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Military & Security

Politics

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the U.S. military planned to conduct maintenance on six naval ships in international shipyards in fiscal year 2025 in preparation for wartime contingency repairs in the Indo-Pacific, the South China Morning Post reported on May 3.

U.S., Indo-Pacific: U.S. To Expand Overseas Ship Repair, Bolster Maritime Interoperability

South Africa

United Kingdom

Economics

South Africa's Competition Commission said Australian mining company BHP's takeover of British mining company Anglo American's South African operations would require a mandatory merger notification, the Financial Times reported on May 3. 

South Africa: Competition Commission To Manage BHP Takeover of Anglo American

Solomon Islands

With support from 31 of 50 lawmakers, the Solomon Islands' former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele was sworn in as the country's new prime minister, Nikkei Asia reported on May 2.

Solomon Islands: Incumbent Party Forms Coalition, Elects New Prime Minister

Environment, Science & Technology

Science & Technology

The United States agreed to reduce licensing requirements for weapons and sensitive technology transfers to the United Kingdom and Australia, Reuters reported on May 1. 

U.S., U.K., Australia: Easing Arms, Technology Transfers Will Boost AUKUS Pillar II

Australian multinational mining company BHP is consulting investors to issue a revised proposal to acquire British multinational mining company Anglo American after the company's first takeover bid was rejected on April 26, Reuters reported on April 29.

South Africa: BHP Consults Investors Ahead of Likely New Bid in Anglo American 

Energy

At their Annual General Meeting, 58% of Woodside Energy's shareholders rejected the Australian gas producer's climate plan in a non-binding vote, though activist investors failed to oust the company's chair, Reuters reported on April 24.

Australia: Woodside Energy's Shareholders Reject Climate Action Plan

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles unveiled the country's 2024 National Defense Strategy, which highlights a stronger navy and improved long-range strike capabilities as policy cornerstones going forward, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on April 17.

Australia: Canberra Unveils New Transformative National Defense Strategy

A lone attacker wielding a knife killed six people at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping complex in Sydney, Australia, and police killed the attacker on site, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on April 13.

Australia: Sydney Suffers Two Mass Stabbings in Three Days

Columns

On Geopolitics

Fiji

Indonesia

New Zealand

North Korea

Singapore

South Korea

Vietnam

A 3D rendering of Southeast Asia from space at night with city lights showing Southeast Asian cities in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

U.S.-China Relations

In the Asia-Pacific, countries are increasingly pursuing complex networks of political, economic and defense ties as part of a burgeoning "multi-alignment" strategy that seeks to avoid U.S.-China strategic competition.

Examining 'Multi-Alignment' in the Asia-Pacific

Assessments

Europe

Germany

France

Chinese car manufacturer BYD's stacked electric vehicles wait to be loaded onto a ship at the international container terminal of Taicang Port at Suzhou Port in China's eastern Jiangsu province on Sept. 11, 2023.

As Chinese electric vehicles threaten to flood Western markets, Washington and Brussels prepare restrictions to protect domestic manufacturers and secure sensitive data. 

Chinese Electric Vehicles Prepare to Hit the Great Wall of Western Tariffs

Venezuela

Egypt

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 14, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: Dueling U.S. and Chinese Diplomacy, a European Council Summit

A digital illustration of the Australian and Vietnamese flags.

The decision aligns with both countries' desire to diversify their regional partnerships amid U.S. policy uncertainty and China's growing assertiveness.

The Significance of Australia and Vietnam's Move to Upgrade Relations

Pakistan

Chinese officials at the Fifth Plenary Session of the National People's Congress on March 12, 2023 in Beijing. Beijing will host the annual Two Sessions meetings of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an industry and societal consultative body, and the rubberstamp National People's Congress from March 4-11.

The Weekly Rundown: Pakistan Selects a New Premier, China's Two Sessions

Snapshots

A screen outside a shopping mall in Beijing, China, shows news coverage of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) shaking hands with Chinese Premier Li Qiang during their meeting in the Chinese capital on Nov. 7, 2023. 

The Australian prime minister's recent trip to Beijing represents the reset in relations both countries have sought since last year, but any gains may be short-lived.

