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Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 31 Jul 2023
    • China
    • China's Economy
    • Europe's Economy
    • European Union
    • Germany

    Berlin’s economic “de-risking” model could be Europe's answer to the Taiwan question

    Karl Ragas
    Germany's aim is not to “decouple” from China, but to reduce its exposure to risk. And the potential winner is Taipei.
  • 28 Jul 2023
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands
    • Solomon Islands

    Solomon Islands: Invest in people and police before military

    Alan C. Tidwell , Meg Keen , Anna Powles , Jose Sousa-Santos , Anouk Ride
    Australia and foreign partners should work with existing institutions. A new military capability could make matters worse.
  • 28 Jul 2023
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Exploring an end game in Ukraine? Not yet

    Ian Hill
    Moves towards negotiations are risky and could be interpreted by Putin as a sign of weakening Western resolve.
  • 28 Jul 2023
    • Afghanistan
    • Afghanistan War
    • Review

    Far from the limelight, forgotten Afghans continue the fight

    Melissa Jardine
    Accounts from Kabul hold lessons on how easily the world moves on, and some takeaways for Ukraine.
  • 27 Jul 2023
    • Cambodia

    Is Hun Sen really stepping down?

    Milton Osborne
    After dominating Cambodia for so long, he will continue to dictate politics even after a handover to son Hun Manet.
  • 27 Jul 2023
    • China
    • United States

    Qin Gang has come and gone, but US-China drama is stuck on repeat

    Daniel R. DePetris
    The sudden and surprising demise of China’s foreign minister won’t change the systemic tensions in the relationship.
  • 27 Jul 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    An agenda for the AUSMIN talks

    Sam Roggeveen
    Australia should spend less time worrying about American strength – and more time thinking about its resolve.
  • 27 Jul 2023
    • Australia
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Global Issues
    • International law

    Nuclear weapons: “Oppenheimer” won’t make a difference, but Australia can

    Gareth Evans
    The movie missed a chance to galvanise a renewed campaign, to better protect against existential danger than rely on sheer dumb luck.
  • 26 Jul 2023
    • India
    • Australia in the World
    • Global Issues

    Why the Australian Voice referendum matters globally

    Ambika Vishwanath
    Close friends will be watching for an outcome that lives up to the values for which the country professes to stand.
  • 26 Jul 2023
    • China
    • Australia
    • Trade
    • Coronavirus

    It’s no surprise Australia shrugged off China’s campaign of trade coercion

    Roland Rajah
    New modelling confirms an early Lowy Institute conclusion that Beijing’s bluster would cause minimal economic damage.
  • 26 Jul 2023
    • Technology
    • Recommendations

    The Fix: Chipping in

    Gilliane De Gorostiza
    In this new Interpreter feature, we’re inviting short observations about issues or resources that might otherwise be missed.
  • 26 Jul 2023
    • China
    • China's Economy
    • Global Economy
    • Free Trade
    • Geo-economics
    • Trade
    • WTO
    • United States
    • US Economy

    A return to old-school mercantilism?

    Ved Shinde
    Suspicion and economic competition are forcing states back in time, with protectionism and self-sufficiency the new norm.
  • 25 Jul 2023
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • International law

    Cluster munitions: A necessary defensive strategy for Ukraine

    Munira Mustaffa
    It is Russia, not Ukraine, abusing international principles. The law must not obstruct Ukraine to fight back.
  • 25 Jul 2023
    • Australia in the World
    • Defence & Security

    Beyond “the Brisbane Line”: Why Queensland is crucial to Australia’s national security

    Danielle Ireland-Piper , Sue Thompson
    The state-federal divisions can’t stand in the way of a unified approach.
  • 25 Jul 2023
    • Aid & Development
    • Timor-Leste
    • Australia

    What is Australia’s role in supporting Timor-Leste?

