Section: Australian Institute of International Affairs (Australia)
Australia-NATO Cooperation and Trump
The closing months of 2016 provided ample fodder for sceptics of the future of NATO, as well as critics of the Australian relationship with the Atlantic alliance. The questions about NATO come at a time of unstable global security, amid ongoing tensions with Russia and the uncertainty of the Trump presidency. What does this mean for Australian...
European Security: Has Trump Reshuffled the Cards?
“I think NATO may be obsolete.” When Donald Trump, the next president of the United States, spoke these words during the campaign, he most likely had only a vague idea of how he would act upon them. But one thing is certain: if he made the statement, it is because he knew it to be a vote-winner. And win he did. Has his election reshuffled the...
A Lukewarm Hot Springs Summit in Japan
Russian President Vladimir Putin held all the cards in the Kuril Islands negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 15-16 December. Amid a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape there were advances, but those who expected that the two leaders would, at one stroke, resolve the decades-old territorial dispute, were disappointed. Putin...
Lukewarm on Putin-Abe Hot Springs Summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin held all the cards in the Kuril Islands negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 15-16 December. Amid a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape there were advances, but those who expected that the two leaders would, at one stroke, resolve the decades-old territorial dispute, were disappointed. Putin...
From Quasi-State to State Department: Rex Tillerson
The chief executive of one of the world’s largest companies has been nominated to fill the United States’ oldest cabinet position. Rex Tillerson, head of ExxonMobil, would be the first secretary of state in modern history with no public-sector experience. Nonetheless, this appointment is consistent with the Trump...
Navigating the New International Disorder
This week marks the release of Navigating the New International Disorder, the 12th book in the Australia in World Affairs series. The AIIA has been publishing this authoritative account of Australian foreign policy every five years since 1950. However, recent upheavals and global issues mean that the 2011-2015 version is very different to its...
US and Russia: A Pacific Reconciliation?
Russia’s Far East is just as susceptible to Chinese power as the countries of the Indo-Pacific and if the country wants to shore up control over this region, repairing relations with the US will be essential. It is also in America’s interest to have Russia as an independent power in Asia rather than being China’s satellite....
Cambodia’s Peace After 25 Years
This week marks 25 years since the Paris Peace Accords marked the official beginning of the end of the violent civil war in Cambodia. The anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on the hard-won lessons of how to rebuild after decades of conflict, the challenge of postwar justice, and how Cambodian peacebuilding efforts might be useful to...
Trump’s Flip-Flopping on NATO
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s new-found faith in NATO is unlikely to reassure America’s partners in the organisation. In the first presidential debate with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, Trump declared he was “all for NATO” because, he said, its members had listened to his earlier criticism and were...
IAEA: The UN’s Nuclear Watchdog In Need of Care
The 168 member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency meet this week in Vienna for their 60th General Conference. Since the end of the Cold War, the agency has continually been tasked with more complex and sensitive roles, something it has managed with distinction. However, it is struggling for resources and is increasingly under...
