#wait for the economy to level out with all the new rare items flooding the market to resell at a much later date

[beauzos]

we got it >:)

[lioden-sim]

APRIL EVENT + Art Update Day!

It's April and rabbits and hares are breeding like crazy! Looks like we have a fluffy plague on our hands, and we heard that they like to carve weird things in Ostrich Eggs with their ever-growing teeth. With this April Event, you mighty lions need to catch as many Fluffballs as possible, and collect those Carved Easter Eggs. There are two areas to unlock - one calls for your Bunny Catching skills, and other calls for your good heart. All Eggs you collect will be useful to buy fancy stuff for yourself, but... You can donate collected eggs towards public good and see what else you can unlock! Remember that April Event starts on April 1st 00:00 am LD Time and ends at 11:59 pm of April 30th, and all currency you had left will carry onto next year!

What's It About?

- Collect Carved Easter Eggs for currency OR donate them! - Work together to unlock special areas, where you can use currency at OR enjoy new features! - Explore to experience the Fluffball encounters! - Find Lucky Feet to win Explore battles immediately! - You can see how many eggs you have on the sidebar! - The bars unlock tiers in the bunny shop as well as three different features in Egg Den! - Bunny tunnels should let only females play, as males have their exp reset when retired into. BAR 1 Fluffballs Caught Tier 1 - items to buy Tier 2 - more items to buy Tier 3 - more items to buy + Bunny Tunnels BAR 2 Easter eggs donated Tier 0 - Warming up Tier 1 - Ostrich Chick play Tier 2 - NCL markings Tier 3 - Primordial Spring - de-aging/aging main male by 2 years once per lifetime 2017 Change: - Insane amount of new decors! - New NCL-exclusive markings: Onyx Patch Red Patch Copal Patch White Patch Copal Marble White Puma

Storyline!

Per your poll vote results, we're adding lore and storylines to Lioden! This is our first project like this ever so we hope you'll enjoy this beginner phase of Storylines. This time, in April of 2017, I decided to shed a light on where the Carved Eggs come from, what is the Fluffball agenda and story behind Primordial Spring.

Mysterious Wenet has a banner that appears in EVENT area. She will invite you to a journey that lets you wear a special mask. Wearing it has pros and cons - while wearing it you won't be able to chase bunnies anymore - and might miss out on special hidden result of chasing fluffballs that is extremely rare!

- Questing is entirely optional. This is something we added on top of the usual event stuff - but it does bring you amazing things, including Egg Yolks and Carved Eggs. - You can take a quest only once a day, but you can finish it any day. - Wenet's quests are named, unique and will log in userlog so you're aware exactly where you're at in the storyline. They also are pretty Roleplayish :D - Wenet will tell you what to do and wait for you until you're done with the quest. - As you give her things, you might notice she likes to look pretty for you as you progress - Wearing Wenet Mask is optional and can be turned off and on on Wenet page. It affects exploring event related encounters only. It will enable certain ones and turn off other ones. - Rewards she gives include among other things Hare Points. You can spend them on her page. - Once you complete the Storyline, you can go back every day and complete again some of the past quests in a way to get more Hare Points (other rewards are turned off then). Those quests are randomized and will change every rollover. You cannot abandon a quest. - Estimated maximum Hare Point count for doing every quest every day of April is 85, including the special quest payout. - Once Primordial Spring unlocks, Wenet will have an extra special quest for you that you can take no matter if you finished the Storyline or not.

Important Changes

We have adjusted the bar amounts needed to unlock the Primordial Spring down by a bit. The visual representation of the Spring has been changed this year as well. We also believe this year it will be a bit easier to gather Carved Easter Eggs - and thus we moved Egg Yolk to tier 3 and made it cost 20 EE's. We hope this makes you guys more eager to donate the Eggs to open the special areas!

FRIDAY ART UPDATE

NOW!!! On top of the Event News, today is a Friday, which means you're getting an update!

