Debating South Korea’s mandatory military service
An exemption from military service for a football star has brought global attention to a simmering social issue.
An exemption from military service for a football star has brought global attention to a simmering social issue.
Watching court proceedings of a case marred by irregularities that in a country other than Cambodia might be thrown out.
Trump didn’t cause the problems, his presidency has just put them in the spotlight, without practical policy solutions.
As debts mount and liquidity begins to dry up, it will soon become clear how much the growth of tech start-ups was fact.
The legacy of his first stint as prime minister is shaping his second – history suggests Mahathir will remain a player.
There are no obvious signs refugees in squalid camps will turn to international violence – but it would only take a few.
A suicide attack on a convoy of Chinese engines in Balochistan threatens to have far reaching economic consequences.
China-Taiwan tensions on display, journalist restrictions, and other stories from the Pacific islands region.
No one metric is ever going to be a good proxy for China, the place is just too complicated to be boiled down.
Like the rest of us, the Rohingya need to have hope in a reasonable future for their children.
The largest military exercises in decades will see hundreds of thousands of troops in something approaching real combat.
Taipei will find it increasingly hard to dispel the intangible sense the tide of history is running in China’s favour.
Pacific leaders are openly despairing of Australia’s climate change policy and markedly differ on security priorities.
A larger struggle over the “soul” of the Myanmar state and society greatly limits the scope for international influence.
Emmanuel Tjibaou, son of an assassinated Kanak independence leader, speaks on New Caledonia’s identity and art.
A register to record citizens in India’s Assam raises fears four million Bengali-speaking residents could be forced out.
Corruption permeates the Indonesian courts, making the perception of a country abiding the rule of law a sad illusion.
What might be called second tier players, when acting together, can have a profound influence to shape the region.
Julie Bishop’s foreign ministership, Belt and Road branding and “birth tourism”: the week that was on The Interpreter.
The Lake Chad humanitarian crisis is severe – and peace will only be found by listening to those most vulnerable.
Declining birth rates and an aging population will see nation’s workforce shrink, and challenge male-focused attitudes.
Pregnant mothers seeking US citizenship for kids raises compelling questions about belonging but is hardly nefarious.
On his trip to Jakarta, Scott Morrison should raise the disturbing trend to repress religious minorities in Indonesia.
After a breakthrough with Jakarta, will Aussie-trained Indonesian workers be welcomed into Australia to improve skills?
Divisions have marred preparations for the November independence referendum despite effort to seed habits of dialogue.
Manning is not a whistleblower. She is someone convicted of espionage who was given a long prison sentence.
Saif Gaddafi faces difficult obstacles, including his father's legacy, to challenge for the presidency of Libya.
He gave in to the worst of the American right, but in media memory, John McCain represents an earlier Republican party.
The Belt and Road Initiative is foremost a marketing tool, often applied retrospectively, and aimed at a home audience.
Julie Bishop’s foreign aid legacy, UK realignment, statistics in a changing world and links from the development sector.
Ballooning costs amid global competition for bragging rights should prompt India to invest more in existing attractions.
Bishop struggled at times to find the right tone in response to an inward-looking America and a muscular China.
Annan would sometimes wryly joke the abbreviation used within the United Nations for his position stood for “scapegoat”.
Rather than an outsider, Peter Dutton is a party loyalist who tried to rescue his party against a wealthy outsider.
As the election race heats up, the economy is Jokowi’s likely vulnerability; meanwhile Prabowo boosts campaign coffers.
Engaging India means recognising vast differences between culturally diverse states and varied governance standards.
Her achievements lie in the goals she chose to pursue, which she then pursued with determination and rigour.
A solid Republican with a maverick streak, McCain was a tireless advocate of strong alliances, including with Australia.
Political upheaval in Australia, sports diplomacy gone wrong, remembering Kofi Annan: the week on The Interpreter.
After an extraordinary week at home, the new PM will need to contend with a pressing international calendar.
Blocking Chinese telecommunications firms from the new mobile network again exposes a wider trust problem.
A challenge for a new review is to agree what we mean by soft power, how to measure it, and to put it into practice.
A new study attempts to put a number on the ongoing cost of an enormously costly episode of misguided policies.
He could soon be leading the country in volatile times but what does Peter Dutton think of the world beyond the border?
The agenda of the recent Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting in Apia was marked as much by those attending as those missing.
We can no longer simply assume that what’s good for America is good for the world.
A costly gloss of glitz and glamour for Jakarta’s sports diplomacy cannot disguise some ugly challenges Indonesia faces.
Given that all signs point to Bashar al-Assad staying in power, who pays for reconstruction becomes a thorny question.
The Global Migration Compact puts environmental displacement on the agenda, even if it lacks legal force.
So much for the “arc of instability”, a PM in Port Moresby now outlasts an Australian counterpart.