Articles

On a recent trip to South Africa, I traveled to Sharpeville, site of the infamous 1960 massacre of 69 Black protesters that became an early catalyst for the anti-apartheid movement. President Cyril Ramaphosa was reminding an audience that the country’s fight for full equality remains incomplete…

Is Kenya poised for an economic takeoff? Or is the prospect more hype than reality? It’s a question I wrestled with during a recent, too-brief trip to the country where I lived in the 1990s. President William Ruto, Kenya’s self-styled “hustler in chief,” tells anyone who will listen that his East African country of about…

February was a pretty good month for Southeast Asian politicians wanting to evade accountability. On Feb. 2, Malaysia’s disgraced former prime minister, Najib Razak, learned that his 12-year prison sentence for corruption was being cut in half. Najib is now eligible for release in 2026 — in time for the next general election — after…

What seemed plausible two months ago is now undeniable: Myanmar’s awful ruling military junta is in retreat against the country’s anti-regime insurgents. The rebels include regional militias and self-styled “People’s Defense Forces” or PDFs, the ad hoc armed resistance groups that sprung up in response to the military’s February 2021 coup…

Indonesian President Joko Widodo — known as Jokowi — is barred from running for a third term next year. So far, he is officially neutral on a successor but has signaled that he is leaning toward his defense minister and erstwhile rival, Prabowo Subianto…

A few months ago, China’s foreign minister went missing; soon, reports emerged that he had been sacked for improprieties, reportedly including an extramarital affair. The powerful defense minister recently also disappeared from public view and is allegedly under investigation for corruption. And a few weeks ago, the entire top leadership of the People’s Liberation Army…

A country’s name often is imbued with centuries of history and culture, and might embody the very identity of its people. Changing a name is a monumental step, usually with political overtones…

There is now little doubt that China’s post-pandemic economy is in the doldrums. Most worrisome of all for the country’s Communist rulers is the youth unemployment rate, apparently so bad that the government has stopped publishing statistics…

Can a song endanger the national security of China and threaten to subvert the power of the ruling Communist Party? You read that correctly — a song. Hong Kong officials seem to fear it can, as they are seeking an injunction against a protest anthem called “Glory to Hong Kong.” Officials have asked a court…

Indonesia was in chaos and in danger of splitting apart. When President Suharto stepped down on May 22, 1998, after more than three decades in power, the autocratic ruler left behind an economic crisis, an outbreak of lawlessness and a heavily centralized, deeply corrupt political system. …