Reptile Roundup

Reptile Roundup has a new unlockable level to compliment Rinkhals skin - Swamp. You can unlock it by reaching a TOTAL of 3000 points in RR games. And now, you can check the total with amazing small reveal button on the game page, called "Reptile Report" Rewards from Swamp level are:

“Slithering Rinkhals” minimum points - 42

“Southern Wetlands”  minimum points - 100

“Red Mangrove Tree”  minimum points - 70

“Fiddler Crab”  minimum points - 50

“Mangrove Kingfisher”  minimum points - 55

On top of that, the levels have usual global rewards - Twig Snake Carcass, Herald Snake Carcass, Snake Scent, Snake Skin - Dark.

Now, I also added more global RR rewards - Global means they can be won in any level:

“Rock”  minimum points - 20

“Falling Petals - Soft Pink”  minimum points - 38

“Falling Petals - Rainbow”  minimum points - 46

New Craftable Decor!

Rock can craft into "Rocky Ground"

Black Heron Feathers can craft into "Black Heron Feather Decor”

Monkey Business Background

Chasing Rainbows is a new MB background to purchase.

New Base - Ruddy

It is a Red Dark Countershaded Common base, available via Customizers and Oasis.

ToS has been updated: "Fair Usage Policy" Any attempt to deliberately harm the game economy by any means may result in a removal of game assets and privileges, or a permanent account ban. This includes, but is not limited to, attempting to monopolise all available items of a single type and manipulating the current market price of assets (items, lions, currency) being sold by flooding the market with deliberately under- or overpriced assets. We will not apply this new rule retroactively.  This rule starts from today.

Just like year ago and a year before that and so on, we have been selecting a % of every GB purchase into charity pool. It is with great pride that we can give so much this year into a great cause that we support and love so much. Taken from their page and donation tiers, with this donation IAPF will be able to replace and maintain their vehicles, purchase valuable communications equipment, buy fuel, pay for critical information, new socks/boots etc. We have never been more proud as a lion game run by 3 friends, to actually help and protect the real life counterparts of our game's contents. Thank you everyone for purchasing GB and contributing to this cause!

Polycaudal Files caught up: Cub, Female, Teen Female. The rest have received a temporary file update so they display something while I still work on them. Shad has added new tags to April and Misc, check them out as usual! :D Next week, we will introduce a change to Clan Rotting system that will rot all food in clan hoards no matter if the owner logs in or not, to prevent "freezing" exploits. APRIL'S FOOLS - What? We never do April Fools jokes. Who told you that? You might also watch out for Oasis on 1st for a new cool item! April Event starts on April 1st at 00:00 am LDTime. March event will end on 31st 11:59 pm LDT. All currency is locked on your account and stored until next time!

Raffle Lioness

Congrats Kukui (#53395)! You have won the last raffle lady with Rainforest BG! New lady with Simien Mountains BG is up for impressing in Special Lioness area in Explore or in NEWS section under News Post List!

Polls and Dev Notes

You guys have helped us decide that it's time to redo Zombie decors! New poll LINK - We honestly need to tweak daily intake of Egg Yolks. We have some ideas, maybe you can help us pick something? Remember that the limit mentioned is per day. And that with 15 per account restriction is bypassed by funneling to feed 1 submale by multiple players, you WILL be breaking the rules. If the last option is voted on most, we'll be observing community thoughts closely.

[dani-qrt]

Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World

Want the Australia Letter by email? Sign up and forward my weekly dispatches to your friends so they can join our discussion about Australia and the world.

______

The ritual of Australia’s federal budget, with leaks, a lockup and then a flood of coverage about winners and losers often reminds me of an awards show. It’s the Oscars for fiscal fanatics, politics reporters and a boom-era government that has plenty of money to move around.

Last year, I went to Canberra for the festivities. This year I did not, which gave me a chance to focus on one element of the budget announcement: Australia’s relationship to the wider world.

A few items that factor into the equation (with figures in Australian dollars):

• Intelligence: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will receive a funding increase of $24 million for operations, plus $18 million for a legal review, along with $52 million for intelligence oversight. And there’s another undisclosed pool of money for undisclosed activities.

• Foreign Aid: Australia’s total aid budget will remain frozen at $4 billion until 2022, and is now at its lowest level ever as a share of the budget — 0.23 percent of gross national income. Aid is also shifting toward the Pacific, with plans to open a new embassy in Tuvalu.

