Section: Lowy Institute for International Policy (Australia)
Everything you need to know about the UN secretary-general race (part 1)
The first part of the series outlines how the race is run, who is agitating, and what their interests are. Part 2 will handicap the field of early secretary-general contenders, from a 39 year-old Montenegrin wunderkind to Australia’s own Kevin Rudd. Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer recently warned about the absence of global leadership,...
Litvinenko Inquiry: Pursuing populism at the expense of foreign policy?
Many of the popular responses to the Litvinenko Inquiry — released nearly a decade after the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 with polonium, probably by former agents of the Russian FSB — have been inane, poorly informed, and wildly speculative. Some have taken the line that having killed off Russian democracy, Vladimir Putin should be...
Weekend catch-up: Turnbull in DC, Taiwan and Vanuatu elections, lessons from Jakarta and more
With Malcolm Turnbull’s first visit to Washington DC as prime minister this week, commentary on his speeches and appearances has followed. Of course The Interpreter participated, first with a piece from Hugh White, who said Turnbull didn’t deliver the message America needs to hear: Whatever we might wish, escalating rivalry in Asia...
Christine Lagarde deserves a second term at the IMF
On 3 March 2016, the IMF Executive Board will announce who they have decided to lead the Fund for the next five years. Christine Lagarde has announced she will seek reappointment after completing her current term. In the next few weeks, the Board will accept nominations from country directors and governors. Lagarde will probably keep the job, and...
Does Obama’s ‘level set’ underestimate China?
When President Obama turned to foreign policy in his final State of the Union speech yesterday, he used a phrase that seems to come from a maths textbook. Here’s the relevant passage, with emphasis added: No nation attacks us directly or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world...
Putin’s popularity, explained
If nothing else, Vladimir Putin is a great political survivor. When protests broke out in Moscow four years ago against his return to the presidency, many in the West wrote him off (a widely cited work proposed to tell How Russia Fell in and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin). However, on 3 December Putin delivered yet another annual ‘State...
The day Angela Merkel, TIME’s Person of the Year 2015, called out Vladimir Putin
[youtube:HZYR5NVB8XA] TIME Magazine has named Angela Merkel Person of the Year 2015. To mark the occasion, we revisit the 2014 Lowy Lecture she gave in Sydney just over a year ago, a speech described soon after by The Guardian (UK) as a ‘major shift in European geo-politics.’ A sharp choice of words marked a departure for the normally...
Weekend catch-up: Turkey shoots down Russian jet, Turnbull and the Right, drone warfare, free-trade agreements and more
Earlier this week, a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 which Ankara said had violated its airspace near the Syrian border. A public relations and media struggle ensued, with both countries releasing their own versions of the Russian plane’s flight path. Turkey released audio recordings of its warnings to the fighter to turn away, and...
Digital Diplomacy links: Fighting ISIS online, G20 social media, Indian emojis and more
Once a month The Interpreter publishes Digital Diplomacy links. As Australian digital diplomacy strives to catch-up to the rest of the world, these links highlight the most creative and effective ways in which countries are leveraging the internet for foreign policy gain. A brief history of online trolling between Western and Russian diplomats. A...
Turkey’s downing of Russian plane: Russia was warned but Turkey may have over-reacted
The downing of a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 is awkward timing. Signs of a rapprochement in tensions between the West and Russia looked like genuine cooperation was underway in Syria. Russia had stepped up hits directed at ISIS and related infrastructure, and Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the Russian navy to treat France like an...
