Both sides are refusing to acknowledge that we will soon be faced with some very difficult strategic foreign policy challenges, writes Ben Eltham in Online Opinion.

How can we transform the risk of breakdown into an opportunity for renewal? Thomas Homer-Dixon explores the possibilities for positive change in this extract from ‘The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization’.

We need to look beyond the economic argument for enriching uranium, argues Marko Beljac, and consider the implications for nuclear non-proliferation and regional stability

Australia’s defence policy think tank is serving tax-payers poorly. It’s time for a strategic rethink, argues Ben Eltham.

This week saw a minor flare-up in Australian defence politics, with the release of a video of Australian troops misbehaving in Iraq.

Apart from demonstrating yet again the power of user-generated media websites like YouTube to become powerful news sources in their own right, the episode also showed how hard it is going to be for Prime Minister John Howard to meet his target of 2,600 extra troops for the Australian Army.

Gabriel Kolko believes the Iraq debacle has led the US to imagine an expanded membership and role for NATO with nations such as Australia and Japan forming part of this vision.

Peter Layton clarifies a little known fact about the ANZUS treaty: unlike NATO, it does not require a signatory to respond militarily if another signatory is threatened; it only requires the US to consult with us in times of crisis. For this reason Australian policy towards ANZUS has been defined by reciprocity, which has seen us regularly engaged alongside the US. With the US extending the NATO security guarantee to states like Latvia and the Balkans, Layton argues it is time for Australia to seek the same level of protection

In the fourth week of this series, Richard Woolcott believes the changing world order and the government’s exploitation of the alliance for domestic purposes will change Australian attitudes to the alliance. Paul Barratt discusses the importance of managing the national interest when it conflicts with alliance demands by explaining Australia’s resistance to US pressure during revisions to the law of the sea in the 1970s

In the third week of this series, Joe Siracusa argues that because of our location in the world we are only going to be come more not less important to the United States. Bob McMullan MP believes that we need to be more active locally and that trade poses a risk to the relationship. Ray Funnell believes that we do not need a formal alliance because we are natural ally of the United States.