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foreign policy
International
Prescient president
Mike Steketee
8 March 2024
On the Middle East, renewable energy, American power and much else, Jimmy Carter was ahead of his time
Books & arts
Spiky questions about the US alliance
Hamish McDonald
26 August 2023
A seasoned analyst outlines the strategy Australia should have debated before the latest bout of defence spending
Books & arts
Enigmatic pariah
Hamish McDonald
10 August 2023
Two years after their return to power, the Taliban aren’t living up to many of their promises — and the West’s disengagement isn’t helping
National affairs
Quad erat demonstrandum?
Hamish McDonald
31 July 2023
A group of Japanese foreign policy experts has a message for the Australian government
Books & arts
Fire, ash and official secrecy
Graeme Dobell
5 June 2023
The authorised history of Australia’s role in East Timor’s 1999–2000 crisis reveals as much about Canberra as it does about Dili
Books & arts
Speaking to the world
Rowan Callick
21 January 2023
An account of the fluctuating fortunes of Radio Australia ends on an optimistic note
Essays & reportage
From messiah to mortal
Mike Steketee
20 September 2022
Forty years ago, another Labor government embarked on its first term in office
National affairs
Why an invasion of Taiwan would fail
John Quiggin
14 September 2022
Russia’s disastrous miscalculations in Ukraine show why an invasion of Taiwan would be a grave mistake
Essays & reportage
Diplomacy on the defensive
Hamish McDonald
7 September 2022
Has the Australian Strategic Policy Institute been pushed off course by the China hawks?
International
Jostling giants
John Edwards
30 November 2021
Does America really need a novel strategy to counter China’s rise?
International
Lest we forget Afghanistan
Hamish McDonald
12 November 2021
Bad decisions on both sides are getting in the way of any moves to recognise the new regime in Kabul
National affairs
China can easily manage a property crash. That’s the problem
Adam Triggs
12 October 2021
The Chinese government’s power to control the fallout from a property crash is a reminder of just how far it has to go — and how far it has gone backwards — in freeing its…
National affairs
An intersection society no more?
Carol Johnson
4 October 2021
Australia’s retreat to the Anglosphere has implications beyond defence and trade
National affairs
Signing up
Hamish McDonald
19 September 2021
Has Australia committed itself to going to war over Taiwan? (And other awkward questions about this week’s submarine switch)
International
Our enemy’s enemy
Hamish McDonald
27 August 2021
Yesterday’s bombings in Kabul underline the choices facing Western countries
International
From Korea to Kabul, and beyond
Andy Butfoy
23 August 2021
If the past is any guide, failure in Afghanistan won’t end Washington’s military activism
National affairs
The problem with “geoeconomics”
Adam Triggs
3 August 2021
When security masquerades as economics, the result is a poorer and less secure society
International
“Not doing something is itself a statement”
Hamish McDonald
16 July 2021
Australia is still making up its mind how to respond to the coup in Myanmar
Books & arts
Beijing blackout
Mark Baker
21 May 2021
The departure of Australia’s last correspondents from Beijing has made a volatile situation worse
From the archive
Lonely evenings at the photocopier
Rodney Tiffen
17 May 2021
Two leaks, two contrasting sequences of events — how Daniel Ellsberg and Chelsea Manning changed the course of history
National affairs
Is China’s claim to Taiwan approaching its end game?
Hamish McDonald
30 April 2021
And what would that mean for Australia?
From the archive
Signing up for an invasion
Tom Hyland
16 April 2021
How did two very different leaders — Tony Blair and John Howard — come to join George W. Bush’s “march of folly”?
International
The Americans are coming
Nic Maclellan
15 April 2021
Fearful of growing Chinese influence, the Trump White House pledged increased engagement with the Pacific islands. Will Joe Biden follow suit?
Books & arts
When great friends are no help
John Edwards
10 February 2021
Books
| Australia’s decision to join the United States in competition with China has backfired damagingly
National affairs
Turning away from Indonesia
Edward Aspinall
14 December 2020
Signs suggest that Australia hasn’t learned from its experience with China
International
Joe Biden’s foreign policy dilemma
Barbara Keys
24 November 2020
Will the new president do more than simply return to the policies of the past?
National affairs
Where the fight against Covid-19 will be won or lost
Adam Triggs
23 November 2020
Years of progress in reducing poverty will be wasted if we don’t change how financial markets treat developing countries during the pandemic
National affairs
Higher authorities
Hamish McDonald
20 November 2020
Who is being helped by the continuing pressure on Bernard Collaery and Witness K?
National affairs
Winging it to Japan
Hamish McDonald
18 November 2020
A new defence agreement with Japan raises as many questions as it answers
National affairs
Weighing the costs of war
Paul Barratt
12 November 2020
With the federal government appointing a special war crimes prosecutor, it’s time to confront broader questions about armed interventions
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