Myanmar military nuclear ambitions: Fact or fiction?
ANDREW SELTH | A front page story in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2009 confidently predicted that within five years Myanmar would have its… Read More
Commentary
Pacific Outlook Bulletin | 27 September
Tess Newton Cain provides her regular review of what you need to know from the Pacific - leaders meet with US President Joe Biden, more turmoil in Vanuatu politics and other news from the region. Read More
What might Australia learn from the Nijjar affair and the breakdown in Canada–India relations?
IAN HALL | Justin Trudeau’s announcement that Canadian authorities suspect India had some role in the killing of Sikh separatist leader … Read More
Duelling battle networks: The new equilibrium
PETER LAYTON | With digital technology omnipresent, future major wars will most likely pivot around duelling battle networks. These complicated systems represent unique target sets best attacked through using system of system thinking and emerging ideas of cognitive warfare. Particularly given China’s “systems confrontation” focus, attacking battle networks is an idea that can’t be neglected. Time to think deeply about it. Read More
The first casualty of war is the truth: Myanmar casualty statistics may be skewed
ANDREW SELTH | Since the latest civil war began in Myanmar in 2021, elements of the opposition movement have been making increasingly bold claims about its battlefield successes and the problems facing the military regime. Some of these claims need to be treated very carefully. Read More
Southeast Asia snapshot #58
SOVINDA PO | Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam rejected China’s new map China published a new version of its national map on… Read More
Why did Papua New Guinea move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem – from economics to faith
SEAN JACOBS | Papua New Guinea (PNG) has “aroused the ire” – in the words of its Opposition Leader – of both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority by opening its Israeli Embassy in Jerusalem earlier this month. PNG’s move has been labelled a “reprehensible decision,” according to a Hamas spokesperson, while other Palestinian sources have labelled it an “aggression against the Palestinian people and their rights,” and that it causes “great harm” to the two-state solution. Read More
Privatising Poverty Series Part 9: The cult of the entrepreneur
RON BEVACQUA | The prioritisation of innovation, productivity, and growth over income and wealth distribution; technology as savior; government as partner rather than regulator of the private sector; market-based solutions to social and economic problems; and the overall emphasis on individual initiative over collective action––this economic vision did not come from the political right as is often assumed. Read More
Finding a place for youth leadership in Australia’s new International Development Policy
HELEN BERENTS AND KATRINA LEE-KOO | Asia and the Pacific are the most youthful regions of the world, with 25 per cent of their populations aged between 15 and 29. Combined, the two regions are home to 60 per cent of the world’s youth. Yet, in Australia’s new International Development Policy, young people are virtually absent as the agents and partners who can forge the region’s future. Read More
As Russia woos nations to support its war in Ukraine, will fault lines deepen around the globe?
MATTHEW SUSSEX | For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the mistaken belief that he could conquer much of Ukraine in a few days highlighted the depth of his hubris. Since then, his decision to continue the onslaught has revealed the ongoing practical costs to the Russian military. Now, Moscow’s attempt to meet those costs is also showing how the world is beginning to split along broad, albeit fuzzy, lines of competition that could resonate beyond the Ukraine war. Read More