Conflicting Security Priorities Will Haunt Australia-China Rapprochement

Israel

Jordan

Palestinian Territories

Ukraine

Georgia

Moldova

U..S Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Oct. 14, 2023, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with his Arab counterparts Nov. 4 in the Jordanian capital in a bid to garner regional support for U.S. policies in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Weekly Rundown: Blinken Meets Arab Ministers, State Assembly Elections in India

Liberia

The U.S. Capitol. 

Cyber

The Weekly Rundown: The U.S. House Attempts to Elect a New Speaker, a Possible LNG Strike in Australia

Samoa

Federated States of Micronesia

Kiribati

Marshall Islands

Nauru

Palau

Papua New Guinea

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marapeand, the Cook Islands' Prime Minister Mark Brown, U.S. President Joe Biden and Kiribati's President Taneti Maamau at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as part of the U.S.-PIF summit at the White House on Sept. 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

Despite Washington's desire to strengthen ties with Pacific island nations, political constraints may leave a regional void that China is happy to fill.

Strategic Goals and Political Hurdles in the U.S. Play Tug-of-War Over the Pacific Islands

UAW members striking Oct. 25, 2019, outside the GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in Detroit. With the United Auto Workers' labor contract with Detroit's Big Three automakers expiring at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2023, labor negotiations remain turbulent.

The Weekly Rundown: LNG Strikes in Australia, Biden Visits Vietnam

Gabon

Zimbabwe

Guatemala

New Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo (R) and his vice president, Karin Herrera, on Aug. 20 in Guatemala City. In the aftermath of anti-corruption presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo's Aug. 20 runoff win, the attorney general's office sent a letter Aug. 23 to the president of Congress, Shirley Rivera, requesting the suspension of Arevalo's Seed Movement party in a bid to weaken the president-elect.

The Weekly Rundown: Political Uncertainty in Guatemala, a Potential LNG Strike in Australia

French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi walk past French Republican guards during a welcome ceremony before their meeting at the Chateau of Chantilly, near Paris, on Aug. 22, 2019.

India's rise as a major power and shared approach to curbing China's growing assertiveness will drive Paris to further deepen its partnership with New Delhi in the years ahead. 

Making Sense of France's Approach to the Indo-Pacific, Part 2

Australia is an island nation straddling the Indian Ocean basin and the South Pacific. Once a colony of the United Kingdom, the country began a move toward independence in 1901. Today, the Commonwealth of Australia encompasses the mainland of the Australian continent, Tasmania and more than 8,000 other islands in the continent’s surrounding waters.    Australia’s interior, known as the Outback, is mostly desert. This largely uninhabitable area is home to Australia’s iron and coal reserves, among the world’s largest. Mining has grown in importance for the Australian economy and remains a key driver of future economic growth.    The Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor forms the population core along the fertile South Eastern coastline, while the capital Canberra is situated in the interior near the Murray-Darling River System. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's agricultural heartland but is cut off from the core by the mountains of the Great Dividing Range.     Australia's main geographic challenge is managing its isolation and small population, which is stretched thinly along its coasts. These factors affect almost all domestic and foreign policy decisions. Distance and isolation mean that Australia relies heavily on shipping lanes for its economic security. This has led Australia to build close alliances with global maritime powers — first the United Kingdom and later the United States — to protect its access to ocean trade as well as deter attacks from other powers.     Increasingly, Canberra must balance its strategic, military and cultural ties to the United States and Europe with greater economic integration with East and Southeast Asia, and especially China — its largest trading partner.

The U.S. and the Balance of Power

Commodities: A Cautionary Tale

China in Transition

SITUATION REPORTS

U.S., Indo-Pacific: U.S. To Expand Overseas Ship Repair, Bolster Maritime Interoperability

South Africa: Competition Commission To Manage BHP Takeover of Anglo American

Solomon Islands: Incumbent Party Forms Coalition, Elects New Prime Minister

U.S., U.K., Australia: Easing Arms, Technology Transfers Will Boost AUKUS Pillar II

South Africa: BHP Consults Investors Ahead of Likely New Bid in Anglo American

Australia: Woodside Energy's Shareholders Reject Climate Action Plan

Australia: Canberra Unveils New Transformative National Defense Strategy

Australia: Sydney Suffers Two Mass Stabbings in Three Days

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