America and China’s unhappy anniversary

The United States and China are this week marking the golden anniversary of their modern relationship. In February 1972, US President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, stepped off a plane in …

Putin’s dangerous delusions of empire

The world is not enduring a ‘Ukraine crisis’, but rather a Russia crisis. So said Germany’s new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, at the most recent Munich Security Conference, which was dominated by the situation in …

Nixon was right to gamble on China

With China currently the only country capable of unseating America as the leading global power, many in Washington may wish that US President Richard Nixon had never made his historic trip to China 50 years …

Sea country, climate change and Indigenous knowledge

Extending beyond Australia’s 30,000 kilometres of coastline are millions of hectares of ‘sea country’, which encompasses the flora and fauna, beliefs and cultural practices of the many Indigenous groups that care for these areas. The …

Hungary’s freedom election

When Hungarians go to the polls in April, liberal democracy will be on the ballot—and not only in Hungary. Former US President Donald Trump is promoting the populist prime minister, Viktor Orban. Tucker Carlson, Fox …

Oz election 2022: Covid, climate and China

Big international issues shape a nation’s domestic equations. And so the Australian election to be held by 21 May will be shaped by pandemic, decarbonisation and geopolitical rivalry. Covid, climate and China are problems so …

Taming the truckers

Truculent truckers have driven several governments to distraction in recent weeks. In Canada, they blocked bridges to the United States and laid siege to the capital, Ottawa. In New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, truckers and other …