Cover Stories

The Pentagon still needs a face lift

2013-05-10T10:08:37+10:00

Despite multiple calls to review the combat exclusion for women, impending lawsuits, and growing evidence of women’s contribution to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon’s 24 January announcement to lift its ban on women in front-line combat roles was surprising. For years, Congress and the Department of Defense… more»

A new American Century

2013-04-29T16:37:43+10:00

Conventional wisdom says that America is in decline, that the American century is over, and that the future belongs to the rest, especially the rest in Asia. Dates vary, but predictions that China’s gross domestic product will soon surpass that of the US to become the world’s largest economy are… more»

Liberal delusions

2013-02-08T16:47:30+10:00

When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, he invited comparison to Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat who also took office in the midst of an economic crisis. Echoing Roosevelt, Obama promised an initial “hundred days” of achievement, and let it be known that he had been reading Jonathan Alter’s book, The Defining Moment: FDR’s First… more»

We the government

2013-02-01T17:17:23+10:00

Ron Johnson spent his career running a small plastic sheeting company he founded with his brother-in-law in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, before entering politics, and had never been to Washington, DC before winning a seat in the Senate. So it is no surprise that when the blue-eyed accountant sits down with the… more»

To pivot, poison, or make peace

2013-02-01T09:05:51+10:00

In his second term, President Barack Obama faces three choices in the Asia-Pacific: to pivot, poison, or make peace. So far Obama’s contribution to regional strategic discourse has been the word “pivot”. After some reflection, his administration wisely decided to drop the use of the word. But the policy behind… more»

Next stop: 2016

2013-01-30T18:46:45+10:00

In 1782, William Pitt became prime minister of Great Britain at the age of 24, “Pitt the Younger” taking the office that Pitt the Elder — his father the Earl of Chatham — had earlier held. In 1886, Robert, Marquess of Salisbury, became prime minister. Three of his sons would be members of parliament, and… more»

Vietnam's balancing act

2012-11-30T15:01:03+10:00

In early 1833, a United States delegation led by Edmund Roberts arrived in Vietnam on the sloop-of-war USS Peacock, which anchored in Vung Lam Bay, off modern Phu Yen province. As a “special confidential agent” of President Andrew Jackson, Roberts proposed to sign a treaty of commerce with the Nguyen Dynasty but failed in his mission… more»

A convenient detente

2012-11-30T12:50:04+10:00

United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s June 2012 appearance at Vietnam’s magnificent deepwater port, Cam Ranh Bay, was rich in symbolism. In one of his many (unanswered) letters to President Harry S. Truman appealing for American help in gaining his country’s independence from France, Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh proposed a US naval base… more»

The slow rapprochement

2012-11-01T16:56:24+10:00

In the days after the last helicopter lifted off the United States embassy helipad, the Saigon sky fell silent and the victors got busy raising the red and gold standard of the National Liberation Front on the flag poles of foreign missions. The fortress-like American embassy alone did not have the NLF flag. Asked about… more»

War memory

2012-10-10T16:32:54+10:00

The 2012 American presidential race has been notable for the tough rhetoric from almost all Republican candidates on whether or not to use force against Iran. In the debates they out did each other in pledging their commitment to the defence of Israel against possible Iranian threats, and in promising to never allow Iran… more»

The nuclear chimera

2012-09-05T10:09:52+10:00

Why should Iran not have nuclear weapons? Israel has them. India and Pakistan have them. Europe is full of them, most of them American, tucked away by the US and NATO in inconspicuous corners in case they might be needed; some of them in locations probably forgotten. Russia and China have plenty of them.… more»

Persian pride

2012-08-08T14:23:50+10:00

For many foreign observers, Iran’s determination to pursue a nuclear program appears both incongruous and nonsensical. This is particularly the case in light of the growing international isolation and the economic costs being inflicted through increasingly punitive sanctions, culminating in an embargo on Iranian oil by the European Union.… more»

The standoff

2012-07-19T16:57:37+10:00

As war agitation intensifies over Iran’s nuclear program, much of the world’s attention naturally focuses on the three men at the centre of the storm—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and US President Barack Obama. Each brings his own attributes, impulses, sensibilities and limitations to the lingering crisis. But each is also… more»

Easy target

2012-06-05T12:23:15+10:00

American presidential elections turn chiefly on domestic issues, not foreign policy, and within that category China for years played only a bit part. In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower attacked the incumbent Democrats for the loss of China to communism and their failure to end the war in Korea. In 1960 Richard Nixon and John… more»

Slowing down

2012-05-15T11:03:58+10:00

This being an election year in America, reports of the death of its economic primacy are exaggerated, as are expectations of future Chinese dominance. The past 15 to 20 years have seen a huge Chinese catch-up with the advanced economies and many experts predict this trend to continue. But the distortions entailed by China’s… more»

Imperial temptations

2012-04-19T11:02:16+10:00

Talking tough on China is back in vogue. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has resorted to strong language and tough threats. “China steals our designs and patents and our know-how,” declared Romney. “They have walked all over him [Barack Obama]. If I am president that is going to end.” He has promised to brand China… more»

For God and country

2012-02-24T15:23:51+10:00

For well over 30 years, the Christian right, a loose coalition of fiscal and social conservatives predominantly from white evangelical and Catholic traditions, has played a significant role in US politics at home and abroad. From its emergence during the late 1970s as a reaction to perceived moral decline and… more»

Constitutional protest

2012-02-24T12:32:12+10:00

The Tea Party movement gets plenty of support from established right-wing financiers and media, but the mood that drives it is as real as it is sometimes bizarre. In 2010, nearly one-third of Republicans told pollsters they believed Barack Obama was a Muslim, and a quarter affirmed the astonishing thought… more»

Jacksonian Republicans

2012-02-23T16:00:17+10:00

Respectable journalistic opinion in the United States and abroad has coalesced in recent months around several points of agreement regarding the current foreign policy tendencies of the Republican Party. First, that the Republican or Grand Old Party (GOP) has no foreign policy approach today—at least nothing worthy of the name.… more»

Understanding populism

2012-01-31T10:45:23+10:00

Populism is an ambiguous term: it is at once an insult and a description.… more»