In a midnight military parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the country’s rule under the despotic Kim family, North Korea revealed a new monster intercontinental ballistic missile—perhaps one of the world’s largest—on the back …
In late September, English schoolchildren were sent home with a letter from Public Health England, the official body in charge of dealing with the pandemic. It warned parents not to have their kids tested for …
On 24 October, the United Nations will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding in 1945, when the historic UN Charter entered into force. Sadly, the organisation will do so at a time when multilateralism …
Donald Trump went negative and then he tested positive. Trump visited chaos on the first campaign debate. Then Covid-19 did the same to his campaign. The Donald’s ability—call it a skill—to shout and shift is …
Winning Wisconsin is key to Donald Trump’s re-election. In 2016, he secured an upset win in the state by a margin of less than 1%, which was critical in helping him cobble together an electoral …
Modern conflicts are increasingly accompanied by online shadow wars in which the protagonists fight for narrative control. In our new report for ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre, we have documented some of the online activities …
Assassinations are by definition significant because they involve the murder of a prominent individual for political purposes. But not all assassinations constitute turning points. World War I, for example, would likely have happened even without …
To make sure that northern Australia is ready to support a range of defence contingencies, the region must have socially and economically prosperous communities. Supporting the development of these kinds of communities is no easy …
The ‘Quad’ meeting of Indian, Japanese, US and Australian foreign ministers in Tokyo earlier this week has resulted in the usual suspects saying the usual things. China’s foreign ministry expressed outrage and called on these …
For the first time since 1973, the Australian media has no foreign correspondents in China—a consequence of the Chinese government’s decision to drown out all critical voices, foreign or domestic. Allowing the deterioration of media …
Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has arrived with a suite of ambitious policy ideas, including plans to digitise government services and revive the country’s regional banks. But he has yet to come up with …
It’s no mystery that the radical changes Turkey has undergone since 2002 can be attributed to prime minister-cum-president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP), or Justice and Development Party. Once a …
In its 2020–21 defence budget, the government hasn’t moved away from its funding commitment in the three months since it released the 2020 defence strategic update. And why would it? If you’re looking like being …
WPS and the response to Covid-19 The United Nations Development Programme and UN Women recently launched the ‘Covid-19 global gender response tracker’. It examines more than 2,500 pandemic-related measures across 206 countries and territories, looking …
There is no single future until it happens, and any effort to envision geopolitics in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic must include a range of possible futures. I suggest five plausible futures in 2030, …
On 4 October, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivered a televised speech on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh that was heavy in inflammatory rhetoric but also represented a clear statement on Baku’s objectives. Aliyev laid out a …
The federal government sees the revival of Australian manufacturing as a matter of economic sovereignty, yet the annual national accounts highlight the enormity of the task it confronts. The government is establishing a $1.3 billion …
New Caledonia’s second independence referendum might have delivered a majority for staying with France, but support for independence along ethnic lines strengthened significantly, meaning there can be no viable future for the territory without collaboration …
Army chief Lieutenant General Rick Burr has written to all of Australia’s soldiers to prepare them for the release of a report expected to contain shocking allegations that a small number of troops carried out …
The departure of Abe Shinzo as Japan’s leader opens a new era for Canberra’s quasi-alliance with Tokyo. Australia is going to find out how much its small ‘a’ alliance is based on Abe and how …