Skip to main content
The Interpreter

Interpreter - Menu Links

  • Articles
  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • About

Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 23 Sep 2025
    • Bangladesh
    • Nepal
    • Sri Lanka

    The outside-in story that helps explain turmoil in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka

    Nilanthi Samaranayake
    External dynamics help explain the recent political upheaval seen across several smaller South Asian countries.
  • 16 Jun 2025
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Maldives
    • Sri Lanka
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Putting the “Indo” in Indo-Pacific, Australia’s westward pivot

    Rushali Saha
    Embassy openings and patrol boat gifts signal Canberra's recognition that Indian Ocean influence requires active engagement.
  • 14 Apr 2025
    • India
    • Sri Lanka
    • Energy
    • United Arab Emirates

    Three-way energy play: The India-Sri Lanka-UAE deal in Trincomalee

    Rushali Saha
    Pipeline politics transform a Second World War-era fuel tank farm into a regional prize.
  • 28 Nov 2024
    • China
    • India
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka votes for change

    Gordon Weiss
    Primed for unrest, the country’s elections went off without incident, and a new man-of-the-people has emerged as leader.
  • 31 Oct 2024
    • Bangladesh
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Japan
    • Malaysia
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand

    Asia’s year of electoral upsets

    Greg Earl
    The poor result for the region’s most successful electoral machine in Japan on Sunday has only underlined a surprisingly bad year for incumbents across Asia.
  • 23 Sep 2024
    • Sri Lanka

    Curfew lifted, change arrives: A firsthand view of Sri Lanka’s historic election

    Lisa Singh
    Newly-elected president Anura Kumara Dissanayake struck a chord with a nation frustrated and crying out for a brighter future.
  • 16 Apr 2024
    • India
    • Sri Lanka
    • Energy

    India’s takeover of the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm will help build energy interdependence with Sri Lanka

    David Brewster
    Old infrastructure could get a new lease on life.
  • 27 Mar 2024
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Sri Lanka
    • Defence & Security
    • Maritime Security

    Mapping the oceans is the new front in the battle for influence in the Indian Ocean

    David Brewster
    Ruling the waves means first understanding what lies beneath. Enter the geopolitics of hydrography.
  • 21 Aug 2023
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Nepal
    • Sri Lanka

    India doubles down on regional connectivity to counter China

    Henry Storey
    New Delhi has big advantages in its South Asia infrastructure push – even if outspending China isn’t one of them.
  • 8 Aug 2023
    • Sri Lanka
    • Debt
    • IMF

    Sri Lanka’s deep debt bind

    Mariza Cooray , Roland Rajah
    Imposing losses on domestic creditors essentially imposes losses on the country itself.
  • 26 Jun 2023
    • China
    • India
    • Sri Lanka

    After the meltdown: Sri Lanka’s strategic options

    David Brewster
    With its economic and political crisis in the rear-view mirror, Colombo has the chance to reposition itself regionally.
  • 21 Feb 2023
    • Sri Lanka

    Confronting the mounting human costs of Sri Lanka’s debt spiral

    Mariza Cooray , Roland Rajah
    More than just urgent debt relief, the country also needs help addressing a humanitarian crisis.
  • 9 Feb 2023
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • China
    • India
    • Laos
    • North Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United Nations

    With caution and tact: How Asian countries voted on Ukraine at the UN 

    Stéphanie Fillion
    A resolution forces nations to show their hand. After Russia’s invasion, consistency has not been to everyone’s liking.
  • 18 Sep 2022
    • India
    • Sri Lanka
    • Asylum seekers and refugees

    Concern for Sri Lankans fleeing to India amid economic crisis

    Prarthana Sen
    A close haven carries appeal, but can life ever be settled without a legal status?
  • 22 Aug 2022
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Myanmar
    • Sri Lanka
    • Climate change

    Blue economy may be the key to South Asia's upswing

    Samriddhi Roy
    Why governance, blue bonds and women are critical to a thriving ocean-based economy.
  • 19 Aug 2022
    • China
    • India
    • Sri Lanka

    China is losing ground in Sri Lanka

    Rupert Stone
    Beijing is blamed unfairly for its role in the island’s crisis ­– but its response has hardly enhanced China’s influence.
  • 8 Aug 2022
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka after the revolution: what happened, what next?

    David Brewster
    Protesters might assume a corrupt system will crumble, but the political class might be just as determined to hang on.
  • 27 Jul 2022
    • Sri Lanka
    • Pakistan
    • IMF

    Is Pakistan heeding the warning signs from Sri Lanka?

