It’s hard to avoid the common narrative surrounding key individuals in Turkish politics. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the charismatic strong man using political Islam as a tool to facilitate a shift to authoritarianism, while Fetullah …
Canberra cabinet making is an inexact science. In creating a front bench, the roll call of winners and losers is writ large. Then comes the harder stuff of gauging the power and personal chemistry throbbing …
Hillary Rodham Clinton today delivered her speech to close the 2016 Democratic National Convention, and in doing so made history (herstory?) as the first woman to officially clinch a major party’s nomination for President of …
If Donald Trump were to become President, the United States would have a problem with many dimensions. So would the world. To begin with, the problem would be his unfathomable vulgarity. America has seen many …
Recent assessments of Gough Whitlam’s legacy have treated foreign policy less prominently and more ambiguously than Whitlam himself did. Many have recognised that Whitlam brought a new vision to Australian foreign policy. His supporters have …
Many commentators and readers of The Economist keenly await their weekly dose of KAL. The 16 July 2016 cartoon didn’t disappoint. A claimant hoists the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s South China Sea ruling aloft while …
If history repeats itself—first tragedy, then farce—what comes next is Boris Johnson, a shape-shifting politician who embodies the contradictions of our age. Johnson is a tribune of the people who grew up with the privileges …
The Beat Cracking down on corruption Transparency International UK recently estimated that the amount of corrupt wealth being laundered through the UK annually is at least in the hundreds of millions of pounds—if not billions. …
On 31 May, yet another Australian FMS purchase approval was listed on the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) website. This new sale is for ‘up to eighty (80) Standard Missiles, SM-2 Block IIIB’, as …
Cyberspace pervades everyday life. Our growing reliance on networks has increased the vulnerability of Australia’s national security, economy and society to malicious cyber actions. As a result, there’s a need to build trust and confidence …
Some 20,000 emails attained through last month’s Democratic National Committee network breach have now been shared with the world, thanks to Wikileaks. Those emails join the DNC’s opposition research file on Trump and detailed donor …
After the terror attacks in Paris last November—a carefully coordinated series of assaults carried out by multiple attackers, resulting in 130 deaths—there was intense pain and fear, but also a spirit of unity and resilience. …
Donald Trump’s recent comments on America’s alliances, coinciding with the Republican convention last week, have further raised the anxiety levels of US allies about Washington’s global role after the US presidential election. Trump told The …
Sea State A new report (PDF) from CSIS has warned that Russian submarine activity in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas and the North Atlantic are at their highest levels since the end of the Cold …
The Permanent Court of Arbitration’s Arbitral Tribunal ruling against China in the South China Sea is no boon for Hanoi, at least so far. This has been an interesting year for those of us who …
On 23 July 1916 the 1st Australian Division launched an operation that began Australia’s contribution to the great British offensive of that year, the Battle of the Somme. On that day, some three weeks after …
The recent award handed down by the Arbitral Tribunal through the Permanent Court of Arbitration undoubtedly favours the Philippines (PDF) and is unlikely to end Beijing’s assertive behaviour in the South China Sea. Beijing has …
Russia’s likely to be pleased with the outcomes of the NATO meeting in Warsaw and will certainly not regard their strategic position as weakened. Russia will welcome signs of discord and posturing within both NATO …
Starting as a geographer, Paul Dibb became one of Australia’s great strategists. The discipline of geography is vital to the Dibb understanding of power, strategy and defence planning. For Dibb, geography disciplines strategy in the same …
It was the week that US politics junkies had hung out for—the one where the Republican National Convention circus rolled up to Cleveland for the coronation of Donald J. Trump. While The Donald was finally …