Pressure builds on Huawei (part 1)

A global struggle over the future of communications is underway. It is centred on Huawei, China’s ‘national champion’ in communications, and notably its leading role in the emerging technology of 5G. The remainder of 2019 …

Space 2.0 in the Indo-Pacific

Space has traditionally been the domain of the great powers, and the cost of space technologies has ensured that smaller states like Australia depended on those countries for satellite coverage. But that’s changing rapidly. A …

Indo-Pacific: from construct to contest

‘Indo-Pacific’ has shifted from a geographic construct to an arena for mounting contest—and the label for a US strategy. The journey from construct to competition has been short and sharp. At the start of this …

ASPI suggests

The world US President Donald Trump has formally kicked off his re-election campaign just 500-odd days out from the 2020 election. The New York Times dives into Trump’s claims that he raised US$24.8 million in …

A US–Iran war is in no one’s interests

In a recent analysis, Richard Haass suggests that one way out of the current crisis with Iran is a renegotiated Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that addresses shortcomings in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal …

Teflon populism

Populist rule is invariably associated with corruption, nepotism and incompetence. Why, then, do populists appear immune to scandal? Revelations that would have shocked electorates just a few years ago leave nary a mark on populist …

Who will save the WTO?

The World Trade Organization is heading towards an end-of-year train wreck. Next weekend’s G20 leaders’ summit is now one of the last opportunities to switch the points to a safer track. The United States appears …