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Gender equality financing: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
Gender equality financing: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
You can’t manage what you can’t measure, as the adage goes. And in terms of measuring gender equality and women’s empowerment, considerable barriers exist. While significant…
State of play for Pacific women in 2024
State of play for Pacific women in 2024
As 2024 rang in, an historical vote was taking place in the Pacific. Hilda Heine, former president of the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) and first ever female head of state in…
Spy novels and unicorn hunting
Spy novels and unicorn hunting
“I wasted time and now time doth waste me.” Shakespeare’s rueful admonition (from Richard II) should nag at all of us who have expended energy on dead ends, red herrings or lost…
When war-planning and politics collide
When war-planning and politics collide
Book review: War on the Ballot: How the Election Cycle Shapes Presidential Decision-Making in War, by Andrew Payne (Colombia, 2023) Political scientist Andrew Payne…
Out of the shadows: Women as partners resisting oppression
Out of the shadows: Women as partners resisting oppression
In the days that have immediately followed the death of Alexei Navalny, a number of observers have used a quote attributed to Stalin to describe Vladimir Putin’s assumed take…
Words as weapons in the war of ideas
Words as weapons in the war of ideas
Book review: The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree (Profile Books, 2024) Millennia before Gutenberg invented the printing press, the Book of Ecclesiastes warned that “of…
Is there really a nuclear weapon in space?
Is there really a nuclear weapon in space?
Alarm was raised in the media this week about a “national security threat” to the United States from Russia, ostensibly a nuclear space-based weapon. The news came after the…
How to fix Japan
How to fix Japan
Book review: The Contest for Japan's Economic Future: Entrepreneurs vs Corporate Giants by Richard Katz (OUP, 2023) There is no advanced economy more in need of fixing than…
Russia’s shadow tanker fleet runs into trouble
Russia’s shadow tanker fleet runs into trouble
Barring new evasive techniques by Kremlin technocrats, the rapid rise in Russia’s shadow tanker fleet since the Ukraine war may be reversing as pressure is brought to bear on…
Whose security is really at stake? Gender must be prioritised in Australia‑PNG security agreement
Whose security is really at stake? Gender must be prioritised in Australia‑PNG security agreement
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape will address the Australian parliament this Thursday, just weeks after Australia and PNG signed a legally-binding Bilateral Security…