• Border Security: Security at airports, international mail centers and air cargo facilities will be strengthened over four years as part of a comprehensive $293.6 million package of new initiatives.

• Immigration Support: Migrants will have to wait four years, up from three, to access welfare payments, saving the government $200 million over five years.

So what does this all add up to?

At first glance, it looked to me like a Trumpian shift — or at least a continued slide away from treating the world as a stage of opportunity and toward a focus on global threats.

I checked that premise with a few experts to see if I was reading the numbers right.

“Yes I think the budget reflects a shift towards a more uneasy, less confident and more defensive view of the world,” said Hugh White, a prominent defense strategist who recently wrote a lengthy essay on Australia’s global role. “Hence we have seen the militarisation of our foreign policy and the securitisation of our immigration policy.”

The context is striking. Australia is strong not weak, in its 27th year of economic growth, with a government surplus on the way and an economy nearly as large as Russia’s.

According to the Lowy Institute’s new Asia Power Index, Australia is the sixth most powerful country in Asia, behind Russia and ahead of South Korea.

But by 2030, it is projected to slide the economic rankings and instead of pushing itself and its values further into the world, as China, Indonesia and Japan are doing, Australia still seems more interested in circling the wagons and seeking protection.

“This is also reflected very plainly in the growing worries about China,” Mr. White said. “Where once it was seen overwhelmingly as a source of economic opportunity it is now seen more and more as a source of political, strategic and even ideological threats.”

Some analysts argue that there is still a lot of diplomatic work and “soft power” in the mix.

Jacinta Carroll, director of national security policy at the Australian National University, defended the budget’s foreign policy priorities, noting that they fall in line with the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and include a greater focus on Australia’s closest neighbors in the Pacific.

“It’s rare to see a new High Commission open, but a permanent diplomatic presence is vital to a strong relationship so it’s great news that Australia’s commitment to the Pacific is being strengthened by a permanent diplomatic post in Tuvalu,” she said.

Still, the Pacific focus is also in response to a perceived threat from China. And a good portion of that aid will go to security, not development or investment.

The United States and many other countries have made a similar shift. We’re in the midst of a moment when many of the world’s strongest democracies are looking inward, or investing in bonds centered around security. In a previous interview, Mr. White tied this to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but what I find interesting is how that mood of fear is adapting and finding new sources of anxiety.

“You have to worry, if this approach stressing defense and not foreign aid is a good one, given we don’t face any military threat,” said Stephen Howes, director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University “It doesn’t seem to be a balanced approach.”

In the long run, maybe the shift will be seen as prescient. My colleague, David E. Sanger, has a new book coming out called “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” The impact of technology alone, to say nothing of entropic geopolitics, could eventually justify more spending on security and defense.

But having seen the way a resort to the American military often becomes the default response for foreign policy matters in many countries all over the world, I also wonder about momentum, and whether spending choices today might create self-fulfilling prophecies of conflict tomorrow.

As I wrote in one of my first articles about Australian-American relations, when you’re making a lot hammers, at what point does everything look like a nail?

Now for the news — from Trump and Iran to koala chlamydia and Met Gala fun — as well as a recommendation.

As always, if you like what we’re up to, tell your friends to sign up for this newsletter, send feedback to nytaustralia@nytimes.com and join us in our Facebook group for more discussion.

Underscoring my point above, President Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran jettisons a deal in favor of a return to tension and potential conflict.

Why do it? Mr. Trump and his Middle East allies are betting, with great risk, that they can cut Iran’s economic lifeline and thus “break the regime.”

The columnist Bret Stephens argues that the deal is worth abandoning, if the Trump administration follows through on its tough talk.

Nicole Perlroth, our cybersecurity reporter, also pointed out on Twitter a risk that’s often overlooked: “(Among other things), the deal has constrained Iranian state/contracted hackers. By all accounts if @POTUS dismantles the deal, we can expect an extreme onslaught of Iranian cyberattacks.”

______

Declan Walsh recently returned to Benghazi, but rather than tell that story as a traditional newspaper tale, he turned to our new more visual format.

The result is engrossing, illuminating and jarring. We’re also looking for visual stories to tell from Australia and the region with this new story tool, so send us suggestions if you have them.

