Laos – World map

And the ship goes… return to the bipolar world?

25Nov

By Fausto GodoyNo Comments

Asia, Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

And the ship goes… return to the bipolar world?

After eight years of negotiations, and by video conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thirteen countries in Asia and two in Oceania signed, in day 15 this month of november, the “Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership” / RCEP. For it they pledged to leverage free trade relations in the Asia-Pacific region. The document, that brought together the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations / ASEAN- Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam - and the five Free Trade Area partners (ALC) Association - China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea - provides for the reduction of tariffs and the opening of trade in services throughout the block. The India, who participated in the negotiations, decided not to join this stage for the ...

Cloister Memorial

With regard to a matter from the "Fantastic" about the bombs in Laos COPE - Laos. Photo by Fausto Godoy - Personal archive. Today's “Fantastic” program featured a poignant story on the issue of mines that have not yet been deactivated in Laos and that cause enormous physical damage to the population. To recap the question: US bombing in Laos (1964-1973) was part of an attempt by the “Central Intelligence Agency” /C.I.A. to eradicate or group "Pathet Lao", allied to North Vietnam and the Soviet Union during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). In the context of the Cold War, o Laos, officially neutral, became one of the main battlefields between the United States and China / Soviet Union. Photo by Fausto Godoy - Personal archive. Americans' efforts to save ...

Authoritarianism: the double-edged sword of Southeast Asia

PAD Demonstration. Sukhumvit Road. Bangkok. 20th October 2008. The word diversity can define Southeast Asia. There are so many dialects, ethnicities, peoples and religions in just 4.100.000 km², that the uniqueness of the region and the entire subcontinent becomes consensual. A China de Mao Zedong, is a pattern that is repeated today in Southeast Asia, when the authoritarian government took the first steps to eradicate poverty and homogenize the population creating the mainstays of contemporary China. The process was driven by Deng Xiaoping, in 1979, when starting the opening of the country to the world. Like a mirror, the southeast asia, marked by such culturally different countries has been converging in an intriguing pattern: fragile democracies, authoritarian governments and the general development of ...