By 2030 ASEAN is projected to be the world’s fourth-largest economic bloc.

Where the South China Sea was once the big ticket item for the bloc's summits, this weekend was dominated by another lingering regional flashpoint – North Korea.

This weeks links include the Rwandan election, how MDBs are responding to climate change, and modern day slavery in the Thai fishing industry.

One day, many fear that 'one country, two systems' will vanish and Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city.

There are both disturbing and perplexing elements to the Islamic State-supported terrorist plot to blow up an airliner departing from Sydney.

It is one thing to be a valued and trusted ally; another matter entirely to be taken for granted.

The future of Polish politics, a new Defence Secretary, the North Korean travel ban and more.

There is a counter-narrative emerging in Europe’s approach to irregular migration, even as EU governments seek ways to discourage desperate journeys to Italy.

Poland's politics seems to have come full circle, with ever lower levels of incivility and cleavages cutting ever deeper across society.

If businesses and other aspiring innovators have inadequate connectivity to global communication systems, innovation initiatives are dead on arrival.

DFAT is the only mega department to have retained almost all of its 1987 functions intact.

For the first time, the combined amphibious force was comprised of ships from the US, Australia and New Zealand.

This weeks links include a consultation paper on simplifying Australian visa arrangements, and distribution and characteristics of Haitian immigrants in US.

Foreign support for the rebuilding of Marawi City is necessary and most welcome but again will only address the latest symptom of this decades-old problem.

The US doesn’t have to be willing to blockade Scarborough Reef to stop China from building a military base there.

Let's hope this government can deliver on what it has promised to all Papua New Guineans.

Papua New Guinea's post-election dramas, a new report on logging in PNG, and VR bringing Pacific languages to life.

Boris Johnson’s ebullient pronouncements last week on a future Royal Navy freedom of navigation operation in the Indo-Pacific region have attracted attention, but also criticism.

There are signs that Saudi Arabia has changed tack and has decided to contest Iran's influence in Iraq.

American tourism into North Korea was the last, only way for regular, non-elite Americans and North Koreans to interact.

The United States has reached ‘full employment’ but this hasn’t created satisfactory jobs for a significant part of the work force.

The fetters on Myanmar’s democracy are many, but while most are in the hands of the military, Aung San Suu Kyi's party could reform Article 66(d) tomorrow.

Those familiar with the chequered history of Pakistani politics are nervous about what lies ahead.

The RBA leadership is clearly thinking about the possibility that the relationship between inflation and output growth may have altered in an enduring way.

Supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Lebanese government does mean tacitly accepting the presence of Hizbullah, a designated terrorist group in Europe and the US.

In selecting Greg Moriarty for the job, Payne, Pyne and Turnbull leapfrogged over the obvious candidates – in doing so they have chosen well.

This weeks links include the psychology of psychic numbing, the ongoing plight of Rohingya asylum seekers, and Chinese development infrastructure projects.

If the ADF deploys for more humanitarian operations in the Pacific, its budget, equipment and personnel will be stressed.

It looks as though the United States is going back to its position during negotiations on UNCLOS, and setting aside the carefully balanced nature of the EEZ regime.

The rapid progress of the ICBM program suggests reality is catching up with the rhetoric.

A Chinese naval asset surveils Talisman Saber, results from Timor-Leste's parliamentary elections, Boris Johnson's Lowy Lecture and more.

Three ongoing troubles threaten to erode the prospects of progress in Myanmar.

This month's links include censorship regarding Liu Xiabo's death on weibo and WeChat, internet use among the North Korean elite and Thailand floating the idea of registration for Facebook users.

Johnson was quick to quote his political idol Winston Churchill in lauding the 'special genius of the English-speaking peoples'.

Generation HK traces the city’s recent history through a series of unforgettable profiles of young Hong Kong residents.

Arrogance and carelessness in the LDP has disturbed, if not stopped, the advancement of realistic security policy.

A common assessment system for the Five Eyes allies would assist in safeguarding interlinked telecommunications and high-tech sectors.

Despite the economic and development challenges ahead, the Timorese people are incredibly optimistic about their future.

This week's links include Australia's warning on UK visa changes, the plight of undocumented workers in the US and data on the Eastern Mediterranean Route.

Business has been called on to be a key player in an intriguing, new and more contestable approach to intelligence gathering and analysis.

More results from PNG's vote, women in Melanesian elections, the Pacific Community and more.

For Beijing, armed drone exports are good business in more ways than one.

By proposing that Peter Dutton head a Department of Home Affairs, Malcolm Turnbull has sought to optimise the political benefits of a sound policy decision.

It was always part of the Trump agenda to do something about the North American Free Trade Agreement (‘one of the worst deals ever’) covering the US, Canada and Mexico: the outcome is renegotiation rather than the threatened termination.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Australia has a military strategy that is beginning to truly align ends, ways and means.

The most effective way for the DG ONI to influence agencies and their parent departments would be to have some control over the National Intelligence Community budget.

It is possible to both condemn China’s political system, but also accept it as an incipient great power with legitimate security concerns.

The CIA program was trying to apply just enough pressure while also accounting for all weapons, even though it didn’t control them: it was too big an ask.

A clean, elected, non-Thaksin Thailand government might be able to walk a narrow path by pursuing more progressive social and economic policy without offending the powerful elites.

The potential benefits of increased labour mobility, tackling inequality, deforestation and more.