Southeast Asia

The return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Thailand appears to be a formality at this point; a question of when, not if. It was inevitable as soon as the polls closed in Thailand’s last election this past July which saw Thaksin’s reincarnated Pheu Thai party, headed by his sister Yingluck, emerge victorious on […]

It is the world’s largest Muslim country but remains for the most part secular. It is home to the eighteenth largest economy on the globe but more than sixteen percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Indonesia has long been considered the linchpin for Southeast Asia and, indeed, serves as a […]

This article originally appeared at Dissent Magazine. Approximately 70 people sat outside the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh last week in the sweltering heat because, quite frankly, they had nowhere else to go. They were members of some 300 families who were forcibly evicted from their homes in Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila district on January […]

A Malaysian judge has ruled today that fiery opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is not guilty of sodomy charges brought forth by a former male aide. The verdict opens up the possibility for Ibrahim to stand in the next general election and challenge the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) party which has held political power in the […]

In the early 1960s, policymakers in Washington expressed fear that the Vietnam War would spill over into neighboring countries. In Laos, a country that had been declared neutral, the CIA’s Special Activities Division was tasked with subverting the rise of communist elements like Pathet Lao which were backed by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). This […]

Long live His Majesty King Bhumibol! I felt that this post is going to need such a qualifier. I previously lived in Thailand in 2008 as a volunteer worker with an NGO. I love Thailand: the people, the culture, the food. I hope to return there one day, and it would not do me any […]

There are two types of power evident in the study of international relations: hard power and soft power. The former is coercive, and is associated with a state’s use of military force or economic pressure in order to maximize its interests. Hard power is advocated by those who believe that relative gains are the most […]

On December 1st, 1961, the Dutch flag, which had flown over the peninsula of West Papua for more than 130 years, was taken down, replaced by the “Morning Star” flag, which signified the new nation’s break from colonialism. By the end of the decade, Indonesia had forcefully annexed West Papua (also known as West Irian […]

“One Vision, One Identity, One Community” is the motto of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Was that the case in 2011? The region was predictably under-covered by the US mainstream media. I tried my best to bring unique, insightful coverage of the region as best I could from afar, highlighting a different country […]

As pro-democracy movements swept across the globe over the past year and the list of dictators and autocratic governments toppling, or trying desperately to avoid doing so, continued to grow, a common postulation I heard was whether or not there would be a regime that would appear ahead of the curve of their own protests? […]

I am almost embarrassed to admit this but after having lived in various countries in the Third World, having seen some pretty awful slum towns outside of Johannesburg, having walked through the “dwellings” of the hill tribes of Issan, having crossed the Thai/Burma border at Mae Sai and seeing the endless rows of begging children […]

Last month Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed, in an article for the Foreign Policy Magazine, ‘America’s Pacific Century’! This week, President Obama will be laying the foundation through a series of multilateral meetings involving Pacific Rim countries. He will start with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Hawaii (Nov 12th-13th), and continue at […]