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James Curran

James Curran

Brisbane Times

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Right’s cancel culture distorts diplomacy

The government is under fierce attack for its UN voting patterns on Gaza, but it is voting in keeping with global norms.

15.12.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

A crazy six hours in Seoul and the fragility of democracy

A presidential brain snap in South Korea has revived dark memories of the country’s past, with potentially damaging geopolitical ripples across...

08.12.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s foreign policy hand is stronger than you might think

Fears of American isolationism ignore that the president-elect’s international relations capabilities might be better than many think once he takes...

24.11.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Did you miss the Indonesian president’s November surprise?

While Australians were absorbed by the US election, the new leader of their large neighbour was busy strengthening ties with Russia and China.

17.11.2024 5

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump 2.0 is the reckoning for Australia’s alliance with the US

For years Australia has looked the other way when talk of the end of US primacy has been raised. Now we can’t avert our eyes.

10.11.2024 30

Financial Review

James Curran

America’s search for a new role continues

Despite the mediocrity of the candidates, America is not down for the count. But it is wasting precious time to redefine its world role

03.11.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

America’s new Asian alliance network will survive beyond Trump

No matter who is in the White House after November 5, the US’ carefully structured latticework of alliances that underpins its regional primacy will...

20.10.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia clings to UK embrace with King Charles’ royal visit

A particular type of rhetorical syrup that “oozes over cracks” in the Australia-Britain relationship will be on full display.

19.10.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

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. Anthony...

14.10.2024 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

How the new Japanese PM’s ambition for an Asian NATO was scuttled

Shigeru Ishiba set diplomatic pulses racing with his proposal, but the idea has been just as quickly shelved.

07.10.2024 5

Financial Review

James Curran

Why Netanyahu is Harris’ election nightmare

The Israeli prime minister continues to thumb his nose at Washington, and a wider war might well be the very October surprise Kamala Harris fears.

27.09.2024 8

Financial Review

James Curran

America’s first post-election task is rebuilding its credibility

The election remains Trump’s to lose. But the chaos that might follow if he doesn’t win is now concentrating minds among US regional allies.

22.09.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Australian rugby revival isn’t happening any time soon

Irrespective of the result in the Bledisloe Cup, the local game’s structural problems only look to be getting worse.

20.09.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

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...

17.09.2024 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Would Trump or Harris keep the US out of new wars?

Trump wants to end the conflict in Ukraine but would have fewer guardrails in office. However, Harris might take a harder line on China than we think.

15.09.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Harris, Trump present contrasting versions of America’s destiny

The vice president laced her rhetoric on foreign policy with the triumphalism that Democrats have now adopted with more gusto than their Republican...

12.09.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

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....

10.09.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia’s forked tongue foreign policy

At least the Americans discern no contradiction in Australian strategic policy, but the government continues to contort its messaging.

08.09.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Why has a long-term understanding with Asia eluded us?

Even as Australia has become more multicultural, the best we can manage is a pragmatic relationship punctuated with fits of enthusiasm.

02.09.2024 4

Financial Review

James Curran

Government hasn’t matched Keating’s Indonesia pact

The new defence agreement with Jakarta is a welcome development, but the government claims too much too soon about its place in history.

25.08.2024 5

Financial Review

James Curran

Democrats now the American dreamers

Democrats have become the true believers in the American mission. Republicans will be more prudential in assessing foreign policy capacities.

18.08.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Albanese is losing the AUKUS debate

The government is prioritising platitudes over substance as critics question the $368 billion nuclear submarine project.

11.08.2024 5

Financial Review

James Curran

Multicultural report buries Australia’s British past

The institutions that Britain brought – parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, an independent judiciary and a free press – are the very...

28.07.2024 7

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump is again the urgent issue for allies

Critics label the Trump-Vance ticket as isolationist in foreign policy. But the pair actually wants American priorities reordered to take on China.

21.07.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

More shots heard around the world

For Donald Trump, the ‘bully pulpit’ almost became his funeral pyre. And the gulf between his strongman image and Biden’s ongoing struggles is...

14.07.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Pezzullo bangs the war drums against placating an ‘imagined China’

The former Home Affairs secretary does not, however, present a philosophy of international relations that might form a basis for Australia’s...

