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10 May 2024
Noble Rushdie will not be silenced
Physically, Rushdie will never be the same after his attack. But as a writer, he is back. -
30 Apr 2024
The God in the rubble
Germany’s struggle with morality is not only a concern of history but an animating factor in contemporary politics. -
19 Apr 2024
Girt by sea: Redrawing Australia’s mental map
A big part of the challenge is asking the hard questions – and a new book does just that. -
17 Apr 2024
Telling tales about “Civil War”
Politics isn’t the only strange omission from what is undoubtedly a captivating and relentless movie spectacle. -
9 Apr 2024
Life on Earth: From beginning to end
A new take on the history of the world starts 3.8 billion years ago and offers conclusions about our future. -
8 Apr 2024
India's turbulent history newly revealed
Two recent history books that improve our understanding of India's present -
26 Mar 2024
Opium and the colonial narco-state
In an attempt to control 19th century trade with India and China, Britain dumped tea and resorted to a new addictive drug. -
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7 Mar 2024
Spy novels and unicorn hunting
Seeking perfection among the dead ends, red herrings and lost causes, a lover of espionage lists the must-haves. -
29 Feb 2024
When war-planning and politics collide
The rhythms of the electoral cycle are too often overlooked in the conduct of conflict. -
22 Feb 2024
Words as weapons in the war of ideas
A new book explores the power of literature on history's battlefields. -
13 Feb 2024
How to fix Japan
Embracing the lost art of “creative destruction” will allow the once booming economy to flourish again. -
29 Jan 2024
Why big projects fail: Climate change and AUKUS submarines
Construction lessons – from the Empire State to the Sydney Opera House – can inform Australia’s most pressing problems. -
15 Jan 2024
Manager of the internet, controller of the world?
Power is much more than GDP and tank numbers. But the US monopoly on the digital age is eroding. -
3 Jan 2024
Why do we travel to unsettling places?
Whether the DMZ or sites of historic atrocities, place carries a connection to remind us of the precariousness of life. -
21 Dec 2023
Manila’s killing fields: Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on the poor
It’s best to not only take populists seriously, but also literally, especially when they threaten mass murder. -
13 Dec 2023
The Fix: Nationalist theatre, with a twist
An action film where the climax features a gritty anti-hero urging the importance of an informed vote? Watch and learn. -
11 Dec 2023
Espionage top ten
From George Smiley to Jackson Lamb, the best spy fiction relies not on heroes but masters of the plot. -
6 Dec 2023
The Fix: A death in Malta
Uncovering the murky business of corruption and graft too often puts journalists’ lives at risk. -
6 Dec 2023
Tales from the magic circle
A new book explores how post-war Europe’s waves of counterculture and activism transformed the notion of revolution. -
29 Nov 2023
The Fix: Simple history is never simplistic
Your weekly Interpreter feature about issues, resources and helpful distractions that might otherwise be missed. -
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8 Nov 2023
The Fix: Escape banality, shun labels
Your weekly Interpreter feature about issues, resources or helpful distractions that might otherwise be missed. -
1 Nov 2023
The Fix: An evolving Saudi Arabia
Your weekly Interpreter feature about issues, resources or helpful distractions that might otherwise be missed. -
26 Oct 2023
A Marshall Plan for Ukraine?
History can be a useful guide, but the geopolitical circumstances of today are vastly different. -
23 Oct 2023
War crimes: The trial of a fallen French war hero and lessons for today
When can personal responsibility be dissolved into collective culpability? -
13 Oct 2023
Imagining Trump’s second term
Could Canada cope? Might Australia? Two books on the “vice in the chest and tightness in the stomach” prospect. -
29 Sep 2023
The decline of Europe: “Rage, rage, against the dying of the light”
From the early signs of decay to the recent downwards turn, Europe’s trajectory is captured with pen and voice. -
28 Sep 2023
AUKUS: A debate after the fact is still worth having
Can Australia’s statecraft and alliances offer alternative security options in the Indo-Pacific? -
21 Sep 2023
Plumbing the depths of the former East Germany’s grotesque delusion
A mostly unsentimental new memoir of life in the GDR ruminates on the what-ifs. -
8 Sep 2023
Boris Johnson: Does distance really lend enchantment to the view?
A recent biography on the former PM reveals a man short on dignity and gravitas, and afraid to make the hard decisions. -
29 Aug 2023
A compelling voice for rethinking Australia’s national security
Sam Roggeveen’s Echidna Strategy rightly challenges Australia to act as a diplomatic powerhouse, not a military one. -
11 Aug 2023
Learning Cold War lessons of espionage anew
The ever-present threat of spies can lead to the greater danger – ourselves. -
10 Aug 2023
Fake news, propaganda, and the withering of commitment to truth
Joseph Stalin’s denial of access for Western journalists during the Second World War heralded the birth of disinformation. -
28 Jul 2023
Far from the limelight, forgotten Afghans continue the fight
Accounts from Kabul hold lessons on how easily the world moves on, and some takeaways for Ukraine. -
21 Jul 2023
Nobody ever teaches anyone how to be a Minister
At the heart of Australia’s Westminster democracy is an eclectic, eccentric, DIY political system. -
13 Jul 2023
For Indonesia’s haunting past, Jokowi’s resolution is non-judicial
A new book throws light on the 1965 massacres – but the government’s redress for victims is yet to extend to justice for the perpetrators. -
3 Jul 2023
China’s answer to Top Gun is a flat spin
Hardly the touted blockbuster, Born To Fly is more dreary vanity flight than rousing nationalist paean. -
23 Jun 2023
Low Earth orbit: The next frontier
A new book explores how power plays in space are destined to become an extension of cold geopolitical logic. -
26 May 2023
India’s underperforming ties to Vietnam
India’s weak cultural imprint fragments into insignificance faced with China’s. -
6 Apr 2023
What “Utopia” got wrong about China and defence policy
If Australia didn’t have a Defence Force, would China have turned to force rather than economic coercion? -
30 Mar 2023
Fiji: lessons under a dictator’s heel
Laisenia Qarase’s prison memoir after he was deposed in a coup tells a national story to cherish freedoms. -
27 Mar 2023
Binary error: How and why governments need a cyber security rethink
Deterrence of hostile states in cyberspace misses the point when operations concentrate on only “offence” vs “defence”. -
20 Jan 2023
How an Australian freed an unfinished nation’s history
The fascinating story of how Indonesia came to better know itself through a time of repressive regimes. -
10 Jan 2023
Avenging the century of humiliation, one artefact at a time
The looting of Beijing’s “Garden of Eternal Brightness” by European armies in 1860 lingers in tales of the diaspora. -
29 Dec 2022
Pop culture politics: How to Interpret 2022
“Soft power” or reputation risk, the cross-over of popular entertainment and global politics is never far from the news. -
23 Dec 2022
How to Interpret 2022: Russia invades Ukraine
Vladimir Putin seemed convinced Kyiv would fall in days. We look back at ten months of war. -
21 Dec 2022
Seeking independence: three books to read this summer
From Timorese history and Bougainville’s dreams to Australia’s regional stories, catch up on essential background. -
16 Dec 2022
Beyond binary choices in Australia China relations
Trade partner or security threat? Might we escape the trap of over securitisation with more diversity in leadership?