Southeast Asia
Philippines path to ASEAN’s Ukraine? The move toward a regional military hub
Last week, the Pentagon disclosed that the US-led military manufacturing partnership (PIPIR) is assessing funding for a major new ammunition assembly and production line...
Escaping the Melian Trap: Indonesia’s stance in a Turbulent World
Anyone familiar with the Melian Conference or Melian Dialogue—one chapter of The History of the Peloponnesian War by the famed Thucydides from 431 BC—will...
Cambodia Shifts Fuel Sourcing Amid Regional Export Restrictions and Global Energy Shock
Cambodia’s energy sector is facing acute pressure as Vietnam and China impose temporary fuel export restrictions until at least the end of March. These...
Rethinking ASEAN Values: Between Partial Reform and Radical Break
On January 4, 2026, ten days after the junta announced the third phase of its elections in the region, a military gyrocopter attacked a...
A Rebuttal: Why the BRAVE Burma Act Is Exactly What Washington and Brussels Need
This article is a rebuttal to "Beyond the BRAVE Burma Act: US Myanmar Policy at a Crossroads," published by Modern Diplomacy on 11 March...
Wang Yi’s Visit to Vietnam: Seeking Reconciliation amid U.S.–China Strategic Competition
Amid intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China, Southeast Asia has emerged as one of the most important geopolitical arenas in the...
Beyond the BRAVE Burma Act: US Myanmar Policy at a Crossroads
Policy toward Myanmar has always remained on the periphery of the American establishment's attention. It is all the more surprising that in February 2026,...
ASEAN’s real strength lies in strategic ambiguity
As the ASEAN foreign ministers gathered recently to set the agenda of the bloc in 2026, the familiar critique of ASEAN’s slow, divided, and...
The Fatal Costs of the Philippines-Taiwan War Scenario
In August 2025, President Marcos Jr. said that “a war over Taiwan will drag the Philippines, kicking and screaming into the conflict."
Pushing for preparation,...
Indonesia at The Board of Peace: Realistic Choice or Subtle Coercion?
According to John Mearsheimer’s realist theory, great powers will shape, ignore, or even create new institutions when existing ones fail to serve their strategic...