The Little Blue Book
And the fiction we nostalgically call the international order
Theme archive
Musings on Empire and War
Imperial power, war, security, militarisation, violence, and the narratives that justify conflict.
Elasticity Has Its Limits
It might sound implausible, but a Patriot interceptor missile takes longer to build than a war takes to fight.
Misreading Xi
An Alternative Argument for Australia's Public Inquiry into AUKUS to Consider
Consent Without Consequences
A World Learning to Ask New Questions
The Invisible Architecture of Control
Cryptocurrencies and the Future of Human Agency
The Moment Power Chose Itself
America's Moment of Undisputed Leadership
Certainty’s Standing Ovation
A thousand people rose to their feet in Sydney on 22 August 2026.
Force Without a Mission
When a power keeps its strength but loses moral purpose
Everything Except Their Names
The accusation arrives early in the Bishkek Declaration, and it arrives with full force: strikes on Iranian territory violated the UN Charter, damaged international law, and put regional peace and stability at risk.
The Beginning of Our Collective Maturity
Collapsing Towards An Empathic Civilisation
Something Behind the Eyes
In the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the horror was never the alien.
The Collapse of the Story
There was a time when power didn’t need to explain itself.
When There Is No 'We'
The Fragmentation of the Public World
The Instrument and The Cage
What Language Does When No One is Watching
Radius of Trust
How a Threat With No Rivals Still Produces Enemies
Beyond the Imperial Monoculture
Why Humanity Needs More Than One Story
Eighty Years Since the Quiet
I was born in 1945, into a world that had just finished screaming and had gone, for a while, quiet.
Believing the Right Villain
Propaganda in a Comforting Voice
Source networks
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The Hames Report
Long-form essays and reflections on the future of everything. Read and support on SubstackPatreon / Published daily