Originally published 5 August 2017. As some readers will probably recognise, the title of this post is a phrase drawn from Herman Kahn’s On thermonuclear war, one of the more depressing texts of the 20th …

Originally published 9 October 2017. Last month, Chinese state media published articles commemorating the 30th anniversary of China’s first-ever email: ‘Across the Great Wall, we can reach every corner in the world.’ The email was sent …

Originally published 16 November 2017. Sadly, hermeneutics—or exegesis as it was formerly known—is not much in vogue these days. Maybe that reflects the fact that most of us rely on translation for our glimpses into …

Originally published 9 August 2017. With President Trump’s latest comments that North Korea is facing a response of ‘fire and fury’ if it endangers the US, it’s clear that the US president is at least …

Originally published 17 August 2017. For much of the past decade, observers have praised Indonesian democracy. Elections have been competitive, the country boasts a vibrant civil society, and the press enjoys far more freedom than …

Originally published 12 October 2017. This is the year of significant anniversaries marking the Australia–US relationship. In May we commemorated the 75th anniversary of the battle of the Coral Sea and more recently the 50th …

Originally published 2 August 2017. If you are having trouble keeping up with the story, here’s what happened since the last episode of White House Days of Our Lives: The Mooch lasted barely 10 days …

Originally published 26 October 2017. This post is adapted from a presentation to the Australian Naval Institute’s 2017 Goldrick seminar. Let me start with something nice and uncontroversial. Submarines might be obsolete by the middle …

Originally published 2 June 2017. Recent media reports suggest senior US officials have told Julie Bishop that if North Korea’s nuclear weapon program can’t be reversed, South Korea and Japan will likely pursue their own …