international relations

The global trade in arms is worth more than two trillion dollars. A UN conference this week aims to bring more oversight to this deadly industry.

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China’s presence in the Pacific has taken new forms. What was once purely economic, is now much deeper.

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Pacific Island nations are keenly aware that disunity is unhelpful for the region.

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Not usually at the forefront of geopolitical argy-bargy, the Pacific has recently emerged as a strategic element of securing democracy. A rift threatened to tear apart normally unshakeable regional unity in 2021, with five Micronesian countries threatening to leave the most powerful transnational group, the Pacific Islands Forum. Ahead of the July 12 – 14 meeting of the Forum, the rift seems to have been patched over. (more…)

A last-minute agreement has avoided rupture in the Pacific Islands Forum. As the agreement was negotiated, regional strengths and vulnerabilities were revealed.

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Better opportunities will arise from ASEAN and Pacific island nations banding together.

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It’s unlikely to happen, but if a large space object ever hit Earth, the outcome would be calamitous. Humanity needs to start preparing now.

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As global superpowers tussle for supremacy, smaller nations need to be nimble to avoid being crushed.

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Despite rising geopolitical tensions the evidence of a correlation between political talk and economic connections between trading nations is often overdone.

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Examining military and political alliances from the perspective of the global South leads to some uncomfortable questions about ‘good’ and ’bad’.

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With the decline of Russia, eyes are turning to China and a new cold war emerging with the USA. But this one will be different.

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