Section: Lowy Institute for International Policy (Australia)
Greece, Ukraine and refugees: Don’t blame Europe
In the court of global punditry, the EU has taken a severe beating lately in three different yet related areas: illegal immigration, the Greek drama and the Ukrainian crisis. Let the accused stand and defend itself. As a starter, the question of guilt is far from proven in all three cases. To see where prime responsibility sits for the atrocious...
West absent as Russia marks Victory Day
On 9 May, Russians celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. The leaders of the Soviet Union’s allies in that conflict, Great Britain and the US, will not be present. Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend. But of major Western leaders only German Chancellor Angela Merkel will go, not to the parade but to a...
Weekend catch-up: Bali 9 executions, Refugee Convention, Greece-IMF and more
Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in Indonesia this week, along with six others. The Abbott Government responded by recalling Ambassador Paul Grigson on Wednesday. Aaron Connelly wrote on the motivations behind Jokowi’s decision to proceed with the executions, despite significant pressure from...
North Korea’s new diplomacy
Russian state-run news agency Tass confirmed on 22 April that Kim Jong-un will be in Moscow for the 9 May Victory Day celebrations. The North Korean leader will be among 26 other heads of state who have so far confirmed their attendance. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong (Flickr/UN Geneva) This visit will mark Kim’s first official...
With Greece on the brink, has the IMF learnt its lesson?
With Greece once again teetering on the brink of default, a recent paper from the Centre for International Governance Innovation explores one episode in the amazing saga of how this tiny country came to threaten the viability of the euro, and left a damaging legacy for procedures and governance at the IMF. When the Greek crisis emerged late in...
Weekend catch-up: Anzac Day, neocons, the EU and Ukraine, digital diplomacy and more
Today is Anzac Day in Australia. Each year the national commemoration prompts a substantial amount of public reflection both on its meaning for Australians today, its place in Australia’s national identity and whether it should hold a place of such prominence. The Interpreter hosted two pieces on those topics this week, the first from...
How the EU inflamed the Ukraine conflict
When Greece’s Alex Tsipras met Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month, it was grist to the mill for those who see Russia’s hand in the war in eastern Ukraine as a Kremlin plot to break up the EU. They include Yale historian Timothy Snyder, author of the acclaimed Bloodlands, who repeated recently on ABC radio his...
Weekend catch-up: Carter in the Pacific, sectarianism, Iranian nuclear negotiations, Mullah Omar biography and more
This week, the new Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, Euan Graham, gave an assessment of US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s recent visit to Asia. The tour followed a particularly forceful speech the Secretary gave last week on the US pivot: The logic of visiting Tokyo and Seoul ahead of other...
Britain turns inward during election campaign
[youtube:7Sv2AOQBd_s] When the seven leaders of Britain’s bigger parties met for their only televised debate of the campaign for the 7 May general election, foreign affairs barely received a mention, other than the usual back and forth about the EU and the munificence of the foreign aid budget at a time of economic austerity. Vladimir Putin...
Ukraine conflict exposes Western weakness on Russia
The EU has colossal achievements to its credit in stabilising and integrating post-communist countries after 1990 by a mixture of carrots, civilisational attraction, and economic incentives and penalties. But the Yugoslav crises of the 1990s and now the Ukraine crisis have highlighted the limitations of the EU’s security capabilities. After...
