Politics with Michelle Grattan
News:Politics
As North Korea continues to antagonise the US and its allies, the prospect of war hangs in the air. But Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says he doesn’t think we’ll see armed conflict with North Korea any time this year.
“I think the US has now resolved that it’s going to exhaust all diplomatic options first before it thinks about pre-emptively striking at the North’s missiles and nuclear facilities.
"And really what that means is – one more try to see if the Chinese are prepared to apply the type of sanctions that would hurt North Korea sufficiently,” Jennings says.
Weighing up North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, Jennings says that up until about 18 months ago, their nuclear program was “going nowhere fast”. “But in the last 18 months, what we’ve seen is a significant acceleration of the North’s nuclear testing.”
“The different calculation the Americans have to factor in is that the North is getting close, and it now sees itself within a decent sprint of being able to weaponise a missile that could hit Los Angeles.”
With Malcolm Turnbull’s New York meeting with US President Donald Trump now confirmed for next week, Jennings has some words of counsel for the prime minister.
“My first piece of advice to the PM would be to say ‘you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. We’re actually an ally in good standing’. The next piece of advice would be to say ‘but don’t wait for president Trump to come to you with a list of things he’d like Australia to do’.
"I think we’d always be in a much better situation if we could go to the Americans and say ‘now here are the things we want to do that will strengthen our alliance’.”
Paul Kelly on the risk of a COVID-19 second-wave
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Nev Power on the role of business in a post-coronavirus world
Katy Gallagher on the senate's coronavirus watchdog
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his autobiography, ‘A Bigger Picture
MPs Tim Watts, Fiona Martin, Clare O'Neil and Helen Haines discuss serving their electorates during the coronavirus crisis
Democracy 2025 - How does Australia compare: what makes a leading democracy? With Michelle Grattan, Mark Evans and Ian Chubb
Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty on the coronavirus crisis and the timeline for a vaccine
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy on COVID-19
Keith Pitt on the Murray-Darling Basin, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, and Nuclear Power
Mark Butler on Labor’s 2050 carbon neutral target
Phil Honeywood on the coronavirus challenge for universities
Adam Bandt on Greens' hopes for future power sharing
Michael McCormack moves on from his near-death experience
Mathias Cormann and Jim Chalmers on the mid-year budget update
Andrew Hastie on foreign influence, security and veteran mental health
Minister David Littleproud on bushfires, drought, and the Nationals
Ross Gittins on the government’s ‘surplus obsession’
On the trust divide in politics
Deputy PM Michael McCormack on the drought and restive Nationals
Tim Watts on Australia's changing identity
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free