-
Central Asian Migration Patterns and Their Implications for Australia
Only small numbers of Central Asia migrants make their way to Australia yet the experience in the broader Asia Pacific suggests that this could be a missed opportunity for Australia to benefit from skilled Central Asian migrants.
/
-
Emerging space power in Central Asia: Kazakhstan at the crossroad
After the disintegration of the USSR, Kazakhstan inherited a significant technological artefact of the Soviet space program, the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The management of the spaceport, from which the historically significant Sputnik 1 was launched, was transferred to Russia through a lease agreement from 1994 till 2050. However the Kazakhstani leadership had remained committed to the…
/
-
Navigating Great Powers: Mongolia and Kazakhstan’s shared geopolitical uncertainties
Though seldom analysed together, Mongolian and Kazakh foreign policies are connected today by nature of their shared experience of their two larger neighbours China and Russia. Mongolia and Kazakhstan have both attempted to balance a largely economic relationship with China and a military strategic relationship with Russia, in order to develop and maintain their security…
/
-
What will be Labor’s policy on Palestine?
With the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) victory in the Australian parliamentary elections on May 21, some policy shifts could be imminent. This is not limited to foreign policy, a space historically underpinned by broad bipartisanship in Canberra. However, ALP’s 2021 political platform suggests the party could explore a series of new approaches that reorient Australia’s…
/
-
China and Iran: Unrecognised Potential and Opportunities
Iran presents important opportunities for China’s regional and continental ambitions. It has one of the world’s largest proven reserves of oil and natural gas which is important to the famously energy insecure Chinese economy. Iran also occupies a geographic region between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, a key point in the old Silk…
/
-
How Iraq became Iran’s cash cow
With the October 2021 Iraqi Parliamentary elections recording the lowest ever voter turnout in post-2003 Iraq, there is little doubt that Iraq’s yet-to-be-announced next government already faces a legitimacy crisis. Amid the problems that Iraq faces in overcoming its domestic challenges, there is a massive driver of its cyclical political system in neighbouring Iran of…
/
-
Kazakhstan unrest: implications for Australian interests
The abrupt and turbulent start of the year in Kazakhstan has engineered the conditions for a dual narrative to emerge. Firstly, the widespread violence and protests, coupled with Kazakhstan government’s botched handling of containing the violence demonstrated the fragility of the security conditions in Kazakhstan. This was made even more shocking by the apparent mistrust…
/
-
Counter-Sectarianism in Lebanon at a Crossroads
On an early evening in late 2019, bells and sirens sounded throughout Beirut as thousands of Lebanese flooded the streets chanting, “down with the regime.” Simultaneously, buildings and blockades around the city were being spray-painted with calls for revolution alongside satirical caricatures lampooning the nation’s politicians. To many counter-sectarian revolutionaries, it seemed like the longstanding…
/
-
Could Emirati hold on Socotra resolve conflict in Yemen?
The UAE’s strategic consolidation of the island of Socotra will not enhance the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Yemen. Whilst it may further complicate the process, it will not necessarily stymie efforts either. However, what is likely to stymie prospects is the growing rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE and…
/
-
COVID-19 and Female Labour Force Participation in Jordan
COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges of female labour participation in Jordan. Female social involvement has significantly decreased by virtue of caring for their children and other familial responsibilities – especially since kindergartens were one of the first common areas to be closed during quarantine. Recent research has concluded that there is a noticeable low rate…
/
-
Covid-19 and Egypt’s Informal Economy
For many Egyptians and policymakers alike, Egypt’s informal sector represents both a blessing and a curse. Through ease of entry, it provides employment for those shut out of the formal sector, but it is also characterised by poor working conditions and weak worker protections. The Egyptian government has shown great ambivalence towards the sector, sometimes trying…
/
-
Covid-19 and Egypt’s Informal Economy
By
|
|
For many Egyptians and policymakers alike, Egypt’s informal sector represents both a blessing and a curse. Through ease of entry, it provides employment for those shut out of the formal…
-
Iran’s Continued Expansion in Southern Syria
By
|
|
The Syrian regime forces besieged Daraa al-Balad area at the beginning of last August 2021, when the forces of the Iranian-backed Fourth Division brought military reinforcements to the area, and…
-
Gulf Energy Set to Win in Climate Action
By
|
|
Climate pressure is tilting the global oil business in favour of the giant state-owned oil companies in the Persian Gulf. As oil demand plateaus and starts to decline, these firms…
-
Economics Driving China’s interest in Egypt
By
|
|
On 30 June, a Chinese State Construction and Engineering Company (CSCEC) work crew lifted into place a steel skyway connecting two office buildings in the Central Business District (CBD) of…
-
COVID-19 and Iraq’s Fractured Healthcare System
By
|
|
In July of this year, a fire tore through the COVID-19 isolation ward of Iraq’s al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah. At least 64 people were killed and…
-
Libya at a crossroads, again
By
|
|
The current strategic and political situation in Libya seems almost unrecognizable from the perspective of just a year ago. For the first time in nearly a decade, Libya appears to…
-
China as a new Gulf mediator?
By
|
|
China’s relationship to the Gulf could be changing. Previously, it avoided conflict and risk, which helped it establish good diplomatic relations and expand its commercial ties in the region. That…
-
Turkmenistan food crisis – a threat to regime stability?
By
|
|
Turkmenistan has been facing an increasing crisis of food, primary products, and cash shortages. The crisis is a result of lower natural gas prices, Turkmenistan’s primary export, and a Chinese…
-
Hope and risk in Qatar’s investment environment
By
|
|
Launched in June 2017, the so-called ‘blockade’ of Qatar by the ‘Anti-Terror Quartet’—comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt—appeared to finally come to an end on 5…
-
Looking south: Central Asia and Afghanistan
By
|
|
After nearly two decades, the current manifestation of conflict in Afghanistan may be coming to an end. The United States and representatives of the Taliban signed an agreement in February…
