Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Sorry, Malcolm, Australia needs the US in the Asian century
Now is the time for our friendship with America to prosper and thrive. Read More
No easy solutions in Syria
There are no easy options in the Syria situation. Read More
Reduced defence spending may well be sound public policy
Australia is under US protection and the world is a more peaceful place now. Read More
Faith placed in Uncle Sam as neighbourhood warily welcomes China
Australians have become used to thinking about the rise of China, the role of America, and what the interplay between these two powers means for us. Related Read More
Avoiding conflict but quietly waving flag
Southeast Asian governments will welcome increased US involvement in the region. Read More
Italy defaults on debt and sends lenders broke? So be it
The federal government will need to cut spending to ensure a surplus in 2012-13. Read More
Going long on European deja vu
Markets were euphoric, political leaders relieved. “Europe has taken a step forward. Europe and Greece will emerge stronger from this crisis,” Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou boasted to reporters.... Read More
Europe’s forgotten lessons of history
The rise and fall of the Euro is just another chapter in the long history of monetary unions in Europe. The Euro was not the first attempt to unite different European economies and countries by a monetary... Read More
Hitting pause on the eurozone crisis
Every year, the Centre for Independent Studies hosts a high-level conference in Queensland. One of the speakers this year was Thilo Sarrazin, the author of the equally controversial and successful (1.3... Read More
Complacency is the danger in Asia's power games
Even if one disagrees with Wolfowitz's thinking on the Middle East, this viewpoint on China policy cannot be easily dismissed. The assistant secretary of state for east Asia and the Pacific when Ferdinand... Read More
Complacency is the danger in Asia's power games
Even if one disagrees with Wolfowitz's thinking on the Middle East, this viewpoint on China policy cannot be easily dismissed. The assistant secretary of state for east Asia and the Pacific when Ferdinand... Read More
The PC empire strikes back
GERMAN banker Thilo Sarrazin is a pariah for saying things few would question here. Read More
Pakistan a Chinese pawn to stall India
AT the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting of defence ministers in Singapore last month, Indian Defence Minister Pallam Raju was asked whether India could exercise similar self-restraint should another terrorist... Read More
Japan's economic demons dog China
The enduring flaws in Japan’s political economy’s continue to stunt its growth. Read More
China’s America Obsession:
Osama bin Laden’s death will only accelerate America’s reengagement with its Asian allies and partners at China’s expense. Read More
Why Australia's socialist Prime Minister now loves America
Hedging against authoritarian China by strengthening the U.S.-led hub-and-spokes security system in the region is now Australia’s preferred—and possibly only—option. Read More
Washington's affair with Jakarta gets serious
With China flexing its muscles in the South China Sea, and Indonesia resuming its traditional leadership role in South East Asia, both Washington and Jakarta are eager to prioritise security cooperation. Read More
In the Asian century, Washington must still offer leadership
Tensions between the US and China should not present any fundamental dilemmas for Canberra since the capacity of Beijing to make Australia choose is quite weak. Read More
China won't revalue the yuan
No amount of hectoring by Barack Obama is going to change the calculus of Chinese leaders. An undervalued currency may be critical to their very survival. Read More
China-Japan tensions will rise
Tension between China and Japan is structural, strategic and institutional – something that can only be managed rather than resolved. Read More
Opaqueness at heart of Chinese military’s U.S. strategy
Chinese reluctance to commit to meaningful high level military-to-military talks with America is not as much about Taiwan but a reluctance to show its perceived military weaknesses and creating ambiguity... Read More
A bailout that hurts the Germans but doesn’t help the Greeks
As long as countries such as Greece are joined with Germany in a monetary union, this monetary union will not work, argues Oliver Marc Hartwich for the Institute of Economic Affairs, 5 May 2010 Read More
Europe's China blindness
Europe’s relationship with China needs to move with the times. Read More
No more hope or glory for Britain
Britain needs to make tough decisions to reassure investors of its fiscal credibility. Read More
Rudd seeks redemption from Susilo’s visit
Deepening the bilateral relationship between Jakarta and Canberra ought to be one of the first steps towards any regional ‘activism’ on Australia’s part. Read More
China between T-bills and a hard place
Despite Beijing’s addiction to US bonds, the proportion of US government debt financed by Chinese foreign exchange reserves has been falling significantly since 2008. Read More
Perception gap
American faith in the transformative power of China's economic rise might be misplaced. Read More
