Beyond the Indus

What will India's 2024 vote mean for Asia and the world?

’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the geopolitical implications of India's 2024 general elections.

Click the play button above to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to ’s Asia Geopolitics podcast ; if you use Windows or Android, you can subscribe , or .

If you like the podcast and have suggestions for content, please leave a review and rating on iTunes and TuneIn. You can contact the host, Ankit Panda, .

The veteran editor speaks about the media's changing role and declining influence in both Australia and Southeast Asia.

The media industry has changed enormously since David Armstrong began his career as a junior reporter for The Australian newspaper in Sydney in 1969, and not for the better. Superficiality and a “gotcha” mentality by too many journalists, he says, has lowered the bar in Australia.

But he also says there are bright spots in Southeast Asia among newspapers that have a strong regional coverage and a good mix between print and online editions.

In Australia. Armstrong was editor of The Australian and The Canberra Times newspapers and The Bulletin magazine, working directly with media magnates Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Kerry Stokes before moving to Hong Kong in 1993 as editor of the South China Morning Post.

He was managing director of The Bangkok Post and throughout, he worked the sensitive line between publishers and journalists and ensured profits while covering the biggest stories over half a century ranging from the death of Princess Diana to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

At the Myanmar Times, he was an editorial consultant and active in the transition-to-democracy period – before the 2021 coup and the civil war. Armstrong also served on several boards and was chairman of the Post Media Ltd, which recently closed its , the Phnom Penh Post.

In Bangkok, he spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the role of newspapers and their impact – or lack of – on public thinking. That includes election wins and losses by Australian prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser and Malcolm Turnbull.

Armstrong is currently the chairman of UCA News and fortnightly column about Asia media for Pearls and Irritations, a public policy journal published by John Menadue.

The leaders of the United States, Japan, and the Philippines will meet in Washington amid shared and growing concerns about China.

’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () preview the April 2024 U.S.-Japan-Philippines summit.

Click the play button above to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to ’s Asia Geopolitics podcast ; if you use Windows or Android, you can subscribe , or .

If you like the podcast and have suggestions for content, please leave a review and rating on iTunes and TuneIn. You can contact the host, Ankit Panda, .

The veteran editor on winning awards, breaking news, and managing journalists.

What does the U.S. intelligence community's 2024 Annual Threat Assessment suggest about Asia?

’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the U.S. intelligence community's 2024 Annual Threat Assessment.

Click the play button above to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to ’s Asia Geopolitics podcast ; if you use Windows or Android, you can subscribe , or .

If you like the podcast and have suggestions for content, please leave a review and rating on iTunes and TuneIn. You can contact the host, Ankit Panda, .

How to save thousands of lives by preventing STDs.

Mechai Viravaidya has spent the last 50 years at the helm of family planning in Thailand, and has been credited with saving countless lives through his safe sex campaigns, which rose to the fore when the HIV/AIDS virus took hold in 1981.

From his flagship restaurant Cabbages and Condoms in Bangkok, Mechai spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about fulfilling his social obligations, inherited from his Thai father and Scottish mother, both medical doctors, who emphasized the importance of giving back.

Born in 1941, he studied at the University of Melbourne and returned to Thailand where he became a government minister, traveled the country, and realized the potential devastating impact of a sharply rising birth rate and the difficulties faced by his nation’s mothers.

He was also confronted by political leaders who believed Thailand could become a global superpower if it had a large enough population and they were just not interested in reducing the country’s population rate.

Mechai persisted and established the non-profit Population and Community Development Association which was largely funded through Cabbages and Condoms. The average number of children in Thai families fell from seven to 1.5.

In Thailand, Mechai has affectionately been known as “Mr. Condom” and condoms are often referred to as “mechais” – nicknames he wears with a sense of humor while noting condoms are no more offensive than an orange or a tennis ball.

These days Mechai is focused on his rural Bamboo Schools program and on elderly Thais, who lack family support, through his country’s extensive network of 40,000 temples where housing has been built on vacant land, health care is provided and food grown and distributed.

A conversation with Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch ahead of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

What is the state of play in Afghanistan today?

’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss Afghanistan's geopolitical position in 2024.

Click the play button above to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to ’s Asia Geopolitics podcast ; if you use Windows or Android, you can subscribe , or .

If you like the podcast and have suggestions for content, please leave a review and rating on iTunes and TuneIn. You can contact the host, Ankit Panda, .