Great Council of Chiefs chairman, Viliame Seruvakula, is raising the question why are the drug kingpins not being tracked and arrested for a number of months and years. fijivillage.com/news/Why-are-d…

Always a privilege to speak with koroi hawkins and RNZ Pacific about what will be on the agenda as we head into #PIFLM53 in Tonga next week. open.spotify.com/episode/4DmxvO…

Another Russian mercenary leader has turned against Putin Jose L Sousa-Santos thehill.com/opinion/intern…

Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang will meet with representatives from Palau, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands to discuss cooperation and regional development on the margins of #PIFLM53 taiwannews.com.tw/news/5924813?s…

Taiwan Deputy FM Tien Chung-kwang's visit to Tonga #PIFLM53 takes place amidst claims that Solomon Islands will seek a motion to bar Taiwan from the 2025 Pacific Islands Forum meeting to be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The motion is unlikely to pass as PIF members include 3

A bipartisan letter from 🇺🇸U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to U.S. Sec of State Antony Blinken ahead of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in 🇹🇴Tonga requests the U.S. delegation

Beijing talking points and wedge politics aside (without dismissing either), it is important to note that there have been concerns voiced across the region since the Pacific Policing Initiative first hit the news. To ignore these concerns will undermine the anchoring of the PPI

Australia's Pacific Policing Initiative has been endorsed at #PIFLM53. It includes: up to 4 regional police training CoEs (locations TBC); the deployable Pacific Police Support Group; the PPI Policing Development Coordination Hub based in Brisbane. 1/2

For students of Pacific interventions (and there are still some of us around) the evolution - or devolution - of the region's crisis management architecture is one to watch closely. #PIFLM53

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: "We were going to do something similiar...we are giving you the lane".

US 'gives Australia the lane' on Pacific policing - Campbell rnz.co.nz/international/…

United States 'gives Australia the lane' on Pacific policing - Campbell rnz.co.nz/international/…

The #PIFLM53 Leaders Communique is now online (record speed). A few initial thoughts on regional security and the review of the regional architecture 🧵: - Leaders reaffirmed the commitment to deploy the high-level Forum Troika Plus Mission to New Caledonia - Terms of Reference

VIVA TIMOR LORO'SAE facebook.com/share/r/W3MyQF…

The #PIFLM53 Communique is back on the website with Section 66 on Taiwan removed (see below).

Good work here by Lice Movono & Nick Sas on the local impact of the methamphetamine trade in Fiji. Would be great to hear more about what community policing initiatives there are with those affected communities. amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.ne…

'The illicit drug trade is the most prevalent form of transnational crime in the region, and the impact on Pacific societies and communities has significantly increased." usip.org/publications/2…

Mildly disappointed the DFAT official vetting the official history of Australia’s operations in Timor-Leste resorts to huuugely predictable euphemisms ("glass half empty", "unhelpful", "speculation") while attempting to ensure said history ignores awkward historical realities

Will we see duplication of procces again. It seems that the US is not really giving the lane to Australia, as Kurt Campbel stated to Anthony Albanese on camera at the PIF Leaders meeting in Tonga.