The Commonwealth: rediscovering its radical voice could make it relevant again
Mar 08, 2021 07:38 am UTC| Insights & Views
The Commonwealth, an association of 54 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, has always been a rather mysterious organisation. It evolved gradually over the course of the 20th Century, making it...
Arab Spring: when the US needed to step up, it stood back – now, all eyes are on Biden
Feb 12, 2021 07:48 am UTC| Insights & Views
The tenth anniversary of the Arab Spring has been an opportunity for some to declare the protests a failure not least in the face of ongoing conflict in Syria, Libya, and Yemen. Looking back on those turbulent events, its...
The nuclear weapons ban treaty is groundbreaking, even if the nuclear powers haven't signed
Jan 22, 2021 07:27 am UTC| Law
Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted at the United Nations...
Dan Tehan's daunting new role: restoring trade with China in a hostile political environment
Jan 19, 2021 04:42 am UTC| Politics
The new trade minister, Dan Tehan, has been handed one of the Morrison governments most demanding roles. Despite a lot of chest-thumping in government circles about the need to stand up to Chinese bullying, Tehans task...
Debate: A geopolitical reading of fear
Jan 19, 2021 02:59 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
In his 2009 book The Geopolitics of Emotion, Dominique Mosi divided the world into three emotional regions: the territory of hope (emergent countries), the territory of humiliation (the world of Islam), and the territory...
Are the US and Iran headed for a military showdown before Trump leaves office?
Jan 06, 2021 04:24 am UTC| Politics
Tensions are running high in the Middle East in the waning days of the Trump administration. Over the weekend, Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, claimed Israeli agents were planning to attack US forces in...
US identifies Chinese and Russian firms with military ties in new list
Dec 22, 2020 23:33 pm UTC| Politics
The Trump administration identified 58 Chinese and 45 Russian companies with alleged military ties that restrict them from buying a wide range of US goods and technology. The final list with 103 entities appears on the...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects