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Category: Uncategorized

Would Australian defence of Taiwan amount to the crime of aggression?

16 August 2022 Mike Scrafton Global, Uncategorized

The people of Taiwan are in a deeply unenviable position. But international law is neutral over political systems, and Taiwan’s democracy gives it no special right to secede. Does advocating for this make Australia a revisionist state?

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‘Quad’ repurposed for, amongst other things, vaccine diplomacy contest

15 March 2021 Online editor Foreign policy, trade and diplomacy, In the news, Uncategorized

Leaders of the United States, Japan, India and Australia have launched “a landmark partnership to further accelerate the end of the COVID-19 pandemic” in a move widely interpreted as an effort to counter China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Defence Strategic Update 2020: A first assessment (James Goldrick)

30 July 2020 Online editor Uncategorized

Retired Royal Australian Navy Admiral James Goldrick provides an initial assessment of the Strategic Update, suggesting that the strategic assessment is sound, but that “the planned measures” may not be enough, and may not “be in place in time to achieve the deterrent effects now deemed so necessary”.

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COVID-19 crisis. Can governments and institutions rise to the challenge?

18 March 2020 Online editor Uncategorized
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Featured

Australia’s climate policy: The widening reality gap

7 November 2023

Nations continue to develop climate policies within a framework that prioritises economic growth, despite the starkly evident failure of this approach to achieve emissions reduction. Surely we must now recognise that the timetable for getting to net zero cannot be left to the hope that private capital and markets will prove to be up to saving millions of lives?

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Palestine

‘Shared values’ on show in Jerusalem

7 February 2023

International Criminal Court says it has jurisdiction in Palestinian territories

6 February 2021

Sovereignty and self-determination: The wider implications of Israel and the West Bank

10 June 2020

Climate Crisis

Australia’s climate policy: The widening reality gap

7 November 2023

The intergenerational report – a climate fairy tale

26 August 2023

Facing “Hothouse Earth”, will governments continue half-a-century of inaction?

7 August 2022

Ukraine

Postwar Ukraine will pose the hardest problems

13 March 2023

Past experience suggests that the postwar outcome in Ukraine could be a destabilised and failing state. Win, lose or stalemate, the postwar environment in Ukraine is likely to pose significant challenges for the EU and NATO.

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About Mike Scrafton

Mike Scrafton is a regularly-published writer on Australian and international affairs. Read more about Mike here.

Most read this month

  • America: the frailty of the hegemon revealed 1 November 2023
  • Are we paying enough attention to Trump’s Gleichschaltung-like ‘Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership’? 27 September 2023
  • Western leaders must acknowledge Israel’s rights are not untrammelled 17 November 2023
  • ‘Shared values’ on show in Jerusalem 7 February 2023
  • Extent of former US officials’ role in AUKUS submarines decision called into question 24 October 2022

Most read in the last year

  • Australia’s foreign policy: Resurgent realism or the survival of multilateralism? 5 July 2020
  • What’s the role of hydrogen in the clean energy transition? (UCS) 29 December 2020
  • An American theocracy: the advance of Christian nationalism 26 January 2021
  • Will Australia always follow the innocent nation into war? 25 March 2023
  • Post-liberal, post-democratic and authoritarian. Is that America’s future? 21 December 2022

Disclaimer

Mike’s writing is not published with his permission on any profit-making websites, blogs or forums associated with profit-making business entities. Mike has no current association with any commercial organisation. He is a completely independent writer, derives no income from his writing, and does not endorse the products or services of any business entity.

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