Uncategorised and other

In the Olympics of Drag, Taiwan just took the gold
In the Olympics of Drag, Taiwan just took the gold
For Taiwan, which often finds its international participation constrained – barred from a World Health Organization membership and competing under the “Chinese Taipei” flag at the…
Girt by sea: Redrawing Australia’s mental map
Girt by sea: Redrawing Australia’s mental map
Book Review: Girt by Sea: Re-Imagining Australia’s Security, by Rebecca Strating and Joanne Wallis (La Trobe Press, 2024) It’s no secret that in recent years, there has…
Afghan women: The silent victims of Taliban brutality
Afghan women: The silent victims of Taliban brutality
The Taliban’s Supreme Leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has vowed to start stoning women to death in public. On 23 March, in a voice message aired on a Taliban-controlled…
Telling tales about “Civil War”
Telling tales about “Civil War”
Civil War has quickly entered the American zeitgeist, and one of the most frequently noted themes in commentary about the film is the opacity of its politics. You would expect…
Life on Earth: From beginning to end
Life on Earth: From beginning to end
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History by Peter Frankopan (Bloomsbury, 2023) Any one-volume history of “an untold story” of the world “from the dawn of time” might be…
India's turbulent history newly revealed
India's turbulent history newly revealed
Review: Crosswinds, by Vijay Gokhale (Penguin Random House India, 2024) and To Raise a Fallen People, by Rahul Sagar (Columbia University Press, 2022).  India’s role on…
Opium and the colonial narco-state
Opium and the colonial narco-state
Book review: Smoke and ashes: Opium’s hidden histories by Amitav Ghosh (Murray, 2024) Switching for a while from fiction to fact, Amitav Ghosh has written an account of …
The Translator: "Friends to all"
The Translator: "Friends to all"
Heard diplomats or analysts using a new turn of phrase only to wonder, “What does that mean?” Today we ask … What is “Friends to all”? At its core, “Friends to all…
What price sanctions?
What price sanctions?
Book Review: The Trade Weapon, by Ken Heydon (Wiley 2023) Following the presumed assassination of Russian political opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the United States,…
The Translator: "Loss and damage"
The Translator: "Loss and damage"
Heard diplomats or analysts using a new turn of phrase only to wonder, “What does that mean?” Today we ask … What is loss and damage? In the context of…