Tag Archives: Benigno S. Aquino III

Here in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the local government last week ordered its travel and tourism departments to draw up a feasibility study for tours to the Truong Sa (Spratly) islands, which Vietnam currently occupies.

Ever since it became a rising economic power, China started to realize the need for soft power in order to increase its global competitiveness.  In Africa, Beijing found itself competing with Western companies backed by development agencies imposing good governance and human rights restrictions.  Beijing sought to appeal to some African nations by offering to […]

Until very recently, Ou Virak was President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Being a human rights activist in Cambodia, a country with too many abuses in that category to possibly list here, is quite the daunting task. The government of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have notoriously […]

AP Photo: David Guttenfelder With the official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan topping 4,000 on Wednesday, nations from around the world are ramping up their efforts to help the Philippines deal with over 1,600 missing persons, 700,000 damaged houses and the nearly 10 million people affected.  Australia, Britain and the U.S. have so far each […]

Throughout the years, I have been critic of the Aquino’s, a powerful family which has had significant influence in Filipino politics dating all the way back to the Malolos Congress at the turn of the century. They are a family which is not short on drama, but always seems to look indefatigable and benevolent when […]

Thailand:  Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva not only kept his word to meet with opposition Red Shirt leaders, but also allowed the exchange to be carried live on state television.  In regard to one of the Red Shirt’s central demands, Vejjajiva agreed to consider dissolving Parliament and calls for new elections, a move that many Red […]