PODCAST · news
Beyond the Mekong
by The Diplomat
Delve into Southeast Asian geopolitics with The Diplomat's Luke Hunt and guests who know the region and the issues.
Episodes
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Kim Aris On the Campaign to Free Aung San Suu Kyi
Kim Aris has conducted a concerted campaign for the release of his mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, ever since she was detained in early 2021, when Myanmar’s military ousted her elected government and tipped the country into a bloody civil war. Her meeting last month with an official from the...
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POGOs and Online Scams, From the Philippines to Myanmar
Eunice Barbara Novio is a Thailand-based journalist and an English lecturer at Vongchavalitkul University who has has written extensively on human trafficking in Southeast Asia, particularly focusing on Filipino victims trafficked to Myanmar. A veteran writer for Inquirer.net, she has reported...
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A Matter of Trust: Google, Artificial Intelligence, and the Public Sphere
Singapore-based Bertha Chan heads Trust and Safety Global Engagements across the Asia-Pacific for Google, focusing on the safeguards and considerations needed to prevent AI misuse while keeping pace with the technology. Her remit covers jurisdictions and partnerships with governments and civil...
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El Niño, Climate Catastrophe, and the Coming Financial Showdown
Pablo Berrutti is founder and managing director of Altiorem, a sustainable finance library, and a strategic advisor with a background in the integration of artificial intelligence measuring the impact of climate change and its impact on business. This includes banks and insurance companies and...
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Mohan Malik on Trump, Asia, and the Legacy of the Global War on Terror
Mohan Malik is a veteran China-Asia analyst and military strategist who has advised senior brass on geopolitics at the U.S. Defense Department’s Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, and he is a former director of Defence Studies at Deakin University in Australia. Malik spoke with The...
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AI, Scams, the Law and Governance, a Conversation with David Tan
Governments across Southeast Asia are struggling with the arrival of artificial intelligence, its endless possibilities that can improve everyday life and the threats posed by organized crime and the scam industries which have taken hold in the region. Singapore-based, David Tan, co-director of…
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ASEAN Fractures Widen as Thailand Hosts Myanmar's Min Aung Hlaing
As the people of Myanmar recently commemorated the 8888 uprising that demanded political freedom but was brutally put down in August 1988, Thailand was playing host to Min Aung Hlaing, the former general who seized power through a coup in early 2021. This was Min Aung Hlaing's second official…
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Where is Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi?
The military-backed government in Myanmar this week released four photos of the country's jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who met with Arnaud de Baecque, the resident representative for the International Committee of the Red Cross to Myanmar, on August 3. “This may be a first step, but it...
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The Shifting Contours of Transnational Cybercrime in the Asia-Pacific
Last week the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its latest report on transnational scam networks, which found that victims from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand had been defrauded of up to $114.1 billion in 2025. The report draws on official data, case...
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Transnational Repression, Organized Crime, and Conflict in Southeast Asia
Chinese dissident Zhang Xinyan was detained by authorities in Thailand last week while boarding her scheduled flight from Bangkok to Canada for resettlement, despite holding a refugee visa from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and all required approvals from Ottawa. Human rights...
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The State of Cambodia's Online Scamming Industry
Scotsman Nathan Paul Southern is the Operations Director of the Eyewitness Project and an investigative reporter specializing in global conflict, transnational crime, and corruption, primarily in Southeast Asia. Based in Cambodia, he investigates the intersection of war and criminality…
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Analyzing the Human Toll of Myanmar's Civil War
Su Mon is a senior analyst with Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) specializing in conflict dynamics and democracy in the Asia-Pacific. Her focus is on Myanmar, where her independent, non-profit organization collects real time data and analysis. According to Su Mon and ACLED, the death...
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Journalism and Fighting for Indigenous Rights in Myanmar
Scott Johnson is an Australian lawyer, journalist, and human rights advocate with more than 25 years experience, focusing on indigenous groups and geopolitical issues in Southeast Asia. He also runs Tribal Action Group and its popular YouTube channel. His work began in the 1990s with human rights...
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A Welsh Reporter on Myanmar’s Frontlines
Lorcan Lovett is a Welsh journalist based in Southeast Asia who has reported across the region with a focus on Myanmar since 2017. He has just returned from a trip to the war-torn country and to Bangladesh, where he toured the refugee camps housing the Rohingya. He says life remains tough in the...
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Trump and Xi: The Impact on Southeast Asia
Few political meetings have been anticipated as much as U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, held in Beijing late last week. It was the first bilateral engagement of its type in a decade and delivered with all the pomp and ceremony that the Chinese could muster.…
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ASEAN's Trade With Europe: The Costs and Trials of Doing Business
The European Union is ASEAN’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States and its third largest source of direct foreign investment, with last year’s total merchandise trade reaching about $320 billion. It’s a formidable number, which both sides would like to improve upon and...
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Reevaluating ASEAN’s Economic Outlook Amid the Iran Conflict
Marcus Tantau, a senior associate at Templeton Research, returns to Beyond the Mekong for an update on the outlook for ASEAN economies as the crisis in the Middle East persists with the costs of the Israel-U.S. war on Iran hitting government expenditure across the region. Tantau spoke with The...
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The Iran War, ASEAN and Global Supply Chains
Chris Catto-Smith is a logistics specialist, a career that began with the Royal Australian Air Force in the 1970s. He then moved into the private sector and used his experiences in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, helping farmers and small businesses in getting their goods to market. It’s…
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Myanmar, War, and Federalism: A Conversation With Joe Lo Bianco
Joseph Lo Bianco is president of the Australia Myanmar Institute and a professor emeritus from the University of Melbourne in linguistics, with a sharp focus on the ever evolving civil war in Myanmar, the politics behind it and the prospect of a future federal government. While the junta has...
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The Iran War: Its Impact on ASEAN and Myanmar
Michael Martin returns to Beyond the Mekong following the outbreak of the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran, which is having a profound impact across the world and on ASEAN, where oil prices have surged, supply chains are being severely disrupted, and the costs are being borne by ordinary people. Martin,...
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Solving the Mysteries of Southeast Asia's Prehistory
Canadian archeologist Dougald O’Reilly and his team were widely credited with solving the mysteries surround the Plain of Jars in northeast Laos, a vast megalithic landscape of massive stone jars scattered in clusters, dating to the Iron Age, around 500 BCE to 500 CE. O’Reilly, a professor at the...
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Southeast Asia: The Economic Outlook for 2026
Marcus Tantau is a Senior Associate at Templeton Research, where he leads the firm’s Southeast Asia practice from Singapore. He specializes in corporate investigations and strategic intelligence and advises financial institutions on how to navigate complex risks. He spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Beyond the Mekong have?
Beyond the Mekong currently has 144 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Beyond the Mekong about?
Delve into Southeast Asian geopolitics with The Diplomat's Luke Hunt and guests who know the region and the issues.
How often does Beyond the Mekong release new episodes?
Beyond the Mekong publishes regularly with 144 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Beyond the Mekong on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Beyond the Mekong?
Beyond the Mekong is created and hosted by The Diplomat.
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