An Australian official once told me that Australians struggle to think beyond the American-led Anglosphere and alliance. There might have been some hyperbole in that remark. But certainly the struggle we have in properly understanding …
The definitive choice for a nation is sending its troops to war, so the surprise in the parliamentary review of Australia’s war powers is the questioning of the legal process used to go to war …
The video of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape warmly embracing, followed by Marape attempting to touch Modi’s feet—a demonstration of respect in Indian culture—was a reminder that …
On 29 April 2023, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health reported that the death toll from clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces had risen to 528, with thousands injured. The consequences …
While the AUKUS agreement and the defence strategic review have focused strong interest on the massive task of building, crewing and operating Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines, the government has also agreed in principle to sizeable …
Our dangerous times are driving an unprecedented tempo of strategy writing in Canberra. Having barely caught its breath since the AUKUS pathway announcement in March and the release of the defence strategic review (DSR) in …
Religion and miracles often go hand in hand, so it should come as little surprise that Israel, which just marked its 75th birthday, is something of a miracle. In some ways, Israel’s very existence is …
To be strategically successful, the Quad needs buy-in from the rest of the Indo-Pacific region, notably from Southeast Asia. It needs to persuade the region that it ‘stands for something and not just against something’, …
In a budget speech that focused on domestic priorities, Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s only international announcement was of a package allocating $1.9 billion to strengthening Australia’s relationships in the Pacific. It wasn’t a surprise that the …
The next independent review of Australia’s intelligence community received welcome funding in this month’s federal budget. That should put Canberra on track to meet the five- to seven-yearly schedule set by the post-Iraq Flood review …
Last year in Berlin, the great Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge broke the world marathon record, clocking 02:01:09 and beating his previous time by 30 seconds. His success has made him a legend not only …
Last week’s announcement that US President Joe Biden would not travel to Papua New Guinea to meet with Pacific Islands Forum leaders was met with disappointment. Expectations were high: the White House had labelled the …
Australia’s detailed investigation into allegations that members of its special forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan demonstrated the nation’s commitment to the rule of law, says former defence minister Stephen Smith. In a video interview …
The story of Darwin really begins with the necessity to establish a support route for the Overland Telegraph to the southern states of Australia. In November 1871, the 1,100-mile submarine cable between Darwin and Banjoewangie in Java …
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year galvanised the West against not only the Kremlin, but also other rivals, especially an increasingly assertive China. But last month, French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Beijing, where …
Reports have emerged of a rare stoush over the usually cordially bipartisan Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS). The source of the fracas is the Labor government’s proposal to expand the committee from …
In Taiwan, the main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has announced that Hou You-yi is its candidate for the 2024 presidential election. The decision comes after a very public campaign for the candidacy by Terry …
With NATO’s mid-July summit in Vilnius fast approaching, the question on everyone’s minds is how to avoid another debacle concerning Ukraine’s prospective membership in the alliance. When NATO leaders addressed the same issue in Bucharest …
Planet A Australia’s 2023–24 budget allocates $4 billion to combat the impacts of climate change and turn Australia into a ‘renewable energy superpower’. The commitments include $2 billion in incentives to accelerate the manufacture and …
Home to almost two billion people, some of the world’s most dynamic economies, and important shipping routes, South Asia is a crucial geopolitical arena and the site of increasing rivalry between two of Asia’s biggest powers—China …