In the media
Recently I was interviewed by the Kiev-based news weekly Ukrainian Week, discussing the “underground railroad” bringing defectors out of northeast China to safe-havens across Southeast Asia. The interview followed on from my previous reporting on the issue from Seoul and Phnom Penh. The interview discusses how the number of refugees arriving in Thailand has spiked...
More on North Korea and the Arab Spring
Following my recent Foreign Policy piece on North Korea’s reaction to the revolts in the Middle East, I was interviewed about the issue on NPR’s Morning Edition. I spoke with host Steve Inskeep about the 200 North Korean workers who have been ordered to remain in Libya since outbreak of the uprising against Gaddafi, as...
SOPA Awards 2011
My former paper, The Phnom Penh Post, has taken out three awards at this year’s Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards, which covered stories published during 2010. The Post won an award for Excellence in Multimedia News Presentation for our online coverage of the Duch trial, and one for Excellence in Reporting Breaking News...
Burma’s nuclear venture
The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reports that the Burmese military government is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons technology as a deterrent against Western military actions. The allegations have been substantiated by Sai Thein Win, a former major in the Burmese army who served as a defence engineer and missile expert. According to DVB, he...
Bangladesh bans Facebook
This seems to be becoming something of a trend. Unhappy with depictions of the Prophet Mohammad posted on Facebook, Bangladesh has followed Pakistan in banning access to the site and protesters have taken to the street with flags and Zippo lighters. The target of ire? International Draw Mohammad Day (May 20), which encouraged web denizens...
More on ‘Pyongyang’
Following my recent article on North Korea’s chain of restaurants across Asia, I appeared on Radio New Zealand’s This Way Up programme on Saturday, speaking about the operations and how they work to funnel cash back to the Kim clan in Pyongyang. Click here to listen to the segment.
War correspondents reminisce
Today marks 40 years since the Vietnamese communists rolled into Saigon, forcing the US to beat a hasy retreat from their embattled South Vietnamese client state. The occasion threw up its fair share of iconic images (see right), including the extraordinary sight of a North Vietnamese T-54 tank smashing open the gates of the city’s...
Kahn’s masterpiece
One of Dhaka’s most arresting attractions is its magisterially bleak (or bleakly magisterial) national parliament, the Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban. Constructed from massive blocks of unfinished reinforced concrete bisected by simple triangles and circles, the building is perhaps the crowning work in the career of American architect Louis Khan. Although commissioned as the national parliament of...
Armed Forces Day
Occasionally, a copy of the New Light of Myanmar — the Burmese government’s official mouthpiece — winds up in our office and gets passed around for laughs. The paper on March 25, commemorating Armed Forces Day, which marks the start of the Burmese army’s resistance to the Japanese occupation in 1945, was particularly amusing. In...
Ashkenazy in Cambodia
This was a bit of a change from the normal routine. Last week, I had the opportunity to interview pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, in Phnom Penh as part of an initiative of the Vienna-based International Peace Foundation. Currently, Ashkenazy is the chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and he had...
Blog relaunch
After nearly two inactive years, I’ve decided to relaunch my old blog. The previous name, ‘Like Pulling Teeth’ — an apt evocation of the bored summer that gave rise to it — has been exchanged for something simpler. I’m also hoping this site will strike a more professional pose. Expect it to focus more squarely...
Prasat Preah Vihear
This week brought the news that UNESCO has finally decided to list the country’s Preah Vihear temple as a world heritage site, implicitly recognising Cambodia’s sovereignty over the Angkor-era ruin. The announcement came amidst a wave of mewling and sabre-rattling from the anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) party in neighbouring Thailand, where zealots from...
