AFA Weekly

“Unprincipled and craven” – Morrison’s Israel pitch plumbs new depths of stupid

“They’re not axiomatically bad ideas just because Trump embraced them. But they are the policies of a foreign country that are fundamentally ill-suited for Australia.” Peter Hartcher, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Returning to Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state, this time more closely watched than ever

“From the moment the foreign journalists landed in Rakhine’s capital, we were ferried around in convoys with police escorts, and our rules of engagement were clear: no unauthorized stops, a specified amount of time at each location, no going out on our own after nightfall.” Shibani Mahtani, THE WASHINGTON POST

What should Australia do about Saudi Arabia?

“If Saudi complicity is shown based on the investigation and the intelligence reports, there are a number of actions that Canberra could take to make its dismay clear. The first would be a winding back, or putting a stop to, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne’s desire for a formal defence industry agreement with Saudi Arabia.” Rodger Shanahan, THE INTERPRETER (LOWY INSTITUTE)

Husband shopping in Beijing

“A freak industry has burgeoned to exploit women’s anxieties about getting married … Marriage as an institution will not last for ever. Not in China at least.” Sheng Yun, LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

The employer-surveillance state

“The proliferation of surveillance is due, at least in part, to the rising sophistication and declining cost of spy technology: employers monitor workers because they can.” Ellen Ruppel Shell, THE ATLANTIC

Dangerous proximity: the collapse of Australia’s defences in a contested Asia

“We have always felt we are too small a population to defend such a vast landmass and such a long coastline. But in the two centuries since the last invasion, Australians have never felt insecure for long enough to change that equation.” Michael Wesley, HERE