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Tony Walker

Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University

The Australian Financial Review: International Editor (2010-2016), Washington correspondent (2004-2010), Political Editor (2000-2004), Financial Times: Middle East correspondent (1984-1993), Beijing bureau chief (1993-1998), North American correspondent 1998-2000. Publications include Arafat: The Biography (Virgin Books 2004) and The Thomson Five: A golfing legend's greatest triumphs (Melbourne University Press 2016). Graduate Australian National University BA.(1968) Dual Walkley award winner for commentary (2003 and 2007). Paul Lyneham Award Excellence Press Gallery journalism (2003).

Global Geopolitics Series

Sanctions, a failing economy and coronavirus may cause Iran to change its involvement in Syria

Mar 01, 2020 12:54 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Irans emergence as a hot zone for the coronavirus further complicates that countrys relationships with its neighbours at a time when its economy is sliding deeper into recession. US President Donald Trumps maximum...

US under Trump Series

Why the global battle over Huawei could prove more disruptive than Trump's trade war with China

Feb 19, 2020 01:51 am UTC| Insights & Views

Chinas ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, let the cat out of the bag this week when he lambasted Canberra over its decision to exclude Huawei from the build-out of Australias 5G network. In uncharacteristically...

Listen to your people Scott Morrison: the bushfires demand a climate policy reboot

Jan 07, 2020 15:36 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Frank Jotzo, the director of the Centre for Climate and Energy Policy at Australian National University, has some constructive advice for Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a column today for the ABC: do not waste an...

Global Geopolitics Series

2019 was a year of global unrest, spurred by anger at rising inequality – and 2020 is likely to be worse

Dec 10, 2019 05:15 am UTC| Insights & Views

2019 may well go down as the most disrupted year in global politics since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the subsequent implosion of the former Soviet Union. However, the likelihood is that 2020 will be worse,...

Global Geopolitics Series

Chinese 'spy' case may be the greatest challenge to Australian security since Petrov – but caution is needed

Nov 27, 2019 12:48 pm UTC| Insights & Views

Not since the Petrov affair in 1954, when a KGB officer sought asylum in Australia with details of Soviet spying activities, has a case been as potentially significant for Australian security as that of Wang Liqiang, the...

Morrison needs to take control of China policy - but leave room for dissent

Aug 15, 2019 17:50 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The Morrison government is at risk of losing control of China policy. Push-back from within its own ranks is complicating its ability to manage relations with Beijing. China policy is being subjected to a buffeting from...

Iran and US refusing to budge as tit-for-tat ship seizures in Middle East raise the temperature

Jul 22, 2019 13:23 pm UTC| Insights & Views

In a world run ragged by multiple crises and an unravelling of American global leadership, military confrontation in the Gulf poses risks that extend well beyond the region itself. One of the greater risks is to a...

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Economy

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

Politics

US Urges China, Russia to Reject AI Control in Nuclear Arms, Align with Global Norms

Paul Dean, a senior U.S. arms control official, emphasized the critical need for China and Russia to join the U.S. in declaring that humans will always decide on the deployment of nuclear weapons, not artificial...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’

Most American workers are hired at will: Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship except earned wages, and employees are at liberty to quit at their option. As the rule is generally stated, either party...

Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board

To say that the Labour party is flying high in the polls is something of an understatement. But despite its consistent lead against the Tories, the opposition finds itself in a rather odd position: on the cusp of power but...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

Peter Higgs, who gave his name to the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, has died aged 94. He was always a modest man, especially when considering that he was one of the greats of particle physics the area of...

Technology

Samsung Chief Lee Jae-yong Wraps Up Europe Visit, Includes Vatican and Zeiss

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong returned to Seoul this Friday after a crucial ten-day European trip, where he met with Pope Francis and explored potential business collaborations. The Korea Herald reported...

Bitcoin Thrives: Whales Accumulate Over 47K BTC Amidst Price Rally

Bitcoin experiences a transformative moment as large-scale investors, known as whales, acquire over 47,000 BTC, valued at $2.9 billion, amidst a price retreat. This strategic move marks a pivotal shift in sentiment,...

Kraken Pro Boosts Shiba Inu with New Margin Trading Option

Kraken Pros announcement of Shiba Inus (SHIB) inclusion in its margin trading pairs signifies a significant milestone for the meme-inspired cryptocurrency. This move underscores SHIBs growing prominence within the crypto...

Hong Kong Firm Dominates BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, Surges to Top Holder

In a significant development for the cryptocurrency market, Hong Kong-based Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd has secured its position as the largest holder in the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), according to recent...

Nintendo's Next-Gen: Switch 2 Could Hit 240FPS, Leaks Suggest

Leaked by data miner OatmealDome, Nintendos updated NintendoWare Bezel Engine reportedly supports frame rates potentially as high as 240FPS, a massive leap from the current 60FPS limit on the Nintendo Switch. The...