20 Feb 2017
Trump versus American institutions: The foreign-policy battleground
Over time, Trump is likely to experience fewer difficulties executing policy by fiat.
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20 Feb 2017
Networks and narratives: Public diplomacy in the DFAT White Paper
Australia has a powerful 'strategic narrative' that is a potent source of soft power. But it's increasingly difficult for this story to be heard. -
18 Feb 2017
Weekend catch-up: The Foreign Policy White Paper, Flynn binned, the ADB and more
Ths week the Interprerer launched its debate series on Australia's Foreign Policy White paper. -
17 Feb 2017
The 'China Solution': Beijing responds to Trump
As Trump gets down to making America great again, China senses a geopolitical windfall. -
17 Feb 2017
Democracy won't be the winner in Hong Kong election
When Hong Kong's former chief secretary Carrie Lam announced she would run, it was clear who Beijing's pick would be. -
17 Feb 2017
What's behind Russia's missile treaty violation?
Russia’s new GLCM is potentially devastatingly effective and difficult for NATO to counter. -
17 Feb 2017
How the White Paper can turn economic adversity into opportunity
One specific opportunity for some serious re-thinking would be our stance on foreign investment in Australia - not usually thought of as a key element of our foreign policy. -
16 Feb 2017
Migration and Border Policy links: IOM's anti-trafficking app, Kenya’s High Court ruling and more
Kenyan refugee camp to stay open, plenty of new research into migrants' paths and why Afghan refugees left Pakistan last year. -
16 Feb 2017
Realistically assessing Australia's national ambitions
As an ally of the US and a major trading partner of China, we need to be alert to everything that goes on between them, as well as within them. -
16 Feb 2017
Is Jordan in danger?
Its structural economic problems and expanding jihadist influence could spell trouble for long-term stability. -
16 Feb 2017
Beneath the surface of Pakistan's AMAN-17 exercises
Swirling not far beneath the surface of the maritime manoeuvres and the Karachi portside mateship have been two distinct issues. -
16 Feb 2017
US signals to China from Darwin with F-22s
How would Canberra respond if Washington wanted to conduct a Freedom of Navigation Operation in the South China Sea using F-22s based at Tindal? -
15 Feb 2017
Trump's info wars not so easily won
The communications strategy employed during Trump's successful primaries and general election campaigns has not been as effective since the inauguration. -
15 Feb 2017
Pacific links: Climate change, China in PNG, Fiji self-censors and more
Also in this week's links: Manus Island refugees, the ADB, the Solomon Islands' Child and Family Bill and the celestial integrity of Disney. -
15 Feb 2017
On Australia, rank-and-file House Republicans are nowhere to be seen
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have been conspicuously absent in the last two weeks while the rest of Congress has rallied around Australia. -
15 Feb 2017
Living with terror in Lahore
The next day a pall of gloom hung over the city. The city was grieving the dead and nobody wanted to talk much about it. -
15 Feb 2017
Seeking clarity in Australian foreign policy
We need to align our ends and means, and engage in practical, tough-minded diplomacy directed at making a difference. -
15 Feb 2017
Flynn the first casualty in chaotic Trump White House
It's clear the process of building coherent strategies to deal with domestic and foreign policy concerns is going to take longer than many have hoped. -
14 Feb 2017
Trump critics need to be careful what they cheer for
Many journalists and commentators have done themselves a lot of harm, and Trump a lot of favours, by the lack of judgment they have shown in their criticisms. -
14 Feb 2017
Onus on Turnbull to remember Sri Lanka’s Victims
Sri Lanka has made no tangible progress in setting up courts to bring to trial those responsible for serious wartime violations. -
14 Feb 2017
North Korea: The case for engagement
A nuclear North Korea reflects the failure of Seoul and Washington’s policy towards Pyongyang for the past quarter century. -
14 Feb 2017
US conservatives embrace carbon tax: Is there a message for Australia?