______

Great visuals, of course, need not come only from war zones. I spent far too much time clicking through the slide shows of elaborate fashion from this year’s Met Gala in New York.

• Thomas L. Friedman laments the lack of conversation across ideological lines, in both China and the United States. “If the Chinese are afraid to talk to one another,” he writes, “in America we’ve forgotten how to talk to one another.”

• Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo explore why democracies are breaking down, citing Myanmar as “a prime example of how outgoing authoritarian regimes can game democracy in their favor.”

• Bari Weiss meets and greets a group of American heretics making an end run around the strictures of mainstream conversation, including Christina Hoff Sommers, and tries to examine their appeal. What do they tell us about political discourse and where it’s heading?

______

And We Recommend …

I sometimes read alongside my children, using their school assignments as a way to learn about Australia, so when my son mentioned “Storm Boy” by Colin Thiele, I was intrigued.

I found a copy at a local bookstore and nearly wept when I reached the story’s end. Timeless writing, touching tale — I can see why it’s a classic.

Damien Cave is the new Australia bureau chief for The New York Times. He’s covered more than a dozen countries for The Times, including Mexico, Cuba, Iraq and Lebanon. Follow him on Twitter: @damiencave.

The post Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2K7xbNB via Online News

[cleopatrarps]

Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World

Want the Australia Letter by email? Sign up and forward my weekly dispatches to your friends so they can join our discussion about Australia and the world.

______

The ritual of Australia’s federal budget, with leaks, a lockup and then a flood of coverage about winners and losers often reminds me of an awards show. It’s the Oscars for fiscal fanatics, politics reporters and a boom-era government that has plenty of money to move around.

Last year, I went to Canberra for the festivities. This year I did not, which gave me a chance to focus on one element of the budget announcement: Australia’s relationship to the wider world.

A few items that factor into the equation (with figures in Australian dollars):

• Intelligence: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will receive a funding increase of $24 million for operations, plus $18 million for a legal review, along with $52 million for intelligence oversight. And there’s another undisclosed pool of money for undisclosed activities.

• Foreign Aid: Australia’s total aid budget will remain frozen at $4 billion until 2022, and is now at its lowest level ever as a share of the budget — 0.23 percent of gross national income. Aid is also shifting toward the Pacific, with plans to open a new embassy in Tuvalu.

• Border Security: Security at airports, international mail centers and air cargo facilities will be strengthened over four years as part of a comprehensive $293.6 million package of new initiatives.

• Immigration Support: Migrants will have to wait four years, up from three, to access welfare payments, saving the government $200 million over five years.

So what does this all add up to?

At first glance, it looked to me like a Trumpian shift — or at least a continued slide away from treating the world as a stage of opportunity and toward a focus on global threats.

I checked that premise with a few experts to see if I was reading the numbers right.

“Yes I think the budget reflects a shift towards a more uneasy, less confident and more defensive view of the world,” said Hugh White, a prominent defense strategist who recently wrote a lengthy essay on Australia’s global role. “Hence we have seen the militarisation of our foreign policy and the securitisation of our immigration policy.”

The context is striking. Australia is strong not weak, in its 27th year of economic growth, with a government surplus on the way and an economy nearly as large as Russia’s.

According to the Lowy Institute’s new Asia Power Index, Australia is the sixth most powerful country in Asia, behind Russia and ahead of South Korea.

But by 2030, it is projected to slide the economic rankings and instead of pushing itself and its values further into the world, as China, Indonesia and Japan are doing, Australia still seems more interested in circling the wagons and seeking protection.

“This is also reflected very plainly in the growing worries about China,” Mr. White said. “Where once it was seen overwhelmingly as a source of economic opportunity it is now seen more and more as a source of political, strategic and even ideological threats.”

Some analysts argue that there is still a lot of diplomatic work and “soft power” in the mix.

Jacinta Carroll, director of national security policy at the Australian National University, defended the budget’s foreign policy priorities, noting that they fall in line with the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and include a greater focus on Australia’s closest neighbors in the Pacific.

“It’s rare to see a new High Commission open, but a permanent diplomatic presence is vital to a strong relationship so it’s great news that Australia’s commitment to the Pacific is being strengthened by a permanent diplomatic post in Tuvalu,” she said.