Paper tiger: China's no threat to the US
Some Chinese leaders think Beijing can use its financial clout to punish the US, but there's little reason for the White House to worry. Read More
Europe can’t afford weak leaders
Europe does not need politicians wishing to win beauty contests but leaders willing to tackle the manifold problems in the continent’s increasingly sclerotic, over-regulated and over-taxed economies. Read More
Confronting Beijing’s new bipolar reality
America’s attempts to ‘manage’ China’s rise are failing. Read More
Big trouble with big China
Relations between Washington and Beijing are looking more tense than ever. Read More
We aren't just larrikins
Too many Australians take for granted that they live in a prosperous and vibrant nation with a fantastic quality of life and is a good place in which to do business. Read More
China fears climate change openness
Beijing, which fears that external monitoring might reveal internal dysfunction, was backed into a corner by the United States at Copenhagen. Read More
Don’t overlook India’s consumer market for China’s
Urban consumers in India will likely drive more global business than their Chinese counterparts while India’s rural development far outpaces China’s. Read More
Chinese Urbanization Put on Hold
Beijing will gradually relax the hukou, or household registration system, to give rural Chinese citizens an opportunity to seek a better life in the city – not just speeding up the rate of poverty alleviation... Read More
For once it’s better to end with a whimper
Washington pulls out all the stops for President Barack Obama's first state visitor: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the leader of the world's largest democracy. Read More
Boring summits are better for everyone
Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh should say as little as possible when they meet in Washington next week. Read More
Pacific angst
The very fact that America needs to negotiate with its Asian allies and partners – and sometimes even compromise – means that Washington will adapt in ways that allow it to remain the preferred security... Read More
China woos Africa – and not just for its resources
While much of the world still views Africa as a basket-case continent, Beijing is thinking ahead and busy establishing a foothold in Africa's potentially large consumer markets. Read More
Rudd fails to court New Delhi
If Australia wants to remain an active, relevant and influential middle power in Asia, then spending the next half decade improving our bilateral relationship with countries such as India is much more... Read More
India Fast Becoming Asia's 'Swing State'
If India’s unpredictable political parties remain committed to continue reforms, and the bilateral partnership between Washington and New Delhi continue to deepen, a rising India (along with a still-dominant... Read More
China's potential enemy is US' good friend
If India’s unpredictable political parties remain committed to continue reforms, and the bilateral partnership between Washington and New Delhi continue to deepen, a rising India (along with a still-dominant... Read More
Dynamics of difference
Where once Australia was a European outpost in the South Pacific, our recent love affair with China suggests Europe may no longer be important to Australia. Read More
The Waning Challenge of the ‘Authoritarian Capitalists’
Capitalist authoritarian states with their booming economies will be pitted against liberal-democratic counterparts. But the current economic crisis has already led to the waning of confidence of capitalist... Read More
Double-edged sword in Obama’s use of technology
The reliance on social networking technology will leave Obama vulnerable in 2012. Read More
Defend the individual and so the West
Thinkers of the Enlightenment, a set of new intellectual attitudes that remade Western culture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, set out to understand the world and themselves through reason... Read More
EU’s Disdain for Voters
Whenever voters reject a proposal put forward by Europe’s political elite, they either get ignored, or they are told to vote again until they get it right – just like in Zimbabwe’s democracy. Read More
The real priorities
A Mayor has a $10million surplus, which he wants to allocate to a good cause. Ten groups clamour for the cash. One wants to buy new computers for an inner-city high school. Another hopes to beautify a... Read More
Germans bogged down in Red-Green quagmire
Australians, who are confused by the challenges of globalisation, innovation, ageing and the need to reform economic and political institutions, can learn a lot by looking at present-day Germany where... Read More
A reminder of darker times
It has been said that those who lack the imagination of disaster are doomed to be surprised by the world. Many people have been so surprised by the awful happenings of this week, brought home to us –... Read More
Gulliver Unbound: Can American Rule of World?
In this lecture, Josef Joffe asks if the US can sustain this position of power in international politics. World history suggests no, as power always begets counter power, with signs of the US dominance... Read More