A new corruption scandal signaled by the April 15 arrest of Nguyen Duy Hung, a relative and aide to Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ, appears to be widening with the April 22 detention by police of Phạm Thái Hà, Huệ’s assistant, for an investigation into “charges of abusing position and power for personal gains.” The charges appear to… Read more ..read more

By: Salman Rafi Sheikh Jaw-jaw-jaw better than fight-fight-fight they say, but… On April 17, Qatar announced that it was ‘re-assessing’ its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, a “re-assessment,” officials said, that was made necessary given how some players have manipulated Qatar’s mediation for their “narrow political interests.” While Qatari officials didn’t specify the relevant actors involved in “misusing” the otherwise ‘good-intentioned’ mediation, there is little denying that Israel’s war on Palestine has neutered many Gulf states insofar as they find themselves unable to shap ..read more

By: Toh Han Shih Speakers at an April 19 hearing of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) in Washington delivered a moderately sanguine view of China-US relations in the Middle East, saying China doesn’t seek to eject the US from the region, although it nonetheless does compete strongly with it. “China doesn't want to supplant the Un… Read more ..read more

By: Ainur Rohmah As widely expected, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has ruled against a challenge by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto’s rivals, clearing his path to become the country’s next president in October when President Joko Widodo’s second term ends after 10 years in office. The court rejected a petition by Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo… Read more ..read more

By: Jens Kastner Things have been turning for the worse for Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program, seven years in the making. It has been about half a year since the prototype of its first domestic diesel submarine began early sea trials. Last week, the head of the program, Admiral Huang Shu-kuang, resigned under a barrage of attacks from lawmakers of th… Read more ..read more

All ashore that’s going ashore The air strike on April 19 by Israel’s military inside central Iran in tit-for-tat retaliation for a barrage of missiles and drones launched against Israel last weekend, in tit-for-tat retaliation for Israel’s blowing up the Iranian embassy in Syria, is a depressing indication that the retaliations are not going to stop, and that the United States is little more than a passenger on this ship without any adequate public discussion about how or why. That Israel had a right to defend itself in the wake of the horrendous October 7 attack on defensele ..read more

By: John Elliott Photo from Al Jazeera The Iran attack on Israel couldn’t have been better timed for Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister. It enabled his national security bid for votes in India’s coming general election when he launched his Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto last weekend. The theme of a strong government capable of tackling international… Read more ..read more

By: B A Hamzah Water fight!! With geopolitical tensions continuing to rise over seemingly irreconcilable claims of sovereignty on the South China Sea, it is time for Australia and Japan to reverse their progress toward involvement and step in as neutral participants to cool tensions. The strategic posture of the two nations, given their economic interest,… Read more ..read more

Hue headed for the fiery furnace? Sources in Hanoi say that police have arrested Nguyen Duy Hung, a young male relative of Vuong Dinh Hue, who has been tipped as the likely successor to Nguyen Phu Trong as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country’s most powerful political position, at the 15th Party Congress in January 2026. Vuong is chairman of the Vietnam National Assembly and a former deputy prime minister supervising economic matters as well as former chief of the Hanoi Communist party. Nguyen Duy Hung, who is an aide to Hue as well as a relative, is said to have ..read more

By: Toh Han Shih The Vietnamese government has begun looking abroad, particularly in Hong Kong and other jurisdictions, for assets linked to the country’s biggest graft scandal involving Truong My Lan, the chief culprit, and her Hong Kong husband, Eric Chu Nap-kee. The 67-year-old businesswoman and her accomplices are accused of siphoning 304 trillion do… Read more ..read more