Skip to main content
The Interpreter

Interpreter - Menu Links

  • Articles
  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • About

Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 25 Jul 2022
    • Cambodia
    • Human rights

    Taking on Cambodia’s “Lady Liberty”

    JJ Rose
    An American human rights lawyer sentenced to six years in a Phnom Penh prison may cause Hun Sen no end of trouble.
  • 16 May 2022
    • Sustainability
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Environment

    Diplomacy is indispensable to manage the Mekong

    Anoulak Kittikhoun
    The goal of a healthy river won’t be helped by misreading the shared mission of the Mekong River Commission.
  • 12 Apr 2022
    • Sustainability
    • Myanmar
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos

    How the Mekong River Commission ignores reality

    Milton Osborne
    Nothing is worth celebrating in how a once mighty wild river has been cruelly tamed.
  • 20 Dec 2021
    • Cambodia

    Hun Sen’s all-encompassing rule of Cambodia

    Mark Tilly
    The strongman has anointed his son as successor – after an election, of course.
  • 26 Nov 2021
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Climate change
    • Southeast Asia

    Trouble on the Mekong

    Mark Tilly
    Countries along one of Asia’s longest rivers need to address the effects of climate change and overdevelopment.
  • 29 Jul 2021
    • Sustainability
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Environment

    Bad news for Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

    Milton Osborne
    Climate change, yes, but other factors, too.
  • 11 Aug 2020
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Coronavirus

    Cambodia: Hard choices

    Kimkong Heng
    Punishment for democratic backsliding might force Hun Sen’s government closer to China – but not without cost.
  • 11 Aug 2020
    • Sustainability
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Climate change
    • Southeast Asia
    • Laos

    Chinese dams and the Mekong drought

    Milton Osborne
    The environmental impact of China’s dam building upstream is undeniable. The silence from some quarters is surprising.
  • 28 Jul 2020
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Southeast Asia
    • Laos

    What’s the secret to Southeast Asia’s Covid success stories?

    Dominic Meagher
    There is no secret.
  • 3 Jul 2020
    • Australia
    • Myanmar
    • Cambodia
    • Indonesia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Philippines
    • Southeast Asia
    • Coronavirus
    • Human rights

    Southeast Asian democracies in declining health amid Covid-19

    Melissa Crouch
    An illiberal turn across the region has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Australia should take note.
  • 26 Jun 2020
    • Cambodia

    Hun Manet: A Cambodian dynasty?

    Kimkong Heng
    The eldest son of Prime Minister Hun Sen is being groomed to take over, but still has to convince key political players.
  • 17 Jun 2020
    • Cambodia
    • Coronavirus

    Cambodia: Caught in the middle

    Kimkong Heng
    As it navigates a post-Covid recovery, Cambodia needs to strike a balance between the US and China.
  • 12 Jun 2020
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Human rights

    Thailand: Another dissenter disappears

    Craig Keating
    A fresh abduction case raises serious questions, not for the first time, about the reach of Thai authorities.
  • 27 May 2020
    • Cambodia
    • China

    Another pearl in China’s string?

    Charles Dunst , Shahn Savino
    Plans in Cambodia for a massive tourist resort on an out-of-the way island don‘t add up and may serve a different goal.
  • 5 Dec 2019
    • Cambodia

    What I said then, what I think now: The Khmer Rouge Tribunal

    Milton Osborne
    Progress has been lamentably slow, but a decade on, benefits can be seen in Cambodians learning this terrible history.
  • 26 Nov 2019
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia: Playing the long game against Hun Sen

    Charles Dunst
    European Union pressure is working, and revoking trade preferences might allow Cambodians to escape dynastic rule.
  • 5 Nov 2019
    • Cambodia

    Photo essay: Phnom Penh and China-backed building boom

    Simon Roughneen
    Towering over low shops and French colonial–era townhouses grows a new city in tribute to the politics of the present.
  • 24 Sep 2019
    • Cambodia

    Micro-loans raise major questions in Cambodia

    Andrew Nachemson
    Studies show microfinance increasingly harming those it claims to help, while defenders cry “fake news”.
  • 5 Jul 2019
    • Defence & Security
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia: the regime’s base survival instinct on display

    Lucy West , Sovinda Po
    A decision to reject a US offer to refurbish Ream Naval Base might hint at China’s influence but also domestic concerns.
  • 24 May 2019
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia: weak words on strongman rule

    Andrew Nachemson
    <p>Why bother to send&nbsp;a UN special rapporteur to the country if the democratic backsliding is all but ignored?</p>
  • 14 May 2019
    • Cambodia
    • China

    Hun Sen’s natural bilateral “bestie”

    Lucy West , Sovinda Po
    Cambodia’s tilt to China is abundantly clear after a slew of new deals and rumours of a potential Chinese military base.
  • 26 Mar 2019
    • Cambodia

    Taking transitional justice to Cambodia’s youth

    Renee Jeffery
    Decades after Khmer Rouge, reparations could not be afforded to its victims. So justice is looking at Cambodia’s youth.
  • 8 Jan 2019
    • Cambodia

    The rude health of Cambodia’s Hun Sen

    Milton Osborne
    Speculation about succession by Hun Sen’s eldest son is an interesting talking point – that could go on a while yet.
  • 29 Nov 2018
    • Asia
    • War Crimes
    • Cambodia

