As Julie Bishop recently stated in a major speech on Australia’s relations with the Pacific islands, the region is ‘of great importance to Australia’ as ‘our nearest geographic neighbours’. Reflecting the region’s proximity, Australia has …
Debate: "General"
At the turn of the millennium, Bill Clinton quipped that trying to control the internet in China would be like ‘trying to nail jello to the wall’. Seventeen years later, it’s now clear that the …
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the city of Marawi, in Mindanao, as a candidate for becoming the Raqqa of Southeast Asia. He has authorised the dispatch of Australian military trainers (not special forces, as …
Australia’s annual overdose report 2017 identified ever-increasing levels of accidental drug deaths in Australia and greater use of opioids. It also revealed that Australians are almost three times more likely to die of a drug …
With the Trump administration stepping up its efforts to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear activities over recent weeks, Iran may soon face some difficult choices on how to respond …
Sea state The Chinese and Russian navies are conducing joint exercises in the waters off Vladivostok. The exercises include, among other things, simulations of detaining intruding vessels and rescuing ships in distress. Vladivostok locals were …
Germans have voted to keep Angela Merkel as chancellor, and expressed deep unhappiness about her Christian Democrat Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) – Social Democrat (SPD) coalition government. The SPD, the party of former chancellors Willy …
‘With an annual budget approaching $2 billion and about 7,000 staff spread across 10 agencies, it is clear to us that on size alone the Australian Government’s intelligence activities supporting national security are now …
The Kurds are flavour of the month. We are now familiar with media coverage of Kurdish fighters, many of them women, pushing back the jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Pursuing …
The world The Economist published two excellent pieces that provide the context for President Trump’s growing Iran problem. The first explores the prospect of Iranian regional hegemony and nuclear ambitions. The second examines the mess …
Since it was formed by Mohammed Yusuf in the early 2000s, Boko Haram, or Jama’a Ahl as-Sunna Li-da’wa wa-al Jihad (roughly translated from Arabic as ‘people committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings …
Earlier this week, the minister for justice, Michael Keenan, formally released the Commonwealth Law Enforcement International Engagement Methamphetamine Disruption Strategy. The Australian Federal Police (AFP)–led strategy is meant to provide ‘the framework for the Australian …