GABY RUSLI WRITES — Indonesia has become one of the world’s epicenters for COVID-19 in recent weeks. With a dramatic surge in cases-averaging 50,000 per day-as well as bed and oxygen scarcity, the country’s Third World history and residual characteristics have thrust it into an especially damaging, vulnerable position. While…
Full Article INDONESIA: WHERE CRAZY, RICH PEOPLE, POLITICS AND THE PRESS HELP SPREAD COVID
ALEXANDER SMITH WRITES — I found myself on a plane home just two days after LMU announced it was closing down campus and moving to virtual learning. However, home for me was not the usual house or apartment, it was a hotel in downtown Houston. My dad has been in the hospitality business…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: THE SUITE LIFE TURNED SOUR
ANDREW DAHI WRITES — Imagine quarantining in the middle of a civil war for an entire year. Never leaving your house or having outside human interaction. Your wife, who is healthier and a good 10 years younger, goes out for necessities, giving you no good reason to leave the house. Still,…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: SYRIA AT THE INTERSECTION OF COVID AND CIVIL WAR
NICOLAS PAPA WRITES — The launch of Japanese tech giant Sony’s newest video game system, the Playstation 5, in November of last year was quite possibly the most eagerly anticipated console launch in video game history. Sony’s Playstation console series dominates the video game market, with its previous four iterations…
Full Article JAPAN: HURRY UP AND WAIT FOR A PLAYSTATION 5 RESTOCK
LAMA ALTAHER WRITES — Who would have thought that Cambodia would have been successful in keeping the coronavirus outbreak under control? This country of one-party rule with few checks and balances, with an authoritarian Prime Minister criticized by other countries in Southeast Asia, with a far from free electoral system…
Full Article CAMBODIA: STRONG-ARM GOVERNMENT TACTICS BEAT BACK A PANDEMIC