Section: Lowy Institute for International Policy (Australia)
Much at stake for Turnbull and the region at East Asia Summit
The 10th East Asia Summit this weekend promises to be one of the most interesting bits of summitry in some time. This, the last stop on Malcolm Turnbull’s five-nation tour which has included one-on-one meetings with the top three on Forbes’ Most Powerful List, is also likely to prove the most challenging. Rather than the more familiar...
The shocking truth: A Trump presidency could be good for ANZUS
‘Should Donald Trump be elected US President, Australia should tear up the ANZUS alliance’, leads this article by veteran analyst and political reporter, Daniel Flitton. He doesn’t hold back: Malcolm Turnbull or Bill Shorten could be prime minister by this time next year, but this is a simple bipartisan choice. If Trump wins the...
Seeing red over Chinese metal exports
The embers inside Europe’s second-largest blast furnace, at Redcar, in northeast England, will die. For 170 years this has the been world’s most storied steelworks. Plate-iron beams from Redcar undergird Sydney Harbour bridge. Now, it’s become a victim of ‘industrial vandalism’, according to the local...
Assad’s Moscow cameo shows that Russia wants a deal
This week, unexpectedly, Syrian President Bashar Assad turned up in Moscow. He hasn’t been seen outside Syria since unrest broke out four years ago. The trip makes two important statements. The first is that, thanks to Russian air strikes, the Syrian state — the actual Syrian state recognised under international law — is breathing again....
Burma’s Tatmadaw: A force to be reckoned with
[youtube:Mj2AyzdC2A0] Shashank Joshi’s recent post on ‘India’s Incredible Shrinking Air Force’ prompts a closer look at Burma’s armed forces (the Tatmadaw). Since the accession of President Thein Sein in 2011, the Tatmadaw’s continuing political role has been examined closely. Less attention has been given to...
On Syria, the West must face facts: Russia can help
Western analysts have been at pains to discern Russia’s ‘real aims’ in Syria. But the best explanation probably remains the simplest: the preservation of the existing Syrian state and its institutions in pursuit of a political settlement that limits the amount of Syrian territory under permanent Islamist control. This was the...
Weekend catch-up: Putin’s grand strategy, Obama in Syria, Kunduz, Malabar and more
[youtube:mv3QNyxeXKk] With Russia’s ongoing air strikes in Syria, including land-attack cruise missiles fired from Russian naval vessels in the Caspian Sea, Kyle Wilson has written a three-part series on Putin’s strategy and motivations: Putin has shown a gift for improvisation, especially as regards extracting advantage from...
Vladimir of Taurus: Putin’s Syria gambit and his global ambitions
Here are part 1 and part 2 of this three-part series, in which Kyle Wilson explains the personal, domestic and international motivations behind Putin’s Syria strategy. So what does Putin want? His recent speech to the UN General Assembly listed all his main desiderata, from the macro to the micro. He wants a new system of security for...
Vladimir of Taurus: What Putin thinks of Europe and the US
The first part of this series explained the personal and domestic political motivations behind his Syria strategy. Here the author explains how Putin and his compatriots view the world, and their scant regard for Anglosphere views on power. [youtube:q13yzl6k6w0] To speak of Russia’s international isolation is an exaggeration, but Putin is...
Putin in Syria: ‘Vladimir of Taurus’ baffles his foes
This is the first in a three-part series on Putin’s Syria gambit and how it furthers his ambitions at home and abroad. Eighteen months ago Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conquest of Crimea earned him the appellation among sycophants of Putin Tavrichesky or ‘the Tauridian Putin’, Taurus being an ancient Greek name for...
