Good piece by Alexander M. Hynd on the limitations of middle powers lowyinstitute.org/the-interp…

Carney: “In a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice — to compete for favor or to combine to create a third path with impact” History: Not once, never, ever... It's baloney. Suck it up middle powers, there's no third path. junotane.com/p/middle-power-…

To hear Trump say there's a deal to end the Iran war for the 42nd time on the eve of a White House cage fight and conclude that Korea needs Trump's attention is some f%^&%d up magic mushroom s%^t!!! junotane.com/p/washington-th…

NEW 🙃 Mark Carney NOW claims his DAVOS Speech was meaningless. Walking back his Middle Powers Talk. Tomorrow Mark Carney will CLAIM he never said Canada is forming a New World Order with China 🇨🇳

Washington think-tanks, Trump, and Korea To hear Trump’s 42nd deal to end the Iran war on the eve of a White House cage fight and conclude that Korea needs Trump's attention is some f%^&@d up magic mushroom s%^t. junotane.com/p/washington-th…

Yesterday the UK Defence Secretary affirmed, in writing, the critical importance of the delivery of SSN #AUKUS to both the UK and Australia. Less than 24 hours later he walked away from having any part in the delivery of them. #UnreliablePartner #auspol bbc.com/news/articles/c9w2lk…

Indeed, Whitlam era diplomats' advice was (from video 🔽): "In July 1971 we produced a Policy Planning Paper providing policy advice to the government, which said that the alliance with the United States would mean less to us in the future than it had in the past and that Australia should develop independent policies based on Australian national interest and the interest of our near neighbors. This was a reaction to the fact that we realized that we couldn’t rely on the United States to protect Australia’s interests and that United States policy actions could in fact be quite inimical to Australia’s interests. And, of course, today its far more relevant than it was then." - John Lander, former Deputy AU Ambassador to China 1974-1976 1st AU Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran 1985-1988

Former Labor Foreign minister rips Albanese a new one: “Belief US would defend Australia in event of an existential attack is a ‘ludicrous delusion’.” Aukus is among Australia’s worst foreign policy decisions and requires ‘heroic’ optimism: Gareth Evans theguardian.com/world/2026/j…

I nominate this for most stressful international relations lecture ever

Australia has a housing problem? Over the last twenty odd years, Korea built a second capital city, Sejong City, roughly the size of Canberra, on top of a tiny rural village. Around 400,000 residents housed in just over two decades! junotane.com/p/if-south-kore…

High-achieving students born and raised in Korea are voluntarily knocking on the doors of Chinese universities. For them, China is not a fallback option, but a place where they believe they can pursue science and technology seriously. koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/…

The next decade is unlikely to collapse the university system. But it will bring a lot of change to higher education. newyorker.com/news/fault-lin…

Two test-takers were caught using AI glasses to cheat on the Toeic exam, marking the first known cheating case involving the technology in the test. koreajoongangdaily.com/korea…

South Korea's Defense Ministry is reviewing ways to allow military personnel to raise objections to orders whose legality is in question and, in certain cases, refuse them, according to a document submitted to the National Assembly on Wednesday. koreaherald.com/article/1076…

This is extraordinarily rare. In fact, according to a key figure in the German business community (who is a dear friend of mine), it's unprecedented. An op-ed, two pages, centerpiece, in Germany’s most important economic newspaper (the Handelsblatt) that begs the German establishment to stop looking at China via the prism of propaganda. And it's by their Shanghai bureau chief - not some outside contributor. The title is "The China debate cannot continue like this!" and the article makes the case that it's suicidal, from a German and European standpoint, to keep reducing China to false caricatures rather than facts. In effect it's rubbish in, rubbish out: if you tell people lies about China - whichever direction they go (anti or pro) - then obviously the policies that come out will be rubbish, designed for a mirage of a country that exists only in people's imagination. Needless to say, this is absolutely music to my ears because it's literally the main point I've been making in my advocacy around China for now almost 10 years. Some are finally seeing the light... I also believe, as I argued in my article "Are Western media turning China-friendly?" last year (arnaudbertrand.substack.com/…) that this type of coverage was bound to happen, and there will be more and more of it. Why? For a very simple structural reason: China is now too powerful to coerce. The West, and Europe in particular, just don't have the leverage anymore. Which means that if you tell China to do something and they don't want to, they just won't do it. Period. In this situation, incapable of coercing, your only remaining choice is... convincing. And what do you need if you want to convince someone? Well, you need to understand them: understand how they think, how they behave, what drives them, what they actually want. In other words: the moment coercion stops being an option, not only does propaganda stop being useful, it begins to be actively harmful as genuine understand becomes a strategic necessity. Reality is finally becoming profitable again. Which means, if you're a journalist reading this and you're peddling some of your usual lies, describing China as some sort of cartoonish dictatorial dystopia that's simultaneously on the verge of collapse yet a "threat" to the whole world (in short, if you write on China for The Economist or the FT), be on notice: the real threat to your country isn't China. It's you.

Update: Pokémon Korea responds to its discrimination, says excluding foreigners from promo was to ensure it "could run more smoothly". "The standard is not meant to discriminate against certain nationalities, but is part of the event’s operational policy" koreaherald.com/article/1076…

If South Korea had the resources of Australia If Korea ran Australia, the focus would not be on exporting more iron ore. It would be on exporting steel, then ships, then trains, then cars, then advanced manufactured products. junotane.com/p/if-south-kore…

The use of nuclear weapons against Iran When you have leaders like this, nuclear use is not a breakdown of logic—but its culmination junotane.com/p/the-use-of-nu…

If countries in the Middle East had withheld access to their bases from the US, would the US have gone ahead with the war against Iran that ended up being so destructive? english.hani.co.kr/arti/engl…

Some strategic reality from our @ABCnews — conceding the Australians’ increasing bitterness towards the United States. “With many Australians feeling more disconnected from the United States, and bitterness over past failed interventions in the Middle East joined by Australia, the AUKUS agreement to deepen military ties to the US has been a flash point for whether Australia should maintain its ties or distance itself from the US.” abc.net.au/news/2026-06-07/s…