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	<title>Lead &#8211; 36th Parallel Assessments (NZ)</title>
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	<item>
		<title>Military Extortion as Coercive Diplomacy.</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2026/01/07/military-extortion-as-coercive-diplomacy/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:41:06 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geopolitics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Assessments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategic Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Venezuela]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=127225</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Source: Anonymous on X.com. The lethal theatre of the absurd that has been the Trump administration’s sabre rattling performances in the Central American basin over the last few months culminated with the military attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president and his wife in the early hours of Saturday morning, Caracas time. The ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>A return to Nature.</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2025/06/29/a-return-to-nature/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:53:25 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geopolitics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategic Assessment]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=127198</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Thomas Hobbes wrote his seminal work Leviathan in 1651. In it he describes the world system as it was then as being in &#8220;a state of nature,&#8221; something that some have interpreted as anarchy. However, anarchy has order and purpose. It is not chaos. In fact, if we think of Adam Smith&#8217;s &#8220;invisible hand of ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Media Link: Director Paul G. Buchanan Standing Places Interview.</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2020/04/23/media-link-director-paul-g-buchanan-standing-places-interview/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2020 07:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategic Assessment]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126842</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Director Paul G. Buchanan is interviewed on the London-based Standing Places podcast on the politics of pandemics and related issues. Most of the world is now in some form of pandemic lockdown. Everything around us is changing – politics, economics, international relations. How do we navigate the politics of a COVID-19 world? What are the ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran as a Strategic Actor, Part Two.</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2020/02/05/iran-as-a-strategic-actor-part-two/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Feb 2020 00:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Country risk assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[External Powers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geopolitics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategic Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126831</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Director Paul G. Buchanan has written a two part series on Iran as a strategic actor for the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The analysis is designed to offer an alternative interpretation to views prevalent in the West that see Iran as a rogue and unpredictable player on the world scene. Click here to read ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran as a strategic actor (part one)</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2020/01/31/iran-as-a-strategic-actor/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jan 2020 03:13:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Analysis Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Country Overview]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Strategic Assessment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126823</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Director Paul G. Buchanan has written a two part series on Iran as a strategic actor for the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The analysis is designed to offer an alternative interpretation to views prevalent in the West that see Iran as a rogue and unpredictable player on the world scene. Click here to read ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Paul Buchanan &#8211; Radio NZ Dispatch: Beware the false narrative linking Christchurch to Sri Lanka bombings</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2019/04/25/paul-buchanan-radio-nz-dispatch-beware-the-false-narrative-linking-christchurch-to-sri-lanka-bombings/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Apr 2019 09:18:24 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia Pacific]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dispatches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Zealand]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126695</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Opinion &#8211; ISIS and a junior defence minister in the Sri Lankan government have claimed the terrorist attacks on churches and hotels were a response to the attack on mosques in Christchurch on 15 March. The claims need to be treated with scepticism. Here&#8217;s why. Having been defeated on the battlefields of the Levant, ISIS now ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Was Sri Lanka attack retaliation? &#8211; Analysis</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2019/04/24/was-sri-lanka-attack-retaliation-analysis/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[36th Parallel]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2019 09:31:59 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia Pacific]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dispatches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126702</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made a statement responding to the suggestion that the Sri Lanka bombings were retaliation for the Christchurch attacks. &#8220;We have seen reports of the statement from the Sri Lankan Minister of state for defence, alleging a link between the the Easter Sunday terrorist attack and the March 15 attack in ]]></description>
		
		
		<enclosure url="https://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20190424-0715-was_sri_lanka_attack_retaliation_-_analysis-128.mp3" length="5543537" type="audio/mpeg" />

			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Paul Buchanan – Radio NZ Dispatch: Attacks &#8220;very unlikely&#8221; retaliation &#8211; security expert</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2019/04/24/paul-buchanan-radio-nz-dispatch-attacks-very-unlikely-retaliation-security-expert/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[36th Parallel]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2019 09:26:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia Pacific]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dispatches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126699</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Security expert Paul Buchanan said he thought the two attacks were &#8220;very unlikely&#8221; to be linked. &#8220;I would take these claims with a very healthy dose of scepticism, and the reason for that is both ISIS and the Sri Lankan government have their own reasons to deflect from the local nature of the attack. ISIS ]]></description>
		
		
		<enclosure url="https://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20190424-0715-was_sri_lanka_attack_retaliation_-_analysis-128.mp3" length="5543537" type="audio/mpeg" />

			</item>
		<item>
		<title>White supremacists left out of designated terrorists list</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2019/04/11/white-supremacists-left-out-of-designated-terrorists-list/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[36th Parallel]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2019 09:37:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[dispatches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126705</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Radio New Zealand reported that not a single right-wing extremist or white supremacist is listed on the United Nations&#8217; register of terrorists. Police published the list of Designated Terrorist Entities exactly one week after the Christchurch terror attacks. RNZ contacted 36th Parallel&#8217;s principal Dr Paul Buchanan for his view, he said for too long intelligence agencies had ]]></description>
		
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Spy agencies have not had hands tied &#8211; Paul Buchanan</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2019/03/26/spy-agencies-have-not-had-hands-tied-paul-buchanan/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[36th Parallel]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2019 08:52:49 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[dispatches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126708</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[National Party leader Simon Bridges says the Government should reconsider the surveillance programme Project Speargun, which the previous National government abandoned in 2013. He says intelligence agencies have their hands tied behind their backs, and the programme &#8220;would have done more to keep New Zealanders safe&#8221;. Radio New Zealand sought the view of 36th Parallel&#8217;s ]]></description>
		
		
		<enclosure url="https://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20190326-0813-security_expert_discusses_calls_surveillance_powers_expansion-128.mp3" length="6775928" type="audio/mpeg" />

			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Paul Buchanan &#8211; Radio New Zealand Dispatch: &#8216;New Zealand must own this terrorist attack&#8217;</title>
		<link>https://36th-parallel.com/2019/03/20/paul-buchanan-radio-new-zealand-dispatch-new-zealand-must-own-this-terrorist-attack/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Buchanan]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2019 08:53:24 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[dispatches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://36th-parallel.com/?p=126711</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Opinion &#8211; The terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques is a watershed moment in New Zealand history. In the days, months and years ahead much soul-searching will be conducted about the social and political factors that contributed to the massacre of 50 people. Here we shall focus on two: the spread of hate speech via social ]]></description>
		
		
		
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