What is it about Australian diplomacy that makes it so clumsy and dunderheaded? Is it the harsh delivery, the tactless expression, or the inability to do things with subtle reflection? On September 6, Australian diplomacy gave another display of such form with Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s remarks about the Solomon Islands elections. Things have been…
On August 26, 2022, news broke that the Solomon Islands had refused to allow a US Coast Guard ship to refuel in its port. In the history of the South Pacific, only New Zealand did so in 1985, when it barred a US nuclear-powered naval vessel from visiting its port. In 1987, Wellington declared the…
In 2022, the competition between Australia, the United States and China over spheres of influence in Oceania, the planet’s vastest region occupying the South Pacific, intensified. This has led to destabilization of relations of the small island states in the region. And while it has turned out to be easy to destroy decades-old architecture, the…
The process of reinforcement of relations between Canberra and New Delhi has been observed since 2009, when representatives of the two countries adopted a Declaration on Security Cooperation, according to which India and Australia act together on issues related to combating terrorism, ensuring regional security, as well as coordinating their foreign policy. The reason for…
The geostrategic pieces are all falling into place one after another to create the compelling impression that the US-led NATO proxy war on Russia through Ukraine has failed to achieve the grand strategic goals that were expected of it, which is why Washington is now willing to speed up the inevitable resumption of its “Pivot…
Last week, US Vice President Kamala Harris gave a video address to the Pacific Islands Forum – a multilateral meeting consisting of the archipelago nations of the South Pacific, commonly grouped as ‘Polynesia’ and ‘Melanesia’. In the exchange, Harris vowed to increase US cooperation with the island nations, warned of ‘bad actors’, and pledged to re-open…
