Indonesia’s bid to acquire the retired Italian carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi is being pitched as a step toward greater maritime resilience. But it may instead expose a widening gap between ambition and the hard realities of doctrine, budgets and fleet readiness. This month, multiple media outlets reported that Indonesia is pressing ahead with plans to receive … Read more
Unfortunately, I have another thing for you to worry about. There are three types of environmental harm. The first kind is local — think air pollution and water pollution. This kind of activity hurts people who are geographically close by — when factories dump crap in the water, it’s local communities who get cancer, and so on. … Read more
This article, originally published by Pacific Forum, is republished with permission. “The powerful have their power. But we have something, too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name realities, to build our strength at home and to act together.” With those words during a landmark speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Canadian … Read more
The New Calculus of Investment: europe’s Asian Pivot and the Rise of Strategic Autonomy Recent diplomatic and commercial initiatives by European leaders in southeast Asia, notably French President Macron’s engagements in Vietnam and Singapore, signal a basic shift in global economic strategy. This isn’t simply a charm offensive; it represents a calculated effort to secure … Read more
When Donald Trump pulled back on his plan to impose eye-watering tariffs on trading partners across the world, there was one key exception: China. While the rest of the world would be given a 90-day reprieve on additional duties beyond the new 10% tariffs on all US trade partners, China would feel the squeeze even … Read more
JAKARTA – One week since President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs threw the global economy into turmoil and Indonesia’s government seems to have been caught flat-footed. Adopting the same conciliatory position as most of ASEAN, the country is looking for a tariff-easing deal. But, with domestic economic policymaking chaotic and the foreign ministry adrift, forming … Read more
The Philippines has seen its fair share of dynastic rivalries. But the deepening conflict between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and former President Rodrigo Duterte, recently escalated by the latter’s arrest and transfer to the Netherlands for trial, is more than just a political battle—it is a blood feud with dangerous consequences for governance, security and … Read more
“What happens in Ukraine today could happen in East Asia tomorrow.” This line from then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s speech in June 2022 at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue of defense ministers in Singapore has just become disturbingly apt, but for new reasons. His warning was about a territorial invasion. Today’s reality is that the betrayal … Read more
The fall of the Assad regime after more than 50 years and the rise of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has brought Syria to a critical turning point. Decades of Ba’athist rule entrenched deep ideological and emotional divides within Syrian society. Aside from the massive job of rebuilding the war-torn country’s infrastructure, the … Read more
Russia has made two major compromises with China by giving Beijing the green light to build a railway in nearby Central Asia and accepting China’s suggestion of re-routing the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to pass through Kazakhstan instead of Mongolia. In the past few months, falling global energy prices have dented Russia’s export … Read more