Holding Pattern

One of the most frequently repeated justifications for AUKUS and Australia’s massive expenditure on nuclear-powered submarines is the need to protect “Australia’s sea lanes”. But what exactly are these sea lanes, and can the proposed submarine fleet actually achieve that objective? Australia’s sea lanes are the maritime routes upon which our trade depends. They stretch […]

What does Hannah Arendt’s famous idea of the “banality of evil” mean in the age of artificial intelligence? Arendt developed the concept after attending the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the organisers of the Holocaust. What struck her was not that Eichmann was a monster, but that he appeared ordinary. She argued that great […]

Following the rise of Zionism and, more decisively, the creation of Israel and the 1948 war, there was a large-scale flight of Jews from Arab lands where they had lived, in some cases since antiquity. This departure—variously described as forced migration, expulsion, or mass exodus (depending on country and perspective)—occurred mainly between the 1940s and […]

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I was one of the great political ruptures of the twentieth century. For centuries the Ottomans had been the dominant political power across much of the Middle East, North Africa and southeastern Europe. They also held the title of the Caliphate, symbolically positioning the Ottoman sultan […]

“The Kurds have no friends but the mountains.” It is a bitter saying among the Kurdish people, and history has given them good reason to believe it. Numbering roughly 30–40 million people, the Kurds share a common language group, a distinct culture and historical identity, and a strong sense of collective nationhood. By any reasonable […]