Vietnam’s economy is booming as the World Trade Organization prepares to welcome the communist country as a full member after eleven years of accession negotiations.

An economically thriving Vietnam is on the verge of becoming a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, but a holdup in U.S. Congress threatens to stall Hanoi’s accession bid.

This paper from The Stanley Foundation is a report from the 47th annual Strategy for Peace Conference, held in October 2006. It argues that since the end of the Vietnam War, Southeast Asia has often been viewed as secondary to vital US interests. However, in a post-Cold War world that is increasingly shaped by rising powers and nonstate actors, what was previously marginal has become pivotal. After September 11, 2001, both Islamic fundamentalists and the United States identified Southeast Asia as a “second front.” Southeast Asia has also emerged as a crossroads between status quo powers—the United States, Japan —and the rising powers of China and India .

The Thai military staged a coup on Tuesday to overthrow Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been the target of widespread protests and corruption allegations since an April election.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra speaks to members of the Council on democracy in Asia.

Listen to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discuss democracy in Asia.

Watch Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discuss democracy in Asia.

This Human Rights Watch report describes the Jakarta regional government’s excessive use of force to clear out urban slums. It draws on numerous evictees’ accounts of government security forces beating or mistreating them before destroying their homes and possessions. Many residents say they were given so little warning before their homes were razed that they did not have enough time to collect their belongings. Others describe how security forces opened fire on communities and set buildings alight while people were still inside. The government of Jakarta justifies many of the evictions by claiming it is trying to ensure public order, remove trespassers from private or state land, or clear land for infrastructure projects. However, the government has used excessive force to conduct the evictions and failed to provide alternative housing or other assistance to the displaced.

A collection of non-governmental organizations, led by Friends of the Earth, has published " How the World Bank's Energy Framework Sells the Climate and Poor People Short ." 

In this report Amnesty International documents an increased number of killings of political activists in the Philippines, predominately those associated with leftist or left-orientated groups. The attacks, mostly carried out by unidentified men who shoot the victims before escaping on motorcycles, have very rarely led to the arrest, prosecution and punishment of those responsible. Amnesty International believes that the killings constitute a pattern and that a continuing failure to deliver justice to the victims represents a failure by the Government of the Philippines to fulfil its obligation to protect the right to life of every individual in its jurisdiction.

A National Magazine Award nominee for excellence in Columns and Commentary, this article explains how Agent Orange has poisoned now a third generation.

This Human Rights Watch report documents how the Malaysian government has detained criminal suspects indefinitely without charge or trial, subjected them to beatings and ill treatment while in detention, and rearrested them upon court-ordered release. The Emergency Ordinance was enacted in 1969 as a “temporary measure” to respond to ethnic riots. But for nearly four decades the government has used the law to detain criminal suspects without trial for lengthy periods when it finds it difficult to prosecute them.

Australia is assuming a more prominent role in Pacific Rim security affairs, increasingly deploying forces to troubled states in the region in an attempt to stabilize them. While its moves are welcomed by some of its neighbors, others are wary of Canberra's strong military and its close relationship with Washington.

Australia, once considered a minor power, increasingly plays a more prominent role in the Pacific Rim. As Canberra pursues a policy of creating stability across the region, Australian troops are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in East Timor and the Solomon Islands. But not everyone is thrilled with Australia's new prominence.

East Timor had been the feel-good story of UN nation-building. But success was declared far too early and international forces are once again necessary to restore stability in the world's newest state.

This critical report from the East-West Center looks at the operation of the UN tribunal in East Timor that sought to achieve accountability for the violence associated with the 1999 vote for independence. The report argues that the East Timor tribunal represents a virtual textbook case of how not to create, manage, and administer a "hybrid" justice process. Problems included a lack of resources, an unclear mandate, inadequate recruitment, ineffective management by a peacekeeping mission that had other priorities, and a lack of political will both at UN headquarters and at the mission level. The report argues that it is particularly important to assess the failings for the East Timor trials as the UN risks repeating some of the same mistakes in Cambodia.

Pro-democracy protests in Nepal are the latest manifestations of "people power" in Asia, preceded by demonstrations in Thailand and the Philippines.

Recent deadly clashes between Papuans and Indonesian police, protests against an American copper and gold mining company, and Australia’s controversial granting of asylum to a group of Papuan refugees have brought the issue of autonomy for the remote province of Papua to international attention.

Residents of the Indonesian island of Papua have been protesting exploitation by Jakarta. Experts say momentum from the recent Aceh peace agreement has opened the door to peace in Papua.

Snap elections in Thailand brought no clear end to the ongoing political turmoil, as embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's party failed to gain enough votes to form a new parliament.