Skip to main content
The Interpreter

Interpreter - Menu Links

  • Articles
  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • About

Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 22 Feb 2023
    • China
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Wang Yi’s fruitless diplomacy in Europe

    Michael Clarke
    Beijing misunderstands that Russia’s war in Ukraine – and China’s failure to condemn it – has vastly changed views.
  • 31 Jan 2023
    • Europe
    • European Union

    Europe: Crossing the East-West divide

    Roderick Parkes
    A new alignment challenges France and Germany as drivers of European politics – offering Britain a chance for influence.
  • 13 Dec 2022
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Trade
    • Global Issues
    • Climate change
    • Coronavirus
    • Environment
    • Transnational Challenges
    • The Americas

    2022: A global turning point

    Ian Hill
    Looking at trends and contours that have coalesced this year to make international politics more contested and unpredictable.
  • 22 Nov 2022
    • Europe
    • European Union
    • Russia
    • Climate change
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    Europe must fully embrace nuclear energy

    Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo
    With Russia’s stranglehold on the region’s energy, it is time to add a second shade of green.
  • 31 Aug 2022
    • Europe
    • Russia

    Mikhail Gorbachev: The last revolutionary

    Marcus Colla
    Ambitious Soviet reformer whose political career was defined by “perestroika”.
  • 22 Aug 2022
    • Europe
    • European Union
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Six months of war in Ukraine: Europe’s life and fate

    Marcus Colla
    Emotions have inevitably subsided but support for Ukraine remains resolute – enough to dismay Putin-loving populists.
  • 15 Aug 2022
    • Australia
    • Europe

    Norway’s 30 minutes with the PM

    Daniel Flitton
    Norway’s ambassador takes a moment in his last week in Canberra to explain what he would tell Anthony Albanese.
  • 1 Aug 2022
    • Europe

    On water matters: the fate Baltic ferries tell of global order

    Grant Wyeth
    Modern life can hold some inconvenient lessons – for those willing to search them out.
  • 30 Jun 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Public Opinion

    War fatigue in the West

    Bermet Talant
    The democratic world passed the compassion test for Ukraine. Now it faces the real challenge.
  • 27 May 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • European Union
    • Ukraine

    Ukraine: The view from Warsaw

    Melissa Conley Tyler
    More than offering neighbourly support, Poland wants to ensure Russia suffers a strategic defeat.
  • 21 Mar 2022
    • Europe

    As Hungary nears an election, Brussels and Moscow will be watching

    Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo
    Viktor Orbán looks likely to win re-election and continue posing problems for European policymakers.
  • 10 Mar 2022
    • Europe
    • United States
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Ukraine: The United States re-establishes its credentials

    Erin Hurley
    Against the backdrop of Putin’s invasion, Biden’s ability to rally allies is winning support.
  • 28 Feb 2022
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • Energy
    • Ukraine

    Russia’s war will hasten the drive for clean energy security

    Frank Jotzo
    Wind and solar is not only zero-emissions – it’s local. And that will cut Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and oil.
  • 27 Jan 2022
    • Europe
    • Technology

    Power plays: the growing competition to fuel energy transitions

    Nina Markovic Khaze
    Serbia’s decision to cancel a lithium mine in the face of environmental outcry underscores a modern economic challenge.
  • 14 Jan 2022
    • Europe
    • Australia
    • Migration
    • Coronavirus

    Novak Djokovic – a symbol for anti-vaxxers?

    Nikola Mikovic
    The ruling to deport the tennis ace could hamper his career but transform him into a different type of star.
  • 11 Jan 2022
    • Europe
    • Australia
    • Migration
    • Coronavirus

    When no shots are heard around the world

    Warwick McFadyen
    The saga of Novak Djokovic’s visa has galvanised global attention – with a result that still hangs in the balance.
  • 20 Dec 2021
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • United States
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    European security: Putin ups the ante with NATO

    Ian Hill
    Why is Moscow making proposals it must know are unacceptable?
  • 17 Nov 2021
    • Europe

    A brewing crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Samantha Wong
    Ethnic and political frictions haven’t disappeared and threaten to turn deadly.
  • 10 Nov 2021
    • Europe
    • European Union
    • Migration

