Author: Shihaab Adnaan

On the first anniversary of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s deadliest border war, marked in September, irascible Kyrgyz national-security chief Kamchybek Tashiev aired his frustrations at the slow progress in talks aimed at demarcating the disputed frontier. Tajikistan, said Tashiev, was making “territorial claims” against Kyrgyzstan in the talks. “But our answer is that there should be no such claims,” Tashiev fumed, noting ominously that Kyrgyzstan had found “new documents” related to the border. “Based on those, we know that many parts of Kyrgyzstan had been given to Tajikistan,” he claimed. “If [Tajikistan] does not renounce its territorial claims against Kyrgyzstan then…

PA President’s son Tareq Abbas also holds positions in other ventures incorporated by offshore company. Leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal Tareq Abbas, son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, holds shares worth nearly $1 million in an offshore company with ties to the Palestinian Authority. The documents, leaked as part of the massive ‘Panama Papers’ scandal, show that a company called the Arab Palestinian Investment Company (APIC) was registered in September 1994 in the British Virgin Islands. Since then, the company’s economic portfolio has grown substantially, and is active in virtually every Palestinian economic sphere, including…

The ASEAN region is seeing more cyber attacks as digitisation advances. Recorded Future CISO Jason Steer said software digital supply chains are one of the top risks being faced. In July 2023, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations officially opened a joint cyber security information sharing and research centre, or Cybersecurity and Information Centre of Excellence, in a bid to increase the region’s shared cyber threat defences. The centre is a response to a changing threat landscape. At the opening of the ACICE, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence said Singapore alone experienced a 174% increase in phishing attempts between 2021 and 2022,…

Brussels (4/11 – 25) It’s an old story, a broken record: war crimes in the Middle East, encouraged and stoked by outsiders with their own agenda. Israel, offended and humiliated by the 7 October attacks for which they had repeatedly been warned by Egypt. Hamas, encouraged and bankrolled by Israel initially, in its effort to undercut the appeal of Al-Fatah, has turned into Frankenstein’s Monster, breaching a border that was trumpeted as the most invincible in the world, with 24/7 surveillance, sensors to detect tunnels, full camera coverage and on and on – yet several thousand Hamas warriors parachuted in…

Thailand ranks fifth in ASEAN in the latest annual global index of money laundering risks. The Basel AML index ranked Thailand 45th out of 152 countries globally for money laundering risks with a score of 5.82 points – 0.02 points higher in risk than last year. However, Thailand’s global ranking improved by five places.The lower the score, the better the country is performing in handling money laundering and terror financing. Singapore did best in ASEAN this year with 4.30 points for a world ranking of 118th. Myanmar did worst, with a score of 8.13, followed by Laos (7.44), Vietnam (6.96), and Cambodia (6.78). The score is…

TOKYO Deputies of the ASEAN+3 group of nations agreed on Thursday to set up a new regional lending facility to respond to emergencies in the region amid rising uncertainty over a global economic slowdown and elevated U.S. interest rates. The ASEAN+3 grouping tags on Japan, China and South Korea to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The establishment of the new scheme, dubbed the Rapid Financing Facility, and its specific content will be formally confirmed at their ministerial gatherings scheduled next spring and summer, Japanese top financial diplomat Masato Kanda said after the group’s two-day meeting in the city of…

Copenhagen (14/11 – 40) The massive mobilization and sustained pressure jolted the Sri Lankan presidency of the previously all-powerful Gotabaya Rajapaksa, prompted mass resignations from the government at the time, and solidified existing spaces and created new spaces for dissent and discussions on much-needed reforms. Sri Lanka is facing an exceptional political and economic crisis that has sparked months-long protests across the country. The new leadership under President Ranil Wickremesinghe struggles with the economic situation and seemingly failed to uphold basic human rights and pursue accountability for grave crimes towards the people of Sri Lanka. Despite troubling trends of authoritarianism,…

London (28/11 – 58) Tajikistan’s human rights record continues to deteriorate amid an increased crackdown on freedom of expression and the political opposition, as well as the targeting of independent lawyers, journalists, and family members of opposition activists abroad. Freedom of assembly is severely curtailed with any local protests, such as a series of protests in the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region (GBAO), violently quashed. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Programme Office in Dushanbe, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, and the Permanent Representation of France to the OSCE organized a study visit to Paris for government officials from…

WASHINGTON — In a world beset by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, it’s good news when two superpowers step back from frictions that increased the danger of another war in Asia. That’s what happened last week when President Biden met with China’s Xi Jinping at a country estate in the ridges west of Silicon Valley. The two presidents met after a year of frosty noncommunication, touched off by China’s suspected espionage balloon that wandered across U.S. airspace last winter, by aggressive Chinese military actions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and by U.S. restrictions on advanced technology. The presidents agreed to bury…

MANILA, Philippines — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Plus 3 (ASEAN+3) may soon see their merchandise exports performance improve with exports posting smaller declines, according to the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). “Goods exports remained weak due to muted demand from major trading partners and the global electronics downcycle, but signs of contraction appear to be easing across the region,” AMRO said in a commentary. AMRO said non-technology exports are declining at a slower pace. The think tank also said there was a 50 percent year-on-year growth in ASEAN+3 auto exports, partly reflecting the increased demand for durable goods…