Still, the Pacific focus is also in response to a perceived threat from China. And a good portion of that aid will go to security, not development or investment.

The United States and many other countries have made a similar shift. We’re in the midst of a moment when many of the world’s strongest democracies are looking inward, or investing in bonds centered around security. In a previous interview, Mr. White tied this to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but what I find interesting is how that mood of fear is adapting and finding new sources of anxiety.

“You have to worry, if this approach stressing defense and not foreign aid is a good one, given we don’t face any military threat,” said Stephen Howes, director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University “It doesn’t seem to be a balanced approach.”

In the long run, maybe the shift will be seen as prescient. My colleague, David E. Sanger, has a new book coming out called “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” The impact of technology alone, to say nothing of entropic geopolitics, could eventually justify more spending on security and defense.

But having seen the way a resort to the American military often becomes the default response for foreign policy matters in many countries all over the world, I also wonder about momentum, and whether spending choices today might create self-fulfilling prophecies of conflict tomorrow.

As I wrote in one of my first articles about Australian-American relations, when you’re making a lot hammers, at what point does everything look like a nail?

Now for the news — from Trump and Iran to koala chlamydia and Met Gala fun — as well as a recommendation.

As always, if you like what we’re up to, tell your friends to sign up for this newsletter, send feedback to nytaustralia@nytimes.com and join us in our Facebook group for more discussion.

Underscoring my point above, President Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran jettisons a deal in favor of a return to tension and potential conflict.

Why do it? Mr. Trump and his Middle East allies are betting, with great risk, that they can cut Iran’s economic lifeline and thus “break the regime.”

The columnist Bret Stephens argues that the deal is worth abandoning, if the Trump administration follows through on its tough talk.

Nicole Perlroth, our cybersecurity reporter, also pointed out on Twitter a risk that’s often overlooked: “(Among other things), the deal has constrained Iranian state/contracted hackers. By all accounts if @POTUS dismantles the deal, we can expect an extreme onslaught of Iranian cyberattacks.”

______

Declan Walsh recently returned to Benghazi, but rather than tell that story as a traditional newspaper tale, he turned to our new more visual format.

The result is engrossing, illuminating and jarring. We’re also looking for visual stories to tell from Australia and the region with this new story tool, so send us suggestions if you have them.

______

Great visuals, of course, need not come only from war zones. I spent far too much time clicking through the slide shows of elaborate fashion from this year’s Met Gala in New York.

• Thomas L. Friedman laments the lack of conversation across ideological lines, in both China and the United States. “If the Chinese are afraid to talk to one another,” he writes, “in America we’ve forgotten how to talk to one another.”

• Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo explore why democracies are breaking down, citing Myanmar as “a prime example of how outgoing authoritarian regimes can game democracy in their favor.”

• Bari Weiss meets and greets a group of American heretics making an end run around the strictures of mainstream conversation, including Christina Hoff Sommers, and tries to examine their appeal. What do they tell us about political discourse and where it’s heading?

______

And We Recommend …

I sometimes read alongside my children, using their school assignments as a way to learn about Australia, so when my son mentioned “Storm Boy” by Colin Thiele, I was intrigued.

I found a copy at a local bookstore and nearly wept when I reached the story’s end. Timeless writing, touching tale — I can see why it’s a classic.

Damien Cave is the new Australia bureau chief for The New York Times. He’s covered more than a dozen countries for The Times, including Mexico, Cuba, Iraq and Lebanon. Follow him on Twitter: @damiencave.

The post Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2K7xbNB via News of World

[dragnews]

Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World

Want the Australia Letter by email? Sign up and forward my weekly dispatches to your friends so they can join our discussion about Australia and the world.

______

The ritual of Australia’s federal budget, with leaks, a lockup and then a flood of coverage about winners and losers often reminds me of an awards show. It’s the Oscars for fiscal fanatics, politics reporters and a boom-era government that has plenty of money to move around.

Last year, I went to Canberra for the festivities. This year I did not, which gave me a chance to focus on one element of the budget announcement: Australia’s relationship to the wider world.

