Three Asian Summits

Published on Jan 6, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Brad Murg. Southeast Asia recently played host to an unprecedented group of summits that firmly put the West and its U.S.-led foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific on the front foot.Bradley Murg, distinguished senior research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, speaks with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the key takeaways and questions that arose after world leaders converged on Phnom Penh, Bali, and Bangkok.Listen here.

Sri Lanka's Political Implosion

Published on Aug 27, 2022 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Ganeshan Wignaraja. Sri Lanka has been imperiled by a collapsing economy amid allegations of gross corruption by the Rajapaksa family which had ruled the island-nation for 17 years.Ganeshan Wignaraja is an internationally known development economist. He is a non-resident senior fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and a senior research associate at ODI Global in London.He spoke with Luke Hunt in Colombo about the plight of his country. Listen here..

Vigilantes Saving Rainforests

Published on Jun 1, 2022 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Karl Malakunas. Palawan island in the Philippines has emerged as a battlefield for a tiny network of environmental crusaders and vigilantes who are trying to protect its spectacular natural resources, powder-white beaches, and lush forests, which have made it one of Asia’s hot new tourist destinations.They are also the subject of a new feature-length documentary “Delikado” from director Karl Malakunas who pressed ahead with its production after one of the vigilantes was shot dead in 2011.“Delikado” follows Bobby, Tata, and Nieves as they risk their lives in trying to stop politicians and businessmen from destroying what is perhaps the Philippines’ last ecological frontier.The documentary also exposes how outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte’s notorious “war on drugs” has been....

Terrorism; Far Out

Published on May 24, 2022 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Charlotte McDonald-Gibson. Security laws imposed around the world to curb the spread of COVID-19 enabled the authorities to crackdown on militancy, which resulted in a brief respite from they type of terrorist attacks that had become all too familiar during the first two decades of this century.But as author Charlotte McDonald-Gibson notes, the pandemic could lend itself to increased isolation and the same factors that have enabled groups like the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaida, and the now defunct Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia to find support from remote corners of the globe.In her latest book, “Far Out: Encounters with Extremists,“ the veteran foreign correspondent chronicles the lives of eight people who succumbed to the influence of hardliners,....

ASEAN's Place

Published on May 20, 2022 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Carl Thayer. Last weekend’s U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit ended with the usual round of handshakes, backslapping and a watered-down joint statement, which again failed to name countries of concern, China and Russia.Carl Thayer, Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the summit and Vietnam, which is in an awkward position due to its reliance on Russian military hardware.He says efforts to maintain a “free and open Indo-Pacific” have been complicated by the Southeast Asian nations and their desire to be seen at the center of the framework, despite their growing and at times intractable differences.There are also issues with raising U.S.-ASEAN....