Trump’s Washington runs on proximity, power and unpredictability. Australia’s next ambassador must be chosen for clarity, skill and seriousness.
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James Curran
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Greenland is why Rudd’s DC replacement must be a diplomat
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Best of 2025 – We’re not about to go full Trump no matter what the culture warriors say
Strains on social cohesion cannot be dismissed as the embrace of multiculturalism has made the task of defining what holds the community together more challenging. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal
The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed light on the shenanigans. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies
If there was any doubt in Canberra that the traditional political alignment with the US is in turmoil, the past week or so confirms it irrefutably. (more…)
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We’re not about to go full Trump no matter what the culture warriors say
Strains on social cohesion cannot be dismissed as the embrace of multiculturalism has made the task of defining what holds the community together more challenging. (more…)
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What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal
The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed light on the shenanigans. (more…)
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Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West
It is in Asia where Australia’s bread is buttered. And Canberra needs a strategy on the security impact that is a gathering tide from the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs on our interests there. (more…)
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Treaty delay shows Australia still thinks it knows what’s best for PNG
The Albanese Government appears to want to force Pacific countries into choices they do not want to make. (more…)
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Xi’s parade tips the diplomatic balance sheet in Asia
Beijing’s rapid military transformation and capacity to ultimately confront the US and its allies in policy and military terms was on full display recently. (more…)
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Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies
If there was any doubt in Canberra that the traditional political alignment with the US is in turmoil, the past week or so confirms it irrefutably. (more…)
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Australia employs ‘straddle’ diplomacy with China and the US
The approach is not doctrinal, but is about speaking frankly to both Washington and Beijing. (more…)
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Australia’s trade survival depends on beating Trump’s tariff contagion
How does Canberra cope in a world that threatens to spin off into competing blocs and help shape a world that preserves multilateralism, even if the United States is not a constructive part of it? (more…)
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Husic is right – Albanese is too timid about the challenges ahead
Deposed Labor cabinet minister Ed Husic threw down the gauntlet to the Albanese Government last week when he challenged it to “burn through the timidity that has shackled us in the first term”. (more…)
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Trump’s shadow is all over this election
The president is bringing out the differences between political cultures and traditions in Australia and the US, especially in attitudes towards what government can and should do. (more…)
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Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia
Too little thought has been given to the future of the Australian economy against the backdrop of a protectionist America. (more…)
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James Curran’s closing remarks to the Sovereignty and Security Conference on 31 March
The sense of urgency and rapid change that has pervaded the discussion today [31 March] has not obscured the fact that, as we know, this issue of the abrupt change in the relationship with the United States has been coming since at least Trump’s first term. And really from the disaster of Iraq and the 2008 global financial crisis. (more…)
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The fundamental problem at the heart of defence policy
The noise over meeting US demands on military spending underlines the fundamental problem at the heart of Australian defence policy: there is no strategy. (more…)
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Albanese is as misinformed on the US alliance as live-fire drills
The petulant demand of tribute to the Trump empire and his transactional ethos surely now challenges the agreed balance sheet between Australia and America. (more…)
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What if there is no way of Australia placating Trump?
As a quick study in the psychology of Australia-US relations, last week had it all. (more…)
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Paul Keating says Trump may avoid a major war
Donald Trump’s “snatch-and-grab” foreign policy rejects the belief in US primacy and exception that was sliding towards a military confrontation with China. (more…)
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Will Trump’s hard line on Beijing ‘blow up’ Canberra’s China policy?
Canberra insiders fear the second coming of Donald Trump could bring pressure on Australia to disown its “stabilisation” policy with Beijing. (more…)
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Who can best manage Trump – Albanese or Dutton?
A week out from the presidential inauguration in Washington and what stands out is the sheer mischief and wildness of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, like two schoolboys running amok in the tuckshop of world politics. (more…)
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Marching blindfolded into the new Cold War
Just before Christmas, the Albanese Government released the findings of a report into how much funding the federal government contributes to those institutions around the country that research and report on the contemporary challenges facing Australian strategic policy. (more…)
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Anthony Albanese has yet to grow into the prime minister’s job
The prime minister is a political operator rather than a visionary. His inability to persuade and sustain arguments is beginning to show. (more…)
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Would Trump or Harris keep the US out of new wars?
Donald Trump wants to end the conflict in Ukraine, but would have fewer guardrails in office. However, Kamala Harris might take a harder line on China than we think. (more…)
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Forked tongue foreign policy
Asia posturing. At least the Americans discern no contradiction in Australian strategic policy, but the government continues to contort its messaging. (more…)
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Howard still ducks Iraq question
Former prime minister John Howard has defended his record on committing Australia to the Iraq war. But we are no closer to fully understanding his reasons. (more…)
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History damns John Howard on Iraq war
Missing cabinet documents relating to the 2003 Iraq war are unlikely to reveal the impulses that drove John Howard to a disastrous foreign policy decision. (more…)
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AUKUS gets embedded but no clear rationale
Labor has its political fix on national security. But what has been deferred once more is a fully developed explanation of the policy in real defence and strategic terms. (more…)
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NATO hasn’t got our back as some think
Anthony Albanese demonstrated that in some respects he remains a prisoner of his predecessor’s national security policies. Amid the glamour of Europe, he revealed once more that Canberra’s security agencies still control how Australia projects itself to the wider world. (more…)