Showing 1 - 10 of 22
Kingdom of Denmark vs the Shadow Fleet
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2025
» Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, two-thirds of the Danish kingdom's income came from taxes paid by every ship passing through the Øresund ('The Sound') Strait, the only exit from the Baltic Sea. Each ship had to declare its cargo -- and if the Danes thought they were undervaluing it, Denmark had the right to buy it at the declared price.
The effects of Trump's Ukraine deal
News, Gene Frieda, Published on 24/02/2025
» At the end of World War I, John Maynard Keynes was part of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, where the victorious Allies dictated the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. He emerged from the conference distraught. As he subsequently wrote in The Economic Consequences of the Peace, delegates' focus on short-term political considerations, including the desire to "punish" Germany for its aggression, would come at the cost of long-term social and political stability in Europe. It is a warning worth remembering today.
Nato's Washington summit deepens spat with China
News, Peter Apps, Published on 16/07/2024
» During Nato's 75th anniversary summit held in Washington last week, China's defence ministry made a surprise announcement.
Nato meet faces shadow of Trump, Ukraine divisions
News, Peter Apps, Published on 03/07/2024
» As Nato officials prepared in June for the alliance's July 9-12 summit in Washington, outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg embarked on the traditional pre-meeting shuttle diplomacy aimed at avoiding unexpected disruptions.
In Russia, the really dangerous ones are sane
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 08/04/2024
» There are plenty of crazies in Russian politics who make bizarre claims about their country's victim status ("the evil West made us do it") and issue blood-curdling but implausible threats about using nuclear weapons on their enemies. But the really dangerous ones are quite sane.
Kremlin steps up disruptive ops from Arctic to Africa
News, Peter Apps, Published on 24/02/2024
» A week after Russian prosecutors added her and other Baltic officials to a "wanted" list for supposedly encouraging the desecration of Soviet war graves, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced her intelligence services had broken up a ring of Russian-sponsored disruptors within the Baltic states.
Trump's words seen raising risk of war in Europe
News, Peter Apps, Published on 21/02/2024
» As German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new munitions factory early last week, he warned that Europe must move to mass-producing weapons "because the painful reality is that we do not live in times of peace".
A 14th century warning for the 21st century
News, Max Hastings, Published on 12/02/2024
» A history student told me recently that he loves researching the 20th century but can't see the point of the Middle Ages. I responded that it can be a big help to understanding our own times -- very troubled times -- to view them in the context even of the remote past.
The danger of talking down immigration in Oz
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 11/01/2024
» Pre-pandemic Australia looks like hallowed ground that the contemporary economy will struggle to surpass. For local officials who aspire to take a crack at emulating a celebrated decades-long expansion, it's important not to downgrade a vital component that's become radioactive: immigration. The country's politicians are showing a worrying lapse in memory.
US now pulled back to refocus on Middle East
News, Peter Apps, Published on 14/10/2023
» Early on Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after Hamas launched the largest assault against Israel in more than 50 years, an unknown object or force wrenched aside and damaged the key undersea gas pipeline and fibre-optic cable linking Finland and Estonia beneath the Baltic Sea.