It doesn’t get much bigger than attacking the home of democracy—parliament house—and a country’s major political parties only months out from a federal election. In his statement on these attacks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said …
Last week, veteran Times reporter Anthony Loyd travelled to a Syrian refugee camp to interview Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old woman from Bethnal Green in London’s East End, who at the age of 15 left home …
Understanding how societal conflict and instability affect men and women is essential to the development and implementation of lasting peaceful solutions. While men do most of the fighting, it is women who maintain social cohesion, …
Scott Morrison’s shock announcement in parliament that the three major political parties have had their computer systems hacked by a ‘sophisticated state actor’ will have impacts long after the federal election. There’s a lot that …
The EU’s recently proposed regulation to prevent the online dissemination of terrorist content has sparked significant concern among experts and civil society groups. One of the most controversial elements of the proposal is the requirement …
The recent debate here on The Strategist between Paul Dibb and Hugh White over how Australia ought to respond to an unprovoked Chinese attack on the island of Taiwan touches upon an issue of deep …
Sea state UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has been criticised by China and cabinet colleagues for announcing that the Royal Navy’s flagship, aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, would sail through the South China Sea. This …
As Chinese and American trade negotiators meet in Washington to try to forge an accord on trade, observers are largely focused on the countries’ economic disagreements, such as over China’s subsidies to its state-owned enterprises. …
At first blush, the central narrative of the Defence Department’s 2018–19 budget, as presented in the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements (PAES), appears to be about the falling Australian dollar. Defence’s estimated appropriation for 2018–19 has …
By the end of last week parliamentarians and sections of the media (see here and here) had all offered opinions on whether independent MP Kerryn Phelps’ medical evacuation bill would restart the people-smuggling trade to …
Last week’s terrorist attack about 20 kilometres from Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, was the deadliest attack since 1989, when a militant insurgency against Indian rule began. Almost 50 paramilitary troops travelling …
Much of lasting significance happened in 1979. There was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Iran’s Islamic revolution, which brought to power a regime set on remaking not just Iranian society but also much of …
For any state, regime change is a fraught and dangerous moment. So when the regime that’s changing is the international system of states, the hazards and complexity multiply enormously. With all the alarums and agonies …
The world The US Congress has passed a compromise border security deal that will partially fund President Donald Trump’s border wall and avoid another government shutdown. But the US$1.4 billion deal falls well short of …
France’s last-minute compromise with Germany on a proposal to bring the Nord Stream 2 project fully under EU energy regulations—potentially fatal to the project—will likely ensure that the controversial project will be completed. France had …
There are substantially fewer nuclear weapons today than at the height of the Cold War. Yet the overall risks of nuclear war—by design, accident, rogue launch or system error—have grown in the second nuclear age. …
A recent event in the United Arab Emirates sparked both merriment and scorn globally when every award at the Gender Balance Index 2018 was handed to a man. UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid …
Once governments have decided that their defence policies will focus on the defence of Australia, two conclusions immediately follow. First, priorities for the development of the Australian Defence Force will have a strong maritime dimension. …
The beat Mexico deploys more police to crime hotspots After a record number of murders in Mexico last year, the country’s newly elected president, Manuel Lopez Obrador, has permanently deployed an extra 10,200 police officers …
In early 2017, with the world still reeling from the unexpected election of Donald Trump as US president, China’s President Xi Jinping appeared before a World Economic Forum audience so disoriented that it was wondering …