The Trump Presidency
Is the US economy at full employment?
After the painfully slow recovery from the 2008 great Recession, US unemployment is now 4.4%, well below the level commonly regarded as 'full employment'. This would suggest that…
Commentary
Trump's hollow strategy in the Middle East
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review (Photo: Flickr/The White House) Rodger Shanahan
'Dizzy with Success': What Putin thinks of the Trump ascendancy
Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a brilliantly successful 12 months, notching up an impressive series of wins.
In the Middle East there has been war and treasure. Putin's…
Can the US capitalise on the quiet realignment between Israel and the Gulf States?
President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel and his much-hyped speech to Arab and Islamic leaders in Riyadh on Sunday portend a new phase of US engagement with the…
For Trump, the Watergate analogies run deep
US President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey has left commentators grasping for Watergate analogies. The 'Saturday Night Massacre' of October 1973 has…
Trump’s Middle East tour: Status quo reset
President Donald Trump’s upcoming Middle East tour, his first international trip since assuming office in January, will take him to the heart of the three monotheistic faiths,…
Erdogan leaves Trump empty-handed
The language at the press conference following their meeting earlier this week may have been conciliatory, but there is no masking the tensions between US President Donald Trump…
Trump and the Russians: Why the ‘leak of the leak’ is so damaging
As more details emerge about Donald Trump’s meeting with a Russian delegation last week, it appears that the worst fears of Israel’s intelligence agencies have been realised…
How a presidential prerogative can become a national security risk
President Trump’s cavalier approach to handling sensitive intelligence and security matters, revealed by the Washington Post recently, is causing more than ripples both…
Trumponomics: The art of the trade deal
President’s Trump’s trade policies are still evolving, but they are turning out to be rather different from his pre-election rhetoric. Concerns about an all-out trade war are…