This is a proposal whose main merit is its political economy mix. -
13 Feb 2017
Kung-Fu Yoga: China's soft power drive goes awry
The response to the recent Chinese-Indian joint venture film Kung-Fu Yoga suggests that global domination by China's film industry is still some way off. -
13 Feb 2017
Tense times for the Iran nuclear deal
Russia, China and the UK have all recently expressed their support for the agreement. -
13 Feb 2017
North Korea is getting better at ballistic missiles
It seems clear a large solid-fuel stage was used for this launch. That’s critical. -
13 Feb 2017
Why Asia still needs a development bank
A dramatic increase in lending (up almost threefold from the year 2000) will increase pressure on the ADB to approve new loans and create a pipeline of bankable projects. -
13 Feb 2017
Khalid Sharrouf: Once was a citizen
Loyalty to the country of which you are a citizen is a fundamental tenet of citizenship. -
11 Feb 2017
Weekend catch-up: US Secretaries, peace in the Pacific, Duterte's wars, and more
Highlights from this week's Interpreter. -
10 Feb 2017
Tanna: Bare feet on the Oscars red carpet
Tanna takes us inside an ancient yet contemporary world that very few people will ever experience. -
10 Feb 2017
Duterte's wars (Part two)
The sharp reversal in the Philippine peace process with the Communists underlines a major problem with the Duterte administration’s approach. -
10 Feb 2017
Battening down for an environmental war
President Trump and his nominee to head the EPA face fierce opposition, both from within the EPA and from environmental groups skilled in the activist tactic of 'lawfare'. -
10 Feb 2017
Digital Asia: Weibo censorship, Pakistan’s missing bloggers, China's top 10 social apps and more
Find out which Weibo posts China's censors took down in 2016 -
9 Feb 2017
Migration and Border Policy links: Trump’s ban, unaccompanied minors, Turkey's hackathon, and more
What's happening in migration policy around the world this week. -
9 Feb 2017
Congress rallies around Australia
Trump’s inner circle cannot have missed such broad-ranging, bipartisan opposition to the president’s approach with the Australian prime minister. -
9 Feb 2017
Economic diplomacy brief: Asian investment, GDP passing lane and Japan trade
The relative strength of Australia’s commercial links Asia is set to come back onto the agenda -
9 Feb 2017
Duterte's wars (Part one)
With no suitable lead agency and rising opposition, it is far from clear when and how Duterte's war on drugs can either start again or end successfully. -
9 Feb 2017
Will the Western Pacific’s long peace endure?
The security picture in the Western Pacific is marked by disputes and enmities. So how has the region stayed so peaceful for so long? -
8 Feb 2017
Pacific Island links: Alternative Russia, Australia's coal, women in politics, and more
A Russian millionaire is in discussions with the government of Kiribati to lease three uninhabited islands. -
8 Feb 2017
North Korea: Not yet ready to change from within
The old system continues not due to the superior functioning of North Korea’s communist institutions but because there is no alternative vision. -
8 Feb 2017
How Trump's economic plans will come unstuck
At some point the Trump Administration will have to confront the fact that the US economy is in better shape than Trump depicted during the campaign. -
8 Feb 2017
Let’s talk about Darwin: Australia, South Korea, and US basing
South Korea has persisted with US basing despite decades of fluctuating public opinion and dark periods in the bilateral relationship. -
8 Feb 2017
Pax Sinica no match for fading Pax Americana
In Asia's defence, it is hard to formulate strategy when the world's most powerful nation is careering around the global stage like a drunk driver. -
7 Feb 2017
The limitations of framing North Korea as a risk
Official US statements regarding North Korea during the past eight years have tended to emphasise the country’s non-normative behaviour. -
7 Feb 2017
Is Trump reigniting the currency wars?
China's huge bilateral surplus with the United States - well over $300 billion each year - means it is high on the President's 'to do-over' list. -
7 Feb 2017
Trump, Russia and renewed fighting in Ukraine
Kiev is taking a high-risk gamble that could prompt the West to distance itself from a belligerent Ukraine. -
7 Feb 2017
Time to harness the motivating force of fear
As the clouds loom and the storm brews, we still have time to think afresh. -
7 Feb 2017
The UK and China: Resetting the relationship
As Britain looks to new friends in a post Brexit world, it is across the Atlantic rather than eastwards that its gaze naturally turns at the moment. -
6 Feb 2017
Aid and development links: Smoking costs a trillion, Global Gag Rule, peak global and more
This week's links cover a range of health, aid and development issues, including the impact of reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule by US President Donald Trump and efforts to plug the subsequent funding gap. -
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6 Feb 2017
Losing the plot on immigration policy
If immigration policy is now about winning domestic political points - to the exclusion of all else - we can expect much more unnecessary human suffering.