Writer
Ramesh Thakur
Ramesh Thakur is emeritus professor, Australian National University and a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General.
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RAMESH THAKUR. Decoding the Trump strikes on Syria
The use of chemical weapons in Syria and the US air strikes in punishment are part of the continuing descent into lawlessness by various actors with unforeseeable consequences in an already inflamed region. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Nuclear powers and umbrella states must engage with, not obstruct, the international community.
It is time for the so-called realists to get real about the existential dangers of a world brimming with nuclear weapons. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. India’s democracy is strained by illiberalism
India continues to be robustly, even chaotically, democratic. But its freedom is under growing threat. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. The Trump effect and Japan
Japan has an exceptional opportunity, while maneuvering to remain close to Washington, to reduce its unhealthy security and economic dependency on the United States, and to educate the U.S. administration on the merits and benefits of the key planks of a rules-based global order and international cooperation. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Contrasting US and UN leaders: The brash disruptor vs. the softly softly conciliator
Both UN Secretary-General (SG) Antonio Guterres and US President Donald Trump took office in January. They could not be more different in background, temperament, experience and leadership style. Trump is brash, loud, vulgar, an amateur outsider and the ultimate disruptor, used to bossing everyone else, who does not do sensitivity. Guterres is courteous, sophisticated, cultured, Continue reading »
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Trump’s assault on the liberal international order
There is considerable skepticism about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to uphold the post-1945 liberal international order crafted under American leadership and underwritten by U.S. military power, economic heft and geopolitical clout. Trump’s pre-election statements on trade, immigration, alliances and nuclear policy in particular seemed to question these four critical pillars of established U.S. policy. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. The nuclear deal with Iran was a triumph of global diplomacy, not a success of US sanctions
The deal (with Iran) is worth defending for three reasons: it is a good accommodation of each side’s bottom lines; sanctions may not have been as decisive as the hawks seem to believe in explaining Iran’s signature; and unilateral US sanctions will prove even less effectual. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Australia needs to wake up, grow up.
Without abandoning ANZUS but downsizing it considerably, Australia must chart an independent foreign policy according to a Canberra-based calculation of national values and interests. Or does Australia really want to make the transition to aligning with Trump’s view that if only the West had confiscated Iraq’s oil and wealth after the 2003 invasion, there would Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Will Donald Trump’s persona destroy his administration?
Donald Trump swept through the primary and election campaigns like a disruptive force of nature to a victory that unsettled almost all conventional wisdom about modern American politics. A shocked Democratic Party and city-based cultural elites are still in denial about his victory. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Australia’s gulag of shame
As someone born after World War II who grew up in India, I have always wondered how it was possible for a highly civilized society like Germany to have been complicit through silence in the horror of the Holocaust. It simply wasn’t possible for people not to have known what was being done to the Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Syria and the Hippocratic principle: first do no harm
Western interference has worsened the pathology of broken, corrupt and dysfunctional politics across the region from Afghanistan to North Africa. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. AHRC President Gillian Triggs: a year of living dangerously. Part 3 of 3.
In hearings before a Senate estimates committee on 18 October, Triggs said her interview had been inaccurately reported, with quotes taken out of context and even fabricated. When the paper’s editor replied they held an audio recording of the interview, Triggs acknowledged that ‘the article was an accurate excerpt’. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. What a Twitter-Happy Trump Might Mean For Nuclear Diplomacy
Far from making America great again, Trump is more likely to make America grope again in the darkness of the post-nuclear age. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. AHRC President Gillian Triggs: a year of living dangerously. Part 2 of 3.
Asylum seekers and children in detention There are four separate issues that typically get lumped into one confusing debate: the policies on asylum seekers, boats turnback and offshore detention; and the treatment of detainees. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. AHRC President Gillian Triggs: a year of living dangerously. Part 1 of 3.
Increasingly, voters are frustrated with parties captured by special interests or catering to noisy minority activists. Citizens want competent governance that promotes the general welfare. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. UN rebuffs Netanyahu and Trump.
The United Nations Security Council’s pre-Christmas condemnation of Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied territories surprised many and infuriated Israel. The move was rebuff to both Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to incoming US President-elect Donald Trump. How did it happen? And what will be the likely ramifications. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. New series. We can say ‘no’ to the Americans.
Without rupturing ANZUS, Australia must reclaim the space to chart an independent foreign policy according to a Canberra-based calculation of national values and interests. Indeed, a visibly independent foreign policy on matters important to Australia could be the most effective strategy for quarantining the alliance from the disruptive Trump effect. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. ANZUS in the time of Trump. Quo vadis series.
Quo vadis – Australian foreign policy and ANZUS. Summary. Trump has the potential to mark an inflection point in the evolution of Australia as a self-confident and independent Indo-Pacific actor. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. The nuclear refuseniks: Australia follows the US again.
In voting against the UN resolution calling for negotiation of a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, Australia, Japan and South Korea are swimming against the global tide of opinion and that of their Asia and Pacific neighbours, argues Ramesh Thakur. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Has NATO become a threat to world peace?
NATO is endangering Earth This article was first published in the Japan Times on 8 September 2014. Have NATO leaders created a crisis to justify NATO’s continuation after its original purpose expired? Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says: “Without U.S.-sponsored ‘regime change,’ it is unlikely that … the Malaysian Airlines crash would have happened.” Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. The slide to war with Russia.
‘God created war so Americans could learn geography’ (1) On 3 October, taking another step on the road to a new cold war, Russia suspended the 16-year bilateral plutonium disposition agreement with the US. Are the two countries sleepwalking into a war that could cross the nuclear threshold – remembering that those sleepwalking are unaware Continue reading »
