United States
Ten reasons why Trump will support AUKUS
AUKUS will survive under the next US president regardless of who wins the election in November.Joe Biden’s backing seems a no-brainer, given his administration signed the deal. If…
Analyses
Deterring at a distance: The strategic logic of AUKUS
With regional security anxieties rising, nuclear-powered submarines are the optimal deterrence machines.
Dictator on Day One? Trump’s grand plans for the federal bureaucracy
In his last months as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order with the potential to upend the modern US federal bureaucracy. Known as “Schedule F”, the order laid out…
Back to the future for the US State Department?
Former US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis once quipped that, “if you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition”. In assessing the wrangling over the…
Malcolm Turnbull makes a call to global leaders with advice on Trump
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has told his side of that phone call with Donald Trump before. Don’t give in to a bully is Turnbull’s line. His 2020 memoir goes into some…
The China alibi
The 2024 Lowy Institute Poll makes fascinating reading, not least for the paradigm shift that it shows in attitudes to China. As recently as 2020, the majority of Australians (55%…
Joe Biden should pardon Donald Trump
Donald Trump has run afoul of the rules-based order. And in a manner so-often emblematic of America’s approach to the world, he has pugnaciously declared that the rules don…
The “Squad” is a welcome spin-off, but the Quad is the main game
In light of the successful first-ever US-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit and joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea involving the United States, Japan, Australia, and…
Biden’s new Antarctic statement holds lessons for Australia
US President Joe Biden has used the occasion of this year’s Antarctic Treaty consultative meeting to release a new high-level policy statement on Antarctica. The “National…
Whether EVs or solar panels, protectionism has the same distorting effect
It is commonly agreed that the Biden administration’s recently announced 100% tariff on Chinese made electric cars is entirely symbolic. Already impeded by a 25% tariff, China…