A few items that factor into the equation (with figures in Australian dollars):

• Intelligence: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will receive a funding increase of $24 million for operations, plus $18 million for a legal review, along with $52 million for intelligence oversight. And there’s another undisclosed pool of money for undisclosed activities.

• Foreign Aid: Australia’s total aid budget will remain frozen at $4 billion until 2022, and is now at its lowest level ever as a share of the budget — 0.23 percent of gross national income. Aid is also shifting toward the Pacific, with plans to open a new embassy in Tuvalu.

• Border Security: Security at airports, international mail centers and air cargo facilities will be strengthened over four years as part of a comprehensive $293.6 million package of new initiatives.

• Immigration Support: Migrants will have to wait four years, up from three, to access welfare payments, saving the government $200 million over five years.

So what does this all add up to?

At first glance, it looked to me like a Trumpian shift — or at least a continued slide away from treating the world as a stage of opportunity and toward a focus on global threats.

I checked that premise with a few experts to see if I was reading the numbers right.

“Yes I think the budget reflects a shift towards a more uneasy, less confident and more defensive view of the world,” said Hugh White, a prominent defense strategist who recently wrote a lengthy essay on Australia’s global role. “Hence we have seen the militarisation of our foreign policy and the securitisation of our immigration policy.”

The context is striking. Australia is strong not weak, in its 27th year of economic growth, with a government surplus on the way and an economy nearly as large as Russia’s.

According to the Lowy Institute’s new Asia Power Index, Australia is the sixth most powerful country in Asia, behind Russia and ahead of South Korea.

But by 2030, it is projected to slide the economic rankings and instead of pushing itself and its values further into the world, as China, Indonesia and Japan are doing, Australia still seems more interested in circling the wagons and seeking protection.

“This is also reflected very plainly in the growing worries about China,” Mr. White said. “Where once it was seen overwhelmingly as a source of economic opportunity it is now seen more and more as a source of political, strategic and even ideological threats.”

Some analysts argue that there is still a lot of diplomatic work and “soft power” in the mix.

Jacinta Carroll, director of national security policy at the Australian National University, defended the budget’s foreign policy priorities, noting that they fall in line with the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and include a greater focus on Australia’s closest neighbors in the Pacific.

“It’s rare to see a new High Commission open, but a permanent diplomatic presence is vital to a strong relationship so it’s great news that Australia’s commitment to the Pacific is being strengthened by a permanent diplomatic post in Tuvalu,” she said.

Still, the Pacific focus is also in response to a perceived threat from China. And a good portion of that aid will go to security, not development or investment.

The United States and many other countries have made a similar shift. We’re in the midst of a moment when many of the world’s strongest democracies are looking inward, or investing in bonds centered around security. In a previous interview, Mr. White tied this to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but what I find interesting is how that mood of fear is adapting and finding new sources of anxiety.

“You have to worry, if this approach stressing defense and not foreign aid is a good one, given we don’t face any military threat,” said Stephen Howes, director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University “It doesn’t seem to be a balanced approach.”

In the long run, maybe the shift will be seen as prescient. My colleague, David E. Sanger, has a new book coming out called “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” The impact of technology alone, to say nothing of entropic geopolitics, could eventually justify more spending on security and defense.

But having seen the way a resort to the American military often becomes the default response for foreign policy matters in many countries all over the world, I also wonder about momentum, and whether spending choices today might create self-fulfilling prophecies of conflict tomorrow.

As I wrote in one of my first articles about Australian-American relations, when you’re making a lot hammers, at what point does everything look like a nail?

Now for the news — from Trump and Iran to koala chlamydia and Met Gala fun — as well as a recommendation.

As always, if you like what we’re up to, tell your friends to sign up for this newsletter, send feedback to nytaustralia@nytimes.com and join us in our Facebook group for more discussion.

Underscoring my point above, President Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran jettisons a deal in favor of a return to tension and potential conflict.

Why do it? Mr. Trump and his Middle East allies are betting, with great risk, that they can cut Iran’s economic lifeline and thus “break the regime.”

The columnist Bret Stephens argues that the deal is worth abandoning, if the Trump administration follows through on its tough talk.

