Echoes and omens abound as Australia steps in to stop riot, arson and looting in a South Pacific capital. Honiara offers a reprise of previous tragedy that’s a grim foretaste of the future facing Melanesia. …
Karl Marx claimed, ‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce’, suggesting that failing to learn from experience tells something about those in power. At the first repeat, all the ensuing misfortunes are tragic …
In offering security and economic integration to the South Pacific, Australia is starting gently with small steps. The soft-and-slow approach to integration has the best chance of success, because South Pacific states will embrace the …
The Australian government has tabled the text of the security agreement it signed with (former) Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare during his visit to Australia in August this year. The agreement has been billed …
Australia spent years saying no to a central role in the mounting crisis in Solomon Islands. Then, in 2003, Canberra did a huge U-turn and led the intervention that ran for 14 years and ended …