Global Issues
The Beirut explosion and the plight of Syrian refugees
When you have the privilege of working in international relations, there are some experiences that stay with you for life. There are the places you go and the people you meet…
A force to combat climate change?
The Defence Strategic Update 2020 has provoked a significant amount of debate in Australia. The reaction across the Tasman in New Zealand has been much more subdued, but Defence…
The invisible during the pandemic
Recently in Singapore, several migrant workers attempted suicide at their dormitories, with at least one death. According to the authorities, some of them did so because they…
The way to post-Covid recovery in the Indo-Pacific? Act now
Australia plans to spend a lot more on defence to confront what Prime Minister Scott Morrison says will be “a post-COVID world that is poorer, that is more dangerous, and that is…
Covid and crime: Twin tests for Papua New Guinea
There must be days when Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner David Manning wonders what he has signed himself up for.
On Friday night, he revealed that his officers had found a…
Defending Australia in a high-tech future
The recently announced $270 billion commitment to expand Australia’s military capability sets the tone for a deteriorating strategic environment. The 2020 Defence Strategic Update…
Melbourne or Washington, all politics is local, again
We all see the world through our own eyes. But this truism is so often forgotten.
In Melbourne, where I live, a curfew has just been imposed, businesses shuttered, troops are…
Under the influence: Peddling conspiracy in a pandemic
Celebrity sells – it always has. But in the digital age, the boundaries of celebrity have changed. Once it was the prerogative of movie, sports or music stars to front a fashion…
Commentary
Inside China's coronavirus response
If Beijing had been open about its own early failings, instead of triumphantly promoting its later achievements, China’s global image might have been enhanced by the crisis…
COVIDcast: Looking at China from the grassroots, with Dexter Roberts
In this episode of COVIDcast, Lowy Institute senior fellow Richard McGregor sat down with Dexter Roberts to discuss his new book, The Myth of Chinese Capitalism: The Worker, The…