Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Kurniawan Arif Maspul
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As Indonesia leads on human rights, Gaza defines the moment
There are moments in international affairs when statistics stop behaving like abstractions and begin to smell of reality. Gaza has reached that moment. According to the United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, more than 500,000 people in Gaza are already trapped in famine conditions, classified as the most extreme…
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Red Sea lines and the return of Arab red lines
The Middle East is entering a quieter but far more consequential rupture. This is not the drama of crowds in public squares or leaders toppled overnight. It is the slow, strategic fracturing of states, coastlines and trust — driven by calculated power plays along the world’s most vital maritime arteries.…
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Adelaide Festival cancels Palestinian voice: Australia’s free speech test
In the fragile silence that followed the Bondi terror attack, Australia was reminded of how quickly fear can rearrange public life. Fifteen people were murdered at a Hanukkah gathering in Sydney, an act of targeted violence that shocked a nation and left Jewish Australians grieving and anxious. The instinct to…
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When America leaves, the Middle East redraws the rules
The quiet earthquake in Washington in January 2026 will not stay confined to American domestic politics. When the United States withdrew from dozens of international organisations tied to the United Nations, climate governance, global health and development, it sent tremors across every region that depends on rules rather than raw…
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Caracas falls, and the Middle East hears a warning
The arrest of Nicolás Maduro in a sudden United States military raid on Caracas has not merely ended a presidency. It has cracked open one of the most consequential fault lines in contemporary international politics, where sovereignty, energy security, humanitarian catastrophe and great-power rivalry collide in full view of the…
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Why Somaliland is a red line for African sovereignty
The question of Somaliland is not a footnote in African politics; it is a raw nerve. It cuts through history, law and memory, exposing how easily powerful states can reopen wounds they never had to live with. To write about Somaliland is to write about Somalia itself – a country…