Nicole Perlroth, our cybersecurity reporter, also pointed out on Twitter a risk that’s often overlooked: “(Among other things), the deal has constrained Iranian state/contracted hackers. By all accounts if @POTUS dismantles the deal, we can expect an extreme onslaught of Iranian cyberattacks.”

______

Declan Walsh recently returned to Benghazi, but rather than tell that story as a traditional newspaper tale, he turned to our new more visual format.

The result is engrossing, illuminating and jarring. We’re also looking for visual stories to tell from Australia and the region with this new story tool, so send us suggestions if you have them.

______

Great visuals, of course, need not come only from war zones. I spent far too much time clicking through the slide shows of elaborate fashion from this year’s Met Gala in New York.

• Thomas L. Friedman laments the lack of conversation across ideological lines, in both China and the United States. “If the Chinese are afraid to talk to one another,” he writes, “in America we’ve forgotten how to talk to one another.”

• Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo explore why democracies are breaking down, citing Myanmar as “a prime example of how outgoing authoritarian regimes can game democracy in their favor.”

• Bari Weiss meets and greets a group of American heretics making an end run around the strictures of mainstream conversation, including Christina Hoff Sommers, and tries to examine their appeal. What do they tell us about political discourse and where it’s heading?

______

And We Recommend …

I sometimes read alongside my children, using their school assignments as a way to learn about Australia, so when my son mentioned “Storm Boy” by Colin Thiele, I was intrigued.

I found a copy at a local bookstore and nearly wept when I reached the story’s end. Timeless writing, touching tale — I can see why it’s a classic.

Damien Cave is the new Australia bureau chief for The New York Times. He’s covered more than a dozen countries for The Times, including Mexico, Cuba, Iraq and Lebanon. Follow him on Twitter: @damiencave.

The post Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2K7xbNB via Today News

[party-hard-or-die]

Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World

Want the Australia Letter by email? Sign up and forward my weekly dispatches to your friends so they can join our discussion about Australia and the world.

______

The ritual of Australia’s federal budget, with leaks, a lockup and then a flood of coverage about winners and losers often reminds me of an awards show. It’s the Oscars for fiscal fanatics, politics reporters and a boom-era government that has plenty of money to move around.

Last year, I went to Canberra for the festivities. This year I did not, which gave me a chance to focus on one element of the budget announcement: Australia’s relationship to the wider world.

A few items that factor into the equation (with figures in Australian dollars):

• Intelligence: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will receive a funding increase of $24 million for operations, plus $18 million for a legal review, along with $52 million for intelligence oversight. And there’s another undisclosed pool of money for undisclosed activities.

• Foreign Aid: Australia’s total aid budget will remain frozen at $4 billion until 2022, and is now at its lowest level ever as a share of the budget — 0.23 percent of gross national income. Aid is also shifting toward the Pacific, with plans to open a new embassy in Tuvalu.

• Border Security: Security at airports, international mail centers and air cargo facilities will be strengthened over four years as part of a comprehensive $293.6 million package of new initiatives.

• Immigration Support: Migrants will have to wait four years, up from three, to access welfare payments, saving the government $200 million over five years.

So what does this all add up to?

At first glance, it looked to me like a Trumpian shift — or at least a continued slide away from treating the world as a stage of opportunity and toward a focus on global threats.

I checked that premise with a few experts to see if I was reading the numbers right.

“Yes I think the budget reflects a shift towards a more uneasy, less confident and more defensive view of the world,” said Hugh White, a prominent defense strategist who recently wrote a lengthy essay on Australia’s global role. “Hence we have seen the militarisation of our foreign policy and the securitisation of our immigration policy.”

The context is striking. Australia is strong not weak, in its 27th year of economic growth, with a government surplus on the way and an economy nearly as large as Russia’s.

According to the Lowy Institute’s new Asia Power Index, Australia is the sixth most powerful country in Asia, behind Russia and ahead of South Korea.

But by 2030, it is projected to slide the economic rankings and instead of pushing itself and its values further into the world, as China, Indonesia and Japan are doing, Australia still seems more interested in circling the wagons and seeking protection.

