This report examines the trajectory of the Syrian conflict in the wake of the Russian and US agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons. It argues that while that agreement, enshrined in Security Council Resolution 2118, may remove a pernicious class of weapons from the Syrian battlefield, it will do nothing to end the conflict or...

Two years after the start of the Arab uprisings, the Middle East remains as tumultuous as ever. Despite the uncertainty and flux, a number of emerging trends will influence the region in the post-revolutionary period and well into the future.The first trend is a marked uptick in sectarianism and sectarian violence. The second trend is...

New Zealand Prime Minister Key is treading cautiously on the question of whether New Zealand should support a military strike on Syria. He has spoken to United Nations Secretary, General Ban Ki-­Moon and New Zealand diplomats have been briefed by United States officials. The Prime Minister has said he is under no illusions about the...

This paper seeks to contextualise Australia’s bilateral relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations, and at a time when the potential for military conflict is escalating. It canvasses key milestones and events in the bilateral relationship from 1945 to the present. It argues that one of the key...

At the tenth anniversary of the decision to commit Australian troops to the Iraq war, this paper reconstructs the previously unknown, and remarkably casual, process by which the Menzies government committed Australian troops to Vietnam. The paper argues that the dismaying similarities between the Australian entries into these two wars strengthen the call for an...