    International justice: tackling impunity in Asia

    Priya Pillai
    Trials in Cambodia, while fraught, may help deliver accountability for crimes against humanity across the region.
  • 20 Nov 2018
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia’s genocide verdict: better late than never

    Milton Osborne
    The Khmer Rouge trials reinforce the criminality of the Pol Pot regime but the glacial pace leaves much to be desired
  • 3 Oct 2018
    • Cambodia

    Hun Sen at the UN: a strategic appearance

    Darren Touch
    Cambodia’s took to the world stage in New York, with comments to dismiss critics and target an audience at home.
  • 7 Sep 2018
    • Cambodia

    The James Ricketson trial

    Erin Handley
    Watching court proceedings of a case marred by irregularities that in a country other than Cambodia might be thrown out.
  • 26 Jul 2018
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia’s election: where the numbers lie

    Erin Handley
    Strings of numbers that appear in social media comments are portentous in Cambodia’s stifled political climate.
  • 19 Jul 2018
    • Cambodia

    What has gone wrong in Cambodia?

    Milton Osborne
    In 1993 the international community allowed Hun Sen to remain the dominant political force, as he still is today.
  • 13 Jul 2018
    • Cambodia
    • Japan

    Why Japan is supporting Cambodia’s election

    Darren Touch
    Despite Western concern the ballot will be neither free or fair, Tokyo is seeking to counter China’s influence.
  • 11 Jul 2018
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia: dispelling the Malaysia illusion

    Astrid Norén-Nilsson
    No stunning surprises will be allowed in Hun Sen’s drive to remain as prime minister.
  • 2 Jul 2018
    • Cambodia

    Hun Sen and his personality cult

    Erin Handley
    The menace behind the man within the title “Princely Exalted Supreme Great Commander of Gloriously Victorious Troops”.
  • 8 Jun 2018
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia: the unfree press

    Andrew Nachemson
    Censorship has decimated a once vibrant media landscape, and the restrictions are growing.
  • 28 May 2018
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia: to vote or not to vote?

    Darren Touch
    The Cambodian people are being asked to boycott the election. To do so would be a mistake.
  • 11 May 2018
    • Cambodia

    Courageous voice for truth silenced in Cambodia

    Milton Osborne
    The demise of The Phnom Penh Post sees the end of a premier journal of record.
  • 8 May 2018
    • Cambodia

    Mourning Cambodia’s press freedom

    Erin Handley
    <p>The media crackdown continues with the sacking of the country’s last independent newspaper&nbsp;editor.</p>
  • 1 Feb 2018
    • Australia
    • Cambodia

    The awkward case of the Australian “spy” in Phnom Penh

    David Boyle
    Espionage charges against Australian film-maker James Ricketson have put a spotlight on Canberra’s delicate ties with Cambodia.
  • 19 Jan 2018
    • Cambodia

    Despite the controversy, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is a success

    Tom Fawthrop
    There are many yardsticks beyond counting convictions for judging the achievements of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
  • 11 Dec 2017
    • Cambodia

    Australia wants to reform Hun Sen – ‘It’s not going to work,’ says opposition leader

    Aaron L Connelly
    'Australia has been trying to reform those institutions, reform Hun Sen. It’s not going to work.'
  • 1 Dec 2017
    • Asia
    • Cambodia

    Donor scramble as Cambodia hits undo on democracy

    David Boyle
    The time may be ripe for punitive actions to call Hun Sen’s bluff.
  • 28 Sep 2017
    • Cambodia

    ‘First They Killed My Father’: A beautiful film that could help Hun Sen

    Elliot Brennan
    The release of 'First they Killed my Father' is well timed to advance fears of a return of the past.
  • 6 Sep 2017
    • Cambodia

    Quick comment: Milton Osborne on Cambodia’s crackdown

    Aaron L Connelly
    Aaron Connelly speaks with Milton Osborne, one of the world's leading historians of Cambodian politics, about recent developments in the country.
  • 5 Sep 2017
    • Cambodia

    Cambodia’s dying democracy

    Elliot Brennan
    If the West allows Cambodia's democracy to fall without a whimper, the contagion of despotism will be hard to contain in Southeast Asia.
  • 28 Aug 2017
    • Cambodia

    Hun Sen prepares for next year’s national elections

    Milton Osborne
    Hun Sen is preparing for next year’s elections, which means that he's determined to undermine, denigrate, and punish all those he sees as political enemies.
  • 1 Jun 2017
    • Cambodia

    A dam at Sambor: Another Mekong domino teeters

    Milton Osborne
    Four inhabited islands would have be submerged were the dam to go ahead, displacing 19,000 people.
  • 12 Apr 2017
    • Cambodia

    Electioneering in Cambodia: War debt and China’s favour

    Elliot Brennan
    Tough talk with the US on war debt and the budding new relationship with China are indicative of an unpopular leader steeling for elections.

Stay informed with the latest commentary and analysis on international events from experts at the Lowy Institute and around the world.

Register

The Interpreter features in-depth analysis & expert commentary on the latest international events, published daily by the Lowy Institute

© Copyright 2023 Lowy Institute

  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • Articles
  • About
  • Comments Policy
  • My Bookmarks
  • Terms of Use
  • Site map
  • My Admin
  • Log In