The recent article by fellow Australian Gordon Weiss on the UN and Australia’s place in it brought to mind the extreme dangers often faced by both national and international humanitarian relief workers with the UN, …
Where Australia’s foreign minister visits tells much about what she and her government value. Covid-19 means overseas travel for Marise Payne costs 14 days’ quarantine on the return to Oz. The travel test now comes …
US President Donald Trump has generally pursued a foreign policy full of inconsistencies and contradictions, but that doesn’t apply to his approach to the Middle East. He has consistently targeted Iran as a menace and …
After declaring a resounding victory against the Covid-19 pandemic, a newly confident China so far this year has tested new ballistic missiles, threatened Taiwan by ignoring the median line in the Taiwan Strait, expanded its …
For decades, France and Germany have been known as Europe’s ruling ‘tandem’ or ‘couple’, even its ‘engine’. Together, they aimed to work to unify the continent. But, to pile up the metaphors, the French want …
As New Zealanders head to the polls, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Labour Party are in a good position to be able to form government in their own right after three years in a …
While the Covid-19 pandemic has damaged economies and profoundly affected people’s health and wellbeing, it has also highlighted our dependence on technology and the extent to which we’ll rely on the next wave of technologies …
Australia’s commercial space sector is moving quickly towards a bright future. On 19 September, South Australia–based company Southern Launch took an important step towards establishing a sovereign space-launch capability for Australia, with the launch of …
With just days to go until New Zealand’s general election on 17 October, the polls strongly suggest Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour party is on course for a second term. The bigger question is whether …
While China is tightening its coercive campaign against Australia, now targeting the coal industry, its ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, last week led a protest of 26 nations against economic coercion by the …
Australian first responders dealing with fires, crimes, crashes and pandemics are in danger of being overwhelmed emotionally and they are three times more likely than other Australians to consider suicide. That statistic has long worried …
Planet A Nearly a third of countries worldwide are at risk of ecosystem collapse due to rapid declines in biodiversity and ‘ecosystem services’ that affect humans, says a recent report by reinsurance giant Swiss Re …
The World Bank predicts that the Maldives will be the South Asian nation hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s not surprising given that 70% of the country’s GDP flows from tourism. The cancellation of …
Globally, there’s increasing interest in the development of central bank digital currencies, driven by a wide range of policy motivations. A survey published by the Bank for International Settlements in January 2020 found that, out …
Since I raised serious questions about the transparency, or lack of it, in Asian Development Bank–funded projects in Papua New Guinea, I have been deluged with highly credible information that highlights not just the failure …
Elections in New Zealand and the United States will challenge progress that has been made in the Pacific by ANZUS countries. It looks like New Zealand’s election will see out the populist NZ First party …
Much of Kyrgyzstan’s capital has been unnaturally calm for several days now. Municipal workers clean and wash the streets, but there are few passersby. There are also few signs of the recent clashes in which …
Australia’s threat landscape has changed dramatically over the past 12 months—starting with last summer’s cataclysmic bushfires, followed by the appearance of Covid-19 and its cascading impacts on society and the economy, and now the expected …
In this episode, The Strategist’s Brendan Nicholson and Anastasia Kapetas discuss the the chances of US President Donald Trump being re-elected and the potential impact of social media on the outcome of the US election. …
In a midnight military parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the country’s rule under the despotic Kim family, North Korea revealed a new monster intercontinental ballistic missile—perhaps one of the world’s largest—on the back …