    Syed Fazl-e-Haider
    Surging prices, shortages, growing debt, a teetering economy. Familiar ingredients point to trouble ahead.
  • 20 Apr 2022
    • Global Issues
    • Sustainability
    • Russia
    • Sri Lanka
    • Ukraine

    Russia-Ukraine: It always comes down to food

    Vani Swarupa Murali
    War in eastern Europe is devastating the supply of staple goods to distant regions that can least afford it.
  • 2 Mar 2022
    • Australia
    • Bangladesh
    • Sri Lanka
    • Maldives

    Australia begins to step it up in the northeast Indian Ocean

    David Brewster
    Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives are keen in engage and will help plug a gap in Australia’s Indo Pacific strategy.
  • 10 Jan 2022
    • India's Navy
    • Myanmar
    • India
    • Bangladesh
    • Sri Lanka
    • Maldives
    • Seychelles

    Indian Ocean step-up

    David Brewster
    India is in the driver’s seat to build new security structures in the region, but it can’t do it alone.
  • 9 Nov 2021
    • China
    • India
    • Sri Lanka

    India’s answer to China’s ports in Sri Lanka

    Chulanee Attanayake
    Adani’s multimillion-dollar investment in Colombo not only makes commercial sense, it’s a strategic game-changer, too.
  • 26 Aug 2021
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka’s simmering twin crises

    Chulanee Attanayake , Ganeshan Wignaraja
    A pandemic downturn furthers slows an already pallid economy, while tensions with the West prompt a turn to Beijing.
  • 27 Oct 2020
    • Singapore
    • Sri Lanka
    • Coronavirus

    Singapore and Sri Lanka: Newfound opportunities amid Covid-19 pandemic

    Roshni Kapur , Chulanee Attanayake
    Singapore’s efforts to diversify food imports is a practical choice that bodes well for Colombo’s Asia-centric policy.
  • 14 Sep 2020
    • Bangladesh
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Sri Lanka
    • Australia
    • France
    • Climate change

    Tackling environmental security threats in the Indian Ocean

    David Brewster
    A “Quad-Plus” could bring together regional expertise and resources to address issues of collective interest.
  • 9 Sep 2020
    • Pacific Islands
    • China's Economy
    • Chinese Trade
    • China
    • Sri Lanka
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    Debunking the myth of China’s “debt-trap diplomacy”

    Shahar Hameiri
    Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
  • 1 Sep 2020
    • Sri Lanka

    Where to for Sri Lanka’s foreign policy?

    Shakthi De Silva
    “India first” is the message, but economic reality will guide the direction Colombo charts. That points to China, too.
  • 20 Aug 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Diplomacy
    • Australia
    • Sri Lanka

    Australia and Sri Lanka: Air connectivity in the Indian Ocean region

    George I. H. Cooke
    The success of the two countries’ naval cooperation shows the potential for expanded partnership.
  • 17 Aug 2020
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka’s elections: Another step in the wrong direction

    Taylor Dibbert
    The consolidation of Rajapaksa rule promises to accelerate what is already a swing back towards repressive government.
  • 9 Mar 2020
    • United States
    • War Crimes
    • Sri Lanka
    • Human rights

    The curious case of the US Sri Lanka sanctions

    Taylor Dibbert
    An American administration with little apparent regard for human rights put sanctions on an alleged war criminal. Why?
  • 26 Nov 2019
    • Sri Lanka

    In Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksas will rule ruthlessly

    Taylor Dibbert
    The election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa augurs a return to the abuses and anti-democratic tendencies of his brother’s regime.
  • 13 Nov 2019
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka’s election threatens a return to authoritarian rule

    Alan Keenan
    A looming comeback by the powerful Rajapaksa family stirs fear among minorities and imperils fragile democratic gains.
  • 1 Oct 2019
    • Sri Lanka

    In Sri Lanka’s election, bumps ahead

    Taylor Dibbert
    A former president’s brother leads the pack, trailed by an assassinated president’s son.
  • 13 Jun 2019
    • Defence & Security
    • Australia
    • Sri Lanka

    Maybe Australia should donate a warship to Sri Lanka

    David Brewster
    Far from surplus or scrap, the navy’s last Adelaide Class frigates are strategic assets that can still serve a mission.
  • 11 Jun 2019
    • Terrorism
    • Sri Lanka

    En masse Muslim resignations a setback for healing in Sri Lanka

    Roshni Kapur , Mustafa Izzuddin
    The Muslim community is a vital to combatting terrorism and promoting social harmony so alienating them makes no sense.
  • 23 Apr 2019
    • Terrorism
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka attacks: Still many puzzles to solve

    Rodger Shanahan
    <p>If NTJ is responsible for this complex, multi-target suicide attack, it probably got external help.</p>
  • 14 Mar 2019
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka: politics overthrows justice

    Taylor Dibbert
    Internal power struggles have kept the administration occupied while its human rights commitments fall to the wayside.
  • 6 Nov 2018
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka: when is a political opinion a crime?

    Samir Pasha , Naga Kandiah
    The arrest of a Tamil MP has put a spotlight on the limits of free expression in the island nation.
  • 2 Oct 2018
    • Sri Lanka

    Post-war justice in Sri Lanka inches forward

    Taylor Dibbert
    The Office of Missing Persons was set up to investigate civil war “disappearances”, but its efficacy remains to be seen.

Subscribe to The Interpreter

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

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

© Copyright 2025 Lowy Institute

  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • Articles
  • About
  • Terms of Use
  • Log In
  • My bookmarks