I, after much internal debate, recently decided to leave Myanmar, clocking in my stay at a year and a half. But I didn't go before getting one last story on Editor Yoshi's desk at Newsweek Japan's office in Tokyo. The team there has been greatly interested in the country's transitional politics play, given that business links between the …
Continue reading Myanmar enters crucible of its democratic transition (Newsweek)
Presidents' Day -- that third Monday of February when Americans celebrate the federalist grandeur of Washington, Lincoln, and the other two men carved on the side of Mount Rushmore (Google them yourselves), all while trying to catch a last-minute furniture sale. It seems an apt holiday to reflect on the democratic institutions these men represented and …
Continue reading Clinton, Bush and the 2016 American plutocracy
President Barack Obama on November 12 will make his second visit to Myanmar to join the East Asia Summit in the nation's capital, Nay Pyi Daw. Following the APEC meetings in Beijing, the ASEAN-led summit will allow Obama and China's President Xi Jinping the chance to flex policy muscles in Southeast Asia, the core battleground for influence in the region. Obama's "pivot east" …
Continue reading Southeast Asia’s “Swing Nations”: Obama makes 2nd Myanmar visit
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has found a convenient way to deal with the broad-based protests cropping up across the country -- pretend they don't exist. But with thousands of Colombian farmers and public service workers marching through Bogota, the capital, on August 29, to air grievances against everything from fuel prices to free-trade policies …
Continue reading Colombia’s Santos sparks ire and protest memes
The above mentioned title is taken from my second piece for the Borneo Post, an ongoing column that I will be writing, which will cover economic and regional relations involving the State of Sarawak, Malaysia's largest state, located on the island of Borneo. As I type away, the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building (pictured left) …
Continue reading Is there no salve Sarawak can apply to Sabah’s scars?
Justin Calderón 