Sino-American rivalry bodes ill for Singapore’s politics and security but the storm has a few silver linings. A ‘tech rush’ of sorts is manifesting with Chinese technology giants like Alibaba, Tencent and Bytedance (the owner …
Until recently, the last time Myanmar’s military supervised a general election whose outcome it didn’t like was back in 1990. On that occasion, a military junta refused to recognise the results, arrested the democratically elected …
Former US president Donald Trump’s unfinished and unsuccessful trade wars with both China and some of America’s allies will be hard for his successor Joe Biden to untangle. Biden won’t want to lower unilaterally the …
While a great deal has been written about US President Joe Biden’s Iran conundrum, there hasn’t been enough discussion about his projected approach to Saudi Arabia, the other major power in the energy-rich Gulf region. …
Sea state A new law passed by China allows its coastguard to fire at foreign vessels within its waters, potentially setting the stage for armed clashes between China and nations that have competing claims in …
I don’t know whether US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and their foreign policy advisers have read Robert Axelrod’s classic book on international relations, The evolution of cooperation. But they should heed Axelrod’s …
Watch what ministers do, not what they say Discern what ministers mean, because ultimately that’s where they’ll head. The public service must manage and massage the zigzags. When what a minister proclaims gets too far …
Early replacement of the Australian Army’s 22 Airbus Tiger attack helicopters looks like a severe mistake. More defence capability—more urgently needed capability—could be bought by spending the money elsewhere. The Tigers don’t need replacing. And …
More than a decade ago, researcher Aaron Corn coined the term ‘Indigital revolution’ to describe the rapid take-up of technology across Indigenous Australia. Despite continued access issues, Indigenous Australians are highly technologically literate and reportedly …
The United States is suffering from a double crisis. Headlines in recent months have focused mainly on America’s crisis of democracy, but its crisis of global power may turn out to be more consequential in …
What began as a post on anonymous message board 4chan—home to trolls, internet shock-jocks and excursionists—has morphed into an international conspiracy theory posing a threat to Australia’s vaccination rollout against Covid-19. The QAnon movement has …
On 22 January, alleged drug lord Tse Chi Lop was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport as a result of an extradition request from the Australian Federal Police. Tse’s arrest would’ve been cause for celebration among …