Diplomacy
Diplomatic immunity: Time to change the rules
The current diplomatic spat between the United Kingdom and the United States, following a fatal road accident involving the wife of a US “diplomat”, draws attention, yet again, to…
Is the Qatar blockade ruining the country’s sporting goals?
The World Athletics Championships in Qatar wrapped up on the weekend, but only the most parochial of organisers would boast it as a success. It featured athletes retiring due to…
An educated idealist is still a believer
Book review: The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir, by Samantha Power (Harper Collins 2019)
Samantha Power, an Irish immigrant whose tenacity and intellect earned her a place at…
Korea-Japan tensions, as seen in the suburbs of Brisbane
On the weekend of 24–25 August, the Brisbane City Council painted over a freshly-completed mural of a Korean statue on a traffic signal box. The mural had been approved…
Leaders’ communiqués: Do we need them anymore?
This year’s summit season in global diplomacy is in full swing. The G20 and G7 leaders’ meetings are done and dusted, as is the Pacific Islands Forum. Preparations for the East…
How the US keeps priority boarding ahead of Iran at the United Nations
The US decision to impose travel restrictions on Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif when he made a visit to UN headquarters in New York for a 17 July meeting inflamed already…
Who wants to be a peacemaker?
The candidates for two non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for 2021–22 are now in, with three countries heading to the final stage to gather support and…
Macron tries to put the spark back into the G7
Never one to shy from lofty goals, French President Emmanuel Macron used the G7 summit in the French seaside town of Biarritz to make tenuous first steps in rejuvenating the West…
A middle-power moment
“Small states like Singapore can do little to influence the big powers, but we are not entirely without agency.” When Lee Hsien Loong delivered his keynote at the Shangri-La…
Sheer stupidity and diplomatic damage from ugly Aussies abroad
Australia is known as a great export nation, but one of its least successful and most tenacious exports has again surfaced this week. In a video that appears to have “gone viral”,…