Blog Profile / The Interpreter
| URL : | http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | News / International Affairs | |
| Posts on Regator: | 2417 | |
| Posts / Week: | 25.7 | |
| Archived Since: | August 31, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Small weapons of mass destruction: Why Australia should lead the global charge against small arms
Luke McGreevy is the winner of the Lowy Institute's undergraduate op-ed competition. Luke is an honours student at Monash University. It should come as no surprise that, in the wrong hands, guns can devastate whole communities. The Colorado...Show More Summary
Development links: Population, TB, Samantha Power, poverty and more
For the first time this week, a new weekly post compiling for you the latest aid and development links from around the world. For comments and link suggestions, email sdunstan@lowyinstitute.org. The world's population is projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Show More Summary
Reader riposte: Costs of EU-US free trade deal
Reader Peter Frank recommends this Spiegel analysis of the proposed US-EU free trade agreement, which contains estimates that such a deal would cost Australia 52,000 jobs and result in 7.4% decline in Australia's per capita income. Peter...Show More Summary
Defence in depth: Better or worse?
Dougal Robinson is a Lowy Institute defence intern. Watch video As the Australian Defence Force approaches the end of a period of high operational tempo, this third Defence in Depth video (you can watch the whole series and read commentary...Show More Summary
Can G20 leaders save the multilateral trading system? Will they bother?
This week saw the US and EU agree to launch talks on what has been described as potentially the 'biggest bilateral trade deal in history.' The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the latest in a series of so-called 'mega-regional' trade arrangements. Show More Summary
Interview: Kishore Mahbubani's great convergence, part II
Below, part 2 of my interview with Kishore Mahbubani, one of Asia's most prominent world-politics commentators and author of The Great Convergence. Part 1 here. SR: You're very critical in The Great Convergence of international institutions...Show More Summary
Indonesia's police: The problem of deadly force
Jim Della-Giacoma is the Asia Program Director for International Crisis Group. Watch video My four year-old daughter recently came home from her Jakarta kindergarten with a story about a visit to the school from the head of our local police station. Show More Summary
From APEC to Abbott: Adieu, Australia
Australian diplomacy had a very different look and feel when I arrived here at the back end of 2006. John Howard was still the prime minister, just as George W Bush and Tony Blair remained in charge in Washington and Westminster. Consequently,...Show More Summary
US-Europe FTA + TPP = Super FTA?
Geoff Miller is a former Director-General of the Office of National Assessments. Reading this morning's news from the G8 Summit and thinking back to recent discussions of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), I was struck by the announcement...Show More Summary
Tuesday links: Pakistan, Germany, North Korea, Vietnam, Japan and more
Sure, why not, they can afford it: Pakistan announces a huge military budget increase. Our thanks to Sir Humphrey at the British milblog Thin Pinstriped Line for his kind endorsement of The Interpreter last week.' 'Japan's present circumstances...Show More Summary
Do financial markets understand QE?
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a shiver through financial markets worldwide late last month when he said that if the Fed saw 'real and sustainable improvement in the labour market' it could 'take a step down' in the volume of its quantitative easing (QE), possibly 'in the next few meetings'. Show More Summary
Movie trailer: Elysium
Watch video I always look for political subtext and commentary in the film trailers I show you, and I think it's particularly interesting to see such references in Hollywood blockbusters, because they are mass-market products on an increasingly...Show More Summary
Why China won't be a Middle East peacemaker
Simone van Nieuwenhuizen is a Master of International Relations (Diplomacy) candidate at Peking University. Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas' overlapping visits to China in May triggered speculation by both Chinese and international...Show More Summary
Monday links: Syria, China overcapacity, Thailand, UAVs, green tech and more
Last Friday's US announcement that it would send military aid to Syrian rebels was ambiguous, but has since been followed up with a leak confirming that this will include arms transfers. FP.com on Australia's terribly sexist week. (Thanks...Show More Summary
Afghanistan's women: Patchy gains under threat
Susanne Schmeidl is co-founder of the Afghan NGO, The Liaison Office. In 2009 Afghan President Hamid Karzai enacted, by presidential decree, a law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW). The law, which provided broad protections...Show More Summary
Rouhani: The style/substance divide
Hassan Rouhani's first-round success in the Iranian elections has sent an strong message to the regime. On the face of it, the process went well. Having ensured that the list of candidates was not going to offer any existential threat to the system, Ayatollah Khamenei needed to ensure that this election went smoothly and with a good turnout. Show More Summary
Reader riposte: Roosevelt's five envoys
Steve Weintz responds to this video of Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove talking at the launch of Michael's new book, Rendezvous with Destiny: How Franklin D Roosevelt and Five Extraordinary...Show More Summary
Friday funny: Chris Christie
I don't know a whole lot about Governor Chris Christie, but I know he worships Springsteen, and he can do this: Watch video Christie vs Hillary? That could be a fun presidential race. (H/t Tastefully Offensive.)
Defence cultural change will take time
Samantha Crompvoets is a sociologist, a research fellow in the ANU Medical School and a contractor to the Department of Defence. Watch video This week's Army sex scandal is not a reflection that cultural change and the intent behind the Defence Department's March 2012 Pathway to Change report on Defence culture hasn't worked. Show More Summary
Defence policy: Self-reliant or self-deluded?
Major Gen (Retd) Jim Molan is author of Running the War in Iraq. The video cameos featured in Dougal Robinson's post, Defence in Depth: Strategic Partners, go to two of the most important concepts in Australian defence: self-reliance...Show More Summary