Geopolitics

Elbridge Colby, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, posted a pointed thread on X on 14 July 2026 that left little room for diplomatic ambiguity. "There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective 'middle powers' strategy these days," Colby wrote.

President Donald Trump dropped his proposed 20 per cent transit levy on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz on 14 July 2026, replacing it with a promise of Gulf state trade and investment flows into the United States.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs recorded Saudi Arabia's UAV-related imports from Taiwan at US$47.2 million in April 2026 , placing Riyadh at the top of Taiwan's drone export ledger for the month. The figure is not an outlier. It lands on top of a quarter that already rewrote the record books.

The Trump administration proposed additional tariffs of 10 to 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 economies, including Australia, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, citing those countries' failure to ban goods made with forced labour.

China fired a submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile into the South Pacific on 6 July 2026 without giving the 48-hour advance notice that international norms require. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking from Honiara, called it a provocative act that destabilises the region.

Dario Amodei spent a year asking Washington for the power to stop unsafe AI. Two days after his essay, it was used on his own models. The full story, before Monday's deadline.

China's 55 per cent beef tariff, an angry ambassador and the Darwin port fight: the events behind the NYT's verdict on Australia's China pushback.

Albanese lands in Suva to sign the Vuvale Union with Sitiveni Rabuka, Australia's latest Pacific treaty as competition with China sharpens.