The Australian government’s underreaction to China’s ongoing naval circumnavigation of Australia is a bigger problem than any perceived overreaction in public commentary. Some politicisation of the issue before a general election is natural in a …
Artificial intelligence is becoming commonplace in electoral campaigns and politics across Southeast Asia, but the region is struggling to regulate it. Indonesia’s 2024 general election exposed actual harms of AI-driven politics and overhyped concerns that …
The risk of China spiralling into an unprecedentedly prolonged recession is increasing. Its economy is experiencing deflation, with the price level falling for a second consecutive year in 2024, according to recent data from the …
China’s not-so-subtle attempt at gunboat diplomacy over the past two weeks has encountered various levels of indignation in Australia and throughout the region. Many have pointed out that the passage of a three-ship naval task …
With Donald Trump back in the White House, Washington is operating under a hard-nosed, transactional framework in which immediate returns rather than shared values measure alliances. For Australia, this signals a need to rethink its …
Forty years ago, in a seminal masterpiece titled Amusing Ourselves to Death, US author Neil Postman warned that we had entered a brave new world in which people were enslaved by television and other technology-driven …
Donald Trump and JD Vance’s verbal assault on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office will mark 28 February 2025 as an infamous moment in US and world history. The United States is rapidly …
Northern Australia’s liquid fuel infrastructure is the backbone of defence capability, national resilience, and economic prosperity. Yet, it faces mounting pressure from increasing demand, supply chain vulnerabilities and logistical fragilities. Fuel security is not just …
Democracies and authoritarian states are battling over the future of the internet in a little-known UN process. The United Nations is conducting a 20-year review of its World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a …
The deployment of a Chinese naval task group in our region is clearly aimed at sending a message and testing Australia’s responses—not only on the military front, but socially and politically. The worst misstep would …
Could 23 February 2025 become known as Europe’s Independence Day? It might as well be if the winner of Germany’s election, Friedrich Merz, has his way. It was striking that Merz, the quintessential German Atlanticist …
The United States’ refusal to sign the recent AI Action Summit declaration should be seen as a strategic shift rather than a diplomatic snub to the rest of the world. AI is as much about …
Taiwan is among nations pioneering the adoption of hyperscale cloud services to achieve national digital resilience. The island faces two major digital threats: digital isolation, in which international connectivity is intentionally severed or significantly degraded …
Japan’s Mogami class is clearly the best choice for Australia’s general-purpose frigate program. Compared with its very capable competitor, the Meko A-200 from Germany, the Mogami design needs a smaller crew, offers deeper magazines and …
The United States is a secure power. Situated in a hemispheric citadel, and protected by wide oceans, the US could comfortably withdraw from being the arbiter of the geopolitical fate of Eurasia and still enjoy …
Announced on 14 February, Meta’s Project Waterworth is not just proposed to be the world’s longest submarine cable but reflects ever-shifting geopolitical and geoeconomic landscapes. It presents a great opportunity for Australia to collaborate more …
Will US President Donald Trump be able to forge a peace between Russia and Ukraine, or are we facing a repetition of the infamous Munich Agreement? When Britain and France forced Czechoslovakia to cede the …
It’s not just technical naval capability. Australia has persuasive geostrategic and industrial reasons for choosing Japan over Germany as its partner in building as many as 11 general-purpose frigates in a priority defence program. The …
Is the United States now trying to lose the technology race with China? It certainly seems to be. The race is tight, and now the Trump administration is slashing funding for the three national institutions …
Governments are outraged, industry leaders are keeping a low profile, and economists and analysts are confused as they work to understand how the Trump administration’s approach can make the United States simultaneously safer, stronger and …