Beyond the Indus

A conversation with journalist and Myanmar activist Scott Johnson.

Scott Johnson is an Australia-based lawyer, journalist, and human rights advocate with more than 20 years of experience focusing on indigenous groups and geopolitical issues in Southeast Asia, in particular Myanmar, which he still calls Burma.

His work began in the 1990s with human rights campaigns for The Montagnard Foundation, which included lobbying in the United Nations, Geneva, Washington, D.C. and Brussels. He also established the Tribal Action Group, which advocates on behalf of indigenous groups in Southeast Asia.

Over the last decade, Johnson has been involved with Burma and its many ethnic groups, who have vowed to fight the military junta that seized power from an elected government early last year.

This has involved some 30 excursions into Myanmar, which included more than 70 jungle border crossings.

He has written for The Washington Times, The Epoch Times, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Asia Times Online and the West Australian, while producing documentaries for television.

Johnson spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about his experiences in Myanmar and the problems with its foreign relations, dating back to Barack Obama’s time in office as United States president, that made last year’s coup d’état all too predictable.

Given the counterattacks by ethnic groups, which has pushed the fighting from the jungles to the edges of provincial cities, he says a military victory over the Tatmadaw is possible if the many ethnic groups can unite and fight as a cohesive unit.

Xi Jinping has consolidated power and a third term as China’s leader. What are the ramifications?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () speak to editor-in-chief, Shannon Tiezzi, about the outcomes of China’s 20th Party Congress.

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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 does the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy see Asia?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy.

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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 SCO meets at a time of geopolitical flux in the Asian heartland. What’s the significance?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and developments in Central Asia.

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  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, .

Kim Jong Un says that as long as nuclear weapons exist, North Korea will have them.

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss North Korea’s newly promulgated nuclear weapons policy law and the country’s nuclear 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  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 Kupa Lopes, Timor-Leste's ambassador to Cambodia.

Devastating floods have placed a third of the country underwater, underscoring significant climate risks in South Asia.

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the August 2022 floods in Pakistan and the state of Sri Lanka’s economy after its political crisis.

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  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 do the events of early August 2022 in the Taiwan Strait portend for the future of the Asia-Pacific?

Podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the consequences of U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August 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  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 is the state of Myanmar’s complex internal insurgency and how has the international response evolved since the January 2021 coup?

’s Asia Geopolitics podcast host Ankit Panda () speaks to ’s Sebastian Strangio about the state of Myanmar’s insurgency and the international response to the military junta nearly 18 months after the February 1, 2021 coup d'état.

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 economist Ganeshan Wignaraja.

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka's Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared yet another State of Emergency ahead of the next sitting of Parliament, whern politicians have promised an All Party Government (APG) will be formed and a new president elected this week.

The next task will be to negotiate an IMF bailout, this country’s 17th since independence  in 1948, and a restructuring of debts totaling $51 billion while reining in hyperinflation, ending acute fuel shortages, and sending children back to school.

It’s a big ask.

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.

Wignaraja spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the fate of his country. He remains optimistic about Sri Lanka's future and outlines a plan, including the problems with investigating and initiating an asset recovery plan aimed at the wealth of the Rajapaksa family, who ruled Sri Lanka for 17 years.

There are also issues with China – this country’s third largest lender – and its ambivalent attitude towards Sri Lanka, despite Colombo’s strategic position within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Previously, Wignaraja was the director of research at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo, the executive director of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry’s think tank in Colombo, and a visiting scholar at the IMF in Washington, D.C.