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Although coups and the Turkish military used to be synonymous, this weekend's attempted coup, while disturbing, was in the end not a very well executed one. The plan was launched after working hours and while President Recep Erdogan was on holidays, which showed a sense of timing. Apart from this

Tuesday's South China Sea adjudication demonstrates that the UNCLOS framework is totally unsuited to sorting out the complex conflicting claims in the South China Sea in a way that the relevant parties will accept. By effectively announcing the Philippines as winner and China as loser, the tribunal'

After her startling three-day rise from Tory leadership contender to Prime Minister, many are wondering what sort of leader Theresa May will be. We already have some answers. Firstly, we know her reputation as a tough and 'bloody difficult woman' has been well-earned; sacking the serving Chancellor

In my earlier posts in this series on the migration-security nexus in Australia and Asia (see part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4), I’ve identified human insecurity as the major source of migration from Asia to Australia, and explained some commonly held human security concerns, or rather myths

China and Vietnam have reacted very differently to the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling on the South China Sea. While China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared the PCA award should be 'null and void', in Hanoi it was welcomed. The PCA ruling will give the Vietnamese government extra

After seven years and at a cost of about $20 million, the report of the Chilcot Inquiry into the UK involvement with the 2003 Iraq War was released last week. At 2.6 million words it is almost five times longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace but, unlike Tolstoy’s epic, it has  very

On 10 July, Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition won an impressive victory in Japan’s half-upper house election. Having campaigned on the need to stay the Abenomics course, Abe stated in his victory speech that he would convene commissions on the constitution in both houses of parliament.

On Wednesday afternoon, Theresa May will become British prime minister after every one of her opponents were stabbed in the back, fell of self-inflicted wounds, or simply faded away in the glare of her overwhelming support from MPs. The process — less than three weeks from referendum to

Sir John Chilcot’s report had an impressively long gestation. The eventual release of 12 volumes totalling over two and a half million words amounts to a comprehensive indictment of British Prime Minister Blair’s unilateral decision to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. More than

Last week South Korea and the US confirmed their decision to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on South Korean soil. This deployment is a joint response to North Korea’s continual testing of new medium- and long-range ballistic missiles and to its belligerent

The US Republican Party will gather from July 18–21 to formally nominate Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. This may be contested — the ‘Never Trump’ movement is searching for a way to open the convention — but regardless, Trump has already altered the

The Washington Post reports on research from Uganda into a government program that may be one of the most effective and affordable ways to combat deforestation in a country that has some of the fastest tree loss rates in the world. NPR’s Tiny Spark podcast has an excellent conversation with

A new documentary about Stuxnet and cyberwarfare: Here's the NY Times review, and here's the Metacritic page, where it is scoring very well. (Thanks Brendan

The Asia Pacific is the most dynamic digital landscape in the world, home to the fastest adopters of new technologies and the largest concentration of mobile and social media users. An escalation in online activism, changing cyber dynamics, developments in digital diplomacy and the exploitation of

Thanks to Kurt Campbell for his prompt and thoughtful response to my review of his recent book The Pivot. Kurt’s post helps to clarify the key areas of difference between our views on the nature of America’s policy challenge in Asia today, and the adequacy of the Pivot policy as a

Sam Roggeveen reminds us that Brexit has spotlighted the political unpopularity of globalisation, immigration and the 'neoliberal' economic agenda. The politics of these issues is fraught, with strongly held opinions for and against each of these ideas. Yet economics is pretty clearly in favour of

Politicians often talk loosely about terrorism as an 'existential threat', which is a vast overstatement — terrorists don't have the capability to undermine the character and essential functions of advanced nation-states. Unless those terrorists have nuclear weapons. Here's a short video

The Australian Financial Review's Lisa Murray and Angus Grigg have identified one consequence associated with the drawn-out election results. Australia may not have our Trade Minister represented at upcoming two-day G20 trade ministers meeting in Shanghai on 9-10 July. But, assuming we are in a

On 21 May ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani called on the group's supporters to conduct attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The message has been an effective one, as demonstrated by a number of attacks perpetrated and claimed by ISIS, including the latest in Baghdad. Each is

If we believe a growing number of political commentators, we are currently witnessing the rebirth of fascism. Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Marine le Pen, Nigel Farage – they have all been compared to the likes of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini and even Adolf Hitler. Closer scrutiny

China’s participation in and sponsorship of international conferences, closed-door trilateral meetings and other forms of academic exchanges has exploded in recent years. From the near absence of Chinese participants a decade ago, the conference circuit is now swarming with panelists, observers

The shocking attack by three terrorists on Kemal Ataturk airport has justifiably horrified us all.  And on the assumption that it has been carried out by Islamic State (the target selection of a tourism hub & lack of claim are similar to other such attacks) it reinforces the view that IS is

After this year's US election, the incoming president will have an opportunity to reset the default position of US grand strategy from liberal interventionism to something more pragmatic, such as offshore balancing. It's an argument I made in an article for the London School of Economics US Centre,

Contrasting Philippines President Benigno Aquino with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is much easier than finding similarities. Undoubtedly, the Duterte administration will be very different from Aquino's. Duterte has brought communist party nominees into his cabinet but not the Vice President-elect