The alternative is abandoning the problem and hoping the tech giants are willing and able to figure it out on their own.

The conduct of the referendum raises uncertainties and the prospect of a return to instability right on Australia’s doorstep.

The President appears to be learning that whatever leverage the US has with China is derivative of our alliances and partnerships in the region.

The next satellite launch will probably occur in the coming months.

If effective strategy requires realistic aims, then America is in trouble.

Alexandre Dayant, a Research Associate in the Pacific Islands Program, with links on updates across the aid and development fields.

Domestic politics has a pesky habit of interrupting foreign relationships.

Personalist dictatorship – in which leaders face few constraints on their decision-making – is on the rise and part of a changing face of authoritarianism in the post-Cold War era.

Australia can't afford to wait until 2032 for the first of its new submarines to enter the water.

The week that was on The Interpreter.

The plight of the ever-persecuted Yazidis remains as dire – and as invisible – as ever.

Sanctions would likely increase support for the Tatmadaw, gifting it the us-versus-them mentality it tried and failed to instill in the citizenry for years.

Xi is not fostering a cult of personality, but a cult of the Chinese Communist Party.

Foreign fighters who join armed Kurdish groups become hostage to their political agenda.

Rachael Buckland, a Research Associate with the Migration and Border Policy Project, with links on developments across the field.

ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meetings tend to avoid the speculation and stalemates that make the leaders' summits such ham-fisted affairs.

The EU was built to prevent what destroyed the continent twice in the first half of the 20th century and kept half of it prisoner until 1990.

President Xi Jinping's vision should raise alarm bells in Asian and Western capitals.

Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, with links on developments across the Pacific.

The international financial system is significantly different to the one that existed when the IMF and World Bank were established.

In some ways the Council is like a pre-school: it's more about effort to improve than actual performance.

BRI is consistent with President Xi’s 'master narrative': China’s return to the centre of the global stage.

The Kurds may like to say they have no friends but the mountains, but their family has a history of letting them down too.

If ISIS was to focus on who caused its latest problems in the Philippines, Australia would be well in the frame.

This is not a desperate letter from a doomed regime.

Timor-Leste is at risk of losing the hard-won ground of political stability forged over the last decade.

If war on the Korean Peninsula does eventuate, the US should see it as an opportunity to forge a better peace.

Erin Harris, Research Associate with the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Diplomacy Program, with links on aid and development.

Since 'Choosing Openness' was published, Nazi sympathisers have entered the German parliament, and an anti-immigrant millennial has been elected Austrian chancellor.

The week that was on The Interpreter.

Sarah Logan with the latest digital developments across Asia.

Meeting Nelson Mandela, a conversation with the Queen, and an unsparing assessment of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The RAN would have to mobilise practically the entire fleet to match the missile inventory of one Chinese cruiser.

Ardern was installed as New Zealand Labour leader just to 'save the furniture'. Less that 100 days later, she is the nation’s 40th prime minister.

While China under Xi Jinping is going to be challenging for the region, ultimately the Party Congress is about what the leadership is doing for China.

Rachael Buckland, a Research Associate with the Lowy Institute’s Migration and Border Policy Project, with links on developments across the field.

What Trump might do on the Japan trade deficit, educating China's students, the legacy of Julie Bishop's economic diplomacy drive and more.

Marawi won't be truly liberated until it's safe for displaced residents to return.

Tillerson’s speech also signaled a significant hardening of US attitudes towards China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, with links on developments across the Pacific.

Australia would prefer the US to focus on the Indo-Pacific rather than become further embroiled in the Middle East. We may well be disappointed.

The challenge is not to patch the old model of globalisation with bits of string and gum. It is to construct a new model.

Holding a provocative, quixotic and externally friendless referendum was an unnecessary risk for the Kurds to take, for very little return.

America’s strategy of ‘building partner capacity’ is beginning to show its weaknesses.

Myanmar’s security challenges remain predominantly land-based, although they do aggravate security threats in its maritime domain.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is experiencing a 'faster than average' drop in his approval ratings.

Analysis into more than 5000 Chinese aid projects, Liberian and Pakistani public-private partnerships in education, and more.

Australia's proposed legislation can be improved in four important ways.

Australia’s present approach to Belt and Road is not unreasonable.

Trump has failed to apply Roosevelt's advice in dealing with the Middle East.