The year of the ox has begun darkly for the people of Hong Kong. On 16 February, nine pro-democracy activists, including 82-year-old Martin Lee, the revered long-time leader of the city’s Democratic Party, went on …
The pandemic has geopolitical and geoeconomics equivalents. Disruption all around, amid the end of the old global order. The central truths that set the topography of Australian grand strategy in Asia—the four compass points—haven’t fallen, …
‘[The government of the Russian Federation is] a government that murders its citizens for highlighting corruption and other abuses.’ — Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act of 2020, bill introduced to US Senate, 3 February …
Debate over fitness tests in US Army With efforts underway in the US Army to re-examine its combat fitness test, Captain Kristen Griest, one of the few women to graduate from US Army Ranger School …
In a recent letter to her G20 colleagues, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen argued that a truly global Covid-19 vaccination program ‘is the strongest stimulus we can provide to the global economy.’ With rich countries …
Australia’s war against organised crime has hotted up. The arrest of accused drug lord Tse Chi Lop and allegations of large-scale money laundering in Australian casinos have exposed to the public the deep economic connections …
On 15 February, Canada launched the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, a global initiative that aims to raise awareness and stop the practice of arbitrary detention. The Strategist’s Brendan Nicholson speaks with Margaret …
The successful first flight of Boeing Australia’s ‘loyal wingman’ uncrewed aircraft opens up a new path for the Royal Australian Air Force as it moves into its second century. The drone is part of the …
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, although something of an unknown quantity prior to his appointment, is already showing promising signs of stepping into the foreign policy breach left by his predecessor, Shinzo Abe. Some international …
A national survey conducted at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic indicated that Australian governments’ handling of the crisis had considerably increased Australians’ faith in their governments. This is reassuring, yet the threat from Covid-19 …
When the authors of the 2017 independent intelligence review recommended that a ‘suitably qualified person’ review the legislative framework of Australia’s intelligence community, they probably had in mind someone like Justice Robert Marsden Hope, whose …
One of the joys of fatherhood is being reacquainted with the fairy tales and fables of youth. Such stories endure because behind their superficial narratives lies an important moral theme that can apply widely. As …
President Joe Biden has shaken up the Middle East, putting America’s allies on notice and warning its adversaries not to take his administration for granted. He has revealed the traditional carrot-and-stick approach to promote American …
The harsh sentence handed down to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who was found guilty of influence peddling, confirms anew an ancient truth of politics. Even in the world’s most firmly entrenched democracies, corruption remains …
An evergreen question posed by ministers and commentators in Australia is why we haven’t seen government operations and service delivery shift to a more agile, cloud-based system. Late last year, Matt Yannopolous, head of the …
With the ongoing gloom hanging around Australia’s future submarine program and signs that the future frigate is facing some big problems, it’s great to see some good news out of the Defence Department and its …
The 2019 Christchurch massacre woke Australians up to the intent of right-wing extremists and their capability to act on violent ideologies. Covid-19 has left many young Australians isolated and vulnerable to the far-right’s hate messaging, …
Sea state Prime Minister Scott Morrison ordered two senior naval officers to research alternatives to Australia’s $90 billion submarine contract with France’s Naval Group. Naval Group is yet to finalise its commitment to spend 60% …
When China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, recently called for a reset of bilateral relations with the United States, a White House spokesperson replied that the US saw the relationship as one of strong competition that …
If the premises about Australian soft power in Indonesia treated in the first two parts of this series don’t jar, nor should the premise of this final one. It’s that we have little reason to …