Category Archives: Southeast Asia

U. S. & China are new Competitors in an old, obscure, but important island dispute

A tug of war between China and America in the Indian Ocean

Saltwire: Atlantic Canada News Service — Sept. 6, 2023

The Chagos islands, with Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean

Most of the international community regards the Chagos Islands as belonging to Mauritius, from which they were detached in 1965.
Henry Srebrnik, a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island, provided the following opinion article.

Is the sun about to set on Britain’s control of the Chagos Islands? This archipelago of around 60 islands can be found halfway between East Africa and Southeast Asia. They are over 1,500 kilometres south of India, and even further from Mauritius, from which they were detached in 1965.

The Chagos group is currently governed by London as the British Indian Ocean Territory, but most of the international community regards it as belonging to Mauritius.

Also at stake is the future of the indigenous population, the Chagossians, who were expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s. For decades, Britain has blocked them from returning to their islands. For what reason? And why has this become the centre of a power struggle between the United States and China?

Unlawful occupation Continue reading U. S. & China are new Competitors in an old, obscure, but important island dispute

A Dyer Twofer: Thailand’s Struggles & Pope Francis’ s Mixed History

Thailand: The Last Rigged Election?

Lèse-majesté is the ‘crime’ of offending the dignity of the king, and these days it has gone out of fashion. In Britain, you can say anything you like about King Charles the Turd (as an Irish friend calls him), and no one turns a hair. But if you insult King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, you’re in deep trouble.

By Gwynne Dyer – September 4, 2023

Credits: Unsplash; Author: @jay_5;

Thailand’s Lèse-majesté law decrees specifies a jail term of up to fifteen years for insulting the king, and it is vigorously enforced. Every insult attracts a separate punishment, so the penalties pile up fast.

Continue reading A Dyer Twofer: Thailand’s Struggles & Pope Francis’ s Mixed History

A Midweek Twofer: Ireland In NATO? India Dumping Democracy?? Shakeups In the “I” Countries

The Guardian

#1- Ireland ‘playing with fire’ for opening debate on military neutrality, says president

Michael D Higgins says government risks burying country in other people’s agendas amid ‘drift’ towards Nato

Rory Carroll — Ireland correspondent — 19 Jun 2023
Ireland’s president has rebuked the government for launching a debate about the country’s longstanding military neutrality and the possibility of joining Nato, saying ministers were “playing with fire”.

Michael D Higgins accused the government of a dangerous “drift” from a cornerstone of Irish foreign policy and said it risked “burying” Ireland in other people’s agendas.

The intervention, made in an interview with the Business Postnewspaper on Sunday, puts a spotlight on a government-sponsored forum on international security, where Ireland’s neutrality will be debated. It also raises questions on the role of the president, who occupies a largely ceremonial post.

Continue reading A Midweek Twofer: Ireland In NATO? India Dumping Democracy?? Shakeups In the “I” Countries

Gwynne Dyer: Thailand’s Struggle For Democracy

Another round in Thailand’s quest for genuine democracy

By Gwynne Dyer — May 3, 2023

Thailand’s official emblem

There have been occasional violent episodes in Thai politics and one recent massacre (2010), but the struggle for a genuine democracy has usually been relatively restrained. Maybe that is why it has lasted so long.

In fact, the tug-of-war between the army, the monarchy and the conservative middle class on one side, and the peasants, the students and one billionaire’s family on the other, has acquired a ritual quality. Continue reading Gwynne Dyer: Thailand’s Struggle For Democracy

Alfred McCoy on the Rise of China

[NOTE: In 2008, Al McCoy was a main speaker at a conference on U. S. torture that I helped organize. Both his talk and his academic record marked him as a scholar to reckon with on matters of foreign policy and empire. This record drew me to this new analysis of the rapid shifts of power and empire, especially in the context of the Ukraine war.]

The Rise of China (and the Fall of the U.S.?)

Posted on

By Alfred McCoy, a historian and educator. He is the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change. O published at TomDispatch.

From the ashes of a world war that killed 80 million people and reduced great cities to smoking rubble, America rose like a Titan of Greek legend, unharmed and armed with extraordinary military and economic power, to govern the globe.

Continue reading Alfred McCoy on the Rise of China