Marty Harris is an assistant digital editor at the Lowy Institute.
- The ABC's Asia Editor Cathrine McGrath in the Jakarta Globe: Tony Abbott’s Visit to Indonesia — A Real Statesman in the Making?
- The UN Security Council has unanimously passed an Australia/Luxembourg drafted Presidential Statement calling for greater humanitarian access in Syria. Initial reactions here, here and, from Foreign Minister Bishop, here.
- Still on Syria, Joshua Landis profiles some of the key rebel leaders.
- Sri Lanka's post conflict economic boom may be running out of steam.
- The nomads’ no man’s land: reporting from minefields in Western Sahara.
- No investment in internet cafes: prohibitions in the Shanghai free trade zone.
- Continued electoral problems in the Maldives.
- Shutdown: don't blame Congress, don't blame the President, blame the Constitution.
- Finally, the shutdown's impact on the US military:
Entire fighter squadrons are grounded. The Defense Department's Middle East specialists are barred from the Pentagon. Thousands of the Intelligence Community's top geeks are at home playing Minecraft. The shutdown of the United States government is starting to have very real impacts on the American defense and intelligence infrastructure. Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper even calls it a "dream scenario" for other countries to recruit spies who ordinarily work for the federal government — when that government is actually open.