Showing 1 - 10 of 1,141
Several bad options for US in Iran standoff
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/04/2026
» The Iranians know they have won, but President Trump doesn't get it yet. He's still at the stage of counting up the US and Israeli air strikes and assuming that those numbers mean a US victory is possible. But five gets you ten that the Iranians are already thinking about nuclear weapons. Not their own, which don't exist. America's.
US must let IAEA do its job in Iran
Oped, Helen Clark, Published on 31/03/2026
» The US-Israeli war on Iran has already destabilised the global economy and the geopolitics of the Middle East. Even more alarming, recent reporting shows that US President Donald Trump is deploying ground troops, a prospect that immediately evokes memories of past failed interventions -- from Vietnam to Iraq -- with their high costs in American and especially local lives.
The silent engines of Asean realism
Oped, Imran Khalid, Published on 30/03/2026
» The global economy is currently tackling what may be the most significant energy disruption since the 1970s. The effective throttling of the Strait of Hormuz -- now seeded with Iranian Maham mines and subject to a tense, IRGC-monitored tolling system -- has physically severed the energy arteries that sustain the industrial heart of Southeast Asia.
Expat fare snub
Postbag, Published on 28/03/2026
» Re: "Why we need walkable cities", (Life, March 21).
Iran war: One miscalculation after another
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/03/2026
» Still not four full weeks into the war, and already Donald Trump's "short-term excursion" -- decapitate the Iranian regime with a surprise attack and impose harsh terms on the defeated survivors -- has morphed into a global economic crisis and a region-wide war that could destroy the wealth of all the countries on both sides of the Gulf. At the very least.
Power rivalry heats up Mekong region
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 24/03/2026
» The Thai saying, maenam maimee promdan (rivers have no boundaries), fittingly applies to the mighty Mekong River, known in China as the Lancang.
75 years of Thai-Lao relations
Oped, Krongkanit Rakcharoen, Published on 18/03/2026
» December is a meaningful month for the peoples of Thailand and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), as it marks the national days of both countries -- 2 Dec for Lao PDR and 5 Dec for Thailand. December 2025 is particularly significant as it commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Lao PDR and, on 19 Dec, the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Thailand and the Lao PDR when both countries launched the formal establishment of diplomatic relations on 19 Dec 1950.
Trump shows China how to handle Taiwan
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 17/03/2026
» Since returning to office last year, US President Donald Trump has ordered military strikes from the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to Africa and the Middle East, targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats and suspected terrorist groups. He has attacked Venezuela and kidnapped its leader. And he has joined Israel in a large-scale assault on Iran. Meanwhile, he is tightening a noose around Cuba, in the hope that the resulting humanitarian crisis will open the way for a "friendly takeover" of the island by the United States.
Voters in Nepal demand change
Oped, Brabim Karki, Published on 11/03/2026
» A rapper turned politician, Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, looks set to become Nepal's next prime minister. Mr Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has secured a landslide victory in the country's general election -- the first since deadly Gen Z-led protests last year, marking a major shift away from traditional old guard parties.
It's never been more important to strengthen ties
Oped, Genevieve Donnellon-May, Published on 09/03/2026
» Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) face a defining moment. Intensifying great-power competition, climate crises and economic fragmentation are reshaping the Indo-Pacific, raising urgent questions about how the two sides can build a truly resilient partnership.