Kim Heriot-Darragh

😂 good job team

Transgendered in Malang The waria community in this East Javanese city are out in the open, but misunderstanding and prejudice are still widespread.

Revisiting interests from a lifetime ago:

kimheriotdarragh.substack.com/p/transgende...

UK launched huge operation to find suspected Russian double agent in MI6 Exclusive: Operation Wedlock lasted up to 20 years and took MI5 teams across world amid panic about ‘another Philby’

“The extensive hunt for the alleged mole [in MI6], called Operation Wedlock, was run by…MI5, which deployed a team of up to 35 surveillance, planning and desk officers [and] lasted in one form or another for up to 20 years” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Happening tomorrow!

Right around the time that Maria, a film by She Andes about people affected by the violence he oversaw, at ANU. Probably one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, though heavy.

Not sure if it’s just the sources I happen to have been following recently, but it surprised me that this hasn’t attracted as much attention as it should in Australia. Thanks!

With thanks to the Tasmania chapter of aiianational.bsky.social for hosting.

26 June 2025: India and Pakistan in Crisis | Australian Institute of International Affairs Tasmania India and Pakistan in crisis: lessons for Canberra’s evolving defence relationship with New DelhiThe India-Pakistan crisis reminds Australia that it ignores security issues in the subcontinent at its ...

What lessons should Australia learn from India’s recent military clash with Pakistan? I think there are a few. If you’re in Hobart on 26 June, hope you can join!

aiiatas.glueup.com/event/26-jun...

Heterogeneous air power is here | The Strategist Current conflicts have overturned how air power is applied. Air forces should no longer be built solely around crewed aircraft. A different balance is required. The use of drones in very large numbers...

'Unlike homogeneous airpower, the source code of heterogeneous airpower is mostly open, allowing new military and civilian developments to rapidly plug and play within it,' writes Peter Layton.

Trump Has Turned Deportations Into a Spectacle The White House’s callous tactics are warping perceptions of reality.

So far, deportations haven't dramatically spiked under Trump, writes @alibreland.bsky.social. But the administration’s immigration tactics are so shocking, callous, and inescapable that they have generated the appearance of mass deportations.

I’ve found the parade criticism™ fascinating and maybe even a little disappointing, and this comes from someone who would have preferred the Army not to be put in this position in the first place. 1/

The US Army parade was embarrassing for a lot of reasons. But I didn’t expect the volume of armchair warriors who would
point at footage of Army Rangers doing lame drill and tell the world with all the confidence of a toddler that these soldiers don’t have unit cohesion or military credibility.

I am so oblivious I didn’t even realise it was on 😕

If you’re in Melbourne on 17 June, hope you can join us for this!

This has been hard to watch. I embedded in the US Army and found its culture more hierarchical than Australia’s and generally more ‘conservative.’ Doesn’t surprise me that many troops support Trump. But I didn’t expect such a preventable dropping of the veneer so quick.

I’m no political scientist; I found this useful and interesting, and broadly tracks with how a generalist defence analyst might think about factors increasing or reducing the chances of unintended or escalating violence. Worth reading the whole thing I think.

Waterboarding’s even become a bit of a comedy trope too in some contexts.

Not scholarly I know, but like …. how many people grew up ingesting the belief that every institution is corrupt, that there are cigar smoking villains everywhere (running conspiracies in pizza shops?) and that the answer is more guns and funny/clever ways of working around peoples’ legal rights?

Sounds simplistic, but I always found it interesting that two popular tropes in US tough guy films are: solitary, honourable man living in hut is called back for one last mission only to get stitched up by a corrupt [congress/president/cabal]. And
cops win through violence and manipulation.

Thai military prepared for 'high-level operation' if Cambodia border row escalates Thailand's military said it is ready to launch a "high-level operation" to counter any violation of its sovereignty, in the strongest words yet in a simmering border dispute with Cambodia that re-erupted with a deadly clash last week.

#Thailand 's military said it is ready to launch a "high-level operation" to counter any violation of its sovereignty, in the strongest words yet in a simmering border dispute with #Cambodia that re-erupted with a deadly clash last week.

These are sovereign decisions. We shouldn’t change our approach to avoid Indian displeasure any more than Delhi would wind down military cooperation with Russia because of us. But it’s important to weigh up for its own reasons.

The Maldives faces serious security challenges - not least climate change. It’s a higher strategic priority for us, and its military is around 2,500 strong. Imagine how much further one of those masters programs would go there.

I actually support that kind of engagement, including with Pakistan. But I empathise with Indian sensitivities, and I tend to think we could better use some of those resources elsewhere. And we should be real about how much we could ever influence Pakistan’s military culture.

That shows value without veering into problematic territory. It may end up forging people-to-people links that you rely on later, and exposing officers to outside ideas about the role of professional militaries. (Isolate Pakistan and do you think its approach will improve?)

So the task becomes: let’s build a viable defence relationship that Pakistan values, without contributing to events/capabilities that aren’t in our interest. Perhaps not high end combat training - but maybe we invite officers to do a masters degree at ADFA.

All of that relies on cooperation from Pakistan, and because its military is coup-prone and overshadows much of politics and society, it helps if the military sees you as a legitimate and valuable partner.

You probably also want to encourage and shape positive contributions that Pakistan makes, like UN peacekeeping and counter-piracy work. And it’s a nuclear power next to two other nuclear powers - it’s dumb to not have presence and relationships there.

You might want a diplomatic presence in Islamabad to monitor trends in terrorism - and an ability to provide consular assistance. To engage Afghans stranded in Pakistan who worked with the ADF and are applying for visas.

Defence links also are often (not always) siloed from volatility in other parts of the relationship, making them a stable link of last resort. That has worked for Australia in important moments (think Indonesia and Timor-Leste, though not a neat example).

Now, think about Pakistan.

Second, many assume defence relationships are about defence. Often they’re not. Diplomacy is a mosaic of give-and-take. Most countries have more to offer in some fields than others. Defence can build influence to support other parts of government and vice versa.