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James Curran

James Curran

Brisbane Times

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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.

yesterday 3

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...

monday 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 5

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 10

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 5

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 6

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 6

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 6

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 3

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 6

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Howard still ducks key 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...

21.01.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Biden is running out of patience with Netanyahu

Bad blood between the Israeli prime minister and the US Democrats goes back a long way. The danger now is that Israel never escapes from the baleful...

17.01.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

History damns John Howard on Iraq war

Missing cabinet documents relating to the 2003 Iraq war are unlikely to reveal the impulses that drove John Howard to a disastrous foreign policy...

16.01.2024 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Don’t rock the boat: Canberra’s message to Taipei and Beijing

Canberra has a big investment in preserving the status quo.

14.01.2024 8

Financial Review

James Curran

History’s judgment still awaits John Howard on Iraq

Even when released, the cabinet documents relating to the 2003 Iraq war will not reveal the impulses that drove John Howard into a disastrous...

07.01.2024 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Taiwan: A Trojan horse for Beijing?

Taiwan’s elections next month will once more focus attention on the difficulty of any future move by Beijing to absorb Taiwan.

20.12.2023 20

Financial Review

James Curran

US and EU bickering leaves Ukraine adrift

Political bickering in Washington and European capitals over ongoing support for Kyiv appears to presage an even bleaker winter for President...

10.12.2023 8

Financial Review

James Curran

What happens if Biden were to step aside?

Australian diplomatic and security agencies are having to contemplate the consequences for Australia of the possibility of no second term for Joe...

06.12.2023 4

Financial Review

James Curran

Kissinger’s advice to aspiring leaders still holds

The arch foreign policy realist both intrigued and infuriated those around him and so many who have tried to assess his legacy.

30.11.2023 2

Financial Review

James Curran

Albanese’s pressing task to hold us together in a fractured age

The prime minister faces growing currents of economic and social disaffection. But is he up to the task of navigating a way through?

26.11.2023 10

Financial Review

James Curran

We need cohesion to compete in a contested region

Australia’s self-image at home has always weighed heavily on our foreign policy and our national security stance.

22.11.2023 3

Financial Review

James Curran

‘Stabilisation’ with China doesn’t mean no surprises

The essence of the matter is that there are always going to be surprises on the strategic front. That doesn’t mean that the government hasn’t been...

20.11.2023 2

Financial Review

James Curran

Biden-Xi talks can’t overcome the trust deficit

The sobering reality from the leaders’ meeting is the lack of a binding arrangement that anything they agreed would survive the next American...

16.11.2023 3

Financial Review

James Curran

Why ‘stabilisation’ is a misnomer for Xi-Biden meeting

Given the irritants on the horizon, even if the meeting in San Francisco is relatively cordial, relations are likely to quickly deteriorate amid...

12.11.2023 10

Financial Review

James Curran

The China business case is no longer simple

The PM has come home full of China’s ‘win-win’ rhetoric on trade. But the future is trickier than it was before the trade war.

08.11.2023 3

Financial Review

James Curran

China heaped praise on Albanese. Will it last?

Only the challenges that will surely come can properly test these words of warmth and bonhomie. How this visit looks in a decade is difficult to...

07.11.2023 10

Financial Review

James Curran

As Beijing beckons, the fight for Albanese’s ear on China

As Anthony Albanese prepares to meet Xi Jinping, two schools of policy in Canberra are competing to steer the PM’s approach.

29.10.2023 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Bill Hayden’s foreign policy was his finest hour

Former Labor leader Bill Hayden’s 1983 ANZUS review preserved the alliance, but he despised craven and servile pandering to Washington

25.10.2023 6

Financial Review

James Curran

Congress sideshow an unwelcome hurdle for Biden, Albanese

The US President faces a Congress that doesn’t agree with him on the basic premise of US global leadership, complicating his latest pitch to finance...

23.10.2023 3

Financial Review

James Curran

Israel to cast a long shadow over PM’s Washington trip

The Middle East crisis is likely to dominate Anthony Albanese’s state visit to Washington, even if his stay adds another chapter in Australian-US...

20.10.2023 5

Financial Review

James Curran

Joe Biden’s fraught mission of deterrence

The US president’s Middle East trip just got more complicated. But his calculus remains the same: to pull the region back from the brink of a major...

18.10.2023 2

Financial Review

James Curran

Joe Biden’s Israel visit is his boldest gamble yet

Joe Biden’s imminent Middle East visit may yield few dividends, but it is an imaginative and bold attempt to secure some kind of peace.

18.10.2023 7

Financial Review

James Curran

Israeli leadership stands at the edge of the abyss

Hamas’s chief motive was likely to carry out an operation so awful that it will inspire a hammer blow of revenge. The world awaits Israel’s...

13.10.2023 4

Financial Review

James Curran

Another ‘forever wars’ distraction for America

Washington has been looking to focus on the China challenge, but now has conflicts to manage in the Middle East and Europe simultaneously.

10.10.2023 7

Financial Review

James Curran

Defence the elephant in the room for PM’s US visit

Anthony Albanese will be feted when he heads to the US, but White House hard heads may be wondering about the seriousness of Australia’s defence...

04.10.2023 8

Financial Review

James Curran

Ukraine fatigue laid bare on both sides of the Atlantic

As the NATO Secretary General says enlargement of the military alliance drove Vladimir Putin to attack Ukraine, there are increasing questions in the...

27.09.2023 4

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s endless rediscovery of engagement with Asia

The Moore Report points Australian businesses in the right direction towards South-East Asia, but will they take the bait?

17.09.2023 10

Financial Review

James Curran

In Beijing, business fears Xi is out of ideas

A visit to Beijing finds the city humming but the mood downbeat, with some saying the toolbox to fix the nation’s troubles is empty of everything...

10.09.2023 10

Financial Review

James Curran

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