December 2024
How Assad hoodwinked a naive West
Bashar al-Assad, Putin, Gaddafi – the free world too often gets its hopes up about despots.
April 2024
‘At the end of the day, we’re Aussies’: Assyrians assess church attack
For Sydney’s tight-knit Assyrian community, Monday’s terrorist attack in a church was confronting and triggering for a long-persecuted people.
March 2024
Things have gone terribly wrong in Gaza. They could get worse soon
There is only one thing worse for Israel, not to mention Palestinians, than a Gaza controlled by Hamas: That’s a Gaza where nobody is in charge.
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.
John Pilger, controversial campaigning journalist, dead at 84
John Pilger, who has died aged 84, was a journalist and documentary maker for whom the word uncompromising might have been invented.
November 2023
Why we’re still in love with the toxic myth of the ‘Great Man’
The theory that history is defined by alpha males feels unfashionable and offensive – but we can’t let it go.
July 2022
The rapid rise of Britain’s new chancellor
The rapid rise of Mr Johnson’s latest choice to run the Treasury began in November 2020 when he was called on to oversee the UK’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccine.
October 2021
Powell, a statesman who influenced the course of the Iraq war
Colin Powell, 84, who died COVID-19 complications, rose from humble origins in Harlem to become the US Secretary of State during tumultuous times marked by war.
August 2021
Afghanistan and the tragic verdict on post-9/11 America
At each point in the story after the 2001 terrorist attacks, big US decisions have been based on conditions on the ground – the ground in Washington, that is.
July 2021
Netflix’s How to Become a Tyrant is like a YouTube manual
This six-part show reminds us that the alternatives to democracy aren’t as appealing as we might think.
Rumsfeld: a cunning leader who oversaw a ruinous Iraq war
For all former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s achievements, it was the setbacks in Iraq that will likely etch the most vivid features of his legacy.
March 2021
How everyday objects become powerful protest symbols
The most unlikely items and gestures, from peace signs to shoes, rubber ducks and pink woolly hats, can become highly potent signals of dissent.
July 2020
Did a GPS bought in Australia help spark the Iraq war?
Former PM John Howard has played down the significance of a New York Times report that intelligence gathered in Australia helped galvanise George W Bush.
June 2020
Culture wars cancel the past and present
The urge to succumb to the authoritarian impetus of a vengeful mob is much the same. No shades of grey, no sense of nuance and certainly no sense of humour allowed.
January 2020
Iran attack most direct on US since 1979
Iran fired a series of rockets at two US-Iraqi air bases, the Pentagon said, in what appeared to be the first Iranian response to the killing of General Qassem Soleimani by American forces last week.
America should drop the ‘Dr Evil fallacy’ on assassination
Taking out a famous bad guy almost never yields lasting gains in US security or influence, which are the usual measures of foreign-policy success.
Trump vows to hit 52 targets if Iran retaliates
US President Donald Trump has shown no signs of seeking to ease tensions raised by the strike he ordered on Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader.
November 2019
Are our politicians a security risk?
Should spooks vet the reliability of parliamentarians? It's not clear that doing so would benefit our democracy.