It is the basis of sound policy to regard the world as it is, not as we might wish it. This means recognising the value, sometimes, of flexibility when dealing with regimes whose values are objectionable or worse. Tehran and Moscow come immediately to mind

The mission to degrade and destroy the jihadist terrorof the self-styled Islamic State sounds like a noble and just cause, but the process of eradicating what is essentially a disparate group of Sunni militants is both complicated and fraught with the danger of unintended consequences

Let me stress from the outset that I think the […]

A couple of years ago, the conventional wisdom held that […]

He was called a “fool” (Michael Leunig), an “unflusha­ble turd” (Mungo MacCallum), a “scheming, menda­cious little man” (Alan Ramsey), who silenced dis­sent (Clive Hamilton), corrupted the public debate (David Marr) and used right-wing religious activists to indoctrinate the nation (Marion Maddox). He was also “far and away the worst prime minister in living memory” (Phillip Adams).

America’s most controversial war since Vietnam is into its seventh […]