Coronavirus
Europe hasn’t fallen for China – if anything, it’s the opposite
Gains for China’s reputation in Europe from Beijing’s spectacular PR-actions in the fight against the coronavirus will be short-lived. Covid-19 has not shifted the geopolitical…
Missing in action: The G20 in the Covid crisis
As the Covid-19 pandemic deepens, the need for international cooperation to deal with the twin health and economic crises has been highlighted. While much is made of the failings…
The case for the World Health Organisation
International organisations often bear the brunt of the blame when global progress is stalled – whether criticised for sapping the sovereignty of states in the name of common…
Hit hard, could Covid lead Europe to rethink economic policy?
“This is a moment of reconstruction – we need to reinvent ourselves, myself included,” declared French President Emmanuel Macron in a televised address last week, during which he…
The complex consequences of a plunging oil price
Oil made headlines around the world again today, with US oil prices falling below zero for the first time. So what does it mean?
Three perspectives can help to make sense of the…
If this is war, that Zoom call is part of the battle
In recent weeks, several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, have invoked combat-related terms to summarise efforts to…
The phony war ends: PNG’s coronavirus challenge takes shape
For a few weeks it has seemed like PNG might have been engaged in a “phony war” against coronavirus.
Only two cases had been confirmed across the nation of around nine million…
The facts about global trade in face masks, ventilators and test kits
What impact will coronavirus have on economic globalisation, the force that has so momentously changed our world over the last half century?
An early example is the global trade…
Safety of life at sea: Covid‑19 and naval operations
The potential impact of Covid-19 on naval operations has been highlighted by reports that over half of the 2,000-plus sailors aboard the French carrier Charles de Gaulle have…
Commentary
Why Xi will shelter behind the great wall of secrecy
Beijing will oppose an international investigation into the pandemic because accountability would put the one-party system in the dock. Originally published in the Australian…