Environmental activists have made some important strides in confronting the Australian mining company Lynas.
Supreme Court Decision on Same-Sex Marriage Will Resonate Globally
The U.S. Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage will bolster the work of human rights activists around the world. But it will also pose some challenges.
Open Fire and Open Markets: The Asia-Pacific Pivot and Trans-Pacific Partnership
Thomas Friedman once said the hidden hand of the market needs the hidden fist of the military. The TPP and the Obama administration’s Pacific Pivot pack both.
Postcard from… Darwin
When the first contingent of 250 U.S. Marines flew into Darwin last April, they were greeted on the tarmac with a personal handshake by Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith and welcomed to the city by the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (NT), Paul Henderson. When they left, there were no politicians to be seen.
Australia Remilitarizes
Recent transformations in the international system, notably the rise of China and an economic slump in the West, are rapidly ushering in a new age in Australian foreign policy. Slowly the sleeping continent has awoken to the din of machinery in uranium mines, shipbuilders in dry docks, and the arrival of a new contingent of U.S. Marines – the latter only the most recent indication of a re-posturing of the country’s foreign policy against perceived Chinese expansionism.
Australian PM Gillard’s Call for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons No Shot in the Dark
Australia’s call for an end to nuclear weapons is a process that began with the formation of an international commission on nonproliferation and disarmament.
Obama’s Noble Sentiments About Afghanistan Undermined by Meager Drawdown
The dissonance between the sentiments President Obama expressed in his Afghanistan speech and his plans begs the question of how much control he has over his own foreign policy.
Japan and the Future of Nuclear Disarmament
Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s entry in the visitors’ book at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum last month may not sound so astonishing or dramatic. His words — “Let the world resolve afresh, from the ashes of this city, to work together for the common mission of peace for this Asia-Pacific century, and for a world where nuclear weapons are no more” — sound like many other entries written in the visitors’ book after people learned the truth of the effect of the use of nuclear weapons against humanity.
Asia’s New Axis?
Australia and South Korea have both experienced major political shifts, but in opposite directions. Australia has emerged from 11 years of conservative government under John Howard to Labor under Kevin Rudd. South Korea is going from 10 years of progressive government under Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun to the conservatives under Lee Myung Bak.
Rudd: Up from Down Under
Australia’s new prime minister is comfortable with firsts. Kevin Rudd is the only Western leader who is fluent in Mandarin. He has set off on a lengthy world tour just after assuming office, with the first stop in the United States. And he kicked off the tour by quietly honoring an election pledge and opting out of a security alliance in the controversial occupation of Iraq.