The world may be on fire, but mangoes still ripen in thier own time. Today was the day for these three from a tree my dear wife grew from seed.

It has been just over a week since I was honoured to speak at the Munich Security Conference on a APRI Armenia-ORF organized panel on "Minilateralism and Multilateralism: the Shift from Global Alliances to Targeted Partnerships." It is hard to overstate how much has changed in that week. #MSC2025

Excellent panel at #MSC2025. No one better than @PerthUSAsia Board Member Dr. Lynn Kuok to moderate a discussion with Korean and Japanese Foreign Ministers, New Zealand Defence Minister & Deputy SecGen of NATO. The Indo-Pacific has interest in the Euro-Atlantic and vice versa

Then there was the pro-Yoon rally the day before the impeachment where the chant was "구속 구속" the Korean version of "Lock Him Up" applied to a list of political opponents.

Saw early hints of this during an October visit when I was still blissfully (and wrongfully)confident in the U.S. election outcome.

Spent the day in Gwangju today having precisely those reflections...although not as eloquently expressed as by Han Kang. Actually lived here during the election of 1987 and the spirit of 5.18 influenced then as today.

Arrived in Gwangju early this morning. Not surprising, but the Gwangju Daily News and the citizens of South Cholla Province have little ambiguity about yesterday's impeachment of President Yoon yesterday.

First opportunity to hear from H.E. Sugiono, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia. Speaking at #CIFP2024 www.cifp2024.com says in two months in the job he has felt young compared to his peers, but not so in from of nearly 10k university students convened by Dr. Dino Patti Djalal and FPCI!

Great to moderate a stellar panel as part of The India Connect Technology and Innovation Symposium organized jointly by Invest & Trade WA and Centre for Australia India Relations
at the WACA Ground on the eve of #TheWestTest.

First time inside the storied WACA...alas for a conference not a test match.

Insightful and a little frightening roundtable on deep sea mining today with Jo Feldman and Lisa Koch, Partners at Norton Rose Fulbright, leading a discussion on this rapidly developing sector. We risk being further behind on this than on rare earths...no longer fiction. @perthusasia.bsky.social

Jacaranda season in Perth

Great opportunity to speak at the 3rd Annual Korea Australia Futures Forum in Seoul just before the U.S. election...the results of which will continue to spur this and many other similar relationships between Like-minded partners.

Looking forward to joining Dino Patti Djalal at FPCI's annual Conference on Indonesian Foreign Policy in Jakarta at the end of the month....Indonesia X has yet to make the transition to Bluesky, but I anticipate that transition will happen.