It is now 20 years since the routing of the Taliban government following the September 11 terrorist attacks against the US. The withdrawal of US and allied forces from Afghanistan represents the failure by stakeholders in finding a durable political solution. 

Now is the time for those who like to play war games or develop notional military strategies. There have seldom been so many rich pickings from which to choose.

The unexpected election results in Peru signalled voter disillusionment. Pedro Castillo, a rural schoolteacher, and radical left trade unionist, didn’t appear in the polls a month before the election but got the highest percentage of votes.

In Timor-Leste, floods and landslides after cyclone Seroja, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, have created a dangerous dynamic. The next stage of the crisis will be hard to navigate as poverty-stricken Timorese struggle with fresh water, health services, and sufficient nutrition. 

Deportation policy is a regional dilemma that won’t be solved by Australia and New Zealand trading diplomatic insults. Both nations must recognise their complicity in a system of regional dislocation and their joint responsibility to address it.

With the threat of right-wing extremism accelerating due to the pandemic, understanding the gendered element of the threat is essential countering radicalisation. Misogynist […]

Also discussed in this episode: the humanitarian crisis in Papua New Guinea after a devastating outbreak of COVID-19 and what makes the defence minister portfolio so uniquely challenging for the newly appointed Peter Dutton.

This week in Australian foreign affairs: sharing Australian-made AstraZeneca doses with our Pacific neighbours; supporting PNG and Timor-Leste; diplomatic appointments; the latest Five […]

This week, Raúl Castro resigned as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.  This changing of the guard is provoking local and […]

What is unfolding in Xinjiang is the largest detention of an ethnic group since the Holocaust. Australia has […]