    Melissa Conley Tyler , Grant Wyeth
    Health and education are where Canberra can help Dili the most. But language barriers require thinking outside the box.
  • 24 Jul 2023
    • Climate change
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    Understanding “loss and damage” from climate change across the Indo-Pacific

    Melanie Pill
    A concept that will become ever more familiar – in the courts, too – with more action needed to avoid irreversible consequences of climate change.
  • 24 Jul 2023
    • Australia in the World
    • Public Diplomacy And International Broadcasting

    Opportunity lost with the Commonwealth Games

    Sam Bidwell
    With alternative cities jumping at the chance to host the orphaned Games, has Victoria scored an own goal?
  • 24 Jul 2023
    • China
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • United States

    Forget Washington, Pyongyang’s most important target has always been Beijing

    Khang Vu
    Kim Jong-un’s charm offensive with Donald Trump may have yielded few results. Not so his efforts with Xi Jinping.
  • 21 Jul 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Diplomacy
    • Review

    Nobody ever teaches anyone how to be a Minister

    Mark Pierce
    At the heart of Australia’s Westminster democracy is an eclectic, eccentric, DIY political system.
  • 21 Jul 2023
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Southeast Asia
    • Russia
    • Global Issues
    • Africa

    Who leads the world as longest in charge of their country?

    Daniel Flitton
    Put together a list and you can start to see a pattern.
  • 21 Jul 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Energy
    • Technology

    Indonesia’s new capital of power can’t afford the tangled wires of Jakarta

    Hidayatul Mustafidah Rohmawati , Akhmad Hanan
    Look up and live takes on a new urgency in the digital age.
  • 20 Jul 2023
    • Afghanistan

    The world needs a new plan to deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan

    Shadi Khan Saif
    Saving lives is always complicated by politics.
  • 20 Jul 2023
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Energy
    • Trade

    Economic diplomacy: Japan’s message in a gas bottle

    Greg Earl
    More than hot air, economics is the essence of national security in Australia’s resource deficient closest Asian partner.
  • 20 Jul 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    The north’s defence of Australia

    Luke Gosling
    Northern Australia has long been viewed as a strategic vulnerability. The latest Defence review socialises a different idea.
  • 19 Jul 2023
    • Central Asia
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Trade

    Why China tripled its heavy truck shipments to Central Asia: Unravelling the influence of Russia’s war in Ukraine

    Joseph Webster
    A sharp spike in overall exports to the region appears to provide Beijing a pathway to indirectly support the Kremlin’s war effort.
  • 19 Jul 2023
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Trade
    • United Nations
    • Türkiye

    Why the Black Sea Grain Initiative must be restored

    John Denton
    The collapse of a deal integral to world food security will imperil millions of lives.
  • 19 Jul 2023
    • Australia in the World

    No playing games with Australia’s reputation

    Daniel Flitton
    The Commonwealth Games – like its diplomatic counterpart – belongs to a different age.
  • 19 Jul 2023
    • Recommendations

    The Fix: Beauty and bravery

    Bec Strating
    In this new Interpreter feature, we’re inviting short observations about issues or resources that might otherwise be missed.
  • 19 Jul 2023
    • Resource security
    • Global Issues
    • Sustainability

    What Norway might learn from Nauru after a massive phosphate find

    Genevieve Donnellon-May
    A handful of countries meet demand for an essential fertiliser ingredient – and geopolitical competition complicates the equation.
  • 18 Jul 2023
    • European Union
    • Digital Disruption
    • International law
    • Technology
    • Transnational Challenges

    Regulating artificial intelligence: How the EU just got us closer

    Melinda Rankin
    In these times of high-tech angst, a new draft Act passed in the European Parliament sets the scene for the future of AI.
  • 18 Jul 2023
    • Myanmar

    Has history left Aung San Suu Kyi behind?

    Andrew Selth
    She may be imprisoned and politically weakened, but the former leader of Myanmar remains a potent symbol of power.
  • 18 Jul 2023
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • China and the Pacific
    • Solomon Islands

    A Pacific power play could prove the Quad’s relevance

    Edward Cavanough
    Off-grid households across the region are desperate for electricity that doesn’t come with (China's) strings attached.
  • 17 Jul 2023
    • China
    • Philippines
    • South China Sea
    • Vietnam

    It might be plastic fantastic, but Barbie lends cartoonish credibility to China’s nine-dash line

    Donald R Rothwell
    Barbie does her dash with Vietnam, showing how maps have meaning.
  • 17 Jul 2023
    • Trade
    • Climate change
    • Sustainability
    • United Nations

