Australia’s approach to trade policy is more thoughtful and calculating than it is given credit for by sections of the media, academia and the public who object to current negotiations.
AAP/Newzulu/Jeff Tan
Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is the first article in the…
Hanging by a thread? Tech giants might be in the bubble.
Esther Vargas
No need to beat about the bush. There is another tech bubble in the United States. The relationship between the share prices and profits of US tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is at unsustainable…
Time for Brazil to pull in the harvest?
Sweeter Alternative
The Russian ban on the imports of some agricultural products from the US, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway has sparked much debate over the likely impact on American and European farmers…
An Australian Super Hornet refuels from a KC30 tanker while flying over Iraq.
@VCDF_Australia/Twitter
There are two reasons why we should ignore the growing calls in the United States, Canada and Australia for Western “boots on ground” – meaning ground troops – to fight and destroy the Islamic State (IS…
The anti-globalisation brigade could scupper TTIP if we’re not careful.
3DDock
Friday October 3 marked the conclusion of the seventh round of negotiations in the “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP), the free-trade deal being negotiated between the US and EU. The…
There has been much ado about the new EU/US trade agreement’s potential effect on the NHS.
EPA
This week has witnessed the seventh round of talks between EU and US negotiators seeking to hammer out a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These have been mired in controversy over…
US president Barack Obama addresses the 2014 UN Climate Summit.
EPA/JUSTIN LANE
The 2014 UN Climate Summit has wrapped up in New York. What has progressed and what big challenges remain in the run up to and beyond the Paris negotiations in December 2015? Secretary General of the UN…
He’s having a laugh: Jack Ma with the NYSE traders.
Justin Lane/EPA
Greed is still good. Wall Street has just witnessed its largest ever stock market launch as Chinese internet giant Alibaba raised some $25 billion and watched its share price rise by 35% on its first day’s…
Coca Cola has begun carefully rolling out its green-labelled “Life” brand, filling its iconic hour-glass bottles with a new fizzy drink which has nearly a third fewer calories than Coke Original. It is…
Saul Newman, American University School of Public Affairs
The average American may struggle with a keen understanding of exactly how the UK is made up, but it’s safe to say that there will be relief in the US at Scotland staying part of the Union. And, following…
Australia’s health system is good, but it’s not perfect.
Dan Peled/AAP
Health systems in all wealthier countries face similar problems, but their solutions are widely different. That should mean we can learn from other countries. To explore these differences, this week The…
Bras and other everyday goods are hard to come by in Cuba.
Ed Yourdon
Cuba has imposed new limits on the amount of goods that travellers can bring into the country. The new measures will be unpopular with many involved in the trade from suppliers to customers, and at first…
Mourners at the funeral of Michael Brown on August 25.
St.Louise Post-Dispath/Pool/EPA
As the world grapples with the containment of diseases such as Ebola, there is another epidemic that demands attentive responses, policies, and actions. It is one of grave proportions regarding the violation…
Discrimination affects your mind and body, not just your spirit.
Larry W Smith/EPA
The killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the city’s handling of the case and subsequent protests has once again focused minds on race discrimination…
Impressive - but only as back-up to ground forces.
EPA/Cpl. Jamean Berry
As the Islamic State (IS) continues its seemingly unstoppable march across Iraq it advertises its unique anti-Christian, anti-Shia, anti-everybody brand of Islam on social media as medieval barbarism meets…
The US-Africa summit held last week in Washington DC was a damp squib. Barack Obama had to host at least one such summit, given how successfully the Chinese have used such meetings, but the occasion was…
Is the sun setting on West African oil? A platform in Limbe, Cameroon.
VirginieVV
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the US made a point of diversifying its sources of oil to reduce dependence on the Middle East. It was a strategic move which promised a huge boost to West African…
Isolated by sanctions - but does Putin care?
EPA/Mikhail Klimentyev/Ria Novosti
The sanctions against Russia just announced by the EU and the US are widely reported to be the harshest since the end of the Cold War. The package includes cutting off Russia’s state-owned banks from international…
Europe’s slow recovery from the GFC has had implications for its trade partners, including Australia and the US.
Australian Government/AAP
As debate about the economic versus political role of the G20 takes hold, it’s worth looking back at how successfully member countries cooperated in promoting economic recovery after the global financial…
Power broker. Vladimir Putin.
Fernando Bizerra Jr/EPA
It remains to be seen precisely how and why the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed over the territory of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine on Thursday. But whatever…
Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University