Asia
A blast from North Korean past
Appealing to South Korea with proposals of peaceful unification, while at the same time demonising foreigners occupying the Korean Peninsula, is one of the oldest pages in…
US, Taliban, Afghanistan peace talks: timing is critical
The Taliban and the US have agreed, in principle, on a peace framework that will ensure the Taliban part ways with international terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda leading to…
WhatsApp targets fake news in lead-up to Indonesian elections
In a bid to combat the scourge of misinformation, the popular instant messaging app WhatsApp is now placing a ceiling on the number of recipients to whom users can forward …
Malaysia and China: breaking up is hard to do
Breaking up is hard to do, judging by the Malaysian government’s latest contortions over how to handle a US $20 billion Chinese-backed rail project of questionable economic value…
Don’t “crush” Abu Sayyaf perpetrators, debrief them
The horrific bombing of the cathedral in Jolo last Sunday underscores the need for the Philippines government to understand more about the operations of pro-ISIS groups in…
Pacific collateral from the INF Treaty collapse
Washington intends to begin withdrawing from the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty early next month. President Trump indicated late last year that the…
Mediation a long shot in Kashmir conflict
When former prime minister of Norway Kjell Mangne Bondevik met with separatist Kashmiri leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in Indian Kashmir last…
Extrajudicial killings: India’s long history of “fake encounters”
Over the past two years, police in the Indian state Uttar Pradesh are alleged to have carried out 59 extrajudicial killings. The events have sparked an inquiry by a panel of four…
Letter from Dili: languid days, broken barracks, and a surprise
There has always been something of a ghost-like quality to languorous Dili, capital of Timor-Leste with its Portuguese-era buildings and statues from Indonesian times still…
The dark harvest of Chinese “black ships”
A US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies report (Illuminating the South China Sea’s Dark Fishing Fleets) sheds new light on the size and behaviour of fishing…