    The cost-benefit of turning “dirty” shipping clean

    Joe Lo
    The engines of global trade pump out enormous amounts of carbon and vulnerable Pacific islands are fighting for a change.
  • 17 Jul 2023
    • China
    • Japan
    • Taiwan
    • Australia
    • United States

    The emergence of “collective strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan

    Rupert Schulenburg
    With a change in language, has Washington over-promised on its allies’ appetite for conflict with China?
  • 14 Jul 2023
    • Climate change

    Setting the standard: An important step on the path to net zero emissions

    Michelle Lyons
    A little-known international body has just helped set a global baseline for sustainability reporting.
  • 14 Jul 2023
    • China
    • India
    • Philippines
    • South China Sea

    Despite the excitement, India’s South China Sea policy remains unchanged

    Abhijit Singh
    Backing the Philippines over the 2016 arbitration award doesn’t mean India is about to abandon caution in efforts to balance China.
  • 14 Jul 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Australia
    • Energy
    • Technology

    Australia and Southeast Asia: Driving EV collaboration across borders

    Nicholas Basan
    A regional value chain for battery production – with Australia to process critical minerals and export these products – is too good a chance to ignore.
  • 13 Jul 2023
    • Climate change
    • Pacific Islands

    Samoa and the Alliance of Small Islands States show climate security is also about loss and damage

    George Carter , Athaulla A Rasheed
    Adaptation and mitigation strategies alone will not be enough to recover from the effects of climate change.
  • 13 Jul 2023
    • Indonesia
    • Human rights
    • Review

    For Indonesia’s haunting past, Jokowi’s resolution is non-judicial

    Warief Djajanto Basorie
    A new book throws light on the 1965 massacres – but the government’s redress for victims is yet to extend to justice for the perpetrators.
  • 13 Jul 2023
    • Central Asia
    • China
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Putin is Xi’s useful idiot

    Ben Scott
    In the geopolitical tussle between superpowers, Russia pays the price and China reaps the benefits.
  • 12 Jul 2023
    • Recommendations

    The Fix: Putting in the boot

    Jennifer Hsu
    In this new Interpreter feature, we’re inviting short observations about issues or resources that might otherwise be missed.
  • 12 Jul 2023
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Türkiye

    How long can Putin’s “special relationship” with Erdoğan last?

    Nikola Mikovic
    Despite mutterings about a Turkish “stab in the back”, Russia needs Türkiye – Putin’s reign may depend on it.
  • 12 Jul 2023
    • Global Economy
    • IMF

    Scrapping IMF surcharges is key to cutting debt burden on distressed nations

    Robert Walker , Mariza Cooray , Roland Rajah
    The economic logic of charging beyond lending rates doesn’t add up and also undermines the Fund’s legitimacy.
  • 11 Jul 2023
    • New Zealand

    “We can’t be passive”: New Zealand’s changing tone about a more worrying world

    David Capie
    A new foreign policy assessment sees the Pacific as no longer “strategically benign” – but the concern extends well beyond the region.
  • 11 Jul 2023
    • China
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Beijing’s bad bet on Moscow

    Ved Shinde
    The collapse of the Putin regime is something China wants to avoid. A weak Kremlin is better than a headless one.
  • 11 Jul 2023
    • China
    • Antarctica
    • Sustainability

    Charting new paths for Antarctic protection despite China’s resistance

    Claire Young
    Too much would be lost by tearing up existing agreements. There are other ways to entice Beijing to cooperate.
  • 11 Jul 2023
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Climate change
    • Coronavirus
    • Digital Disruption
    • Environment
    • Technology
    • Transnational Challenges

    Existential risk is a whole-of-society challenge

    Tom Barber
    From climate change and pandemics to nuclear war and extinction by AI, collective action will be imperative.
  • 10 Jul 2023
    • France

    French fragmentation

    Mark Pierce
    Unpopular for peculiar reasons, Emmanuel Macron grapples with a parade of populists and a nation divided by grievance.
  • 10 Jul 2023
    • Pacific Islands

    Military hospital ships from China and the US are plying across Pacific Islands. But this growing competition can do more harm than good

    Eileen Natuzzi
    Large white hulled ships are big public relations yet do little to address significant health system issues in the region.
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