The road of history is a pot-holed one. But that doesn’t mean, despite the crashes and stutters, that we don’t eventually get past them. The UN vote over upgrading the Palestinians to non-member observer…
New president Xi Jinping (centre) flanked by He Guoqiang (left) and Jia Qinglin (right) at the closing ceremony of the 18th Communist Party Congress in Beijing.
AAP/How Hwee Young
CHINA IN TRANSITION: As China goes through its secretive but widely anticipated leadership transition, the rest of the world is watching. This week, The Conversation takes an in depth look at the National…
Bob Carr is getting very little love from The Australian’s Greg Sheridan of late.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Poor Greg Sheridan: he never met a prime minister he couldn’t be besotted with until Julia Gillard came along.
Ever since she got the top job, he has been running a campaign designed to demonstrate that…
Australia isn’t viewed well in India, and it will take more than cricket to fix the relationship.
AAP/David Hunt
On my last visit to India in April this year, I found the nation in the grip of Indian Premier League (IPL) fever, or so the umpteen news channels had me believe.
With Katy Perry in a kitsch Indian costume…
Australia can learn from US companies such as Mattell about keeping brands Australian, while manufacturing products in China.
EPA/Wilson Wen
AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government.
In this instalment, Dr Richard Pomfret…
Julia Gillard and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at last week’s nuclear summit in Seoul.
AAP/EPA
Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s recent performance in South Korea highlights once again the dangers of not taking Asia seriously.
At a speech at a university, Gillard apparently stuck directly to script…
Diplomacy, rather than the use of force, has been a key plank of Brazil’s foreign policy.
Embaixada dos EUA - Brasil
The five major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) – will meet at a summit today to discuss the possibility of a new development bank and trade agreements between…
The new foreign minister must understand Australia’s place on the world stage.
AAP/Tony McDonough
Australia’s foreign minister portfolio has been left vacant and the discussion on who will replace Kevin Rudd is now underway. Whatever his flaws as a prime minister, Rudd was perceived, on a certain level…
The aftermath of a bombing in Tehran that killed a nuclear scientist.
EPA/STR
Relations between Iran and the United States and its ally Israel have descended into the worst crisis in years. Concern is growing that the situation could quickly degenerate into conflict.
The origins…
Aung San Suu Kyi and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at Suu Kyi’s home in 2011.
AAP/Ngein Chan Vaing
In a landmark development, Aung San Suu Kyi recently confirmed she would run in by-elections to be held in Burma on April 1, 2012.
Until now, Suu Kyi has not been allowed to stand for election. When the…
A photograph dated 11 October 2010 depicting Kim Jong-il (right) and his putative heir Kim Jung-Un (left).
AAP/YNA
Kim Jong-il, the mercurial “Dear Leader” of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), died of heart failure on 17 December 2011, at the age of 69.
One could be excused for not believing in…
Despite President Barack Obama’s charms, Australia must focus on China.
AAP Image/ Scott Barbour
Australia’s recent fleeting love affair with President Barack Obama notwithstanding, Australia’s future lies with China and the North, not the Pacific and the East.
This is not simply a matter of economics…
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith congratulates Julia Gillard after the vote changing ALP policy on the export of uranium to China was won.
AAP/Dean Lewins
On Sunday, the Australian Labor Party voted 206 to 185 in favour of changing one part of the party’s longstanding and non-negotiable platform on uranium exports: that recipient states must be members of…
Iranian protestors storm the UK embassy in Tehran this week.
AAP/Taberkenareh
Iran’s relations with the West have been difficult for years.
The growing international condemnation of Iran for its less-than-transparent nuclear program, based on a report by the International Atomic…
2500 US Marines will be deployed near Darwin in coming years, but we could also see an expanded American military presence elsewhere in northern Australia.
AAP/Malone
Negotiations are underway that could see some the US military’s most advanced drone aircraft based on the Australian Indian Ocean territory of the Cocos Islands.
Combined with discussions around having…
Americans may be a little confused about Australia, but they sure do like us. AAP/Greg Wood.
Americans may not think about Australia much, but when they do, they try not to let facts get in the way. But why should we be surprised by that? With great passion comes great ignorance. And Americans…
A warm welcome for the President from Julia Gillard and the Governor General, but Australia should take care not to give too much away to the Americans. AAP/Stuart McEvoy.
