Global energy demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing steadily since the middle of the 20th century. With power generation accounting for 41% of energy-related carbon emissions, the power sector is critical to …
President Joe Biden has announced that he will withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by 11 September, finally ending America’s longest war ever. The move was indicative of a broader shift by the United States away …
Next year, the Australian government will decide on whether to commit funding for a proposed year-round, paved aerodrome in the Vestfold Hills area, near the Australian Davis research station in East Antarctica. An all-weather, year-round, …
China’s economic embargo of Australia helped to persuade several OECD members, including the United States and Canada, to back Australia’s Mathias Cormann as the organisation’s new secretary general, according to the Center for Strategic and …
It’s said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. In diplomacy, it would seem that it’s seating arrangements that can be tricky. At a 6 April meeting of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and …
Can Russia accept living peacefully next to a sovereign, independent and undivided Ukraine? Or is open war inevitable? This has long been the paramount question for Eastern Europe, and it has abruptly returned to the …
When the world shut down last year due to Covid-19, collective attention turned to the experts. Despite 10 years of fears from political scientists and newspaper columnists about the ‘rise’ or ‘dominance’ of populism at …
President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US military forces from Afghanistan by 11 September 2021 is his first big blunder in office. This could cost America dearly in future years and should give America’s friends …
In a move that has deeply embarrassed the Indian government, a guided missile destroyer from the US 7th Fleet transgressed into India’s exclusive economic zone on 7 April. Later that day, the fleet commander issued a …
‘The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.’ — Edward Gibbon, The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, 1776 In 1997, when I was a young …
Australia’s second WPS national action plan outlines how Australia will live up to its commitments to the women, peace and security agenda. ASPI’s Emilia Currey and Lisa Sharland discuss the plan, how it differs from …
It’s hard to believe these days, but Australia used to be shy about proclaiming a defence or security guarantee to Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. In the 1970s and 1980s, a gap opened …
US President Joe Biden has done what Barack Obama and Donald Trump wanted to do when they were in office but couldn’t—get a plan in place for a total US and partner military withdrawal from …
Turkey withdraws from Istanbul Convention, sparking protests and legal challenges On 20 March, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew the country from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and …
In French President Emmanuel Macron, the United States has the best ally it could hope for in the Élysée Palace. In fact, Macron may now be the only US allied leader with a genuine liberal-internationalist …
The war in Afghanistan has profoundly changed the Australian Army and had a significant impact on the whole defence force. Around 30,000 ADF personnel served in Afghanistan and 41 died there. The vast majority of …
Myanmar’s military coup and the ensuing mass civil unrest have been presented as a litmus test of ASEAN centrality. Some observers have even portrayed the coup as ‘the most serious threat to the importance of …
On 11 April, Iran’s nuclear reprocessing facility at Natanz suffered a major sabotage attack that has probably set the country’s nuclear enrichment program back at least nine months. On the same day, the Israeli public …
In Adelaide’s The Advertiser newspaper on 7 March, former defence minister Christopher Pyne said, ‘Then there is the nonsensical argument that the Attack Class submarines are no good because they aren’t nuclear. Almost all of …
In 1503, Niccolo Machiavelli warned, ‘One cannot always rely on someone else’s sword. One must be prepared to fight for one’s own cause. And to be ready for this, one must have the means.’ More …