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James Curran

James Curran

Brisbane Times

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AUKUS remains a ghost fleet for Trump and Australia

The inescapable reality is there remain plenty of off-ramps for future administrations to break the pledge to transfer the nuclear-powered submarines...

21.10.2025 7

Financial Review

James Curran

Right time for PM to sit down with peacemaker Trump according to Keating

The former prime minister believes Donald Trump will not, in virtually any circumstances, fight the Chinese. That means Labor’s China diplomacy may...

19.10.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West

09.10.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West

It is in Asia where Australia’s bread is buttered. Canberra needs a strategy on the security impact of Trump’s tariffs on our interests there.

06.10.2025 9

Financial Review

James Curran

Treaty delay shows Australia still thinks it knows what’s best for PNG

23.09.2025 9

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Treaty delay shows Australia still thinks it knows what’s best for PNG

The Albanese government appears to be wanting to force Pacific countries into choices they do not want to make.

21.09.2025 2

Financial Review

James Curran

Xi’s parade tips the diplomatic balance sheet in Asia

09.09.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Xi’s parade tips the diplomatic balance sheet in Asia

On full display was Beijing’s rapid military transformation and capacity to ultimately confront the US and its allies in policy and military terms.

07.09.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies

25.08.2025 9

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies

The president may make concessions to China as he has to Putin, even if it undermines the security of Taiwan.

25.08.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s memo to Canberra: America alone can’t deter China over Taiwan

Given the nature of the Trump administration, the confrontation with Australia over committing to defend Taiwan could blow up into a major crisis.

10.08.2025 4

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia employs 'straddle' diplomacy with China and the US

29.07.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia employs ‘straddle’ diplomacy with China and the US

Albanese’s approach is not doctrinal, but is about speaking frankly to both Washington and Beijing.

27.07.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

The PM will not cross Taiwan red line with China

If Anthony Albanese can be faulted, it is the government’s erosion of Australian sovereignty by its blind extension of the American military...

13.07.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

US forces make Australia a Chinese target: Hastie

The Coalition’s shadow defence spokesman is posing questions the Albanese government is refusing to answer about Australia being drawn into a war...

30.06.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s trade survival depends on beating Trump’s tariff contagion

20.06.2025 9

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Australia’s trade survival depends on beating Trump’s tariff contagion

How does Canberra cope in a world that threatens to spin off into competing blocs and help shape a world that preserves multilateralism, even if the...

18.06.2025 5

Financial Review

James Curran

If AUKUS falls over, Australia is left with very little indeed

For the past three years, Labor’s national security team has steadfastly insisted that it has no plan B. This Pentagon review will stress test that...

13.06.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Will Albanese stand up to Trump on trade and defence?

If played carefully, the US will have to accept Canberra can’t be kicked around, if for no other reason than they need the military bases on...

01.06.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Husic is right – Albanese is too timid about the challenges ahead

19.05.2025 6

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Husic is right: Albanese is too timid about the challenges ahead

Insiders describe a PM more concentrated on the management of daily political tactics than the hard brainwork of developing strategies for the longer...

18.05.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Labor can’t wish the new Trumpian world away

Albanese was happy to benefit from the Trump bump. But dollars for a new foreign and defence policy will limit his plans for domestic welfare...

04.05.2025 3

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s shadow is all over this election

23.04.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Trump’s shadow is all over this election

The US president is coming to mean many things for this nation’s political leaders and for the Australian people.

21.04.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia

07.04.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia

Too little thought has been given to the future of the Australian economy against the backdrop of a protectionist America.

06.04.2025 7

Financial Review

James Curran

The day the international economic system died in the Rose Garden

It’s hard to say how bad the impact of Trump’s tariffs will be. But there is no doubt a global trade war would have major impacts on geoeconomic...

04.04.2025 8

Financial Review

James Curran

James Curran's closing remarks to the Sovereignty and Security Conference on 31 March

03.04.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

The fundamental problem at the heart of defence policy

26.03.2025 7

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Trump is unlikely to turn on Australia. But what if he does?

If Trump turns on us, it might force Canberra to think about what there is to Australian foreign policy other than the US alliance, writes James...

26.03.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Australia’s defence dithering exposes a national security vacuum

The noise over meeting US demands on military spending underlines the fundamental problem at the heart of Australian defence policy: there is no...

23.03.2025 8

Financial Review

James Curran

Richard Marles’ mindless talking points ignore Trumpian change

Elsewhere, Donald Trump’s return is being noticed, and acted upon with decisive swiftness. But it is not happening in Australia yet.

09.03.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

Albanese is as misinformed on the US alliance as live-fire drills

04.03.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Albanese is as misinformed on the US alliance as live-fire drills

The petulant demand of tribute to the Trump empire and his transactional ethos surely now challenges the agreed balance sheet between Australia and...

02.03.2025 10

Financial Review

James Curran

What if there is no way of Australia placating Trump?

19.02.2025 6

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

What if there is no way of Australia placating Trump?

The only certain thing is that the US president challenges all the assumptions Canberra has ever made about American security guarantees.

16.02.2025 8

Financial Review

James Curran

Paul Keating says Trump may avoid a major war

03.02.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Paul Keating: Trump 2.0 could stop World War Three

Trump’s “snatch-and-grab” foreign policy rejects the belief in US primacy and exception that was sliding towards a military confrontation with China.

02.02.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Will Trump’s hard line on Beijing ‘blow up’ Canberra’s China policy?

20.01.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Who can best manage Trump – Albanese or Dutton?

13.01.2025 9

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Who can best manage Trump – Albanese or Dutton?

Instead of caution from Canberra, the prime minister and opposition leader are posturing over who can best influence the mad king.

12.01.2025 20

Financial Review

James Curran

Marching blindfolded into the new Cold War

Just before Christmas, the Albanese Government released the findings of a report into how much funding the federal government contributes to those...

07.01.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

James Curran

Marching blindfolded into the new Cold War

A new report into the funding of Australian strategic think tanks raises consequential issues for Australia’s global engagement

05.01.2025 6

Financial Review

James Curran

Right’s cancel culture distorts diplomacy

The government is under fierce attack for its UN voting patterns on Gaza, but it is voting in keeping with global norms.

15.12.2024 3

Financial Review

James Curran

A crazy six hours in Seoul and the fragility of democracy

A presidential brain snap in South Korea has revived dark memories of the country’s past, with potentially damaging geopolitical ripples across...

08.12.2024 6

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump’s foreign policy hand is stronger than you might think

Fears of American isolationism ignore that the president-elect’s international relations capabilities might be better than many think once he takes...

24.11.2024 2

Financial Review

James Curran

Did you miss the Indonesian president’s November surprise?

While Australians were absorbed by the US election, the new leader of their large neighbour was busy strengthening ties with Russia and China.

17.11.2024 2

Financial Review

James Curran

Trump 2.0 is the reckoning for Australia’s alliance with the US

For years Australia has looked the other way when talk of the end of US primacy has been raised. Now we can’t avert our eyes.

10.11.2024 20

Financial Review

James Curran

America’s search for a new role continues

Despite the mediocrity of the candidates, America is not down for the count. But it is wasting precious time to redefine its world role

03.11.2024 3

Financial Review

James Curran

America’s new Asian alliance network will survive beyond Trump

No matter who is in the White House after November 5, the US’ carefully structured latticework of alliances that underpins its regional primacy...

20.10.2024 9

Financial Review

James Curran