Mixed objectives and a focus on so-called fairness are creating unhelpful confusion.

Many of the moral debates about North Korea are settled, even if the diplomatic questions are not.

Getting more out of North Korea may be a good reason behind Trump’s withdrawal from 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>

Calm heads must prevail – no one will gain from a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

The Lowy Institute Power Index shows that China remains a lonely superpower. Does that matter?

A rare chance to dress up political motives as a form of cultural appreciation.

Singapore, Panmanjom, Ulaanbataar, or anywhere else, deciding where the leaders meet will broadcast an important signal.

Alliance sentimentalists are wrong to judge the entire heath of the US–Australia relationship through one diplomatic appointment.

Plenty of attention has been paid to the perils of the likely US–North Korea summit, but little has been said about the risks Trump would have faced had he declined Pyongyang’s offer.

<p>“Denuclearisation” is fraught with ambiguity and means very different things to each&nbsp;side.</p>

Perhaps France’s Emmanuel Macron can convince Trump he will retain far more leverage over Iran within the existing nuclear deal.

The test of US policy is not how much it can hurt others but how much pain it will withstand.

<p>The US felt compelled to act,&nbsp;Bashar al-Assad has been punished,&nbsp;yet may not be deterred.</p>

Airstrikes aside, the US needs Moscow to influence the Assad regime and negotiate an end to this sordid conflict.

<p>The US and South Korea must be wary about&nbsp;Pyongyang dangling the strings.</p>

The US deployed similar trade tactics in the 1980s to pursue its grievances with a rising Japan.

The US would be wise to further invest in ensuring that the Pacific nations retain their independence, freedom, and sovereignty.

Trump ought to offer Kim a grand bargain: give up your ICBM program, and we will withdraw our troops from South Korea.

<p>Events are moving fast now and the Beijing trip means a Trump–Kim summit is increasingly likely.</p>

Trump’s propensity to walk away from promises will hang over the talks with Kim Jong-un.

Rodrigo Duterte is still to resolve tensions between accommodating China and maintaining strong US ties.

It’s unclear whether Bolton’s hawkish views will transfer into reality in office.

China will certainly respond to a forthcoming US investigation and exports penalties with sanctions of its own.

If Donald Trump wants more concessions from Iran, then his best bet is to stick to the deal.

Handwringing over budget cuts obscured a view the State Department was getting on with the job of diplomacy.

<p>It seems, to borrow the military phrase, a sudden escalation in peaceful possibilities.</p>

Australia could chose an approach to minimise the political damage from failing to obtain an exemption to Trump’s tariffs.

Donald Trump’s decision to place levies on steel and aluminium imports has squashed hope the US may be adopting a more sensible view on trade.

The US cannot only respond to Beijing’s growing economic heft by increasing its military capabilities.

North Korea policy is seen by some Japanese media as a debate with a South Korean stooge.

Could this be the beginning of the end for the US sending humans into space?

The Prime Minister will need to field awkward questions on his US trip this week.

The US is again seeking to stamp its authority in Latin America.

“Killer graphics” are Donald Trump’s preferred method of digesting intelligence.

The protracted public debate over striking North Korea is a marker of Donald Trump shifting of the terms of the debate.

The strategic big picture was missing when US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis visited Jakarta.

Last year saw a surge in testing and deployment of both ballistic and cruise missile technology throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Did China browbeat Australia to downgrade official participation in a conference on North Korea?

The problem for the global economy is not what the Trump administration has done so far. It is what it may contemplate doing next.

A political sideshow has cast a shadow over future policy discussion in America.

Sometimes your closest friends, rather than your rivals, cause the biggest headaches.

It appears China’s economic policy-making elite (if not always Xi Jinping himself) like the certainty and stability of the Bretton Woods system.

Most Washington experts wrongly believe Donald Trump's aid freeze is unlikely to change Pakistan’s behaviour.

However crudely, Donald Trump identified that China has taken the opposite course to liberalisation.

Highlights from The Interpreter on Donald Trump's presidency.

In the economic realm, China is not only rapidly becoming a superior power, but also one with the same partners as the US.

No statement of strategy since before the Cold War has been so inward-looking.

A distinction as a point of law might not work as practical diplomacy.

Hugh White wants Australia to oppose a 'pre-emptive' attack but Australia's complicity may begin sooner than imagined.