“This is also reflected very plainly in the growing worries about China,” Mr. White said. “Where once it was seen overwhelmingly as a source of economic opportunity it is now seen more and more as a source of political, strategic and even ideological threats.”

Some analysts argue that there is still a lot of diplomatic work and “soft power” in the mix.

Jacinta Carroll, director of national security policy at the Australian National University, defended the budget’s foreign policy priorities, noting that they fall in line with the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and include a greater focus on Australia’s closest neighbors in the Pacific.

“It’s rare to see a new High Commission open, but a permanent diplomatic presence is vital to a strong relationship so it’s great news that Australia’s commitment to the Pacific is being strengthened by a permanent diplomatic post in Tuvalu,” she said.

Still, the Pacific focus is also in response to a perceived threat from China. And a good portion of that aid will go to security, not development or investment.

The United States and many other countries have made a similar shift. We’re in the midst of a moment when many of the world’s strongest democracies are looking inward, or investing in bonds centered around security. In a previous interview, Mr. White tied this to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but what I find interesting is how that mood of fear is adapting and finding new sources of anxiety.

“You have to worry, if this approach stressing defense and not foreign aid is a good one, given we don’t face any military threat,” said Stephen Howes, director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University “It doesn’t seem to be a balanced approach.”

In the long run, maybe the shift will be seen as prescient. My colleague, David E. Sanger, has a new book coming out called “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” The impact of technology alone, to say nothing of entropic geopolitics, could eventually justify more spending on security and defense.

But having seen the way a resort to the American military often becomes the default response for foreign policy matters in many countries all over the world, I also wonder about momentum, and whether spending choices today might create self-fulfilling prophecies of conflict tomorrow.

As I wrote in one of my first articles about Australian-American relations, when you’re making a lot hammers, at what point does everything look like a nail?

Now for the news — from Trump and Iran to koala chlamydia and Met Gala fun — as well as a recommendation.

As always, if you like what we’re up to, tell your friends to sign up for this newsletter, send feedback to nytaustralia@nytimes.com and join us in our Facebook group for more discussion.

Underscoring my point above, President Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran jettisons a deal in favor of a return to tension and potential conflict.

Why do it? Mr. Trump and his Middle East allies are betting, with great risk, that they can cut Iran’s economic lifeline and thus “break the regime.”

The columnist Bret Stephens argues that the deal is worth abandoning, if the Trump administration follows through on its tough talk.

Nicole Perlroth, our cybersecurity reporter, also pointed out on Twitter a risk that’s often overlooked: “(Among other things), the deal has constrained Iranian state/contracted hackers. By all accounts if @POTUS dismantles the deal, we can expect an extreme onslaught of Iranian cyberattacks.”

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Declan Walsh recently returned to Benghazi, but rather than tell that story as a traditional newspaper tale, he turned to our new more visual format.

The result is engrossing, illuminating and jarring. We’re also looking for visual stories to tell from Australia and the region with this new story tool, so send us suggestions if you have them.

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Great visuals, of course, need not come only from war zones. I spent far too much time clicking through the slide shows of elaborate fashion from this year’s Met Gala in New York.

• Thomas L. Friedman laments the lack of conversation across ideological lines, in both China and the United States. “If the Chinese are afraid to talk to one another,” he writes, “in America we’ve forgotten how to talk to one another.”

• Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo explore why democracies are breaking down, citing Myanmar as “a prime example of how outgoing authoritarian regimes can game democracy in their favor.”

• Bari Weiss meets and greets a group of American heretics making an end run around the strictures of mainstream conversation, including Christina Hoff Sommers, and tries to examine their appeal. What do they tell us about political discourse and where it’s heading?

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And We Recommend …

I sometimes read alongside my children, using their school assignments as a way to learn about Australia, so when my son mentioned “Storm Boy” by Colin Thiele, I was intrigued.

I found a copy at a local bookstore and nearly wept when I reached the story’s end. Timeless writing, touching tale — I can see why it’s a classic.

Damien Cave is the new Australia bureau chief for The New York Times. He’s covered more than a dozen countries for The Times, including Mexico, Cuba, Iraq and Lebanon. Follow him on Twitter: @damiencave.

The post Australia Is Rich, Strong and Afraid of the World appeared first on World The News.

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