US President Donald Trump has been widely criticised for his supposed fawning performance in Helsinki at the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But a minority of commentators have made three countervailing arguments to explain …
Articles by: "Ramesh Thakur"
On 18 January, admirals from Australia, India, Japan and the US sat together on stage at the high-profile Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. Their presence reflected the shared strategic assessment that China has become a …
Many Australians will remember the late NZ Prime Minister Robert Muldoon’s witticism that Kiwis crossing the Tasman raised the average IQ of both countries. Another time, after tight wage, price and currency controls, he was …
In January, Greg Sheridan wrote about a forthcoming report to the government by former foreign secretary Peter Varghese on how to elevate relations with India. Peter, who served also as High Commissioner to India, gives …
Last Saturday US, British and French forces bombed three chemical weapons facilities in Damascus in retaliation for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces in Douma on 6–8 April that killed around 70 people. Others …
Australia will have to respond to a formal complaint at the United Nations that procedures followed by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) breached obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. …
On 19 January, Defense Secretary James Mattis released an unclassified summary of the Congress-mandated US national defence strategy. In this administration’s outlook, the US military faces five major security challenges: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran …
After the Cold War ended, the existence of nuclear weapons on both sides wasn’t enough to stop the US from expanding NATO’s borders ever eastwards towards Russia’s borders, contrary to the terms on which Moscow …
As we consider whether Australia should obtain nuclear weapons, we need to ask who might subject us to nuclear blackmail. In the authoritative statement of China’s strategic vision in President Xi Jinping’s address to the …
In this three-part series, I examine the counter-arguments that proponents of Australia obtaining nuclear weapons need to address before the nation contemplates such a move. A heavyweight trio of Australia’s strategic and defence policy analysts …
Like the uprising of the ‘deplorables’ against globalisation that accounts for Donald Trump’s election and Brexit, are ‘peasant states’ now rebelling against the geopolitical heavyweights? The former dominate the 193-member UN General Assembly (UNGA), while …
On 7 July, 122 states voted to adopt a new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It articulates the world’s collective revulsion at the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, under any …