Islamic State
What does the Trump presidency mean for Women, Peace and Security?
During his inauguration speech this week, President Trump notably redefined American gender policy. Within a few breaths, he also said he would “sign an order to stop our warriors…
Beyond Assad: Jihadist strongholds and the threat to the West
The fall of Bashar al-Assad was years in the making and seemingly over in moments. Breaking what had been a dormant chapter in the Syrian civil war, on 27 November the rebel…
The Yazidi still wait for justice
Yazidis in Australia and around the world have been on a ten-year quest for justice for the crimes perpetrated against them, victims of an ISIS genocide in Iraq and Syria.Nadia…
Moscow attacks: Why Putin was quick to blame Ukraine
As details of the recent terrorist attack in Moscow gradually emerged, the whirlwind of speculations surrounding culpability intensified. Theories ranged wildly from accusations…
Islamic State terror attack in Moscow a grim acknowledgement of global power status Russia seeks
President Vladimir Putin has long sought to restore Russia’s global status after the personally and nationally humiliating defeat of the Cold War. One of the ways he has done so…
Non-state actors and the phantom of asymmetry
The sunny days of free-riding are receding. In some form or another, most countries have leeched off American power for the last three decades. The preponderance of US military…
Misogyny is often the connection between overlapping far-right ideologies
On the afternoon of 6 May, a gunman opened fire in a mall carpark in Allen, Texas, killing eight and wounding seven others before he was shot dead by a police officer. Despite…
Is a stable Afghanistan where China, Russia and the US cooperate?
There is little that the United States can concur with China and Russia at a time regularly described as a “Second (or New) Cold War”. Yet amid all the ideological differences,…
Why outsourcing counter-terrorism online won’t work in future
The past five years have seen the creation of a latticework of overlapping methodologies to identify and remove online terrorist content and hate speech. Most notably, a…
The militarisation of motherhood: repatriating ISIS’s Western women
The Australian government’s decision to repatriate more than 20 women and 40 children from camps in Syria is an overdue policy change, representing a stark rhetorical shift. In…