The U.S.-China Tech War Is Being Fought in Central Europe
The Czech Republic’s complicated relationship with the Chinese giant Huawei offers a lesson in the benefits and pitfalls of courting Beijing. The Atlantic PRAGUE – When Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Czech counterpart, Miloš Zeman, raised a beer from a terrace overlooking the spires of Prague in 2016, they were hailing an era of deepened […]
Booze Ban Shows Myanmar Economy Largely Off Limits to Foreigners
Bloomberg YANGON, Myanmar – In a small and musty liquor store in downtown Yangon, a stock boy reaches behind rows of cheap Myanmar-made whisky and grabs a bottle of Jack Daniels. “If we know who you are then we will sell it to you,” said Aung, the 63-year-old shop owner, who only gave his first […]
Cambodia Has a Big Problem With Small Loans
Bloomberg PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – As the sun rises beyond the Mekong River over the village of Ta Skor near Cambodia’s capital, 60-year-old farmer Sophal and his wife are hard at work trying to revive their flood-damaged corn crop. Sophal said his harvest was once the lifeblood of his family, providing them with enough food […]
Pirates Seek to Plant a Flag in Prague
A movement tied to greater transparency emerges as a serious contender for one of the Czech Republic’s greatest political prizes. US News & World Report PRAGUE, Czech Republic — If voter Mikolas Moravec has his way the next mayor of the Czech capital city of Prague will be a pirate. Like a lot of young […]
Czechs mark 50 years since bloody Soviet invasion
Scores of Czechoslovakians were killed in Prague after Soviet Union cracked down on anti-communist protesters in 1968. Al Jazeera PRAGUE – Fifty years ago Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia to violently quash the democratic reform movement against communism known as the Prague Spring. Led by Alexander Dubcek, then-newly elected Communist Party leader, Czechoslovakia in the […]
Cambodia Strongman Extends 33-Year Rule in Boycotted Election
Bloomberg PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen extended his more-than-three-decade run in power, easily winning a boycotted election on Sunday after he disbanded the main opposition party last year. Khieu Kanharith, the government’s top spokesman, told the Associated Press that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party won at least 70 percent of the […]
Asia’s Longest-Serving Leader Seen Grooming Sons for Succession
Bloomberg PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Prime Minister Hun Sen now has more power than at any point in his 33 years running Cambodia. The only question is when he might give it up. His ruling Cambodian People’s Party declared victory on Sunday, even though election officials have yet to announce how many seats they won in the 125-member […]
Cambodia Votes in Sham Elections
International observers and rights groups were not be convinced that July’s elections in Cambodia were free or fair after the country’s main opposition party was forcibly dissolved last year, but that has not stopped strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen from trying to get out the vote. With the legitimacy of his new government on the […]
Hun Sen—and China—Win Cambodia Elections
Newsweek PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Three decades into the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodians went to the polls on Sunday to give the strongman ruler another five-year term. It wasn’t hard to do that: His cronies had forced the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the main opposition, into dissolution last year. Hun Sen and […]