It’s third time lucky for President Obama. He’s cancelled his trip to Australia twice before, but now he has finally made it to Canberra. Julia Gillard has struck up a friendship with the US President…
There are fears that Australian uranium could be put to military uses by India.
AAP
Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced that the Australian Labor Party will debate its opposition to exporting uranium to India.
India, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation…
Growing a moustache isn’t simply about the style. It could help you win friends and influence people abroad.
AFP/Wildbird
You may notice more than a few of your friends and colleagues are a little more hirsute than normal this month. The annual charity event Movember encourages men to grow moustaches to raise money and awareness…
Nicholas Sarkozy is a master of the political insult.
EPA/Kerim Okten/Pool
So Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been called a liar in a conversation that was released on the web.
I’m not talking about the chat between Nicholas Sarkozy and Barack Obama. Rather, I…
President Obama and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy were caught speaking of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in unflattering terms at the G20 summit.
AAP/Stefan Rousseau
The recent Cannes G20 meeting was ostensibly about saving Europe from falling into economic oblivion.
But a frank exchange between US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, caught…
Gaddafi’s death raises moral questions about whether he should have been put on trial or not.
EPA/Rehan Khan
Muammar Gaddafi met his end after being cornered in a Sirte drainage pipe, having fled from a NATO air-strike on his convoy. Questions about exactly how he died – whether caught in crossfire or summarily…
Australia would do better to shed light on Indian affairs. Media coverage of the country is dominated by corruption scandals, terrorism or cultural festivals like Diwali.
EPA/Sanjeev Gupta
CHOGM As Julia Gillard chairs the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Perth, she would do well to pay special attention to her Indian colleague at the table, Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Brian Stoddart…
Julia Gillard spoke to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa about allegations of human rights abuses at a pre-CHOGM summit.
AAP Image/Reuters/Daniel Munoz
CHOGM As the meeting between Commonwealth Heads of Government kicks off in Perth, a row is brewing over the idea for a new Commissioner on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Holly Cullen from…
People in Libya are desperate for change and the new government will have to manage expectations carefully.
AFP/Abdullah Doma
The relegation of Moammar Gaddafi to the meat-locker of history is a significant exorcism of Libya’s past.
Whether it would have been better for him to face trial is a moot point. It’s doubtful that too…
Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Greg Moriarty, has been working to secure the release of the 14 year old, amid huge media interest.
AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka
The arrest of a 14 year old Australian boy accused of possessing marijuana in Bali has provoked a media storm. The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia says the case is his “top priority”, and even the Prime…
The Australian government decides what help it will provide to travellers caught in civil unrest, like these foreign tourists in Thailand.
EPA/Rungroj Yongrit
The passport all Australians carry overseas is not just an entry or exit permit in and out of countries. It represents our nationality and our rights when abroad, as well as the rights and duties the government…
A Palestinian girl in Gaza atop a destroyed house on the day President Abbas formally requested UN recognition of Palestine.
AAP
President Mahmoud Abbas has formally submitted Palestine’s application for full member status of the United Nations.
The United States has already promised to veto the application at the Security Council…
Palestinian civilians outside a United Nations installation in the West Bank city of Hebron.
AAP
Some hypothetical situations just aren’t worth investing too much thought in. What would I serve the Queen if she turned up for dinner? What sort of private jet would I buy if I inherited a billion dollars…
United Airlines flight 175 is crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11 2001.
AAP
The terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 catapulted the world into another stage of history: the struggle between communism and capitalism, and references to the “end of history…
The father of Nael Abu Hlayel, who blew himself up in Israel in 2002, holds up pictures of his son.
AAP
Ten years ago, nineteen young Muslims commandeered passenger jets and killed themselves, taking with them 2973 people to the inferno of fire. Since the 9/11 attacks, suicide bombings have become a staple…
US sailors load cluster bombs onto an aircraft before an attack on targets in Afghanistan.
AAP
Cluster bombs are currently the subject of considerable humanitarian concern internationally because of their indiscriminate effect.
Every year, thousands of civilians, many of them children, are killed…
The Cronulla riots saw ugly attacks on people of “Middle Eastern appearance”.
