The world Following the arrest of former Interpol head Meng Hongwei, the organisation appointed a new president, South Korean Kim Jong-yang. Lindsey Snell, for The Daily Beast, explains how authoritarian countries use Interpol to persecute …
Suddenly, the debate about creating a joint European Union army has gained real momentum. After French President Emmanuel Macron recently proposed the idea, US President Donald Trump disparaged it (in a tweet, of course), but …
Indonesia and Australia were supposed to sign their long-awaited bilateral free-trade agreement last week at the East Asia Summit in Singapore. But the deal has apparently been put on hold. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said …
Images of the leaders of South and North Korea, Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, laughing, smiling and even hugging, are incredibly powerful. They represent the hope that the Korean peninsula is actually entering a new …
In this podcast, Madeleine Nyst talks to Michael Shoebridge about the strategic implications of the PNG–Australia–US joint naval base on Manus Island and the message that sends to China. In the wake of the Bourke …
In an interesting, and highly significant, recent statement, China’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Lu Kang, challenged Australia’s traditional perception that the South Pacific is within its sphere of influence. He stated that, ‘The Pacific islands are …
The beat Interpol not Russian for a new president South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang has been elected Interpol’s new president, despite predictions his opponent, Russian Alexander Prokopchuk, would win. Western representatives have been strongly critical of …
In the wake of the congressional midterms, the United States remains divided electorally and the primary issue continues to be President Donald Trump. American differences are now clearly in evidence in Congress, with Democrats having …
With headlines dominated by Canberra’s policy ‘step-up’ in the Pacific in response to China’s rapidly expanding influence in the region, it seems puzzling that the Morrison government would risk disrupting relations with two of its …
Amid US–China trade tensions, the international debate around China’s United Front activities and the crisis in Xinjiang, the perennial issue of Taiwan continues to simmer as a source of regional tension and as a potential …
The recent discussion between ASPI’s Marcus Hellyer and Liberal senator Jim Molan on the LAND 400 project and the Australian Army’s purchase of infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), with additional commentary by Bob Moyse, has provided …
The 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth highlights former US vice president Al Gore’s efforts to alert his fellow Americans to the perils of global warming. What made the truth inconvenient is that avoiding catastrophic climate …
Violence by white supremacists presents a far more insidious policy problem than other forms of violent extremism. White supremacists find their intellectual, psychological, emotional and social bearings in a complex and sustaining ideological, cultural and …
Only a few weeks ago, it looked as though the extent of Australia’s ambitions for Papua New Guinea’s Lombrum Naval Base, HMPNGS Tarangau, was a $5 million contribution to upgrade the wharf facility. Let’s be …
Sea state A year and two days after Argentinian submarine ARA San Juan went missing in the Atlantic Ocean, it was detected more than 900 metres below sea level off the Valdes Peninsula in Argentine …
Over the past decade, China has taken an increasingly muscular approach to relations with East Asian countries. But in recent months—despite some hiccups in the South Pacific—it has surprised its neighbours with a charm offensive. …
In part 1, I posed the question of what, conceptually, the life-of-type extension (LOTE) for the navy’s Collins-class submarines is. Is it simply an obsolescence-management program, allowing the Collins to degrade more or less gracefully …
The APEC meeting in Port Moresby will have been a shock to Chinese President Xi Jinping, because it showed that his assertive approach to using China’s growing power is now facing fairly broad trouble. This …
The attack on Pearl Harbor is generally seen, by both Americans and Australians, as the most momentous event of December 1941. However, another event occurred three days later that is of much greater significance because …
In Australia, there’s a tendency to see Israel purely through the lens of the Palestinian issue and the peace process. But there’s really no country in the Middle East whose interests are more closely aligned …