An impeached president departs Washington in disgrace. The peace deal in America’s longest war crumbles and defeat looms. US politics is polarised. A nation, both angry and agitated, grapples with racial and social divisions. The …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
‘We should avoid any reflex towards a negative globalism that coercively seeks to impose a mandate from an often ill-defined borderless global community. And worse still, an unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy. Globalism must facilitate, align and …
Australia gives security guarantees to two nations that have land borders with Indonesia—Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The word ‘guarantee’ rightly makes Oz politicians, diplomats and lawyers cautious, even nervous: never say forever, never say …
Cabinet created the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as a small body with a big brain—and, most importantly, a strongly independent voice. Creation stories tell much. And the release of the cabinet records for 2000 by …
In the Covid era of gloom, doom and Zoom, Australia’s prime minister went to summit meetings while doing 14 days quarantine. And the lockdown PM fronted the cameras with board shorts and thongs just out …
Australia heads towards a dismal achievement: halving what it spends on diplomacy in only three decades. The Joe Biden rule (‘Show me your budget, and I will tell you what you value’) says Australia has …
Nobody wants to pay for good foreign policy, but everybody pays for bad foreign policy. Join that truth to a reality that rules the public service tribes of Canberra: your foes must also be your …
Anaemia: Lacking enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to the body, making the patient tired and weak. Anaemia can be temporary or long term and can range from mild to severe. For …
A retired secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs is fulminating that the department is in a deplorable ‘crisis’. ‘The quality and conduct of Australia’s foreign relations are suffering’, he writes. The government doesn’t love …
Fifty years ago this month, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs was born, casting aside its old moniker, External Affairs. The name changed as Australia changed. The switch from External Affairs to Foreign Affairs was a …
When intelligence folk smell roses, they look for the funeral. That bit of spy lore is about finding the opportunity in the threats (or vice versa). The lore hints at the mystique of the trade: …
Spies are prey to principle, pride, passion and payment. Betrayal is driven by everything from cause to cash. In a history of espionage, The anatomy of a spy, Michael Smith writes that spies spy for …