Vietnam: The Vietnamese government is trying to gather international support to bolster itself in it’s long-standing territorial disputes with China over the Paracel Islands. China has held military control over the majority of the islands for 30 years, and this year has announced its desire to set up tourism facilities in the archipelago. In response, […]
Malaysia: The NY Times has an article concerning ANOTHER Anwar Ibrahim trial. Over the last 30 years, Mr. Anwar has not been a stranger to Malaysian jails, nor to the charge of sodomy, but his latest running-a foul with the political elite may have some serious repercussions in Malaysia, as well as to the nation’s […]
Asia Times Online has several great articles out this week on Southeast Asia: – Vietnam could be facing another currency crisis. The Vietnamese Dong may crash due to the governments unsustainable trade and spending deficits. Apparently, things got out of hand as early as late 2007, when Vietnam started printing Dong based off of the […]
Indonesia’s military has been busy lately, and not just perusing terror suspects, but in activities one might consider a serious misallocation of resources. The Indonesian Navy has deployed Marines to the barren island of Jemur, one of nine islands in the Riau (Arwah) Archipelago, in response to both the Travel Journal and Osvaja.net listing it as part of the Malaysian […]
Today, the head of the Indonesian police, Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri, stated that there was no assassination plot against Obama, contradicting August 20th statements by Indonesian Center for Intelligence and National Security analyst Dynno Chressbon. Other analyst have been critical of Chressbon’s contention that Jihadis had planned to assassinate Obama at the National Airport, because […]
– U.S. Senator Jim Webb (Dem. VA) recently met with the Burmese Junta and Aung San Suu Kyi and successfully secured the relief of the John Yettah, the Americans whose odd actions initiated the latest Aung San Suu Kyi trial and conviction. If the Obama Administration really wants to take take proactive and pragmatic steps […]
– Two of the runner-ups in July’s Indonesian presidential election, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Jusuf Kall, will challenge the election results before the nine judges of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. They claim the voter list contained up to 23 million duplicate names, but neither has provided any evidence to support their claims. Although there […]
-AP has published more on the Indonesia Hotel Bombing suspect, Malaysian born, Noordin Mohammad Top. The U.S. State Department believes he aided in financing the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. After becoming radicalized in an Islamic boarding school ran by the Indonesian Muslim cleric, Abdullah Sungkar, he underwent training in the Southern Philippines and joined […]
CNN is reporting that Malaysian-born Noordin M. Top is believed to have been involved in the recent bombings at the Jakarta Marriott and Ritz Carlton, in the Mega Kuningan business district: Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bombmaker, and trainer for the JI group that was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott — […]
At approximately 8AM in Kuningan, Jakarta, simultaneous bombs detonated at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels. At least 8 people have been killed in the blasts and over 100 wounded. At least a dozen foreigners were injured, including citizens of Australia, Norway, South Korea, and India. During a press conference, recently re-elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang […]