Deceit and Desire in a Hot Place
At 9:00am, Lan, Howard, and I finished breakfast and left the dining room on the 2nd floor of Hotel Vissai. Lan and I were going to the Golden Smile Clinic on Ký Hoà Street...
Tagged: Southeast Asia
China’s Plans for the Mekong River
The Mekong River, which sustains life for millions of people in Southeast Asia, is an increasingly valuable source of power for China’s leaders. They want to build a series of dams on the river...
Rising Water: Royal Valley
I met Rachel, a coordinator for a non-governmental organization, at a restaurant called Mesa. She wore a long, white dress and told me that she had trained as a nurse. It was 11:30 on...
Deceit and Desire: Ho Chi Minh City
At 9:00am, Lan and I finished breakfast and left the dining room on the 2nd floor of Hotel Vissai to go to the Golden Smile Clinic. It was on Ký Hoà Street in District...
ASEAN Rejects Human Rights
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, has never had a reputation for solving problems. Rather, ASEAN, founded in 1967 to meet new economic and political challenges, has always been known for inaction,...
Trump Entertains Another Dictator
In Malaysia, a large sum of money has disappeared from the country’s principal investment fund. All signs point to the man who controls it, Najib Razak, the 64-year-old prime minister of the Southeast Asian...
China Backs Another Dictator
Xi Jinping, the 64-year-old ruler of China, is giving money to Hun Sen, the 65-year-old ruler of Cambodia, at a time when the Cambodian leader is strengthening his grip on power and losing support...
The Elites Celebrate: Thailand
In Thailand, the traditional elites, guardians of the nation’s monarchy and foes of its democracy, have taken another step in their fight to hold onto power. By forcing Yingluck Shinawatra, former prime minister and...
Blameless in Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi, known in Myanmar as The Lady, says she will be the one running the government of the Southeast nation in the coming months. But, currently, Suu Kyi, who holds the...
Burning Birds in the Philippines
In the Philippines, authorities are killing and burning thousands of birds to address an outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu. Already in Pampanga, a region just north of Manila on the main island...