Global Issues
'LOpht' and the inherent vulnerabilities of the internet
Over the past month The Washington Post has published an awesome series on the internet's inherent vulnerabilities, and how its founders never envisioned its users 'attacking one…
Five points that get lost about the Greek debt crisis
Rather than focus on the blow-by-blow developments of the umpteenth meeting in the Greek crisis, here are some higher level issues that often get lost in the summitry din:
At…
MRC bows out of Don Sahong discussions
There has been little news of the much criticised proposed dam at Don Sahong in the far south of Laos since the beginning of the year, when the Mekong River Commission (MRC)…
How America failed the Waterloo test
Two hundred years ago last Friday, British and allied troops defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Exiled in April 1814 to Elba after his defeat by the Sixth Coalition, by March 1815…
Liberalism, China and the internet
'It's not that laws aren't relevant' said MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte during the 1990s, 'it's that the nation-state is not relevant...The internet cannot be…
Lowy poll: On China and energy, Australia maintains its sunny disposition
Overall, Australians continue to feel secure in the face of rising instability in the world and terrorism threats at home, according to the latest Lowy Institute poll.
But that…
Not appy in Melanesia
Everyone's talking about mobile phone apps. In Australia, apps are becoming a part of everyday life. You can check for real-time updates on your bus route, assess your alcohol…
The road to Paris: Ten days and counting
The latest round of negotiations for the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change closed in Bonn last Friday with mixed results. With ten formal negotiating days left until…
Indonesia under SBY: Stability, stagnation, or both?
'What's in a name?' Shakespeare's Juliet asks. Quite a lot, as things turned out for her. And so it is for the just-published proceedings of the ANU Indonesian Update, titled The…
Still debating inequality, 40 years on
Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-first Century put inequality centre-stage in the economic debate. But the topic has been around for a long while. Brookings has recently…