Bangladesh’s unfree election is part of a larger trend of democratic regression in South and Southeast Asia.

Ruling elites in South and Southeast Asia have stacked the electoral deck in their favor, hindering the chances of opposition parties.

Whatever taboo existed against extraterritorial renditions and executions in other places around the world never really existed in mainland Southeast Asia.

Strategic clarity and a long-term vision are sorely needed to provide direction in the messier, muddled reality that has arrived in Northeast Asia.

Russia saw its full-spectrum engagement with Southeast Asia pay dividends following its all-out invasion of Ukraine. But its brief interlude of greater influence in the region is now waning.

Moscow's influence in Southeast Asia is drastically waning.