Asian order: Realist or idealist?
Peter Layton's response to my post onFriday linkage: Mayan apocalypse, Defence White Paper, Russia and more
A major scoop for The Australian, getting its hands on a draft of next year's Defence White Paper.Farewell to the Canberra Column
After five years and 300,000 words, this is my final Canberra Column. Is that a mountain of punditry or just a maze?Reader riposte: More on a N-free Middle East
Tzvi Fleischer goes another round in our debate about a nuclear-free Middle East:Lowy Institute books of the year IV
Part 1 of this series by Lowy Institute research staff here; part 2Aid cut: A story of two bad policies
It's a blue moon occasion for Australia's foreign aid program to be the lead story across the morning news media.Okinawa and the demoralisation of Japan
Former Fairfax correspondent Hamish McDonald joins the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific next year as a visiting fellow.Reader riposte: Rudd Pax Pacifica
Peter Layton writes:India linkage: Delhi protests, Narendra Modi, Shashi Tharoor, infrastructure and more
Danielle Rajendram is a Research Associate in the Lowy Institute's International Security Program whose work focuses on India and China-India relations.President Park: A chance for Korean peace
Dr Emma Campbell is a Korea Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU.China linkage: Ghost city, labour camps, Central Asia, subways, high-speed rail and more
Dirk van der Kley is a Research Associate in the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program.PNG: The six billion kina question
Graeme Smith is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the China Studies Centre, University of Sydney and a Visiting Fellow with the State, Society aMonetary policy: Where to now?
Central banks around the world had a couple of halcyon decades leading up to the global financial crisis, when growth was good and inflation was low.Tuesday linkage: China in NZ, missile defence, gun laws, DPRK and more
Wow: more members of China's Communist Party central committee visited New Zealand in the past decade than almost any other country. (Thanks Danielle.)Burma: Eyes on the prize
Andrew Selth is a Research Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute.The coolest video you will see today
Cool space station, charming host. Just over 15 minutes in, Sunita Williams of NASA even fulfills every school-age space nerd's fantasy of flying like Superman.The prospect of a North Korean ICBM
As usual, most commentary on North Korea's rocket launch last week focuses on the politics and diplomacy of Pyongyang's delinquency. But it is worth exploring the strategic implications more specifically. These are significant, but not straightforward.Monday linkage: Japan election, gun control, Mayan apocalypse and more
Even before the polls closed in Japan, China's state-run media was airing its dissatisfaction.Russia makes a promising G20 start
Mike Callaghan is Director of the Lowy Institute's G20 Studies Centre.Lowy Institute books of the year III
Part 1 of this series by Lowy Institute research staff here; part 2India linkage: Aadhaar, Pacific power, Hindu growth, Ravi Shankar, media and more
Danielle Rajendram is a Research Associate in the Lowy Institute's International Security Program whose work focuses on India and China-India relations.Bahrain and the 'Australian pledge'
Australia (and in particular Labor icon Herbert Vere Evatt) was instrumental in drafting key elements of the source documents for the UN, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So it would be interesting to know what Doc Evatt would make of contemporary Australian attitudes to humanReader riposte: Missing the bus to China
Sinclaire Prowse, a postgraduate student at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, writes:Thursday linkage: Social media, car webcams, solar power, Santa and more
A Pew survey tracks the unstoppable global rise of social media.Burma police: The long road to reform
Andrew Selth is a Research Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and author of Burma's Police Forces: Continuities and Contradictions.Google annual end-of-year video
OK, this is really just an ad for Google, but feel your cynicism ebb away over the course of two-and-a-bit minutes of inspiring visuals and a soaring sountrack, bookended by Felix Baumgartner's astonishing leap from near-space.The quiet moon
Morris Jones is an Australian space analyst.'Alternative worlds': A less rosy Asia
The international hand-wringing over North Korea's rocket test is obscuring a bigger story this week about the long-term future of Asia and the world.The case for a N-free Middle East
Below is an omnibus reply to Stephen Walt, Tzvi FleiscNorth and South in space
Morris Jones is an Australian space analyst.China linkage: Corruption, land seizure, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Shanghai skies, cinema and more
Dirk van der Kley is a Research Associate in the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program.'Global Keynesianism': A solution for the world monetary policy bind
The major advanced economies have had very accommodative monetary policies since the 2008 global financial crisis.Reader riposte: Corruption in China
James Shelton, a former intelligence analyst and economic adviser, writes in response to an item in yesterday's Linkage:Tuesday linkage: Zero Dark Thirty, China corruption, future tense and more
The Kokoda Foundation's journal, Security Challenges, has gone open-access. The current edition is focused on the South Pacific. (Thanks Andrew.)Lowy Institute books of the year II
Part 1 of this series by Lowy Institute research staff here.Our foreign aid always interest-based
Judging from the tone of the current Interpreter debate on aid and development, it seems that the notion of a country's aid program doing double duty by meeting bothFirst Israel, then Iran, then...
While I agree that a nuclear-capable Iran may not be the world-ending scenario that some postulate (it depends on which side of the sword vs shield argument you take), I would add to theManaging environmental migration
Dr Khalid Koser is Head of the New Issues in Security Program at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and a non-resident Fellow at the Lowy Institute.Monday linkage: Predictions, male workers, Singapore, China and more
'Political analysts think they know a lot more about the future than they actually do'. An interview with Philip Tetlock about expert political judgment.
