Having worked in all developing countries in East Asia and several in South Asia (World Bank definition), I am very conscious of the value of soft power. Australia is a very small country in all aspects except size and my experience has been that soft power is the best way of expressing our good intentions. Continue reading »
International Relations
The two biggest television events of the year so far in the United States have been the all-cable-all-streaming-live-chopper-coverage of Donald Trump’s motorcade from Mar-a-Lago to the courtroom in Manhattan where he became the first former president to be indicted. And, in Succession, the death of media mogul Logan Roy on his plane en route to Continue reading »
When I first visited New York last September, I did not anticipate being physically assaulted in broad daylight within my first 24 hours in the country. In the short time I was in New York, I was sexually harassed and discriminated against multiple times, setting a precedent to be mindful of my safety. Almost six Continue reading »
When there has been so much loose talk about what would be a catastrophic war between the world’s two major powers, it is both significant and welcome that Foreign Minister Penny Wong has authoritatively stated her position that the Asia-Pacific is a multipolar region, and that this is Australia’s national policy at this time. In Continue reading »
In the Csergo case the big question is: does the prosecution have any evidence of a real crime and not just a breach of the ridiculous Reckless Foreign Interference law? How dangerous is it to meet a couple of foreigners and have a private cup of coffee? Can you quickly turn to your phone, do Continue reading »
The world, we have a problem. It is Houston. America is out of control, and is the main threat to the world’s peace, security and civilizations. America is out of control in its prosecution of war. No nation has loved war more, hot or cold. It has waged war in all but 17 years of Continue reading »
The countries where it’s not safe for Australians to travel have multiplied, but not because of COVID. They include the places where we fought the war on terror. Twenty years ago Australia joined the US ‘coalition of the willing’ to invade Iraq. One reason for doing that, our leaders said, was to remove Saddam Hussein’s Continue reading »
P&I Editorial: Conflicts of interest at the heart of AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) – including the principal author of the DSR benefitting from US State Department funding designed to build support for AUKUS and the US alliance – demand independent investigation. Australia’s independently-led Defence Strategic Review will shortly be released to the Continue reading »
From his stronghold at Princeton University, Sheldon Wolin watched his political system collapse. In the latter days of his life, Wolin erupted into utter despair. His final testimony was heartbreaking: America had become ‘the showcase of how democracy can be managed without appearing to be suppressed.’ No opinion critical of the set-up is in any Continue reading »
The implication of AUKUS is that China constitutes a danger to Australian security. It borders on official Australian policy that China is an aggressive power bent on domination. But the history of the People’s Republic suggests its military is for defence, not aggression and that the cases where it has used external military force are Continue reading »