RFA Insider welcome again! Oops – Eugene and Amy get a little confused when they flip the podcast format and give listeners the main story first, followed by the regularly scheduled recap and jokes.
How it’s done
Joining Eugene and Amy in the studio is Mem Satitpanyapan of RFA’s sister organization BenarNews, a news media outlet covering security, politics and human rights in Southeast and South Asia.
Mem, who is senior manager of Thai content, discusses with the team a murder case in Bangkok that is making international headlines. The bodies of six tourists – two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals – were discovered in a posh hotel room. The cause of death? Tea mixed with cyanide.
Free podcast Asia
Eugene explains that in an effort to reach and retain new listeners, the podcast will begin with the “How It’s Made” segment to first introduce listeners to the gist of the episode. All segments will remain the same, just in a different order!
RFA Insider listeners should also check out the new RFA Stories podcast, which launches the five-part “Master of Deceit” series about Chinese-American democracy activist and accused spy Wang Shujun.
The summary
Amy starts the segment with a bizarre update related to Thich Minh Tue, the Vietnamese man who went viral online for his ascetic lifestyle following the teachings of Buddha. Tue, along with some of his supporters, were arrested by police in early June, but the “unofficial monk” resurfaced later in July. However, before he resurfaced, two Vietnamese YouTubers found themselves in a sticky situation with the police… for filming a rock formation and suggesting it looked like Thich Minh Tue.
Eugene opens a Pandora’s box of conspiracy theories with the Asia Fact Check Lab report addressing rumors circulating on Chinese social media, following the successful launch of China’s Chang’e 6 space probe, that the US Apollo moon landings were faked. Some “evidence” of the conspiracy relied on presenting excerpts of interviews with Chang’e 6’s lead architect, Pei Zhouyu, and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, entirely out of context. Other “evidence” took advantage of the language barrier to put false Chinese captions on a photo, making it appear that White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre had announced that the United States and China had landed on two different moons. The last two “evidences” – a case of petrified wood misidentified as moon rock and the false claim that the official records of the Apollo 11 mission had been lost – also failed to serve as legitimate proof of a staged moon landing.
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