Stop the World Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

This week’s episode of Stop the World comes
to you from Brussels, where ASPI’s Executive Director Justin Bassi interviewed the Head of Strategic Communications at the European External Action Service Lutz Güllner.

The conversation explored disinformation, foreign influence, manipulation and interference, with Justin and Lutz discussing the importance of countering state backed disinformation and foreign influence campaigns, how these tactics can affect the resilience of open societies, and what can be done to deter them.

With elections due to take place in the European Union
(EU), the United States and the United Kingdom in 2024, they also discussed concerns around election interference, the types of campaigns that foreign actors are undertaking in an attempt to manipulate them, and how the EU can work with Indo-Pacific countries to counter these threats.



Guests:

Justin Bassi

Lutz Güllner

This week on Stop the World, ASPI Senior Analyst Alex Bristow speaks to Niclas Kvarnström, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European ExternalAction Service, to discuss the European Union’s engagement in and relationship with the Indo-Pacific.

With war in Europe and conflict in the Middle East, they discuss how much capacity the European Union (EU) has to focus on the Indo-Pacific, how Russia’s war on Ukraine has forced a rethink of the EU’s future security, as well as its relationship with China.

And in the episode’s second segment, Alex is joined by William Leben, Expert Associate at the Australian National University’s National Security College, to unpack his recent ASPI report ‘Escalation risks in the Indo-Pacific: a review for practitioners’. They discuss the main threats to strategic stability in the Indo-Pacific, how a potential crisis in the region might develop, and whether or not AUKUS will contribute to a balance of power in the region.



Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.aspi.org.au/report/escalation-risks-indo-pacific-review-practitioners#:~:text=The%20outbreak%20of%20war%20in,potential%20miscalculations%20heighten%20the%20risk.



Guests:

Alex Bristow

Niclas Kvarnström

William Leben

This double episode of Stop the World is all about defence innovation.

ASPI’s Director of Defence Strategy and National Security Bec Shrimpton speaks to Anduril’s Vice President of Strategy for Australia and the Asia Pacific Pete Quinn, the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive at Anduril Australia and Asia Pacific David Goodrich, as well as ASPI Visiting Senior Fellow Keirin Joyce.

They discuss the importance of autonomous systems, what role they can play in the Australian Defence Force, and how they can be used to help deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific.

Later in the episode, ASPI’s Strategic Communications Manager Steph Tiller speaks to Senior Defence Economist and ASPI Senior Fellow George Henneke to unpack his new report ‘AUKUS Pillar 2 critical pathways: a road map to enabling international collaboration’. They discuss the report’s findings and explore the key reforms that Australia should focus on to ensure that Pillar 2 is a success.



Mentioned in this
episode:

https://www.aspi.org.au/index.php/report/aukus-pillar-2-critical-pathways-road-map-enabling-international-collaboration



Guests:

Bec Shrimpton

Pete Quinn

David Goodrich

Keirin Joyce

Steph Tiller

George Henneke

Australia and the United Kingdom have a lot of shared history and values, but not a lot of shared geography. For a long time, that left the strategic relationship feeling a little dusty—a friendship to be taken for granted. But the two countries’ security partnership has a sense of deepening urgency, with the creation of AUKUS, the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt and the recent signing of a new defence and security cooperation agreement. With Russia’s war against Ukraine and Chinese regional assertiveness, Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security are increasingly seen as tied.

To unpack these developments, ASPI’s Stop the World podcast is devoting today’s episode to the Australia-UK strategic relationship.

ASPI senior analyst Alex Bristow speaks with UK High Commissioner Vicki Treadell and Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King’s College London. And in the episode’s second session, ASPI senior analyst Euan Graham speaks with Philip Shetler-Jones, senior research fellow in Indo-Pacific security at the Royal United Services Institute.



Guests:

Alex Bristow

Vicki Treadell

Alessio Patalano

Euan Graham

Philip Shetler-Jones

ASPI has released a groundbreaking report that finds the Chinese Communist Party seeks to harvest user data from globally popular Chinese apps, games and online platforms in a likely effort to improve its global propaganda.



The research maps the CCP's propaganda system, highlighting the links between the Central Propaganda Department, state-owned or controlled propaganda entities and data-collection activities, and technology investments in Chinese companies.

 

In this special short episode of Stop the World, David Wroe speaks with ASPI analyst Daria Impiombato about the key takeaways from this major piece of research.



Mentioned in this episode:
Truth and reality with Chinese characteristics



Guests:

David Wroe

Daria Impiombato

This week on Stop the World, it’s all about intelligence. Chris Taylor, head of ASPI’s Statecraft and Intelligence Program interviews David Gioe, Professor of Intelligence and Security at King's College London and Associate Professor of History at the US Military Academy at West Point. 



They discuss the history of intelligence, with a focus on the Cold War, and explore how it has evolved over time. Chris asks David about the impact of technology on intelligence collection and analysis, and they consider the changing nature of intelligence and new techniques, as well as the ongoing importance of human intelligence. 



Mentioned in this episode: 

ASPI report: Australia’s 2024 Independent Intelligence Review: opportunities and challenges


Guests: 

Chris Taylor

David Gioe