Through analysing a range of survey data, we see a convergence among all age groups on attitudes towards relations with China.

It is not clear whether Australian Defence Force and police engagement has helped Pacific Island communities prevent conflict.

Will the attack prompt a greater direct role by Iran against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria? Or will it prompt a response targeted at the interests of regional states?

China has tried to bypass regional strategic and ideological divides by both preserving its ties with Iran and getting closer to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.

Asia’s rockets are getting larger, and their operators are getting bolder in their plans.

This week's links also include Kaldor Centre analysis, and a look at Cambodia's protection framework.

Trump loyalists have started circling the wagons.

Since it began in 1996, the Doha-based, state-funded broadcaster Al-Jazeera has managed to anger every major government in the Middle East.

By overstating the importance of American involvement in the past, we over-emphasise the risks of American absence tomorrow.

Multinational businesses, universities and the science community have all failed to properly explain the role skilled migrants play in their organisations today.

This week's links include reports from the UN Oceans Conference and a take on how cockroaches wrote the history of New Caledonia.

Sam Roggeveen’s discussion with Allan Gyngell is a reminder that the Washington Consensus means different things to different people. Let’s try to sort out the diverse interpretations.

Western governments need to recognise that, if successful, BRI’s outcome would be contrary to both their interests and their values.

China is being told that its very presence in the Asian region signals the beginning of the end of the rules-based-order.

The decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement may restrict the US from using climate security rationales to inform grand strategy and foreign policy.

In general, given the way networks and contacts work in China, Party connections are not necessarily a cause for alarm.

Rather than going under, the EU under German and French leadership will likely move forward again.

Qatar needs to make it plain to the United States that the Saudis and Emiratis are pursuing a course of action that damages US interests.

The travails of our major parties are directly impacting our foreign policy. The parties are desperate for funds, which makes them vulnerable to entreaties from wealthy foreign donors.

There is a whiff of blind faith being employed by some Australian ministers in their responses to these kinds of American sentiments.

Some argue Australia should not rest easy since it might get the European treatment when the President shows up. Could be, but I doubt it.

Labour will pile up big majorities in anti-Brexit London and in university areas but will fail to pick up marginal seats required to do well, let alone win.

China believes it is being deliberately misrepresented and victimised by an ‘arrogant’ US and its allies

Dr Adhanom will take over a WHO under siege from criticism for both its slow response to the Ebola epidemic and its big travel budget.

'We will still be there. And we will be there with you'.

The key question is whether Australian overtures to Tillerson and Mattis will inform President Trump’s decision making.

AUSMIN is the most important regular event in the conduct of the alliance between Australia and the US.

The Trump administration’s backward-looking and isolationist stance is the opposite of what's needed by the industries of the future.

It was a week dominated by debates about China's rise, violence in the Philippines, and a wonderful anecdote about an Australian general and a narrowly avoided diplomatic incident in Myanmar.

It needs to be understood that Russia views the EU and the West generally as an enemy.

The Arctic will be the next big test of UNCLOS with competing sovereignty claims already apparent.

The US President made all the right noises about new business from Vietnam.

Singapore has released a Pokemon-Go-inspired augmented reality game where users hunt for military vehicles.

In the matter of China’s growing sphere of influence, there are no easy paths. The South China Sea dispute may be newsworthy but is only a subset of a much larger fray.

Whether or not President Trump withdraws the United States from the Paris Agreement is less important than how other countries respond to his decision.

This week's column examines how the TPP 11 and RECP proposals could compete for attention ahead of Australia's summit of South East Asian leaders next year.

This week's links include the aftermath of Cyclone Mora, a backgrounder of US foreign workers and population trends in Northern Australia.

There are many obstacles to Duterte’s ambitious goal of an AFP-NPA-MNLF-MILF coalition.

Four inhabited islands would have be submerged were the dam to go ahead, displacing 19,000 people.

This week's links include the UN Oceans' Conference and detail on the PACER Plus trade deal.

Competition and contestation among Asia’s mega powers will be the defining feature of the region’s future.

While General Hartley’s visit to Myanmar was unplanned, indeed inadvertent, it was also unauthorised.

Should Australia join this treaty, it would need to end its claimed reliance on the US nuclear umbrella.

The overall story of Australian foreign policy is pretty positive. But there's no doubt we dragged our feet at various stages.

China has gone from being a minor player in the polar regions to becoming a major actor in a little over 10 years.

Legal safeguards that kept the 2009 declaration of martial law following the Maguindanao massacre in check are unlikely to play out in the same way today.

Trump is clearly making things worse, but the fraying of the US-Germany partnership is a story as long as the post-Cold War era.

Sir Michael speaks of failings by Australia in PNG, a mistake he made after independence, and the controversial regional payments distributed by MPs.

If the economy is already back to full capacity, what hope is there for the many Trump voters who find themselves without satisfying jobs?

Is World Bank chief economist Dr Paul Romer being sidelined? This is one of the topics covered in this week's links.