Asia Times
Death by dam for the Mekong
The sleepy town of Pak Beng, best known as a stopover for slow boats connecting the Laos-Thailand border to the ancient Lao capital of Luang Prabang, will be transformed later this year by the launch of a third major hydro-dam on the lower Mekong River.Only ...
Tom Fawthrop
Asean free trade still a distant notion
Southeast Asia is edging toward a single processing window for cross-border trade, but it all may be a waste of time unless the more advanced nations in the region agree to allow more products over their borders.Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have already linked their ...
Alan Boyd
Fast trains to nowhere in Southeast Asia
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Thailand on a July 24 visit to strengthen “cooperation in the construction of the China-Thai railway,” calling the kingdom “a very important partner” in China’s One Belt One Road initiative. Yi did not make clear, at least in his ...
Global hydropower boom will add to climate change
From the Amazon Basin to boreal forests, and from the Mekong to the Himalayan foothills, rivers worldwide are being targeted for major new dams in a global hydropower boom that also aims to supply drinking water to exploding human populations and to facilitate navigation on ...
