It was 5 August 1990, just days after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had invaded and conquered all of Kuwait, and US President George H.W. Bush could not have been clearer as he spoke from the South …
The year 2014 was just as significant as 1914. Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula elicited a weak response from the West and highlighted a larger strategic problem: the erosion of the liberal-democratic world order. …
We seem to have been both naughty and nice this year. The Australian National Audit Office isn’t going to put its much-anticipated report on the future submarine program in our stocking before Christmas and we’ll …
Australians are sweltering through a record-setting heatwave. Bushfires that are unprecedented in scale and scope have been burning around the country, some for weeks now, choking capital cities in smoke and destroying property, livelihoods and …
In October, during his second official visit to Russia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte invited Moscow-based energy company Rosneft to conduct oil and gas exploration in waters the Philippines claims in the South China Sea. The offer …
On 2 October, the world marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi—the greatest Indian of modern times. In a New York Times op-ed for the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, …
It seems that the overwhelming outcome of the referendum on Bougainville, with over 97% of eligible voters supporting independence, surprised even seasoned observers. Still, as is well known, the vote is not binding. Under the …
The US Naval War College’s James Holmes, a strategist of serious stature, has suggested that the US Navy should establish a ‘massive’ base in Australia. This isn’t Holmes’s first stab at this. His initial proposal, …
China’s strongman leader can’t seem to catch a break. From the trade war with the United States to the crisis in Hong Kong to international criticism of his human rights record, President Xi Jinping suffered …
In January 2020, Taiwanese voters will go to the polls to elect their president and legislature. President Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is running for re-election against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT’s) …
If this year’s bushfire season is anything like the new normal, then Australia certainly needs to think about adopting a new normal for the way it fights bushfires. I agree with Peter Layton’s recent Strategist …
In recent months, Australia’s veterans and their brave family members have been calling, ever more loudly, for a royal commission into veteran suicide. The need for a royal commission is real. It is urgent. And …
Australia’s discussion of China is less of a debate than two important schools of thought talking past each other. The values school is predominant, especially in government and the media. It stresses the challenge China …
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s ambition to lead a ‘geopolitical commission’ has faced its first big test. European heads of state met last week to discuss her proposed European Green Deal, a sweeping …
The map of Pacific island maritime boundaries is also the image of a paradigm shift. This fundamental change in the understandings and imaginings of the islands was delivered by the UN’s creation of 200-mile exclusive …
President Joko Widodo has expressed frustration to his economic advisers in recent months over Indonesia’s failure to attract a ‘fair share’ of the foreign investment dollars going into Southeast Asia. Even as foreign investment into the …
The world As exit polls predict a big victory for the Conservatives in the British general election, read this Washington Post piece that captures the mood of the average British voter. This BBC article explains …
Recognising that the European Union is facing a number of vexing challenges on the world stage, Ursula von der Leyen, the new European Commission president, has promised to lead a ‘geopolitical’ commission. Echoing this sentiment, …
Vietnam has just released its new defence white paper, 10 years after the last one was issued in 2009. The 2019 document isn’t fundamentally different from the earlier one—there are limits on the extent of …
In September, Japan and the EU launched the EU–Japan Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure, partly in response to escalating tensions between the United States and China over trade. This significant agreement builds on …