AAP
It’s about that moment; if you’re old enough it’s the indelible memory of JFK being shot. As a teenager I was listening to the car radio when I heard.
For Gen X it’s 9/11, the midnight phonecalls, the…
We all think we know what a child soldier looks like, but we’d be wrong.
AFP/Georges Gobet
The commander of United Nations peacekeeping forces in Rwanda during the terrible conflict in the early 1990s has put forward legislation in Canada to help former child soldiers seek refuge there.
During…
A rebel fighter mans a makeshift checkpoint in Tripoli.
AAP
Despite confusion in recent hours about exactly who the Libyan rebels have captured, it is clear that the Gaddafi regime has been severely weakened by the weekend advance into central Tripoli.
This advance…
The capture of Colonel Gadaffi’s son was celebrated by crowds in Benghazi.
EPA/STR
The effort to overthrow Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi appears to be reaching its climax with key elements of his military forces surrendering to the rebels and senior members of his regime* in rebel hands…
Jubiliant Libyans celebrate the arrival of rebel forces in central Tripoli.
AAP
The situation in Libya remains fluid but with armed rebel fighters now in Green Square in central Tripoli, it appears the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is in its final hours.
Two of the dictator’s…
Syrian troops withdraw from the city of Hama where they were quelling pro-democracy protests.
AFP/STR
The United States has stepped up sanctions against Syria, targeting President Bashar al-Assad’s financial resources. Syria claims to have withdrawn its troops from the city of Hama, which has played a…
Palestinian medics attend to an elderly woman in the shadow of the Israeli wall.
AAP
The United Nations is set to vote on recognising Palestine as an independent state next month.
What the chances of the Palestinian initiative succeeding? What implications would recognition of Palestinian…
The way we communicate is changing and Al Qaeda have been ahead of the curve AFP PHOTO/DoD.
The nature of influence is changing, yet Governments, particularly in Australia have yet to absorb it. Influence is no longer wielded by pronouncements through traditional media sources. New media has…
Pacific nations participated enthusiastically in the Shanghai Expo last year.
Flickr/thoth188
China’s relations with its Pacific neighbours are nothing if not complex. Its trade in the region quadrupled between 1999 and 2006. And if it delivers all of the promised resources, it will become second…
Anti-US feelings run high after drone attacks in north-western Pakistan EPA.
Washington’s decision last week to suspend $800 million in military aid to Pakistan should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has been following recent developments in the US-Pakistan relationship…
A Tamil Tiger fighter killed by Sri Lankan forces on May 14 2009.
AAP
What makes Australians morally outraged? What gets really gets our blood boiling? It would seem that Four Corners has inadvertently put this question to the test this week.
On Monday the 4th of July 2011…
Recent media reports have called into question Australia’s adherence to the Geneva Convention during the early stages of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A key allegation is that Australia set up a system…
Colonel Gaddafi is a brutal tyrant, but his arrest warrant is a political move.
EPA/Sabri Elmhedwi
Arrest warrants have been issued for the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam, and Libya’s intelligence chief Abdullah Sanussi. It follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council…
The protest which started here in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid in mid-May has now swept throughout Spain.
AAP/Pedro Armestre
On 15 May 2011, one week before Spanish regional and municipal elections, young people gathered on Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square to start a protest known as 15-M movement.
It has since acquired a universal…
Israelis have a right to live in peace. But Israel has no ‘right to exist.’
AAP/Gali Tibbon
Since the 1970s, Israel’s leaders have insisted that their Palestinian interlocutors acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist” as a pre-condition for negotiations on a settlement of the conflict.
Amongst…
President Obama is spending his post-bin Laden political capital in the Middle East.
AAP
President Barack Obama has made a number of speeches focusing on events in the Middle East in recent weeks.
Obama used a landmark speech regarding the uprisings in the Arab world to call on Israel to…
Ambassador Geoff Raby and Kevin Rudd need to build a resilient relationship with China.
AAP/Dan Peled
“To speak Chinese is not to know China,” our man in Beijing announced this week. “Many examples can be found of people who speak Mandarin to a high level but who do not understand how China works. They…
Under the rule of law bin Laden should have been captured.
AFP/Jim Watson
In the extensive debate about the killing of Osama bin Laden there has been very little discussion of the legal (and possibly moral) aspects of the US operation. This is especially true in the United States…
