Since the 1960s, Australia and Japan have built one of Asia’s closest partnerships. I was going to say one of Asia’s most unusual, but lots of relationships in this region are strange. When times get …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Australia is writing a Foreign Policy White Paper— a ‘philosophical framework to guide Australia’s engagement, regardless of international events’—then along comes Donald Trump. An important bit of policy thinking has run into the unthinkable—as in, …
Donald Trump will stress test America’s alliance with Australia. He’s going to pressure lots of other areas—the alliance will get its share. Australia will strive to confine disagreements. Canberra wants differences to be matters of …
‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’ – F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.’ – L.P. Hartley To delve into government …
Lights up and trumpets sound! Here’s our annual silly-season Madeleine awards, for the use of symbol, stunt, prop, gesture or jest in international affairs. The prize is named after the former US Secretary of State, Madeleine …
Australia is to end a 75-year history of shortwave broadcasting to Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. On December 6, 2016, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation announced that, it will end its shortwave transmission service …
Australian questions about what Donald Trump will do to the alliance recall Robert Menzies’ fear that ANZUS would be ‘a superstructure on a foundation of jelly’. If Trump has the Oz alliance assumptions quivering, that …
To see what Donald Trump will do to the future of the Oz-US alliance, ponder the lessons of the foundation legends. Start with the Labor Party’s creation saga: John Curtin’s turn to the US. The …
Vale the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP has shattered, or sunk, or just slipped away. The symbolism is a US retreat from Asia. Donald Trump is changing the way America’s substance is weighed by the region. …
‘If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’ As the Pivot passes, Asia confronts a new President who seems to think all the US needs is a bigger and better hammer. …
Five years ago this week, Barack Obama launched the Pivot. Thus, on its fifth birthday, the Pivot expires. This is an epitaph. The American people have decided and the Pivot is Trumped. Asia confronts Amexit: …
‘We have finally reached the gates of Hell.’—Robert Manne’s final sentence in The Mind of the Islamic State. Australia has been at war with Islamic State since ISIS took Mosul in June, 2014. As Iraq’s …