TAIPEI ­– Two sporting legends from opposite sides of the globe. The fiercest rivals in the world’s most demanding athletic event, the Decathlon – their duel at the Rome Games in 1960 still one of the iconic moments in Olympic history. And also – unknown to many – the closest of friends, training together under […]

The post One of the greatest untold Olympics stories appeared first on Asia Times.

Amid the chaos that followed the US pullout from Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, the Biden administration declared that evacuated Afghans would be allowed to enter the United States via humanitarian parole. The initiative would provide them with temporary access to American soil, but not with a pathway to permanent residency. In the weeks that […]

The post Unfinished business left over from Afghanistan exit appeared first on Asia Times.

Late Wednesday night, a surreal scene unfolded in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area. Hundreds of students gathered, lighting candles to honor those who had fallen and injured during what is now referred to as the “July Revolution” in Bangladesh, which led to the end of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year autocratic rule. Initially, the students observed the night in […]

The post Anti-Hasina Bangladeshis on alert for ‘evil remnants’ appeared first on Asia Times.

Speaking on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night (August 12), Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz claimed Australia was “giving away its natural resources”, something he found “mind-boggling”. He said that if Australia made the fossil fuel industry pay for the value of the resources it extracts and its fair share of taxes, “you wouldn’t have the […]

The post Is Australia ‘giving away’ its natural resources? appeared first on Asia Times.

This article was first published by Pacific Forum and is republished with kind permission. Read the original here. At the 37th Asia-Pacific Roundtable: Crisis in an Interregnum held in Kuala Lumpur June 4-6, 2024, scholars and practitioners from across the world covered a range of conflicts and disputes in the region. There have been heated debates on […]

The post The world needs to care more about the Mekong appeared first on Asia Times.

Last month, two vessels struggling to push through the overcrowded Strait of Malacca collided, reviving interest in alternative trading routes to connect the world’s largest commercial centers. Thailand has seized the initiative by advancing construction of a “land bridge” devised to enable goods to flow from the Andaman to the Gulf coast through a system […]

The post Blocking Thailand’s solution to China’s ‘Malacca Dilemma’ appeared first on Asia Times.

In the wake of his huge defeat on June 30, 2024, when 80% of voters rejected French “centrist” President Emmanuel Macron, he said he understood the French people’s anger. In the UK, Conservative loser Rishi Sunak said the same about the British people’s anger, as Labor leader Starmer now says as the anger explodes. Of […]

The post Capitalism, mass anger and 2024 elections appeared first on Asia Times.

On December 2, 2016, US President-elect Donald Trump made international headlines by accepting a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s then-president Tsai Ing-wen. It was a noteworthy break with diplomatic custom; since the 1970s, the United States had remained committed to a “One China” policy to placate leaders in Beijing. At the time, Trump’s call was […]

The post Trump’s action, not rhetoric, what matters on Taiwan appeared first on Asia Times.

You can’t help but feel sorry for Rupert Murdoch. In Mary Shelley’s famous novel, Dr Frankenstein created a monster that took on a life of its own, and which he could no longer control. Murdoch has outdone Frankenstein and created two monsters over which he has now lost control. They have left him floundering and […]

The post How an Australian helped create the Trumpism monster appeared first on Asia Times.

Tensions have eased slightly in the South China Sea as Manila and Beijing appear to have come to an agreement on the humanitarian delivery of supplies to the Philippines’ beleaguered outpost, the rusting and rapidly deteriorating remains of a WWII-era warship that was intentionally grounded on Second Thomas Shoal. To be sure, this new development in the long-running maritime […]

The post Second Thomas Shoal isn’t worth war with China appeared first on Asia Times.

The Ecofactor electric vehicle recharging company based in Odesa, Ukraine, is well on the way to disrupting the fragmented and inefficient EV industry through innovation, cost efficiency and time to market. Ecofactor founder and CEO Sergii Velchev traveled to the United States leading a Ukrainian delegation of companies to the annual SelectUSA Investment Summit in […]

The post EVs complicate Musk-Ukraine loss of affection appeared first on Asia Times.

Today marks 75 years since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions on August 12, 1949. In theory, these rules of war are universally agreed by every nation. In practice, they are routinely violated everywhere. With an estimated 120 armed conflicts worldwide, more than 450 armed groups and 195 million people living in areas under their […]

The post 75 years on, are the Geneva Conventions as good as dead? appeared first on Asia Times.

This article was first published by Pacific Forum and is republished with kind permission. Read the original here. In the three and a half years since the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar has endured political, social, economic and armed struggles. The opposition National Unity Government (NUG) declared a defensive war in September 2021, establishing the […]

The post Operation 1027 rapidly changing Myanmar’s security landscape appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korea’s interest in developing nuclear weapons can be traced back to the 1970s, during the tenure of President Park Chung-hee. This period was marked by heightened regional tensions and a growing sense of insecurity, particularly in light of North Korea’s increasing interest in nuclear weapons and its escalating military capabilities. Additionally, there was a […]

The post How India figures in South Korea’s nuclear dilemma appeared first on Asia Times.

Sheikh Hasina ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for over 15 years. But on August 5 she was forced to resign and flee the country as hundreds of thousands of people marched on the capital Dhaka and stormed her residence. Until the very end, Hasina tried to hold on to power through the use of […]

The post Bangladesh at a critical post-Hasina crossroads appeared first on Asia Times.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has done what no American president ever could. He got Japan to get serious about defense after decades of pathological overdependence on US forces. But here’s the problem: Being serious about defense and actually being able to defend oneself are different things. Japan already has a large and powerful defense force […]

The post Good news, bad news in Japan’s military reawakening appeared first on Asia Times.

Indian intelligence agencies, rarely the epitome of self-assured success, have rarely been caught as flat-footed as they were over the weekend when Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hurriedly evacuated her palatial residences for a rather modest government guest house on the outskirts of Delhi. In a matter of a few hours, the former “Iron Lady” […]

The post Bangladesh as color revolution on India’s doorstep appeared first on Asia Times.

Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency infamous for its price volatility and environmental impact, has become a focal point of the US presidential campaign. On July 27, the former US president and Republican nominee for the upcoming election, Donald Trump, headlined the biggest Bitcoin conference of the year in Nashville. In his speech, Trump claimed he will make […]

The post How Trump could make Bitcoin great again appeared first on Asia Times.

New scientific understanding and engineering techniques have always impressed and frightened. No doubt they will continue to. OpenAI recently announced that it anticipates “superintelligence” – AI surpassing human abilities – this decade. It is accordingly building a new team, and devoting 20% of its computing resources to ensuring that the behavior of such AI systems […]

The post Philosophy is crucial in the age of AI appeared first on Asia Times.

Fans of capitalism like to say it is democratic or that it supports democracy. Some have stretched language so far as to literally equate capitalism with democracy, using the terms interchangeably. No matter how many times that is repeated, it is simply not true and never was. Indeed, it is much more accurate to say […]

The post The undemocratic reality of US capitalism appeared first on Asia Times.