This Month
Leaders depart UN empty-handed, facing wider Middle East war
There was no expectation of major breakthroughs at the annual gathering of presidents, premiers and other leaders. There rarely is. But this year was especially grim.
- Edith Lederer and Jennifer Peltz
September
Austrian far right wins vote, but won’t form government
Despite the Freedom Party winning the most votes for the first time in a national election, its leader, Herbert Kickl, appears unlikely to play a role in the next cabinet.
- Marton Eder and Jonathan Tirone
- Exclusive
- Asia-Pacific
Japan’s new ambassador has high hopes for closer ties
In an interview, Kazuhiro Suzuki says the two countries are “indispensable” to achieving peace and prosperity in a region where the shadow of China looms large.
- James Curran
- Opinion
- Japan
Japan and Australia face a turning point in world history
Tokyo and Canberra back a free and open international order against unilateral attempts to coerce, says a contender in Japan’s prime ministerial race.
- Yoko Kamikawa
- Opinion
- South China Sea
Why the Philippines is the new China flashpoint
Most people have never heard of the Sabina Shoal, but it’s become the latest global testing ground for confrontation with China. Will it trigger broader conflict?
- Jennifer Hewett
Scholz alliance humbled as populists surge in regional votes
With a year to go until Germany’s national election, the results are punishing for Olaf Scholz’s federal coalition.
- Updated
- Michael Nienaber and Arne Delfs
August
Push into Russia is to create a buffer zone: Zelensky
The incursion has proven Ukraine’s ability to seize the initiative and has boosted its morale, which was sapped by a failed counter-offensive last year.
- Robyn Dixon
Ukrainian commander details captured Russian territory
Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting.
- Samya Kullab
Russia evacuates another border region amid threats from Ukraine
Russia has imposed a sweeping security regime in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, while ally Belarus says it is bolstering troop numbers at its border.
- Guy Faulconbridge and Lidia Kelly
July
Armed kidnapper, Nazi sympathiser: Meet France’s far-right candidates
The far-right’s National Rally party acknowledges a few “infected sheep” among its candidates as it stands on the threshold of power in France.
- Diane Jeantet
- Analysis
- AUKUS
AUKUS future is resting on belief alone
Defence and government figures brim with confidence over Australia’s nuclear submarine program, but there’s no Plan B and – to some – there’s an air of desperation.
- James Curran
June
- Opinion
- UK
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.
- James Curran
Tea, tarts and tears: My trip to France to honour a secret
It took one brave family and the silence of an entire town to protect this writer’s mother during the German occupation. This is what happened when she went to meet them.
- Rose-Anne Manns
US targets Houthi radar sites after sailor goes missing
The attacks come as the US Navy faces the most intense combat it has seen since World War II in trying to counter the Houthi campaign.
- Jon Gambrell
- Opinion
- World elections
Europe’s real threat is not the far-right
The populists who won big at Europe’s weekend elections are blind to the bloc’s severe economic decline, especially compared to Asia and the US.
- Updated
- Max Hastings
- Opinion
- The AFR View
New age of war hangs over D-Day memories
If the democracies want to avoid the kind of sacrifices endured by the D-Day generation, then they need to show more resolve than they have.
- The AFR View
- Analysis
- International affairs
Biden warns of new war as D-Day remembered
This might be the last significant D-Day anniversary to involve living veterans. But it’s the first to be overshadowed by a European territorial war.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
‘We will not walk away’: Allies return to the D-Day beaches
As world leaders gathered in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, US President Joe Biden warned against surrendering to dictators.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- East Asia Forum
History will judge the new era of US protectionism harshly
The unseemly contest by Joe Biden and Donald Trump to outdo each other in trade protectionism will make the world become less prosperous and more unpredictable.
- Gary Hufbauer
May
- Opinion
- Review
Why we commemorate D-Day 80 years on
The Red Army did most of the dying and killing necessary to smash Hitler’s Wehrmacht but the Normandy landings were the decisive military event of war in the West.
- Max Hastings