Global Issues
Kofi Annan: a leader with compassion
Those concerned with global peace and justice are grieving the death of Kofi Annan.
Annan was elected UN Secretary-General in 1996 after a vigorously contested election campaign…
Electric vehicles and industrial policy
A dramatic shift is underway in the global automotive market. Electric vehicles (EVs), once viewed as toys, are gaining momentum.
There are now more than 4 million electric…
Working with China on Pacific climate change
The recent release of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map has relieved some “strategic anxiety” around China’s growing influence in the Pacific islands. Beijing…
Drones, clones, and camera phones
Public surveillance has proven to be of great value for a host of public-order interests, from traffic management in large cities to provision of vital intelligence and evidence…
Perspectives on “rules-based international order”
I have a game I like to play when listening to speeches on international affairs. I make myself a bingo grid featuring the phrases most overused currently, and mark them off. (I…
BRICS and mortar
As far as international groupings go, BRICS was always considered head-scratchingly strange: a disparate group of nations with very little to link them, whether it be …
Japan floods a warning for a changed climate
The scenes in Japan in the wake of torrential rain that has caused landslides and widespread flooding are heartbreaking. The rains have been described as unprecedented, and…
Immigration links: Mediterranean sea rescues, more
At the Overseas Development Institute, Marta Foresti writes about the need to look for ways to “do migration differently”. Foresti argues that recent migration-related news such…
The photos that go down in history
The photograph from the G7 summit at La Malbaie, Canada, released recently on Instagram by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s team, had the internet buzzing. Jesco Denzel…
Exceptional access: Australia’s encryption laws
The Australian Government will soon unveil contentious national security legislation granting law enforcement exceptional access under warrant to the encrypted data of suspected…