This Month
LA is just the start of Trump’s attack on the ‘enemy within’
Sending the National Guard into LA is the administration’s clearest step yet towards authoritarianism.
Trump tests limits of presidential authority by sending troops into LA
The deployment is the latest effort by the administration to test the limits and force Democrat-run states to follow federal edicts.
March
Shielded JFK files hid spies, not conspiracies
Those who hoped the release of 64,000 pages by the US National Archives would shed more light on the assassination of John F. Kennedy might be disappointed.
January
Trump fires up war on woke
Donald Trump is waging war on DEI policies. Does this mean the defeat of woke – or just another front in the fight?
Trump moves to sack all federal DEI staff in lightning purge
The president also encouraged the US private sector to follow the federal government’s lead and “end illegal DEI discrimination”.
August 2024
‘Gaza’ is the word Democrats dare not whisper in Chicago
Silence is the wisest option for Kamala Harris on a divisive election issue that is harming the global image of the US.
July 2024
Kamala Harris is now fighting in uncharted territory
The Democrats must decide between a coronation of the vice president or a divisive contested convention.
Biden exit leaves markets asking what’s next for ‘Trump trade’
There is little historical data to use for a read on how markets will react. The last sitting president who did not seek a second term was Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
If Joe Biden goes: how would it work – and who would replace him?
The president faces huge pressure to step aside from his campaign. But what would happen next?
A history of political assassination in the US
There have been several instances of political violence targeting US presidents, former presidents and major party presidential candidates.
More shots heard around the world
For Donald Trump, the ‘bully pulpit’ almost became his funeral pyre. And the gulf between his strongman image and Biden’s ongoing struggles is now likely to widen.
What if Joe Biden stays?
A second presidential term that was already burdened with political disadvantage will be incalculably more difficult because of questions about his age.
June 2024
Will Keir Starmer go wobbly on AUKUS?
The fantasy of a post-Brexit “global Britain” is gone, but British Labour says it will be everywhere around the world, and all at once.
February 2024
How America’s high-pressure economy could implode
It’s good for the time being, but you have to wonder what will happen when the valves are released.
How Joe Biden can copy Lyndon Johnson and quit
A bad week for the 81-year-old US president has sparked alarm about his fitness for another White House run.
Can Joe Biden now be convinced to drop out?
Most voters, including supporters of his own party, see the president as too old to run again.
January 2024
History damns John Howard on Iraq war
Even when released, the cabinet documents relating to the 2003 Iraq war will not reveal the impulses that drove John Howard into a disastrous commitment.
December 2023
Henry Kissinger was an inconsistent opportunist
America’s 20th century foreign policy giant and statesman was driven more by domestic considerations than he would ever have admitted.
November 2023
Henry Kissinger, US diplomat and Nobel winner, dies at 100
He was a pivotal US secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, who oversaw America’s involvement in and withdrawal from the war in Vietnam.
Kissinger’s advice to aspiring leaders still holds
The arch foreign policy realist both intrigued and infuriated those around him and so many who have tried to assess his legacy.