A senior Asian diplomat quips that China’s leadership fears the numbers two, three, four, five and seven. The superstition is the way the numbers are stacking up. China agonises over the bilateral alliances represented by …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
In Canberra’s great China debate, the panda huggers dominated the dragon slayers for the first 15 years of this century. Lots of happy huggers drowned out those who feared that the dragon danger would trump …
When an Australian jumps out of a taxi and prepares to make a dash across New York’s 5th Avenue, the habit of a lifetime is to look the wrong way for the traffic. Australia drives …
Fiji will soon vote on Frank Bainimarama, the military supremo who slowly morphed into an elected leader. The man who has driven and dominated Fiji’s politics since 2000 had urgent heart surgery in Australia in …
‘Tonight, as we gather, war rages in Europe. The global pandemic is not over. Devastating floods have battered our communities. We live in uncertain times.’ — Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, budget speech, 29 March 2022 The …
The debate about whether we’re in a new cold war has a decisive, brutal answer. For Europe, the lines of cold war 2.0 are drawn, no matter how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends. NATO doubles …
As Australia must close the gap between its First Nations peoples and other Australians, so it must open the door to Melanesians. The two needs are distinct and separate. Yet they share elements of necessity …
Russia grinds towards military objectives in Ukraine as the first smartphone war confounds and surprises. Networked warfare meets networked people. The fog of war turns to patches of mist. Modern weapons with all the sensors …
International relations is work of desperate hope, beset by brutal lessons. For the society of states, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s monstrous appointment with history in Ukraine is trauma and test and teaching moment. Turning Russia …
The world aims to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies with economic sanctions. Follow the logic of sanctions to reach for a powerful weapon to threaten autocrats and kleptocrats. Kick them where it …
Big international issues shape a nation’s domestic equations. And so the Australian election to be held by 21 May will be shaped by pandemic, decarbonisation and geopolitical rivalry. Covid, climate and China are problems so …
Over 200 years, Australia went out into the South Pacific as bible-bashers and blackbirders, as carpetbaggers, captains and colonisers. We sailed and traded and built and searched for both gold and souls. Always, we sought …