The extraordinary arc of failure of Myanmar’s military has gone from coup and crack-down to the brink of regime crack-up. When seizing power in February 2021, the military expected to consolidate power and crush resistance. …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Indo-Pacific alliances and partnerships are a key advantage of the United States in competing with China. Now the United States seeks an economic version of that strategic advantage with a Statement of Principles for Indo-Pacific …
In the ‘differ where we must’ dimension of dealing with China, Australia is wielding a new nomenclature stick. (Schtick?) Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles talks about the ‘West Philippine Sea’, not just …
The annual Singapore sound-off between the defence ministers of China and the US had a little less roar-roar and a fraction more jaw-jaw. A positive from the 21st Shangri-La dialogue on 31 May to 2 …
Beneath the deeply domestic dimensions of any annual budget lies Canberra’s view of the world. The fiscal flashlight of spending and saving (and now subsidising) naturally catches the eye of every Australian taxpayer. Those taxpayers …
Eventually, beyond the Gaza agony, Israelis and Palestinians must talk. To move beyond war, they must embrace ‘the conversation of mankind’, a phrase that’s the pivot of a new book by one of Britain’s leading …
‘The Pacific is inconstant and uncertain like the soul of man. Sometimes it is grey like the English Channel off Beachy Head, with a heavy swell, and sometimes it is rough, capped with white crests, …
Vital new dimensions overtake the ‘C’ cliches of Australia’s old relationship with India—cricket, curry and Commonwealth. The new C words are community and commerce and contest in the Indo-Pacific—and China. Community is a concept broad …
Australia sees itself as the natural leader of the South Pacific. The preferred senior-partner synonyms these days are ‘partner of choice’ and ‘principal security partner’. Australian leadership ambition has a deep-seated strategic denial instinct, the …
The five-year icy age between Australia and China has wound down. The leaders have met, and enough fitful warmth has returned to melt a few icicles. The icy age can be mapped and dated as …
When the cabinet archives on Australia’s decision to go to war against Iraq appeared on 1 January, the cupboard was astonishingly bare. No formal submission went to cabinet on Australia joining the invasion of Iraq …
Pick your response: Big Brother is watching, perhaps? A passport snap on a really bad day? The worst school photo ever? Maybe it can be a read as a wanted poster that asks: ‘Do you …