This week in Australian foreign affairs: passing of PNG Deputy PM Sam Basil, further sanctions on Russian and Belarusian entities and individuals, joint statement on Afghan women and girls, and more.

With the recent acquisition of Twitter, potentially harmful content may be allowed back on the platform. Is ensuring freedom of speech worth the harm it may cause?

With unceasing brutality by the junta, and an increasingly engaged China and India, deferring to languishing ASEAN efforts has proved ineffective to support conflict transformation in Myanmar. Australian could, but is not yet, stepping up diplomatically.

Trade policies are being ignored in the 2022 election debate. The pandemic has exposed the impact of trade policy on individual lives, and the differences between the parties’ platforms deserve critical scrutiny.

What is Russia hoping to gain from stoking instability in the Balkans?  For such a small geographic region, any change in the Balkan’s political makeup can have global implications.

Observers in Australia and elsewhere have covered Sri Lanka’s ongoing protests and accurately teased out the nuances of the situation. However, many underestimate how technology played a key role in instigating this organic social uprising.

With the Australian federal election campaign in its final week, China policy remains a focal issue. This is amplified by the recently inked security agreement between Honiara and Beijing that potentially paves the way for China’s first military base in the Pacific.

Winning on its second attempt, and never failing to qualify, Ukraine is Eurovision’s golden child. However, Ukraine’s participation has never been without controversy, and 2022 is no exception.

In our discussions of foreign policy, it’s easy to forget the impact that Australia’s foreign policy has on people’s lives. Amid the White Papers and multilateral meetings, and the careful parsing of statements, we must not lose sight of why it matters. 

Since the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Pacific islands have been free of great power war. The unwelcome reality of strategic competition is now back in a way we have not seen since the Cold War.