    The forest for the trees: trouble at the Poland-Belarus border

    Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo
    A migrant crisis is the next episode in an ongoing Russian and Belarusian project to undercut the European Union.
  • 22 Oct 2021
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • European Union

    “Strategic autonomy” is more dangerous for Europe than AUKUS

    Benjamin Tallis
    Breaking from the United States would militarise the European Union to the extent that it would become unrecognisable.
  • 11 Oct 2021
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • Australia
    • France

    Subs: Australia’s reputation overboard

    Richard Ogier
    In Europe, and not only in France, the image of Australia has suffered a direct hit.
  • 2 Sep 2021
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • South China Sea
    • European Union
    • Germany
    • United Kingdom
    • France

    Europe and the South China Sea 

    Loro Horta
    More warships in disputed waters may cause instability. But the presence of navies from afar sends a clear message, too.
  • 24 Aug 2021
    • Europe
    • Migration
    • European Union

    Europe turns away from asylum-seekers

    Dominic Simonelli
    Covid saw fewer refugees on the move but numbers could soon rise. Those needing help deserve to be treated with dignity.
  • 25 Jun 2021
    • Europe
    • France

    Macron’s right-wing gamble

    Lisa Louis
    The French president is betting on the far-right to boost his chances in the 2022 election.
  • 21 Jun 2021
    • Europe
    • United States
    • Russia
    • European Union
    • Germany
    • United Kingdom
    • France

    Believing Biden

    Daniel Woker
    The US President has persuaded European allies of his values-based policy. But will such faith carry home?
  • 14 Apr 2021
    • Europe
    • China
    • Coronavirus

    Serbia’s vaccine diplomacy: Balancing China and the West

    Nikola Mikovic
    The politics of Covid have tangled up countries across the world – but that’s not always a drawback.
  • 17 Feb 2021
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • European Union
    • Germany
    • France

    Russia vs the EU

    Daniel Woker
    A visit to Moscow by Europe’s top envoy did nothing to calm a growing diplomatic spat. What if Washington weighs in?
  • 4 Feb 2021
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • Russia

    The Donbass conflict: Waiting for escalation

    Nikola Mikovic
    The forgotten war involving Ukraine and Russia in the energy-rich region is simmering still.
  • 3 Feb 2021
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Trade
    • Coronavirus
    • Human rights
    • United Nations

    A “beggar-thy-neighbour” approach keeps seafarers stranded

    Sandra Tsui
    Some countries have banned crew rotations. Some have tight limits. A few are open. So a crisis continues.
  • 25 Jan 2021
    • Australia in the World
    • Europe
    • United States
    • Global Economic Governance
    • Multilateral Institutions

    The US and the next leader of the OECD

    Daniel F. Runde
    Australia’s candidate for Secretary-General is a favourable contender, but American backing is still up in the air.
  • 18 Dec 2020
    • Europe
    • Coronavirus

    Learning from an island in a pandemic

    Grant Wyeth
    For all the focus on New Zealand’s and Taiwan’s successes, another fascinating island nation has kept the virus at bay.
  • 26 Nov 2020
    • Europe
    • European Union
    • Germany

    The outlines of a European policy on the Indo-Pacific

    Lisa Louis
    Germany and the Netherlands have new strategies for the Indo-Pacific, and maybe the beginnings of a common EU stance.
  • 19 Nov 2020
    • Europe
    • Diplomacy
    • Australia
    • China
    • South Korea

    Beijing’s bad books: Australia can learn from Norway and South Korea

    Henry Storey
    China’s coercive diplomacy is not new. Other countries have managed to repair ties after a perceived slight.
  • 26 Oct 2020
    • Europe
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    The Three Seas Initiative: A European answer to China’s Belt and Road?

