Catherine A. Traywick

Hillary's Burma Problem

It’s the crowning achievement of her tenure as secretary of state, and it’s unraveling at the seams.

In Japan's State Secrets Law, Shades of Red, White and Blue

Once hailed as a "spy’s paradise" because of its weak state secrecy laws, Japan is trying to reform its reputation as an information sieve with a hotly contested new measure that brings Japanese law more in line with U.S. national security policy.

Why It Took a Superstorm to Expose the Seedy Underbelly of Philippine Politics

Haiyan relief efforts are an ugly introduction to the personality-centered world of Philippine politics -- one marked by feuding dynasties, rampant cronyism, and, above all, dysfunction.

Big Brother's Burmese Comeback

Why the country George Orwell once skewered is finally embracing its non-native son.

Yangon, Once Frozen in Time, Inches Forward

Yangon’s skyline, punctuated by golden pagodas and the steel skeletons of new development, is a scene of picturesque disrepair and halting progress as Myanmar emerges from decades of military rule. 

VIDEO: Poetry After Politics

For years, the vague language of poetry was one of the only ways for writers in Myanmar to criticize the country’s military rulers. But now that censorship has ended, poets are writing more freely.