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    Policy

    Foreign Affairs & Security

    Today

    Scott Morrison with US dignitaries including Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo.

    ScoMo brings Rudd closer to Trump

    At Washington DC in front of Republican dignitaries, Scott Morrison finally spoke to a room familiar with his cadence.

    • Updated
    • Myriam Robin
    Vladimir Putin arrives for his inauguration ceremony this month, after his re-election as president.

    Vladimir Putin’s preparing for a long war

    The Russian president’s idea of the motherland is much larger than the country’s globally recognised borders, an atavism that’s widely shared within his nation.

    • Marc Champion

    Yesterday

    Bidzina Ivanishvili: Few would have predicted that the man who set Georgia on course for European integration would be the one to steer it towards the Kremlin’s embrace.

    The reclusive billionaire turning Georgia towards the Kremlin

    Georgia’s former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has returned to politics for a third time, and is taking a risk by supporting an inflammatory new law.

    • Cameron Henderson

    This Month

    The judge accepted David McBride was of good character following numerous character references and a report by a clinical psychologist outlining his morality and sense of justice.

    War crimes whistleblower jailed for nearly six years

    David McBride, who leaked documents that revealed allegations Australian soldiers committed war crimes, will spend at least two years and three months behind bars.

    • Michael Pelly
    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Narendra Modi during the Indian PM’s Australian visit last year.

    As India votes, doubt grows about Modi’s intentions

    India’s prime minister is set to extend his power once the election results are known. That is likely to bring further tests for Australia and the world.

    • James Curran
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    If Donald Trump were to return to the White House as president, the implications for the US, its allies and the global economy are sure to be profound.

    How Trump’s ‘imperial presidency’ will reshape the world

    If Donald Trump wins in November, expect even greater strain on American institutions. But he’s unlikely to be an “imperial president” abroad.

    • James Curran
    An Australian Seahawk helicopter.

    China’s grim pattern in South China Sea needs a collective response

    A quiet tussle is going on over China’s ambitions to control all of its neighbouring seas. Affected countries need to unite before China miscalculates.

    • Jennifer Parker
    Japan is looking to develop new air, missile, and other defence technologies with others.

    How to make sure JAUKUS is a success

    It’s a no-brainer to bring Japanese technology into AUKUS pillar 2. But it needs to take account of Tokyo’s inexperience and concerns about high-level military co-operation.

    • Shingo Yamagami and Paul Maley
    HMAS Anzac, one only eight Australian’frigates, will decommission this month, reducing the surface combatant fleet to nine.

    Minimise capability gap while waiting for the new fleet to surface

    Ten years from now, Australia will have its most potent navy in decades. In the interim, it will have the least capable in more than half a century.

    • Jennifer Parker
    Palestinian agricultural workers are being replaced by people from places such as India and Thailand following the October 7 attacks.

    Why Indian workers head to war zones, from Israel to Russia

    The promise of well-paid jobs is too strong a lure to resist, despite the lack of protection from their home government and those they work under.

    • Swetasree Ghosh Roy
    In Annie Jacobsen’s book, the road to Armageddon begins with an intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a field near Pyongyang.

    Our world is already ravaged by nuclear war

    Annie Jacobsen’s new book, written in the style of a techno-thriller, sets out what might happen if that fateful button is pushed.

    • Erik Baker

    April

    Richard Marles visits Ukrainian troops outside Lviv, near the Polish border, on Saturday.

    Fight to the last Ukrainian

    More aid is clearly a relief for Kyiv, but will it be enough to reverse the tide of the war?

    • James Curran
    Defence Minister Richard Marles visits Ukrainian troops at a training facility near Lviv, near the Polish border on Saturday.

    Failure to reopen Australia embassy in Kyiv ‘an embarrassment’

    Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles visited Ukraine to unveil the package, including drones and air-defence systems, but there was one glaring omission from his trip.

    • Hans van Leeuwen and Ronald Mizen
    Australia’s embassy was co-located with Canada’s in Kyiv before the Russian invasion.

    Australia’s embassy should move back to Kyiv

    Most other big democracies have moved their diplomats back to the Ukrainian capital. Australia is a notable laggard.

    • Michael Fullilove
    NSW State RSL president Mick Bainbridge during the ANZAC day dawn service in Martin Place.

    Thousands join Anzac services as nation seeks to heal

    Anzac Day was labelled a chance for Sydney to come together and heal after a series of terrifying knife attacks.

    • Gus McCubbing
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    Kevin Rudd, as umpire, hosting the Kangaroo Cup at the Australian embassy in DC.

    Kevin Rudd and CNN put on a US tennis clinic

    The former prime minister’s shaking mud off his polo and getting on with tennis diplomacy.

    • Mark Di Stefano
    Only if the West show it possesses the resolve to impose significant costs on Iran will they persuade the ayatollahs that proceeding further will bring them intolerable pain.

    Appeasing Iran has proven weak and provocative

    If Tehran’s power can be contained and then reduced, the Middle East will be a much more peaceful place.

    • Alexander Downer
    NA

    America’s Superman foreign policy flies again

    The hard realism of Asian allies about America’s direction must jostle with the return of uncompromising American unilateralism.

    • James Curran
    The Defence Minister made the brave claim the Albanese government had turned AUKUS from a dream into reality.

    Marles forced to revise Canberra’s take on far away wars

    The Defence Minister has made it clear the government is going to stare down critics who want our troops turning up at every world trouble spot.

    • James Curran
    NA

    Defence strategy fills gaps but misses holes

    We need to move towards a wider conversation around national security and mobilisation, and be clear on the vulnerability in our capabilities until the late 2030s.

    • Jennifer Parker