Asia
Sri Lanka failing on human rights
Sri Lanka’s ethnic tensions remain predictably grim nearly a decade since the end of the country’s brutal 26-year civil war.
The Special Rapporteur’s report is another reminder…
Julie Bishop’s new Timor-Leste chapter
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop arrived in Timor-Leste at the weekend, on her first official visit and the first by any Australian minister to the country in five years…
Imran Khan as Pakistan’s Prime Minister elect
Imran Khan’s impressive election victory in Pakistan marks the first time in country’s 70-year history that a relative outsider will govern on a democratic mandate. While he is…
North Korea: repatriating fallen Americans
Private Lowell W. Bellar of Gary, Indiana, was only 19 years old when he was killed in action in Korea on 1 December 1950. However, his brother and surviving relatives would…
China: vaccines and rumours from Zhongnanhai
Last week, rumours began swirling around Beijing about possible factional infighting within the Chinese Government involving President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang…
Kazakhstan steps into the sun
Central Asia rarely appears in Western media. So many observers have missed Kazakhstan’s steady consolidation of a leading and independent regional role. Kazakhstan is deploying…
Cambodia’s election: where the numbers lie
There’s a quirk on Cambodian social media that initially stumps the uninitiated – comments on articles that comprise simply a string of 7777s or 4444s.
Until recently, a…
The Sabah question
Who is right in the territorial dispute between the Philippines and Malaysia over Sabah is a question best not asked. In answer, each side will reaffirm their absolute…
Laos dam collapse and stress on the Mekong
Beyond concern for the undoubted human costs of the collapse of Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam in Laos, this event once again focuses attention on the long-term effect of the massive…
Facebook and Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law
This article was co-authored with a Vietnamese journalist, Cecelia Nguyen. She is a freelance journalist in Vietnam working across a range of media. Her works focus on …