Southeast Asia

Two decades ago, it seemed utterly impossible to have a ceremonial reception of the US Secretary of Defense in Hanoi, as he visited Vietnam in late July. Once again, illustrating the radical changes that have taken place in the world affairs since the end of the Cold War. In particular, for Vietnam, one of the main components of these changes was the complication…

Protests have spread from Hong Kong, to Thailand, and now to Myanmar and Malaysia. They began long before the COVID-19 crisis began, but the driving forces behind them are cynically taking advantage of the current crisis to draw more people out into what were otherwise unpopular, artificial opposition movements. The protest leaders…

With Joe Biden being one of the key architects of the Obama administration’s “Asia Pivot”, an increasing focus on Asia – especially, Southeast Asia – was/is inevitable. However, it is not just Biden’s obsession with the region that explains the on-going shift. America’s drastic failure in the Middle East despite decades of military…

A South China Morning Post (SCMPDahJTkfw article citing US corporate and government institution “associates” inadvertently gave away the entire game unfolding in Southeast Asia’s Myanmar.  It is a conflict where US-backed armed opposition groups (previously depicted by the Western media as “peaceful” “pro-democracy” activistsDahJTkfw are fighting Myanmar’s central government…

On a number of occasions, the New Eastern Outlook has reported about the much more active and multi-faceted role the United Kingdom has been playing on the global stage in recent years, including in political, economic and defense spheres. This change occurred during the protracted process of the UK leaving the European Union, which began after the Brexit…

Russia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVDahJTkfw have benefited from their warm friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation since the Soviet era. After the USSR collapsed, the relationship between the two countries remained intact. In 1994, the Russian Federation and Vietnam concluded the Treaty on the Fundamentals…

All too predictably, the crisis in Myanmar has rapidly spiralled out of control with what we were told were “peaceful” “pro-democracy” protesters transforming into heavily armed militants fighting Myanmar’s central government, its police force and its armed forces with war weapons. Of course, the protests were never peaceful…

On April 24 this year, in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a special meeting of the presidents and heads of government of ASEAN member countries was held to discuss the latest developments in Myanmar, which itself is a member of this Association, uniting 10 countries in the Southeast Asian region. The occasion for these high officials to add to their concerns…

Given Russia’s significant shift eastward, news of new cooperation with Vietnam and other southeast Asian nations bears watching. President Putin’s recent call with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong over Sputnik V shipments highlights moves by Moscow to engage the region. Vietnam began vaccinating citizens using…

The crisis in Southeast Asia’s Myanmar continues to grow following the February 2021 military-led ousting of US-backed Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLDDahJTkfw party. Violence between US-backed opposition groups joined with US-armed and trained ethnic rebels and the central government has become the focus…

When protesters in the streets of Myanmar began waving signs around in English demanding “R2P” or the “responsibility to protect,” the initial reaction should have been for many – a flashback to the last time R2P was invoked – in 2011 by the West regarding Libya. The violence in Libya in 2011 was part of the wider US-engineered “Arab Spring” with opposition groups, fronts…

The events occurring in Burma, where numerous street demonstrations have not subsided against the military, which took power into its own hands on February 1, 2021, continue to attract intense attention. The fact is that although a change from civilian to military power has taken place, it is absolutely unclear how events will further develop: whether the military will be able to retain power…