In 2024 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the grassroots collective of Hibakusha and Hibakusha Nisei (first and second generation surviving the atomic bombs). Since forming in 1956, they have urged governments globally to free the earth from weapons of mass destruction, while lobbying for trees, fish, cats, birds and all of Continue reading »
USA
The US decision to send troops to Israel has upended the focus of attention for all those, globally, who have attempted to stop both the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the determination of the current Israeli government to create Eretz Israel: a territory incorporating – at minimum – all Palestinian land now occupied by Israel, Continue reading »
On January 13 this year, Taiwan, amid high hopes in the ruling party, held its quadrennial presidential/vice presidential/legislative election. It was expected to be a very consequential election. Taiwan’s future was said to be at stake. Post-election, the foreign media and Taiwan’s press alike proclaimed that the liberal, pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the Continue reading »
Australia wants to constrain China, but without tying itself to America’s own ambitions and all that might mean. The central strategic axis of the Indo-Pacific region is – and for the foreseeable future, will remain – bipolar: a competition for primacy between the US and China. And while Australia has chosen where it sits, most Continue reading »
Veteran Singapore envoy on what the West gets wrong about China, ASEAN as a bellwether region and why the US should prepare for No. 2 status. You’ve predicted that the geopolitical contest between the US and China is set to intensify and stretch beyond the next decade. However, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan just visited China Continue reading »
With less than two months to go, voters may go to the American polls while their nation is at war. If they do, there is a significant chance that Australia will be dragged in, and in accordance with imperial tradition be sent to fight in the Middle East. There are not many nations, after all, Continue reading »
Launching Cold War 2.0 against a reluctant Beijing while enabling Israel to set fire to an entire region is now official American foreign policy. The premier journal Foreign Affairs is advertising big time about a coming essay by outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – on “Biden’s Foreign Policy Legacy”, or in other words, Continue reading »
The largely unrecognised risk to Australia that our powerful ally will strategically collapse through internal political stresses is greater than the much discussed threat of war with China. Allan Behm, Director, International & Security Affairs Program, The Australia Institute, in conversation with Michael Lester about his new book The Odd Couple: The Australia-America relationship (Upswell Continue reading »