Since September 11, the UN Security Council has been repeatedly paralysed by the willingness of its permanent members to act unilaterally to protect their national interests. Why do questions of war and peace still rest almost entirely on the veto power of the five permanent members of the Security Council?
The impact of Biden’s stance on his presidential contest remains unknown but, outside the US, it has dealt a serious blow to America’s global leadership. Biden must adopt a more balanced approach between Israel’s security needs and the Palestinians’ desire for statehood.
Boosting support for defeating Russian expansionism will go some way towards bolstering a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific and advancing New Zealand’s interests.
Involvement in Aukus pillar 2, which is the sharing of information in new cutting-edge defence technologies, looks like a poor strategy for New Zealand, and does little to advance its independent foreign policy interest.
China has put its relationship with New Zealand on ice, after Wellington banned Huawei. While New Zealanders would not want their government to blindly follow the US’ China policy, they also would not accept a subservient relationship with China.
Amid the growing clamour in Washington that the Obama administration project strength in the Ukraine crisis, several key points are being obscured.
It is a truism that an appropriate policy response to a crisis situation requires a clear and accurate understanding of the circumstances that caused it.
Almost from the moment the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the menacing shadow of the nuclear age has inspired visions of a world free of nuclear weapons.