Beyond the Indus

Will Vietnam's political tumult have any geopolitical ramifications?

’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () speak to ’s Sebastian Strangio about the ongoing leadership purge in Vietnam and its consequences.

Click the play button to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to  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, .

A conversation with tribunal witness Rob Hamill.

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal is all but over. The final appeal in the genocide case against the regime's former head of state Khieu Samphan dismissed and legislation passed to wind up the legalities and consign volumes of evidence to the history books.

For many of Pol Pot’s victims, the time has come to move on – and that includes Rob Hamill, a New Zealander who testified against Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, who ran the S-21 extermination center and was responsible for the death of his brother Kerry.

Kerry Hamill was sailing around the world and is thought to have drifted into Cambodian waters with John Dewhirst and Canadian friend Stuart Glass during the Democratic Kampuchea era.

Glass was shot and killed when the boat was seized. But Hamill and Dewhirst were captured and held by the Khmer Rouge naval commander Meas Muth, who then transferred the pair to S-21 in Phnom Penh where they were processed and executed in 1978.

Despite the many criticisms leveled at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), as the tribunal is officially known, Rob Hamill is happy with the outcomes of the tribunal which he says has laid Khmer Rouge atrocities bare and given ordinary Cambodians the right to speak and judge their past.

That includes a life sentence to Duch who died behind bars in September 2020.

His one disappointment was the ECCC’s inability to put Meas Muth, now 84, on trial after he was accused by international prosecutors at least 7,400 deaths between 1975 and 1979, when some two million people perished under Khmer Rouge rule.

A former Olympic rower and political candidate, Rob Hamill is currently emulating his brother’s dream and sailing around the world with his family in tow.

He recently landed in Cambodia, where he spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the loss of Kerry, the impact that had on his family, and staring down Comrade Duch.

Japan has set out on its most ambitious defense build-up program since the end of World War II.

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the significance of Japan's new 2022 National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy.

Click the play button to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’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, .

What trends and events shaped the region in 2022?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () reflect on the major geopolitical trends and developments in Asia in 2022.

Click the play button to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’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, .

A conversation with Margaret Bywater.

A conversation with the veteran British journalist and filmmaker Tom Fawthrop.

British journalist and filmmaker Tom Fawthrop has delivered his latest documentary on the plight of the Mekong River amid ongoing dam construction, climate change, and that appears to have ended with this year’s heavy rains.

"A River Screams for Mercy: Murdering the Mekong" follows efforts by local activists demanding a moratorium on dam construction, but their calls too often fall on deaf ears among authorities who stand to profit.

Working for a range of publications – including Mongabay, The Ecologist, The Diplomat, China Dialogue, and the Lowy Institute's Interpreter blog – Fawthrop has covered Southeast Asia since 1979, reporting on conflicts and peacemaking in Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines.

But in recent his years his focus has settled on the Mekong and the plight of 70 million people who rely on the river for their daily protein, with his investigations also conducted as a researcher for Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand.

His documentary work has been broadcast by Channel 4 in the U.K., SBS in Australia, and Al Jazeera TV.

Fawthrop spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the dangers confronted by environmentalists which have substantially increased since in Laos of the community development worker, Sombath Somphone, 10 years ago.

“Simply to be an environmentalist is to be labeled a dissident,” he says.

Of particular concern is yet another cluster of dams to be built across the river in Laos, which were initially designed to turn the tiny landlocked country into the “battery of Asia” through hydro-power electricity.

But technological advances on an industrial scale in solar, wind and other alternative power sources could make those dams redundant before they are even completed.

What's driving China's late-2022 protests?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the drivers of recent protests in China.

Click the play button to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’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, .

Bradley Murg discusses the recent ASEAN, G-20, and APEC conclaves.

What transpired at various summits in Asia this month?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss recent summits in the Asia-Pacific.

Click the play button to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’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, .

Weeks of tensions on the Korean Peninsula have led to unprecedented shows of force from Pyongyang. What's behind the saber-rattling?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Click the play button to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’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, .