This Month
- Opinion
- US Votes 2024
What Trump’s chosen ones tell us about his foreign policy
The way in which America thinks about itself and its international environment has been changing for some years. Trump Redux puts it into sharp relief.
June
- Opinion
- India
Modi’s authoritarianism will make relations with India harder to handle
It would be a tragedy and have adverse implications for the West if India’s struggle for internal harmony were to founder on the rocks of majoritarian elective autocracy.
March
- Opinion
- Vietnam
Comprehensive upgrade puts Australia in Vietnam’s top tier
Diplomatic relations have come a long way from when we opened our first embassy in Hanoi – a bedraggled couple of hotel rooms with lino floors in the war-ravaged city.
February
- Opinion
- Indonesian election
Indonesia’s Prabowo finally steps from the shadows
Prabowo Subianto has been the coming man for a long time. That will shape how the likely winner of Indonesia’s presidential election will govern.
December 2023
- Opinion
- India
State sanctioned killings are not the image of India we are used to
It is still to the good that India’s image here of cricket, the Commonwealth and bling is fading. But some sides of that change are not an unalloyed blessing.
July 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Foreign policy must focus on ‘the rest’, not just team West
Most of our neighbours are part of the Global South. It follows that a serious appreciation of – and policy response to – its concerns would benefit our regional interests.
- Opinion
- Indonesia
Indonesia could help bring China and America back from the brink
If the country moves away from fence-sitting neutrality, Indonesia would no longer be a small big country, but a large big one.
June 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Albanese will find the region’s most enigmatic player in Vietnam
The country has unique standing in Asia: the country watched most closely by Beijing and Washington to see which way it is tilting.
May 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
India doesn’t share our world view
New Delhi will never involve itself in any US confrontation with China that did not threaten its own security. It is guided by what it thinks is best for India.
April 2023
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
We must work to manage the second cold war, lest it turns hot
The first cold war had the finest minds on both sides working to reduce tensions. We need to learn from the differences between that confrontation and this one.
March 2023
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Australia’s diplomacy needs more talk, less chest beating
The government’s muscular security policy should not overshadow its diplomatic work to diminish the risk of hostilities.
November 2022
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Anthony Albanese can set the right tone in Asian relations
Nine days of international summitry will be an important test of the Prime Minister’s low-key listening style.
September 2022
- Opinion
- World politics
India’s Modi is a rising geopolitical force
The focus in Samarkand was on Putin and Xi. But it was India’s prime minister who played his cards most shrewdly.
August 2022
- Opinion
- Taiwan
How can US and China step back from rolling crises?
The problem now is that the Taiwan turmoil will be the backdrop to the next crisis that comes along.
July 2022
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Albanese must be a global prime minister
Since we developed our own foreign policies after World War II, we have never been lazy as international players – but we always tended to run out of puff.
May 2022
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Two foreign policy mind-sets that Labor must now adopt
Prime Minister Albanese has swiftly left for the Quad summit in Tokyo. But getting the instincts right on overseas relations means more than any to-do lists.
March 2022
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
India must be clear about Ukraine
New Delhi’s reluctance to condemn Russian behaviour puts at risk its best chances of managing the rise of China with like-minded neighbours.
February 2022
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Australia’s foreign policy task has just got much harder
A generation of peace between major nations is ending. That has profound consequences for Australians and their foreign policy choices too.
January 2022
- Opinion
- Ukraine
Why the West cannot afford defeat in Ukraine
If Putin does achieve regime change through military means, NATO will lose and the West’s global reputation will take a big tumble.
December 2021
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
It’s time for Australia to be a ‘smart power’ country
AUKUS shows the Morrison government’s hard power mindset. But getting the balance right with soft power assets is essential to further the national interest.