The Global Progressive Mobilization (GPM), convened in Barcelona on April 17 and 18, 2026 by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, brought together progressive and centrist political leaders from around the world. More than a conference, it functioned as a hub for global policy networks, with more than 100 speakers engaged in discussions about the future of international politics. At its core, the GPM represents an effort to defend and renew the fundamental principles of the postwar international order – democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and free trade – through cooperation between progressive and centrist forces across national and…
Author: Frank M. Everett
In early May 2026, during Japan’s extended holiday period known as “Golden Week”, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made official visits to Vietnam and Australia. Takaichi’s trip to Australia – his first since taking office – coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the 1976 Japan-Australia Basic Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and took place at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Takaichi’s visit to Australia took place against a backdrop of unprecedented international tensions between the two countries. In particular, the growing instability in the Middle East has created a very worrying situation for Japan and Australia, both of…
As Sino-American tensions persist, will ASEAN remain a scene of competition between the two great powers? Or will the region become an actor that actively shapes the regional order by strengthening its own unity and institutional capacity? According to the State of Southeast Asia: 2026 Survey Report released by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, as caution persists towards the United States and China, the region is becoming increasingly aware of the need to strengthen its collective self-reliance by strengthening ASEAN’s resilience and unity. Japan must recognize its role in strengthening ASEAN’s autonomy as part of its own economic strategy. Neither China…
As Myanmar’s military intensifies its campaign of collective punishment and indiscriminate bombing, Bago residents are turning their home region into a decisive front in the battle for Myanmar’s future. Crossing the flat, barren lands along the Sittaung River in the Bago region reveals a very different front line of the revolution, far from the eastern borders where ethnic armed organizations have fought for decades for a decentralized federal democracy that recognizes their rights. Bago has become one of the most strategically important areas in efforts to overthrow the military junta that illegally took power in 2021. Located between Yangon, the…
The small city-state of Singapore has been in the news several times in recent weeks due to a number of articles highlighting increasingly harsh and frequent punishments for wrongdoing, which may seem at odds with its global reputation for peace, security, cleanliness and a lack of corruption. These include the death penalty for importing cannabis, potential prison for public mischief and new rules on who can be whipped with a rattan cane – and potentially raise questions about where effective governance ends and an increasingly authoritarian legal system begins. Throughout Southeast Asia, Singapore has long been considered an economic powerhouse…
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed “to pursue a series of confidence-building measures to strengthen a fragile ceasefire along their shared border, following yesterday’s talks in the Philippines.” The meeting between Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet took place on the sidelines of the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose government hosted the meeting as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), was also present at the meeting. The meeting did not result in any major breakthroughs – none were likely expected given the current poor state of relations…
Recent disasters and climate-related issues have highlighted the vulnerabilities facing the Philippines, a country blessed with rich biodiversity but threatened by rapid environmental degradation. The situation is made worse by systemic corruption, which undermines efforts to build climate resilience. How should stakeholders resolve this conundrum? In mid-April, haze shrouded the sky in northern Metro Manila after a fire broke out at a closed landfill. on a recovered land in Manila Bay. This disaster reflects the country’s serious environmental crisis. A Manila Bay reclamation project has turned out to be a waste disposal site that has become a danger to marine…
The economic consequences of the war in the Middle East dominated discussions among senior Southeast Asian officials at the 48th ASEAN summit and related meetings, which began yesterday in the Philippines. Philippine Foreign Minister Ma. Theresa Lazaro, chairing the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) in Cebu, said the ongoing conflict in Iran has disrupted energy flows, trade routes and food supply chains within the 11-country bloc. “The crisis has also disrupted several sectors, including transport and tourism, while putting millions of ASEAN nationals in West Asia at risk,” she said in her opening speech at the WMA, according to Malaysia’s…
The system still works. No matter how often and from what angle Donald Trump attacks and attempts to circumvent the checks on his power, the system keeps pushing him back and reminding him that he is a president, not a king or a dictator.Trump cannot govern unilaterally, and with each day of his presidency that slips through his fingers as the famous soap opera voiceover passes like sand in an hourglass, the more the system of checks and balances takes power back from Donald Trump.PoliticusUSA is direct information and opinions, without any interpretation, delivered directly to you. Support us by…
MANILA, Philippines — Desperate to find a new source of income because his business was going bankrupt, a Filipino man in his 20s responded in 2024 to an online ad for what he thought was a U.S.-based publication seeking a writer specializing in Philippine defense.The man, who identified himself as “Danny,” told Radio Free Asia that is how he was initially recruited into what he and the Philippine armed forces now believe was a Chinese spy program.Danny is one of three Filipino nationals arrested for alleged espionage for China earlier this year. He is currently detained by the Philippine military,…