Summit season blossoms. Behold the annual display of the shift of Australian international policy—in symbolism and substance—to the personal care of the Prime Minister. The structure and style of the way Australia does foreign policy …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Australia played its part in the blunders of the Iraq war by committing early and without questioning the US. The Howard government claimed to be considering all options, but in reality it closed down consideration. …
John Howard’s decision to go to war in Iraq was constructed on a fib. The fib was used repeatedly throughout 2002 and almost to the very start of the invasion in 2003. The fib was …
John Howard didn’t have too much support from Australian intelligence in deciding to go to war against Iraq. The Prime Minister got just enough cover from the Office of National Assessments to meet political needs. …
Australia helped bring disaster to Iraq. As an eager ally, we were present at the creation of a regional catastrophe that just keeps on growing. Today’s horror means that Australia’s past role in Iraq is …
Part of the Canberra fun is to ponder the public mysteries. Something big happens in full view, centre stage, with all the lights up and every key moment revealed. After the crescendo, as the scenery …
Groucho Marx got the conundrum into one great line: ‘I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.’ My argument that Australia should join the Association of …
The proposition that Australia should spend the next decade seeking observer status in ASEAN will get lots of kicks in Southeast Asia. However, the kicks in Canberra about joining ASEAN are nearly as hard. Canberra’s …
Australia should join the Association of South East Asian Nations. And to promote this big call even higher up the mountain to be climbed, Australia will become a member of ASEAN. The ‘should’ and ‘will’ …
Worry about the sharemarket when cabbies offer hot buying tips. Quit the market when brokers claim: ‘this boom is different!’ The claim history has been defeated—‘This time it’s different!’—is ever an alarm. With that …
Australian has lots of nasty fauna. Crocodiles. Sharks. Spiders. Then there’s that dangerous, unpredictable species—the Oz politician, a breed that catches and kills its own, frequently and ferociously. Tony Abbott’s demise has prompted angst about …
If we wait for Australia and India to develop a common regional vision, we’ll wait forever. Some things will never happen. At least, though, the astigmatism that’s long afflicted the Oz–India ‘views’ of each other …