Section: Lowy Institute for International Policy (Australia)
BBC vs RT: Media wars, diplomacy and owning the message
Worried about the increased power and reach of state-owned broadcasters such as the Kremlin-backed Russia Today, it appears the BBC hopes to stem the trend of endless rounds of funding cuts by seeking government money to create a new channel to broadcast into Russia. It’s also proposing services aimed at reaching North Korea and to increase...
Why Park Geun Hye attended China’s World War Two military parade
Last week, South Korean President Park Geun Hye attended the military parade for China’s 70th anniversary commemoration of the end of World War Two. Officially billed as a celebration of fascism’s defeat, it looked like anything but. More than one analyst noted the obvious incongruence of observing fascism’s end with a giant...
Park Geun Hye was the only democratic leader to attend China’s military parade – and that’s ok
Last week, South Korean President Park Geun Hye attended the military parade for China’s 70th anniversary commemoration of the end of World War Two. Officially billed as a celebration of fascism’s defeat, it looked like anything but. More than one analyst noted the obvious incongruence of observing fascism’s end with a giant...
Digital Diplomacy links: Russia’s game of trolls, DFAT’s social media use, Iran deal, SIGINT, BBC and more
On the first Friday of each month the Interpreter will publish Digital Diplomacy links instead of the weekly Digital Asia links. As Australian digital diplomacy strives to catch-up to the rest of the world, these links will highlight the most creative and effective ways in which countries are leveraging the Internet for foreign policy gain. The...
China’s navy expands its replenishment-at-sea capability
China’s navy, from its founding in 1949 to the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, was focused on preventing Taiwan from becoming formally independent. This goal did not require long-distance operations that would require an at-sea resupply capability. Now, however, Beijing has declared its status as a global maritime power. Amateurs, it is said,...
Weekend catch-up: Iran nuclear deal, MH17, China’s stock market, ANZUS and more
Earlier this week, an ‘historic’ agreement was concluded between the P5+1 and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program. The specifics of the deal, and whether it was a good one for the West, Iran or the Middle East has generated heated debate. Anthony Bubalo said the deal will form the basis of Iran’s cost-benefit analysis:...
Russia gives way to China in BRICS and SCO
This month saw a super summit of two organisations that are significant for both Russia and China. The 7th BRICS summit and 15th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, both held in Ufa, Russia, included the typical member-state declarations confirming cooperation on major issues such as counter-terrorism, ensuring stability and enhancing...
MH17 tragedy galvanised world opinion against Russia
A year ago the world received the awful news of the destruction of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 and the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew. The plane, shot down over the Donetsk region in Eastern Ukraine amid fighting between pro-Russian separatist militias and the Ukrainian army, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Most of the victims...
Greece debacle marks the failure of German leadership in Europe
In Greece, with one in four unemployed, the people have voted (once again) for an end to self-defeating austerity imposed from abroad. In Brussels and in Berlin, officials and ministers declare their loyalty to a ‘European’ vision of monetary and fiscal rectitude that might have borrowed its name from Foucault (‘discipline and...
Russia’s nuclear doctrine takes an alarming step backwards
In a lengthy piece published earlier this week, Vox media journalist Max Fisher details how a conflict between the US and Russia could spiral into a nuclear war. As with all Vox content, it has pop-art, like this ‘choose your own adventure’ World War III flow-chart. Fisher does brush over a few things. He says Cold War leaders...
