David Crowe

Europe Correspondent at @theage and @smh. Previously Chief Political Correspondent in Canberra. Former director, National Press Club.

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Proud of this work.

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Pauline Hanson speaks to empty seats at CPAC GB.

https://t.co/5V6eT7zdPt

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

A small audience for Pauline Hanson in London at CPAC this morning.

Her morning address mostly repeats her leaked remarks from last night.

https://t.co/YEE6pEsuWU

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Terrible news of another Australian volunteer killed in Ukraine. Story by @ChrisReason7

https://t.co/F9jo414Wtx

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Behind closed doors: we have the leaked audio from Pauline Hanson’s dinner remarks in London.

https://t.co/YEE6pEsuWU

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Pauline Hanson's podcast with Tommy gets thumbs down from Nigel Farage.

My exclusive from CPAC. With first pictures of Hanson in London after that summer break in Sicily.

https://t.co/dRd05CNN7C

[Mark Di Stefano @MarkDiStef]

Thomas Henry does not have more. In fact Thomas Henry copy-pasted the photos and the entire story from our column, without even the shame of saying where he got it from. Don’t be like Thomas Henry.

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

“Trust is a currency, and the US has spent the last 18 months destroying it.”

How it looks from Finland:

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

Elbridge Colby wants the benefits of an empire without any of the responsibilities.

Elbridge Colby's latest lecturing of US allies shows just how out of touch Washington is with the reality of its own decline. He wants to have it both ways, but his logic is falling apart.

The current Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge Colby, has a track record defined by failing to deliver his promised pivot to Asia and advocating for policies that cost countless Ukrainian lives.

Despite this, he is currently trying to tell middle powers how to manage their defense. During both of Trump's terms, the US urged Europe and other allies to spend more and stop relying on American taxpayers. It was a reasonable point, and allies are finally taking steps to increase their defense capabilities.

But the moment these countries try to build a collective middle power strategy, Colby starts warning them against it. In a recent X thread, he argued that allies should not build up their own defense industrial bases because they cannot compete with the US. He wants them to spend more, but only to buy American weapons, ensuring they stay entirely dependent on US goodwill.

You simply cannot have it both ways. In the past, relying on US weapons made sense because the US guaranteed security. But Colby is asking allies to maintain their dependence while the US actively disengages, reduces European troop levels, cuts aid to Ukraine, starts trade wars, and appeases shared adversaries. If the US is going to behave like an unreliable partner, why would Denmark, Canada, or any European country spend billions on US weapons instead of investing in their own domestic industries and cutting their dependence?

You cannot destroy your own geopolitical leverage and still expect allies to blindly follow your demands.

Trust is a currency, and the US has spent the last 18 months destroying it. Had Washington stood by Ukraine and maintained its commitments, it would have the leverage to negotiate. Instead, they destroyed their own influence, and no one is going to sacrifice their own industrial sovereignty for a partner that is already walking out the door

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Pauline Hanson was “gobsmacked” when she came to this UK town with Tommy Robinson. So I spoke to the locals.

https://t.co/BJHAYRUGri

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Inside the English town Pauline Hanson cannot stand.

https://t.co/6iJ1eBizB8

[Euan Graham @graham_euan]

Ukraine’s first attack using USV, against Russia’s base in Sevastopol, was in October 2022.

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Turn right for Moscow.

https://t.co/aFv5RTbivQ

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Australian company named in furore over donations to help Nigel Farage and Reform UK

https://t.co/qLoW8RTbgy

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Can the Bin win?

Most likely outcome: a crash in voter turnout.

https://t.co/b6sx7YTVLZ

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

After all the complaints, there was an actual outcome at NATO.

https://t.co/aQjuscIP8z

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

How it all went wrong for Harry.

There’s a lot to this ruling on royal stories, free press, claims of hacking and blagging.

https://t.co/rzUSGDfvjl

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Farage calls a by-election.

Major parties don't bother contesting.

All it takes is a fall in his support (last election: 46.2 per cent) for this to look like a rebuke from voters.

That's an opportunity for an ambitious local independent.

https://t.co/wRJJO7ZSCe

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Nigel Farage quits. So he can contest his own seat.

Why on earth would voters welcome an unecessary by-election?

https://t.co/wRJJO7ZSCe

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Prince Harry and others lose their case against The Daily Mail after claiming it gained information on them unlawfully.

https://t.co/gA1ndWd7vo

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

She can run for president. But she won't like the condition.

https://t.co/DTgIgu4isi

[David Crowe @CroweDM]

Explosion in Damascus leaves Macron unscathed. Visit to Syria continues.

[Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron]

Rien ne pourra étouffer l’aspiration des Syriennes et des Syriens à vivre dans une Syrie pleinement souveraine, sûre, pluraliste, unie.

Ce matin j’ai rencontré la Syrie dans toute sa diversité. J’ai vu la dignité, le courage et la détermination.

Ma visite se poursuit.