Is Democracy Dying?
December 4, 2017 3 min. read

A man paints over the logo of the Cambodia National Rescue Party at its headquarters in Phnom Penh. Photo: Getty Images. In the days following the dissolution of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), I headed to Phnom Penh to witness the changes on the ground since my last visit over two years ago.  On […]

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Beijing Seeks to Bolster Claims to Disputed Islands
April 1, 2017 3 min. read

Vietnam reacted strongly in response to a recent visit by a Chinese cruise ship to the disputed Paracel archipelago. Hanoi pressed for an end to the cruise ship visits, which have taken hundreds of Chinese tourists to the island chain since 2013.

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The Alarming Dependency of Downstream Mekong River Countries
November 28, 2016 3 min. read

In downstream Vietnam, experts claim as much as 50% of the 2.2 million hectares of arable land in the delta had been hit by salinization due to the drought.

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Hanoi’s New Year Message to Beijing
February 23, 2015 3 min. read

On Feb. 19, Chinese from around the world welcomed the year of the sheep, also celebrated as the year of the goat or ram.

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China and Southeast Asia 2035: A Wikistrat Simulation
October 22, 2014 4 min. read

As the largest trading partner of all Southeast Asian countries, China has long exerted enormous influence over the economic and political agendas of governments throughout the region.

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The Islamic State and Southeast Asia
October 16, 2014 7 min. read

The threat the Islamic State (IS) poses to Western nations is very real — witness in recent weeks the thwarting of a public beheading in Sydney, the raids on terrorist cells in Melbourne, raids in The Hague and Brussels, possible threats to subways in Paris and New York, and the recent averting of a terrorist plot in London.

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Vietnamese Woman Burns Self to Protest China
May 27, 2014 3 min. read

Protest continued in Vietnam this past weekend as a 67-year-old Vietnamese woman burned herself to death at the front gate of Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday morning. Vietnamese authorities believe the suicide was the result of personal troubles and anger, as they discovered a bag at the scene containing seven banners […]

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The Morality of Power and Wealth
January 14, 2014 5 min. read

As one of the godfathers of modern neoliberalism, it would be interesting to get Columbia University Professor Jeffery Sachs’ take on the recent government crackdown on protesting garment factory workers in Cambodia. The former Harvard economist once said “my concern is not that there are too many sweatshops, but that there are too few.” The […]

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Southeast Asia 2013 Review: A Region Deprived of Leaders and Hope
January 3, 2014 8 min. read

Until very recently, Ou Virak was President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Being a human rights activist in Cambodia, a country with too many abuses in that category to possibly list here, is quite the daunting task. The government of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have notoriously […]

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