    David Morris
    A quest to modernise dilapidated infrastructure in Central Europe has quickly transformed into a geopolitical contest.
  • 24 Sep 2020
    • Europe
    • Human rights

    Francis Fukuyama in Minsk

    Mark Beeson
    The outcry for liberal freedoms on display in Belarus suggests “The end of history” wasn’t all wrong.
  • 16 Sep 2020
    • Europe
    • United States

    Trump’s gambit in the Balkans

    Nina Markovic Khaze , Perparim Xhaferi
    Drawing down troops from Germany one day, inserting the US into the Serbia-Kosovo dispute the next. What’s at play?
  • 7 Sep 2020
    • Europe
    • United States
    • Australia
    • Coronavirus
    • The 2020 US Presidential Election

    Pandemic democracy

    Benjamin Reilly
    Voting is based on trust between citizens and their government. In an age of social distancing, such faith is tested.
  • 7 Sep 2020
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • Coronavirus

    How Russia benefited from Belarus’s turmoil

    Nikola Mikovic
    The “last European dictator” has turned back to the Kremlin after the West imposed sanctions for recent crackdowns.
  • 28 Aug 2020
    • Europe
    • Diplomacy
    • United States
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • United Nations
    • Iran

    A diplomatic breakdown over “snapback” tests the UN

    Richard Gowan
    Dispute over a US call for pre-2015 Iran sanctions has pushed the Security Council to its limit. It’s been there before.
  • 22 Jul 2020
    • Europe
    • China
    • Technology

    Is Huawei in the UK a canary in the coalmine?

    Daniel Woker
    Britain’s 5G ban shows that political risk must be priced into commercial calculations as the world considers value.
  • 12 Jun 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • United States
    • Australia

    NATO: Rebranding exercise or new product launch?

    Gorana Grgic
    #NATO2030
  • 1 May 2020
    • Global Issues
    • Europe
    • Coronavirus

    Governments, not pandemics, stop access to reproductive health

    Sara E Davies , Sophie Harman
    A winding back of hard-won women’s rights in Europe has implications for us all.
  • 24 Apr 2020
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • ISIS
    • Terrorism
    • Coronavirus

    ISIS looks to prosper in a world distracted by the virus

    Kareem Salem
    Europe could quickly be confronted by another security crisis if the terrorists growing resurgence is left unchecked.
  • 21 Apr 2020
    • Europe
    • Europe's Economy
    • Coronavirus

    Hit hard, could Covid lead Europe to rethink economic policy?

    Lisa Louis
    Airlines could be nationalised, global supply chains severed. Will a once familiar market-led dogma survive the crisis?
  • 20 Jan 2020
    • Europe
    • China
    • Germany

    No end in sight for Germany’s troubles with Huawei

    Björn Alexander Düben
    As other European capitals look for a cue, German politicians are sharply divided over the Chinese tech company.
  • 4 Nov 2019
    • Europe

    What 1989 unleashed, and what it didn’t

    Marcus Colla
    The story of “post-Wall” Central Europe is not simply a straight line from liberalism’s triumph to its collapse.
  • 27 Aug 2019
    • Europe
    • Diplomacy
    • United States

    Macron tries to put the spark back into the G7

    Hervé Lemahieu
    By keeping Trump from derailing the proceedings, the self-anointed saviour of the West scored a tactical win.
  • 5 Jul 2019
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • United States

    The burden of friendship: Germany, Trump and NATO

    Marcus Colla
    Germany earns a special ire in the President’s complaints, but Berlin sees less challenge in dollars and more in trust.
  • 21 Jun 2019
    • Global Issues
    • Europe
    • Russia

    Accountability for flight MH17: a long and winding road …

    Priya Pillai
    Trials in absentia are problematic, but as with the Lockerbie trial, the quest for justice will be arduous and complex.
  • 10 May 2019
    • Europe
    • Australia
    • Migration

    My mother’s life: faraway dreams, new growth and seeking acceptance

    Scott Winter
    Born to a world in flames, set back by illness, an adventure to Australia would strengthen the threads of a nation.
Pagination
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • Current page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Next page ››

Stay informed with the latest commentary and analysis on international events from experts at the Lowy Institute and around the world.

Register

The Interpreter features in-depth analysis & expert commentary on the latest international events, published daily by the Lowy Institute

© Copyright 2023 Lowy Institute

  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • Articles
  • About
  • Comments Policy
  • My Bookmarks
  • Terms of Use
  • Site map
  • My Admin
  • Log In