Asia
Pipe dreams: Turning an interconnected ASEAN gas market into a reality
The development began in the 1960s when the Southeast Asian natural gas sector grew significantly after discoveries in Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia. In the decades that followed…
The Moon: The great game on new turf
There is something about humans and land. Even in the age of virtual reality, humans clamour for territory. When songs of hyper-globalisation were trending, Russia reinforced that…
Thailand’s monarchy: Heirs and spares
Last week, two of four King Vajiralongkorn’s estranged sons made an unprecedented visit to Thailand from their homes in the United States, their first in decades.
Their…
The constrained ambition of Australia’s new development policy
The Australian government has released a new international development policy. Like all such policies, on its own it will not dramatically change the nature or performance of…
Are Western intelligence agencies “fuelling an armed rebellion” in Myanmar?
For decades, Myanmar’s generals have been convinced that they are under attack from foreign intelligence agencies, which they believe operate secretly within the country and…
Overseas Filipino workers toil for the Marcos government’s bottom line
Standing to deliver a “State of the Nation Address” last month, a year after assuming office, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr triumphantly announced he had solved a …
Iran’s lithium lode: A potential strategic game-changer
Iran’s recent unearthing of a vast lithium deposit – potentially the world’s second largest – has sent shockwaves through the global lithium competition landscape. Amid the…
Sri Lanka’s deep debt bind
Sri Lanka today exists in a no man’s land between debt restructure and default. In late June, the government released its proposed domestic debt restructure deal, which in turn…
For America’s atomic bomb legacy, the past is present
Over the past few weeks, Oppenheimer, the Hollywood biopic about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”, has earned more than US$425 million at the box…
What four upcoming elections in South Asia mean for Australia
If relatively few Australian observers pay much attention to the countries of South Asia, even fewer spend time thinking about the domestic politics of these nations. But…