Richard Broinowski, former diplomat and author of the 2003 study 'Fact or Fission - the Truth about Australia's Nuclear Ambitions', writes that in his call for a 'full-blooded' nuclear debate, Prime Minister Howard probably doesn't wish to see such a taboo subject raised. But for more than three decades Australian politicians and military, scientific and...

Charles Scheiner of the Timor-Leste Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis (La'o Hamutuk) argues that the next UN mission is being designed in an emergency atmosphere. Although immediate humanitarian and security concerns must be dealt with, there are deeper-seated causes of the current problems, and crises will recur if they are not addressed. The millennium's...

Yeo Lay Hwee and Cynthia Chang of Southeast Asia Peace and Security Net write that amidst internal problems of battling bird flu, dealing with the after effects of the earthquake in Central Java, and now flash floods and landslide, Indonesia played host to the second International Conference of Islamic Scholars, topping off with SBY's budding...

Nick Bisley of Monash University writes that recent security crises in the Asia-Pacific region illustrate the institutional limits of security in the region and the pressing need to rethink the broader basis of regional security and more specifically, the nature of the American alliance system. Bisley argues that security in the region requires a multidimensional...

Richard Tanter argues that since the dominant characteristic of the coverage of East Timor in the past two weeks has been utter confusion, both inside and outside the country, this is really a time for a little humility amongst the foreign pundits and experts. He asks ten questions to which we need some substantial answers...