21 Jun 2021
Believing Biden
The US President has persuaded European allies of his values-based policy. But will such faith carry home?
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14 Apr 2021
Serbia’s vaccine diplomacy: Balancing China and the West
The politics of Covid have tangled up countries across the world – but that’s not always a drawback. -
17 Feb 2021
Russia vs the EU
A visit to Moscow by Europe’s top envoy did nothing to calm a growing diplomatic spat. What if Washington weighs in? -
4 Feb 2021
The Donbass conflict: Waiting for escalation
The forgotten war involving Ukraine and Russia in the energy-rich region is simmering still. -
3 Feb 2021
A “beggar-thy-neighbour” approach keeps seafarers stranded
Some countries have banned crew rotations. Some have tight limits. A few are open. So a crisis continues. -
25 Jan 2021
The US and the next leader of the OECD
Australia’s candidate for Secretary-General is a favourable contender, but American backing is still up in the air. -
18 Dec 2020
Learning from an island in a pandemic
For all the focus on New Zealand’s and Taiwan’s successes, another fascinating island nation has kept the virus at bay. -
26 Nov 2020
The outlines of a European policy on the Indo-Pacific
Germany and the Netherlands have new strategies for the Indo-Pacific, and maybe the beginnings of a common EU stance. -
19 Nov 2020
Beijing’s bad books: Australia can learn from Norway and South Korea
China’s coercive diplomacy is not new. Other countries have managed to repair ties after a perceived slight. -
26 Oct 2020
The Three Seas Initiative: A European answer to China’s Belt and Road?
A quest to modernise dilapidated infrastructure in Central Europe has quickly transformed into a geopolitical contest. -
24 Sep 2020
Francis Fukuyama in Minsk
The outcry for liberal freedoms on display in Belarus suggests “The end of history” wasn’t all wrong. -
16 Sep 2020
Trump’s gambit in the Balkans
Drawing down troops from Germany one day, inserting the US into the Serbia-Kosovo dispute the next. What’s at play? -
7 Sep 2020
Pandemic democracy
Voting is based on trust between citizens and their government. In an age of social distancing, such faith is tested. -
7 Sep 2020
How Russia benefited from Belarus’s turmoil
The “last European dictator” has turned back to the Kremlin after the West imposed sanctions for recent crackdowns. -
28 Aug 2020
A diplomatic breakdown over “snapback” tests the UN
Dispute over a US call for pre-2015 Iran sanctions has pushed the Security Council to its limit. It’s been there before. -
22 Jul 2020
Is Huawei in the UK a canary in the coalmine?
Britain’s 5G ban shows that political risk must be priced into commercial calculations as the world considers value. -
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1 May 2020
Governments, not pandemics, stop access to reproductive health
A winding back of hard-won women’s rights in Europe has implications for us all. -
24 Apr 2020
ISIS looks to prosper in a world distracted by the virus
Europe could quickly be confronted by another security crisis if the terrorists growing resurgence is left unchecked. -
21 Apr 2020
Hit hard, could Covid lead Europe to rethink economic policy?
