54 countries cooperated with the US 'extraordinary rendition' program, including Iran and Syria (and Aus

Thanks to Markus for alerting me to this one. Looks good:

David Brooks is an interesting thinker, so it will be worth watching his exploration of the modern preoccupation with big data.

Watch Captain Fanell's presentation, or read below for some more select quotes.

Japan's highest grossing film of 2011, a coming of age story dealing with the aftermath of World War II and the rise of a new Japan, is being released with English dubbing.

Stephen Grenville's latest post talks about debt and deficits, two distinctly different concepts which often get confused or conflated.

Glorious!

US fiscal policy slid over the fiscal cliff last month without serious damage and the next debt ceiling hurdle has been pushed back a few months. But the longer-term issues remain unaddressed.

Mike Callaghan is Director of the Lowy Institute's G20 Studies Centre.

Danielle Rajendram is a Research Associate in the Lowy Institute's International Security Program whose work focuses on India and China-India relations.

The economy of greater Shanghai is bigger than that of Switzerland.

The second anniversary of the Syrian civil war is looming and the political and military situation remains deadlocked. The Assad regime's superiority in conventional weapons has meant that, while government forces have ceded

Senator David Fawcett (Liberal) is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.

Dr Michael Barr is a Senior Lecturer at Flinders University and Editor-in-Chief, Asian Studies Review.

Last July I expressed scepticism about the idea that Tony Abbott's fondness for the 'anglosphere' implied that he was too focused on Australia's traditional partners and didn't fully app

Joel Wing-Lun is a Research Associate in the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program.

 

The 2012 Global Think Tank Index is out, with the Lowy Institute ranked 44th out of 1647 think tanks nominated worldwide.

After 29 months of government, Wednesday's launch of the National Security Strategy was welcome yet well overdue.