07.07.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

AUKUS ‘moonshot’ may be a tragically expensive failure

It is alarming that both Coalition and Labor politicians fail to acknowledge the risk that Australia could be left with no submarine capability by the...

01.07.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Will Keir Starmer go wobbly on AUKUS?

The fantasy of a post-Brexit “global Britain” is gone, but British Labour says it will be everywhere around the world, and all at once.

30.06.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Putin to Xi: I have options in East Asia

The Russian President’s visits last week to North Korea and Vietnam shows Russia’s residual capacity to stir trouble in East Asia.

23.06.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Albanese elevates diplomacy over the drum beat of war

Few can doubt the success of ‘stabilisation’ for the Australia-China relationship, but how might it work when applied to the region?

18.06.2024 5

Financial Review

James Curran

‘Stabilisation’ shouldn’t straitjacket deeper economic ties with China

Anthony Albanese’s date with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Canberra is an opportunity to work on a trade-based agenda for the future between two...

16.06.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

As India votes, doubt grows about Modi’s intentions

India’s prime minister is set to extend his power once the election results are known. That is likely to bring further tests for Australia and the...

13.05.2024 50

Financial Review

James Curran

How Trump’s ‘imperial presidency’ will reshape the world

If Donald Trump wins in November, expect even greater strain on American institutions. But he’s unlikely to be an “imperial president” abroad.

12.05.2024 50

Financial Review

James Curran

Fight to the last Ukrainian

More aid is clearly a relief for Kyiv, but will it be enough to reverse the tide of the war?

28.04.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

America’s Superman foreign policy flies again

The hard realism of Asian allies about America’s direction must jostle with the return of uncompromising American unilateralism.

19.04.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Marles forced to revise Canberra’s take on far away wars

The Defence Minister has made it clear the government is going to stare down critics who want our troops turning up at every world trouble spot.

17.04.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Once more to the brink in the Middle East

As the tinder in the Middle East smoulders once more, much will depend on whether Netanyahu lights another match or follows Washington’s calls for...

15.04.2024 5

Financial Review

James Curran

Like Biden, Labor is on its own Israel journey

Penny Wong wants a two-state solution, but the reality is Gaza is looking more like the US quagmire in Iraq

10.04.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Senior US diplomat lets the AUKUS cat out of the bag

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has spelt out publicly the expectations Washington has of Australia to fight alongside it in the Taiwan...

07.04.2024 30

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s attack on Rudd a total beat-up

Ambassador Rudd is not the first to face the snarl of Trump’s contempt, nor will he be the last.

20.03.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Will Australia get China’s Silver Fox or the brusque nationalist?

The government has already decided the visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is another notch in stabilising relations with Beijing. But is...

19.03.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

It’s time Wong squarely confronted Australia’s foreign dilemma

The problem is that the foreign minister, nor any political figure or official in the Australian government, will speak frankly about the US alliance.

17.03.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Sense of urgency as Australia finds its true international identity

There is a meaning to be extracted from the ASEAN summit for Australia’s international identity.

07.03.2024 9

Financial Review

James Curran

It’s a mistake to think about ASEAN in binary terms

It is unrealistic to think the outcome of this week’s summit will be the next step in Australia building a broader network of Asian allies against...

03.03.2024 9

Financial Review

James Curran

Ghostly galleons are no deterrent

The government’s announcement on Australia’s surface fleet doesn’t past the pub test. But is the nation’s strategic paradigm also dated?

28.02.2024 6

Financial Review

James Curran

The sad reality is that Ukraine is outgunned and outmanned

Strategic analysts were adamant either that Ukraine would fall or Russia would buckle. Two years later, neither has happened.

24.02.2024 8

Financial Review

James Curran

History’s hand on Prabowo’s shoulder

The new president, steeped in Indonesian nationalism, is likely to hew closely to Joko Widodo’s middle path between the US and China.

18.02.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Prabowo in sight of the summit - at last

Prabowo Subianto looks to have secured the Indonesian presidency - but will his time in office herald a new era for the country?

15.02.2024 9

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump rattles US alliance cages again

Canberra should reach out to Donald Trump not with gold-plated AUKUS submarine models but by restating why Australia’s defence matters to American...

14.02.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

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...

27.01.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

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