Unrest plays into Russia’s geopolitical vision, yet Moscow has now assumed the obligation to provide a stable Syrian government.

PNG is Australia’s nearest neighbour, former colony and one of Australia’s most important bilateral partners.

The Trump Administration will be the clear villain at the Bonn climate change talks.

Were Seoul or Tokyo to acquire nuclear-weapons capacity, the region would not instantly become any more or less secure.

Links on updates across the aid and development field.

Many overseas Chinese feel the eyes and arms of the Party state all around them.

The Japanese PM doesn't need an untrusted US President setting his international security agenda.

The week that was on The Interpreter.

Ternate's history is a reminder that globalisation and 'free markets' are not always exactly the same.

Australians are obsessed with cyberspace but wary of the consequences.

New Zealand’s new government is reported to be considering creating a visa category to assist those displaced by climate change.

New statistics reveal Asian trade dependency on the US and Europe.

Australia was once a global inflation champ, but no more.

Macron's strategy of presenting France as a bridge between the US and Iran faces hurdles.

Both Orwell and Huxley's fears could be realised simultaneously in President Xi Jinping's China.

To deter China from operating in the Indian Ocean, Indian naval commanders need to leverage China’s vulnerability in its near seas.

Japan-Philippine relations under Duterte are testament to a meeting of fears.

Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, with links on developments across the Pacific.

The alternative is abandoning the problem and hoping the tech giants are willing and able to figure it out on their own.

The conduct of the referendum raises uncertainties and the prospect of a return to instability right on Australia’s doorstep.

The President appears to be learning that whatever leverage the US has with China is derivative of our alliances and partnerships in the region.

The next satellite launch will probably occur in the coming months.

If effective strategy requires realistic aims, then America is in trouble.

Alexandre Dayant, a Research Associate in the Pacific Islands Program, with links on updates across the aid and development fields.

Domestic politics has a pesky habit of interrupting foreign relationships.

Personalist dictatorship – in which leaders face few constraints on their decision-making – is on the rise and part of a changing face of authoritarianism in the post-Cold War era.

Australia can't afford to wait until 2032 for the first of its new submarines to enter the water.

The week that was on The Interpreter.

The plight of the ever-persecuted Yazidis remains as dire – and as invisible – as ever.

Sanctions would likely increase support for the Tatmadaw, gifting it the us-versus-them mentality it tried and failed to instill in the citizenry for years.

Xi is not fostering a cult of personality, but a cult of the Chinese Communist Party.

Foreign fighters who join armed Kurdish groups become hostage to their political agenda.

Rachael Buckland, a Research Associate with the Migration and Border Policy Project, with links on developments across the field.

ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meetings tend to avoid the speculation and stalemates that make the leaders' summits such ham-fisted affairs.

The EU was built to prevent what destroyed the continent twice in the first half of the 20th century and kept half of it prisoner until 1990.

President Xi Jinping's vision should raise alarm bells in Asian and Western capitals.

Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, with links on developments across the Pacific.

The international financial system is significantly different to the one that existed when the IMF and World Bank were established.

In some ways the Council is like a pre-school: it's more about effort to improve than actual performance.

BRI is consistent with President Xi’s 'master narrative': China’s return to the centre of the global stage.

The Kurds may like to say they have no friends but the mountains, but their family has a history of letting them down too.

If ISIS was to focus on who caused its latest problems in the Philippines, Australia would be well in the frame.

This is not a desperate letter from a doomed regime.

Timor-Leste is at risk of losing the hard-won ground of political stability forged over the last decade.

If war on the Korean Peninsula does eventuate, the US should see it as an opportunity to forge a better peace.

Erin Harris, Research Associate with the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Diplomacy Program, with links on aid and development.

Since 'Choosing Openness' was published, Nazi sympathisers have entered the German parliament, and an anti-immigrant millennial has been elected Austrian chancellor.

The week that was on The Interpreter.

Sarah Logan with the latest digital developments across Asia.

Meeting Nelson Mandela, a conversation with the Queen, and an unsparing assessment of Aung San Suu Kyi.