Anti-Submarine Operations in the Indian Ocean

Malabar 2012

Image Credit: Official U.S. Navy Page

As India and Australia prepare to embark on their first-ever bilateral naval interaction in the Bay of Bengal this month, reports suggest the exercises will focus on anti-submarine warfare (ASW). This is being seen as evidence of a growing regional consensus on the threat posed by Chinese undersea operations in the Asian littorals. Australia is reported to be sending a Lockheed Martin’s P-3 anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft, a Collins-class submarine, and ASW frigates, while India will be deploying a P-8 long-range anti-submarine aircraft, along with other surface assets.

China's Appetite Will Strain Australia's Water

In the coming decades, Australia's water resources will be stretched not only by climate and domestic consumption but also through export. Australia will not physically export water; rather, it will virtually export water through its agricultural exports, mostly to China. Consumption shifts in China, a free trade agreement between Canberra and Beijing, and increased Chinese investment in foreign agricultural activities will drive up agricultural trade between China and Australia.

Australia, already the driest inhabited continent, is expected to experience more extreme droughts in the future, making water a precious commodity. A small overall population and progressive water regulations in basins already experiencing water stress will mitigate the impact, but Australia's role as a virtual water exporter will partially reverse efforts to avoid increased water stress.

Analysts Pick Australia for Next Shale Boom

While China, Russia and Argentina have topped the list of potential venues for the next shale boom, a new analytical report says all eyes should be on Australia as the most attractive venue for shale and tight oil and gas.

While huge reserves elsewhere have massive potential, Australia and the infrastructure and experience to make drilling in shale plays more attractive and easier to recoup costs, according to analysis released earlier this week by Lux Research.

Australia had a government shutdown once. In the end, the queen fired everyone in Parliament.

The United States' self-imposed federal government shutdown has a way of making people around the world shake their heads in bewilderment. As Georgetown professorErik Voeten wrote for The Washington Post's new Monkey Cage political science blog, "I cannot think of a single foreign analogy to what is happening in the U.S. today."

Queen Elizabeth II in Western Australia watching a traditional performance welcoming her. (Mogens Johansen/AFP/Getty Images)

But there actually is one foreign precedent: Australia did this once. In 1975, the Australian government shut down because the legislature had failed to fund it, deadlocked by a budgetary squabble. It looked a lot like the U.S. shutdown of today, or the 17 previous U.S. shutdowns.