West Asia

India is smartening up its naval diplomacy in the great maritime game with China. New Delhi is showing signs of a new spirit of cooperation with Beijing in the Indian Ocean, offering to protect Chinese oil shipments or even cooperate with the Chinese Navy. This is not capitulation. It is

With the Dutch governing coalition close to disintegrating due to differences over Afghanistan policy, the Lowy Institute couldn't have picked a better time to host Dutch Major General Mart de Kruif, who until last November was NATO's military commander of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan

My colleague in Afghanistan has seen Rodger's post in reply to his first piece, and offers a rejoinder below.   A quick detail beforehand: I entirely agree with Rodger's point that it is unhelpful to 'try to view the Taliban as a homogenous group', but note that (1) that's not what my

I'm sorry to be so critical lately of others' posts, but if I disagree with a post on the blog about which I think I know something, I feel the need to speak out (hence my silence on economics, climate change, Asia etc). And so it is with Nick Floyd's post about the motivations driving your

Far from 'dancing around' Chris Kenny's point that the surge set the military conditions for the orderly withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, I agree with him. My post had nothing to do with the merits of the surge, the success of which (along with other tactical and strategic levers that were

Part one here; part two here; part three here. And finally, to the Levant. Hopes were high following the pro-West coalition's 'victory' in the June 2009 elections that Lebanon would stay in the Western camp and cease to be hostage to external actors, but most realistic observers of Lebanon

I can't believe it. Just a few weeks ago I was predicting the end of the fraught Arab-Persian diplomatic battle over the naming of the Gulf. The sleuthing Iraqi Foreign Minister seemed to have finally settled the issue with the discovery in some archive or other that it was actually called the

The unsuccessful bombing plot against an American airliner at Christmas, a plot which had its origins in Yemen, did what my posts on The Interpreter and my Lowy paper (co-authored with a real Yemen expert, Sarah Phillips from Sydney Uni) could not do — focus the media's attention on Yemen

Flight Global reports that an Iranian jetliner ran off the runway in Stockholm after a burst of flame came from the left-hand engine. Amateur video below: Iranian commercial aviation is subject to international sanctions, making it very difficult to get parts for its Airbus and Boeing

Part one here.  Ahh, the Middle East peace process. I really do think I'm on firm ground here when I predict that the MEPP will look the same at the end of 2010 as it did at the start — going nowhere. The reasons are pretty well summed up in some exchanges from last year. In May 2009

Admiral Suresh Mehta (pictured, at a 2008 event at the Lowy Institute) has one of the wiser minds in the Indian strategic community. This speech last year was the most sensible and balanced piece of advice on Indian defence policy uttered publicly by a military officer. It has also been one of

If there is one thing I've learned from following, living in and writing about the Middle East as an Australian it is that, while many of my countrymen say they find the region fascinating, it is fair to say most Australians believe it to be of peripheral concern despite our substantial economic

Australia's reputation in India — and worldwide — has suffered greatly in the past week. The storm of outrage in the Indian media over the safety of Indian students in Australia has gone global. The catalyst for this furore has been the murder in Melbourne of a young Indian-born graduate.

While those of you who have returned from the coast or overseas are counting the cost of your holiday, spare a thought for the poor citizens of the Gulf Arab states, some of whom are forced to get by on an average per capita GDP of a little over US$70,000. The UAE's US$52,000 figure gives it

Is it a sign of the improving situation in Iraq that the Iraqi Foreign Minister has found the time to do some serious historical research into the true name of the Gulf? In what will likely be seen as a seminal contribution to historiography — and, no doubt, to regional peace building too

Major Gen (Retd) Jim Molan is author of Running the War in Iraq. Rodger Shanahan is right — our response to Obama's Afghanistan surge is low-risk and low-return. But that characterises our overall response to Afghanistan. Our troops are still restricted in what they can do (though less so

Prime Minister Rudd's announcement in Washington that Australia will 'surge' police and civil aid efforts in Afghanistan is sound policy. Much of the recent focus on Afghanistan has understandably been on President Obama's announcement about strategy and troop numbers. But although sound

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has reported that Iran has been bribing countries to vote against Israel at the United Nations. The report alleges that an Iranian offer of $200,000 of financial assistance to Solomon Islands prior to the visit in October last year of Solomon Islands Foreign

Culinary delights aside, I am still trying to work out what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States means for the implementation of the US-India nuclear deal. My impression, so far, is that the Indians are neither thrilled nor dismayed with whatever understandings President

The British Council has released a fairly depressing poll of Pakistan's youth. The New York Times summarises some of its findings below: An overwhelming majority of young Pakistanis say their country is headed in the wrong direction, the report said, and only 1 in 10 has confidence in the

Graeme Dobell's post on the lack of Australian coverage, let alone debate, about Afghanistan paraphrases a question cited by Peter Cosgrove during his Boyer lecture: 'What would be the costs of failure?' I would be more inclined to ask about the costs of success, because success will not look

As Afghanistan tears at Washington and London, the bipartisan political consensus is holding in Canberra. Consider the relative silence at Peter Cosgrove's Boyer lecture conclusion on Afghanistan: I think we can confidently say we are losing this battle. The most famous soldier of the

This is a big week for Australia in its relations with India. Cricket aside, the big news is Kevin Rudd's first visit to India as Prime Minister. As I argue in a new Lowy Institute policy brief, the bad headlines in Australia-India relations in the past year — especially over student welfare

Short answer: Yes. Slightly longer answer: Yes, but much less than China does and not as much as the 'Chindia' rhetoric would seem to imply. Australian-based answer: While it doesn't matter as much as China, India still matters a lot for Australian trade. India is now our fourth largest export