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    Policy

    Foreign Affairs & Security

    Today

    With 81-year-old Joe Biden’s cognitive decline alarmingly obvious, his candidacy for the most powerful office in the world is no longer viable.

    Confused despair grips Democratic voters

    Joe Biden seems to be revelling in his determination to once again prove his doubters wrong. The Trump campaign is confident it ensures their victory on November 5.

    • 1 hr ago
    • Jennifer Hewett

    Yesterday

    The one reason swing states are turning back to Trump

    Joe Biden is still betting big he can move key swing states his way, but Arizona was shifting back to Trump well before that debate.

    • Jennifer Hewett

    This Month

    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 position in the world.

    • James Curran

    There is no catastrophic failure of AUKUS Plan A

    The “optimal pathway” may not run exactly to plan, but the risk is known, is being managed, and all three partners have demonstrated their commitment to the process.

    • Jennifer Parker
    NA

    AUKUS future is resting on belief alone

    Defence and government figures brim with confidence over Australia’s nuclear submarine program, but there’s no Plan B and – to some – there’s an air of desperation.

    • James Curran
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    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 end of the 2030s.

    • James Curran
    Peter Briggs, Paul Greenfield, Jon Stanford

    ‘A cruel joke’: Why AUKUS might leave Australia stranded

    A group of defence experts says that the Albanese government is on course for a financial and strategic AUKUS disaster, in the final part of an exclusive series.

    • James Curran
    James Curran’s AUKUS series is timely.

    On AUKUS, Australia must catch up, not start again – yet again

    Australia’s political, diplomatic and defence chiefs need to work with AUKUS counterparts in America and Britain to find a way through the gridlock.

    • The AFR View
    Scott Morrison incurred the wrath of French President Emmanuel Macron when he announced the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal with UK PM Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden.

    Morrison’s ‘longest night’: Inside the making of AUKUS

    The military agreement is a mess and risks leaving Australia with no submarine capability at all by the late 2030s. The cloak of secrecy that secured the deal could now be its undoing.

    • James Curran

    June

    Sir Keith Starmer is in the box seat as the UK heads to the polls on July 4.

    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.

    • James Curran
    Xinhua

    We must consider imposing non-military costs on China

    We are failing to deter China from committing increasingly frequent acts of aggression and intimidation against Taiwan.

    • John Lee
    French President Emmanuel Macron.

    A stock trader’s guide to navigating the French election

    The prospect of a change in the balance of power in France has investors on edge. These are the sectors most affected by the coming political upheaval.

    • Sagarika Jaisinghani, Verena Sepp and Julien Ponthus
    Jewish men inspect a damaged road after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.

    What Israel’s ultra-orthodox draft means for Netanyahu

    The Israeli Prime Minister relies on the support of minority parties to hold on to power. The court ruling has put some of them offside.

    • Melanie Lidman
    Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at Parliament House last week.

    Why Dutton is flying in the face of the China hawks

    As the opposition leader’s rhetoric softens dramatically, the days of turning China into an election wedge appear to be over.

    • James Laurenceson
    FILE - Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks speaks to the media and members of the public from a balcony at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. A British appellate court has opened the door for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States. The High Court overturned a lower court ruling that found Assange's mental health was too fragile to withstand the American criminal justice system. A lower court judge earlier this year refused an American requ

    Julian Assange never accepted the ethics of journalism

    Drawing support from the far left and right, the Wikileaks founder was more international political actor than reporter.

    • Aaron Patrick
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    China’s actions towards the Philippines are growing more aggressive.

    Why South China Sea is the flashpoint that could spark war

    The worry for Australia is that rather than Taiwan, the worsening situation in the seas east of Asia is more likely to entangle it in a great power conflict.

    • Bec Strating
    Former Japanese ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami.

    Japan’s LNG diplomacy is in Australia’s national interest

    Any move to curb LNG exports that undermine Australia’s reputation would not just threaten new gas projects but damage Australia’s green superpower hopes.

    • The AFR View
    NA

    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.

    • James Curran
    Penny Wong and Richard Marles visit Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.

    Why Australia needs to stop being PNG’s payday lender

    It might seem a good, neighbourly thing to do. But loans can be damaging as poorly tied aid. The alternative is subsidising direct Australian business investment.

    • Carolyn Blacklock
    The Navy has achieved many milestones, with all branches now open to women, and females now commanding ships at sea and establishments ashore.

    Time to promote a woman as deputy chief of Navy

    The officer second in charge of the Royal Australian Navy will shortly rotate, opening the way for a historic first appointment of a female.

    • Jennifer Parker