Diplomacy
A looming succession crisis in Oman and Saudi Arabia
When King Salman bin Abdulaziz succeeded King Abdullah last month, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia edged one step closer towards a succession crisis.
US Secretary of State John Kerry…
Brisbane a 'turning point' in Merkel-Putin relationship
When Chancellor Angela Merkel's gave the annual Lowy Lecture in November the day after the end of the G20 Summit in Brisbane, The Guardian (UK) called it a 'major shift in…
India nuclear deal needs serious parliamentary scrutiny
The Australian parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) will soon review the proposed treaty between Australia and India on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of…
How Chinese media covered Obama's State of the Union
In his State of the Union address on Wednesday, President Obama mentioned China a total of three times.
One was to praise China's commitment to cut carbon emissions. The second…
Australia and UN peacekeeping: Time for a reset
The UN is the go-to organisation for virtually every forgotten international crisis.
While the West has struggled on in Afghanistan and Iraq, the UN and its peacekeeping missions…
Freedom of the press in Fiji under pressure
Fiji held its highly anticipated election in September 2014, but does that make it a democracy?
There's much more to a functioning democratic system than people putting a mark…
Australia must push for regional adoption of Arms Trade Treaty
On 24 December 2014, two decades of campaigning and several years of negotiations culminated in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) entering into force as an internationally legally…
New Zealand's UN Security Council debut: Peace in the Middle East
One of Australia's last acts on the UN Security Council was to vote against a resolution being brought by the Palestinian Authority.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel…
The need for civil resistance to terrorism
More than three million people took to the streets of French cities last weekend in a unprecedented public response to an act of politically motivated violence.
It made me think…
What I got wrong in 2014, and what I got right
January should be called pundit accountability month. On websites such as this, we make all sorts of predictions and forecasts, or we identify structural trends or leadership…