserted pressure back home to stop them protesting.
abc.net.au
New Zealand sending a defence adviser (DA) to India is good news. Like Australia, it wants more 🇮🇳defence engagement in our neighbourhood. This may ease some friction for India’s DA in Canberra too (cross-accredited to NZ and one or more Pacific Island countries). ipdefenseforum.com/2026/02/indi...
ipdefenseforum.com
I agree that this won’t be an ironclad military alliance. But I hope media doesn’t therefore miss its larger significance: solidifying a rhythm of defence cooperation, making it more resilient to inevitable ups and downs in the political relationship. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...
Albanese lands in Jakarta to sign security pact with Indonesia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Jakarta to sign the treaty, which the Australian government calls the "biggest step" the countries have taken together in 30 years.
abc.net.au
I found the article’s opening anecdote interesting. Ideally the military and government would agree to some proposed escalations of force for baseline scenarios in advance, freeing up brain space (and time) to consider trickier scenarios. Easier said than done though.
Sushant Singh@sushantsingh.bsky.social · 6mo agoWhat really happened during the India-China border crisis, including at Galwan? Then army chief Gen MM Naravane's memoir provides extensive details, of political decision making, restrictions on the military and the disengagement process. That's why it perhaps remains unpublished till date.
#Myanmar’s junta just concluded the third phase of its deeply unfair and unrepresentative elections, manufactured to ensure the military’s continued political control. I wrote about the sham elections for @asiapolicy.asiasociety.org’s Ballot Box series here: asiasociety.org/policy-insti...
Military Elections Will Not Resolve Myanmar’s Deeper Problems
Dr. Hunter Marston analyzes Myanmar's election process and post-election scenarios.
asiasociety.org
Happy Republic Day India. The 26th doesn’t unify Australia in the way it does India. But it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the 🇦🇺🇮🇳 relationship. And on the contributions of Indian Australians. I’m grateful for both. m.youtube.com/watch?v=QoRp...
How to Talk Australians - Episode 6: ‘THE SLACKARSE COUNTRY’
YouTube video by How to Talk Australians
m.youtube.com
As Teesta Prakash reminds me, I’m a dork and a troglodyte - so no surprise I hadn’t heard of Heated Rivalry. But she and Mikaela Lui make some really important observations, especially for Australia. We haven’t invested in soft power as much as we should. www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
Heated Rivalry: Canada's soft power flex
A hit Canadian TV series showcases everything that’s right about cultural confidence.
lowyinstitute.org
Tired of playing Atrocity Gotcha, where if you condemn one atrocity you are interrogated about whether you have condemned all atrocities to the precisely correct scale
It hardly seems urgent given everything else happening right now. But I’ve seen suggestions online that Australia provokes China with spy planes. Here’s my attempt to ground the conversation a little. open.substack.com/pub/kimherio...
Why does Australia fly 'spy planes' in the South China Sea?
Debate over defence and strategic affairs in Australia is sharpening.
open.substack.com
It feels almost redundant to forward on this platform - it’s really twitter that’s awash with bizarre and misleading reports following the attack in Bondi. Still though.
AAP FactCheck@aapfactcheck.bsky.social · 8mo agoClaims suggesting police "stood down" for 20 minutes after the Bondi Beach shooting began are not supported by video evidence of the terrorist attack. www.aap.com.au/factcheck/no...
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
A two-year-old clip is being misrepresented to suggest a group of Muslims was filmed in Sydney celebrating the Bondi Beach terror attack. www.aap.com.au/factcheck/ol...
Old footage recirculated in misleading Bondi Beach 'celebration' claims
A two-year-old clip is being misrepresented to suggest a group of Muslims was filmed in Sydney celebrating the Bondi Beach terror attack.
aap.com.au
