For once, it was hard not to agree with a Donald Trump tweet: yes, Bashar al-Assad is a “Gas Killing Animal”. But the difficult part comes next.

In the dark tragedy of Syria, there is no solution, and any action or inaction will involve moral and tactical inconsistency and compromise. It is impossible to determine a response for Australia, …

When Donald Trump announced his first round of tariffs on China at a special ceremony at the White House last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping said nothing. Instead, China responded with a set of matching tariffs, on products such as soybeans, pork and cars – all targeted at farming and industrial areas, which Trump’s Republicans need …

AFA Weekly is a free email published each Wednesday by Schwartz Media’s Australian Foreign Affairs journal.

Written and curated by editor Jonathan Pearlman, it features news and insights on crucial world events and their effect on Australia.

It includes links to commentary and reporting by leading foreign policy thinkers from Australia …