By Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit — Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on July 25 delivered his first State of the Nation Address in which he summed up his legislative, projects, and public services priorities to achieve his vision of a people-centered…
In this episode, we assess China’s latest Five-Year Plan. For China no document has reflected the legacy of its Soviet-style economic planning and Marxist-Leninist system than the release every five years of a new, comprehensive blueprint for social, economic, and…
By Abby Seiff — On the morning of July 10, political analyst Kem Ley was gunned down at his local café in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An analyst and social researcher, Kem Ley was a media mainstay. For foreign newspapers, he…
In this episode we investigate India’s drug trafficking problem. South Asia’s traditional opium and heroin networks are now complemented by the rise in abuse of synthetic precursor chemicals. Large volumes of each type of narcotics are smuggled from and through…
By Conor Cronin & Norashiqin Toh — Indonesian maritime affairs and fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti on June 6 said the government will sink 30 more foreign-flagged vessels caught for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Indonesian waters, the latest…
By Victor Cha — An investigation recently opened by federal authorities – the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles – and analyses by private cybersecurity firms such as Symantec and Bae Systems in the past month have renewed…
By Aung Din — It was March 30, a beautiful but extremely hot summer day in Myanmar. The sky above Naypyitaw, the secluded capital, was clear. The enormous parliament compound was filled with thousands of people and I was one…
By Matthew Luchins — When Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to majority power in 2014, the new prime minister promised immediate and sweeping reforms to curb corruption. Translating those promises to actions has been more difficult…
By Aung Din In February 2016 in Myanmar, the new Union Parliament will begin to exercise legislative power with newly-elected members. Myanmar’s new government will take administrative power in April. The National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Aung…
By Megan Kelly – For years, China has occupied a dominant space in U.S. reporting of world affairs. A 2003 study by University of Michigan’s Communication Studies Department shows that while media does not strongly influence the American public’s opinions…
