The Judge, His Wife, and a Kingdom They Tried to Upend
How William and Starr Stuart brought chaos to Queen Sālote’s Tonga — and ended up prisoners of Nazi raiders
South Pacific Tides
News & opinion from the Pacific, and my published books on the region online.
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Latest posts
The Journalist Who Disappeared: Tahiti’s Unfinished Murder Case
A paramilitary force, a secret intelligence unit, a vanished reporter, and a political titan who denies everything. Thirty years on, the JPK affair is nearing a courtroom.
The Women of Vailima Who Defied Hitler
From German Sāmoa to Berlin’s anti-Nazi resistance, Johanna Solf and daughter Lagi risked everything to oppose the Third Reich
Mt Eden’s future collides with Sāmoa’s history
Auckland’s old stone jail faces demolition — but its role in the Mau struggle makes erasure impossible
Gold, Nodules and the Cook Islands
Trump’s golden seabed gesture sparks a sovereignty warning
Niue Plan to Save World's Honey Bees
How the Pacific’s “Rock” could become the last refuge of a globally vital honey bee species
Fiji Is Done Subsidising UN Peacekeeping
Rabuka concedes the army is draining funds from hospitals, schools and basic services
Crypto Dreams, Bankruptcy Memories
Naoero wants to lead the Pacific in cryptocurrency, but why would any Pacific government trust one of the world's least credible financial jurisdictions?
Decline and Fall of Sāmoa's Tuna Fishery
Why warming seas, rising costs and shifting fish have ended one of Sāmoa's key exports — while neighbouring Tokelau faces a very different tuna crisis
America's Pacific Seabed Grab
Trump's mineral ambitions in American Sāmoa are rewriting the rules of power, challenging Pacific solidarity, and exposing a new front in great-power competition
Documents show Tokelau Losing Tuna Fortune
Tokelau blunders cost millions, questions over New Zealand’s interference, and fresh doubts about its claim to be a modern Pacific partner
Fiji’s Coup Ghost Walks Again
Twenty-six years after George Speight seized parliament, the convicted traitor is back in the national conversation — and a fragile Fiji faces another election crossroads
China’s Own Goal in the Pacific
As Suva stages a treaty ceremony, a Chinese spy ship watches from the harbour and Beijing’s muscle-flexing risks pushing the Pacific closer together