Blood and soil

Dennis Voznesenski’s new book “War and Wheat” examines the complex relationship between grain markets and global conflict, from a historical perspective on Australian markets since WW1 to the current conflict in Ukraine.

Death by a thousand cuts

Australia’s aid budget remains among the lowest in the world according to the latest Official Development Assistance data published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The unholy alliance

The Sino-Russian no-limits partnership is the driver of an anti-Western axis that seeks to weaken and reshape the global order that has underpinned Australia’s post-1945 prosperity and sovereignty.

Smaller states in a world on fire

Recent crises show how quickly smaller states can be drawn into conflicts they neither choose nor control and while some have responded by seeking gains from great‑power competition, this hedging tends to raise the stakes and increase their vulnerability.

The Iran war in context

At the early stages of many conflicts, there is often hope that the crisis can be contained quickly. However, conflicts such as the Iraq War, the Syrian Civil War, and the Yemeni Civil War illustrate how confrontations initially perceived as limited can expand as regional and international actors become involved.

The dire state of global democracy

The collapse of Soviet communism seemed to herald a new age of democracy across the world, but a global resurgence in authoritarianism means democracy is at its lowest ebb around the planet since 1978.

Let Iranians decide their own future

The outcome of the current conflict in the Middle East cannot be predicted but it should hopefully see a transfer of space and power back to the Iranian people.

Australia is right to help defend Gulf states

While the outcome of the conflict remains far from certain and few people would pretend to know how a war of this scale will unfold, Australia is right to support the US and the defence of the Gulf states under attack from Iranian drones and missiles.

The changing face of terrorism

The Iranian revolution installed an Islamic regime which funded and transformed global terrorism, replacing left‑wing radicalism with religious fundamentalism.

The latest battle in a long war

It may seem that the US and Iran are currently embarking on yet another forever war but the truth is that this is just the latest instalment of an undeclared military conflict between the two nations since the Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah in the late 1970s.

Wave goodbye

The killing of Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after 36 years of vicious internal repression and military support for terrorist groups throughout the middle East will be celebrated by most of Iran’s population and rekindles hope of regime change.

The triangle of power

The Finnish President’s new book calls on open, free and democratic societies to strengthen regional cooperation and reform the United Nations and other multilateral institutions to resist the rising tide of Eastern authoritarianism.