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  • 30 Sep 2020 14:00

    The unfinished Chinese civil war

    John Culver

    Many frame China’s options against Taiwan as peace or invasion. This is a dangerous oversimplification.

  • 30 Sep 2020 06:00

    Duterte’s vaccine promise is a political placebo

    Michael Beltran

    The Philippine president has pinned hopes on a miracle solution to the Covid crisis while gutting effective responses.

  • 29 Sep 2020 10:00

    Evaluating aid in the Pacific

    Jonathan Pryke , Aidan Myatt

    A common rating system could make aid evaluation less opaque. Better yet, it could deliver more bang for precious bucks.

Israel

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Hidden seams in the UAE-Israel deal

The main questions about the normalisation agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced a week ago are why did it happen and what will it change? It’s pretty clear what US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu get out of the deal – both leaders
By Ben Scott
21 Aug 20
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The essence of timing in politics

The 13 August announcement of a United Arab Emirates–Israel deal to normalise relations was a significant event. But at the same time, it overshadowed a number of other interesting Middle Eastern political and security-related manoeuvres occurring elsewhere. The agreement itself was an
By Rodger Shanahan
17 Aug 20
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Cashing in the chips at the Trump casino

Big moves in the Middle East often seek to take advantage of a favourable political climate in Washington. And there has rarely been as favourable time in Washington for some Middle East leaders as under the Trump administration. But in pro-US capitals across the region, leaders are no doubt bracing
By Rodger Shanahan
09 Jul 20
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Australia and Israel should be partners in Asia

The rise of Asia and growing superpower competition pose serious challenges for countries such as Australia and Israel, and they should face them together. On the one hand, Asia’s economic dynamism offers access to new and growing markets; on the other hand, changing regional dynamics in Asia have
By Gedaliah Afterman
21 Feb 20
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Israel’s democracy: a systemic problem

Israel has often been called the only democracy in the Middle East. This is not quite true. The Economist’s Global Democracy Index for 2019, which ranks 167 countries by five democratic criteria, lists Israel as a “flawed democracy”.* Israel scores well on electoral process/pluralism and
By Ian Parmeter
17 Feb 20
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Israel’s Arabs awaken to their electoral power

Members of the Arab List elected to the Israeli Knesset (parliament) at last week’s elections are walking a tightrope. The decision announced by the List’s leader, Ayman Odeh, on 22 September to endorse Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party, as Israel’s next Prime Minister
By Ian Parmeter
25 Sep 19
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Israel’s elections: many messiahs, but only one king

Twenty years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu – “Bibi” to friends and foes alike – lost in an electoral landslide to Ehud Barak, then head of the Israeli Labor Party. It ended his first term as prime minister. Many thought it would be his only term. I remember standing in a densely packed Rabin
By Anthony Bubalo
15 Apr 19
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Responses to Australia’s Israel capital decision

Some, perhaps surprising, support from Bahrain to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision for Australia to formally recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel while leaving Australia’s embassy at its existing location in Tel Aviv. According to a tweet translated by Al Jazeera, Bahrain’
By Daniel Flitton
17 Dec 18
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Australia’s Israel-Palestine conflict

Labor was quick to pounce on a “desperate” Scott Morrison to accuse him of breaking “bipartisan foreign policy” after the prime minister flagged the prospect that Australia could recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Which is true enough on the specifics. But broad questions
By Daniel Flitton
16 Oct 18
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