Airlines could be nationalised, global supply chains severed. Will a once familiar market-led dogma survive the crisis? -
20 Jan 2020
No end in sight for Germany’s troubles with Huawei
As other European capitals look for a cue, German politicians are sharply divided over the Chinese tech company. -
4 Nov 2019
What 1989 unleashed, and what it didn’t
The story of “post-Wall” Central Europe is not simply a straight line from liberalism’s triumph to its collapse. -
27 Aug 2019
Macron tries to put the spark back into the G7
By keeping Trump from derailing the proceedings, the self-anointed saviour of the West scored a tactical win. -
5 Jul 2019
The burden of friendship: Germany, Trump and NATO
Germany earns a special ire in the President’s complaints, but Berlin sees less challenge in dollars and more in trust. -
21 Jun 2019
Accountability for flight MH17: a long and winding road …
Trials in absentia are problematic, but as with the Lockerbie trial, the quest for justice will be arduous and complex. -
10 May 2019
My mother’s life: faraway dreams, new growth and seeking acceptance
Born to a world in flames, set back by illness, an adventure to Australia would strengthen the threads of a nation. -
30 Apr 2019
Visa tussles: here come the Irish again
Australia’s privileged access to a US special working visa class is under challenge once more and will likely be lost. -
17 Apr 2019
Notre Dame: the day after the big fire
A first-hand look at the destruction leads to wonder if people will appreciate connections more than differences? -
1 Apr 2019
Do you care about Slovakia? You should
Right-wing populists are meant to be on the march, yet one European presidential election bucked the trend. -
7 Mar 2019
The global significance of an electoral showdown in Europe
The May elections shape as a contest for the heart of the European Union and win back voters who feel abandoned. -
22 Feb 2019
Trouble in Munich: the transatlantic breakup
<p>Europe and America read from diverging scripts at the annual strategic confab, the Munich Security Conference.</p> -
13 Feb 2019
Film review: They Shall Not Grow Old
Peter Jackson has reclaimed the voices of veterans, and with technical prowess offered a glimpse of the battlefield. -
29 Nov 2018
Russia-Ukraine: soggy response to Kerch aggression
It is not tensions that are escalating but the relentless Russian acts of aggression against Ukraine. -
20 Nov 2018
Brexit: the Northern Ireland conundrum
In a break from the past, Sinn Fein should take up its long empty seats in Westminster and offer a key to negotiations. -
2 Oct 2018
Germany: A tale of two conservatisms
Merkel is facing a slow moving political crisis caused by a schism between mainstream and far-right conservatism. -
17 Jul 2018
The President, his partners, and Putin
If America’s allies in Europe were ever in doubt, now they know: the President is a US-only leader. -
4 Jul 2018
Denmark: fading out ghettoes
A bid “to ensure good Danish knowledge” has raised fears of Islamophobia. -
18 Jun 2018
The ever-widening Atlantic
Battening hatches and waiting for the Trump storm to pass is hardly a pragmatic solution to concerns of a world in flux. -
15 Jun 2018
The US and the West: with friends like that ...
Lost trust between leaders and policy concerns under Trump have hardened into an existential crisis. -
25 May 2018
Ireland’s abortion referendum
A divisive campaign not only challenges Ireland’s place in the world but also exposes the vulnerability of elections to foreign interference. -
18 May 2018
Russia: patrons of assassinations
Leaders promote and protect their clients to secure a debt of personal loyalty, and the cost of betrayal is high. -
14 May 2018
AfD and the politics of German identity
The far-right party Alternative für Deutschland is rattling the Bundestag by pushing identity to the centre of German politics. -
10 May 2018
Can Europe salvage the Iran deal?
<p>The EU had more than a year to plan, but instead sought to downplay Trump’s statements and appease him.</p> -
19 Apr 2018
Europe: the movers and the shakers
The responses to the Syria strikes illustrate a troubling divide in Europe in defending Western principles. -
17 Apr 2018
As threats to Trump mount, allies must uphold the Iran deal
Perhaps France’s Emmanuel Macron can convince Trump he will retain far more leverage over Iran within the existing nuclear deal. -
13 Apr 2018
Europe and its populists
The triumph of Viktor Orbán in Hungary is not just a curious and isolated development. -
11 Apr 2018
Australia vs China, Europe vs Russia
Surprising parallels in international relations appear to lead to similar replies. -
6 Apr 2018
Chinese belts and roads stir mixed reactions in Europe
Europeans are growing more wary of China, but still welcome many of its contributions. -
8 Mar 2018
The choice between hard or soft Brexit
Britain might be technically free of the EU on 30 March 2019, but just how free remains an extremely vexed question. -
5 Mar 2018
Germany gets a government
The next four years may prove to be the most transformative period in German politics for some time.