'This cholera scandal is entirely man-made by the conflicting parties and those beyond Yemen’s borders, who are leading, supplying, fighting and perpetuating the fear and fighting,'

The Republican Congress is demonstrating a growing readiness to push back against this Republican President with both words and votes.

The returning officer told us that as many as one in four intending voters in Talsea were being turned away, their names not on the list.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's speech was memorable for both the agenda it set out for relations between Australia and the countries in the Pacific, and the way this was expressed.

The White House seems to regard FONOPs as a means to induce Chinese concessions on the North Korean nuclear issue. This is not what these patrols are designed for.

Each month – each week – brings new and alarming developments in US-Russian relations. The only question is: how much worse can things get?

Enterprises that benefit from the deep social and legal infrastructure needed to make its operations possible should pay a fair tax somewhere.

This week's links also include the case against linking corruption to poverty and how global income equality has shifted since the GFC.

Far from dragging Qatar into the fold as intended, the rift between Qatar and its neighbours is likely to continue to expand.

If there is another armed conflict on the Korean peninsula, it's unlikely an Australian government would feel bound by historical precedent or outdated legal instruments.

The prospects of North Korea using nuclear weapons are greater than generally acknowledged.

Reports that Thailand, with Chinese money, is planning to build a new canal between the Pacific and Indian Oceans have set off a new wave of alarm bells over China’s plans to dominate the region.

Australia's same-sex marriage and republicanism debates, Chinese propaganda, a return to Abenomics and more.

According to sources on the ground in northeastern China, the new sanctions appear to have set off a diplomatic row between Beijing and Pyongyang.

The most surprising thing about the 2017 Papua New Guinea Election was the number of sitting MPs who were defeated.

It is one thing to recognise the realities of current sensibilities; quite another to let them mask the more substantial arguments required to win a greater measure of popular support than in 1999.

The closest a US president has come to anticipating Trump's shockingly bellicose statement was Harry Truman, during the Korean War.

There are two broad narratives in the international coverage of Australia. First, the country is no longer a beacon for human rights. Second, its politics are parochial and often paralysing,

Relying on commercial ties to add ballast to bilateral diplomatic relations can quickly come undone if the deals start going wrong.

The proclivity for extremism in Asia has spread beyond the ‘usual suspects’.

The kidnapping will be seized upon by Vietnam's human rights critics in Europe who will have their say when debating the important FTA.

This weeks links include the death of an asylum seeker on Manus Island, the RAISE act, and refugees, migration and trafficking in the Gulf.

As Commander-in-Chief, President Trump has been superb.

This weeks links include PNG's election results, the exploitation of seasonal workers in Australia and managing tribal warfare in PNG's highlands.

If you're frustrated that this dispute seems stuck with no way out, here are two things worth thinking about.

Young journalists are told professionalism is relative: no media are interest-free, and if you work for Chinese state media, you should represent the interest of the Chinese state.

President Trump likes to apply business-oriented thinking to national economic policy, seeing global trade in terms of individual deals.

Domestic economic reform and constitutional reform should always have been two sides of the same coin.

The UK is a middle-size European country with very few alternatives in free trade, immigration matters or anything else to those open to its continental cousins.

Xi Jinping will soon announce his key slogan to take its place in the Chinese Communist Party charter alongside those of Mao, Deng, Jiang and Hu.

The current account and fiscal deficits played a key role in the growth deceleration that started a few years ago and have so far only been partially unwound.

By 2030 ASEAN is projected to be the world’s fourth-largest economic bloc.

Where the South China Sea was once the big ticket item for the bloc's summits, this weekend was dominated by another lingering regional flashpoint – North Korea.

This weeks links include the Rwandan election, how MDBs are responding to climate change, and modern day slavery in the Thai fishing industry.

One day, many fear that 'one country, two systems' will vanish and Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city.

There are both disturbing and perplexing elements to the Islamic State-supported terrorist plot to blow up an airliner departing from Sydney.

It is one thing to be a valued and trusted ally; another matter entirely to be taken for granted.

The future of Polish politics, a new Defence Secretary, the North Korean travel ban and more.

There is a counter-narrative emerging in Europe’s approach to irregular migration, even as EU governments seek ways to discourage desperate journeys to Italy.

Poland's politics seems to have come full circle, with ever lower levels of incivility and cleavages cutting ever deeper across society.

If businesses and other aspiring innovators have inadequate connectivity to global communication systems, innovation initiatives are dead on arrival.

DFAT is the only mega department to have retained almost all of its 1987 functions intact.

For the first time, the combined amphibious force was comprised of ships from the US, Australia and New Zealand.

This weeks links include a consultation paper on simplifying Australian visa arrangements, and distribution and characteristics of Haitian immigrants in US.

Foreign support for the rebuilding of Marawi City is necessary and most welcome but again will only address the latest symptom of this decades-old problem.

The US doesn’t have to be willing to blockade Scarborough Reef to stop China from building a military base there.

Let's hope this government can deliver on what it has promised to all Papua New Guineans.

Papua New Guinea's post-election dramas, a new report on logging in PNG, and VR bringing Pacific languages to life.

Boris Johnson’s ebullient pronouncements last week on a future Royal Navy freedom of navigation operation in the Indo-Pacific region have attracted attention, but also criticism.

There are signs that Saudi Arabia has changed tack and has decided to contest Iran's influence in Iraq.