Beyond the Indus

Why was the environmental journalist blocked from re-entering the country that he has called home since 2019?

The second Trump term is nothing like the first. The implications for Asia are massive.

The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the early days of the second Trump administration in the United States.

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, .

The administration's aid cuts, tariffs, and new China strategy are all set to further test ASEAN.

Historian Henri Locard explains how Cambodia's communists differed from their counterparts in Vietnam.

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The fall of Indochina to communism in 1975 sharply changed the political dynamics of Southeast Asia within the framework of the Cold War. North Vietnam annexed the South, ending a decade of conflict but in Cambodia the arrival of the Khmer Rouge resulted in disaster.

Pol Pot and his henchmen inflicted unprecedented carnage, genocide, forced labor camps, and sickness, claiming about 2 million lives, or about a third of this country’s population, after seizing Phnom Penh on April 17 and evacuating the capital. South Vietnam fell on April 30.

The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in late 1978 ended Pol Pot's tyrannical rule but civil war continued for another two decades, Paris Peace Accords and the 1992-93 United Nations peacekeeping operation that enabled Cambodia’s first democratic elections.

At 85 years of age, French historian Henri Locard ranks among the best academics who have made Cambodia their life’s work. He first arrived here in 1964, and lived through some tumultuous years, authoring many books, including "Pol Pot’s Little Red Book."

As the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge takeover approaches, Locard spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the differences that separated the Vietnamese and Cambodian communists, including the importance of Nuon Chea who was "brother number two" to Pol Pot.

He talks at length about the role former monarch Norodom Sihanouk played throughout the conflict, his relationships with neighboring countries and the United States, and the importance of Catholicism within the context of Vietnamese communism.

Also important was Sihanouk’s relationship with friends like Nhiek Tioulong, the Cambodian politician who featured in many of his movies, and – like many of Sihanouk’s confidants – did not support communism.

Since 2000, after retiring from the Université Lumière – Lyon 2, Locard has lived in Phnom Penh and worked as a consultant with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. He is now a visiting professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh lecturing in history.

How will the Biden administration's approach to Asia be remembered?

’s  podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the Biden administration's policy legacy in Asia.

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, .

An interview with musicians Andrea Rubbio and Virginia Bones.

From “Tomb Raider” to “Banged Up Abroad” and “37 Heavens.”

What does 2025 portend for South Korea's politics and foreign relations?

’s  podcast hosts Ankit Panda () and Katie Putz () discuss the implications of South Korea's December 2024 political crisis.

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, .