“Kyrgyzstan’s implementation of legislation that will make it easier to fine news outlets for defamation and insult is deplorable,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “The amendments mark yet another blow to the country’s once-free media sphere under President Sadyr Japarov’s authoritarian makeover, and should be repealed immediately.”
The amendments stipulate fines of 65,000 som (USD$750) on organizations and 20,000 som (USD$230) for individuals for alleged defamation and insult in the media and online. Under the new law, complaints will be handled by police and adjudicated by so-called administrative courts in an expedited format compared to civil law proceedings.
Kyrgyzstan previously decriminalized defamation in 2011 and insult in 2015.
Semetey Amanbekov, a member of local advocacy group Kyrgyzstan Media Platform, told CPJ that the enacted law is an improvement on a widely criticized draft granting a government ministry the power to levy larger fines extrajudicially.
However, he said the abbreviated administrative hearings make it “almost impossible” to adequately consider complaints and are instead designed to give officials a “quick route” to silence media “without the publicity of long civil cases,” through fines that could bankrupt Kyrgyz media outlets.
The amendments follow a controversial 2021 law used to restrict access to leadingindependent media in Kyrgyzstan by blocking websites determined to contain “false information.”
A photograph emerged in Chinese-language social media posts with a claim that it shows two Chinese ships, the Changsha 173 and the Yuncheng 571, shadowing Canada’s HMCS Ottawa in the South China Sea.
But the claim is false. The size and appearance of the three ships in the photo do not align with credible descriptions or verified images of the named vessels. AI detection tools show that the photo had likely been generated by AI.
“The Canadian ship HMCS Ottawa entered the South China Sea, and the Chinese Navy’s Changsha 173 and the Yuncheng 571 vessels quickly shadowed it for a welcoming,” the claim reads.
The claim was shared alongside a photo that shows two large vessels shadowing a smaller vessel.
Some X users claim that the photo shows Chinese warships shadowing a Canadian vessel in the South China Sea.(X)
The South China Sea is a strategically vital and resource-rich body of water in the western Pacific Ocean, bordered by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Covering approximately 3.5 million square kilometers, it serves as a key maritime trade route, carrying about one-third of global shipping traffic. The sea is also rich in fisheries, oil, and natural gas reserves, making it a focal point of economic and geopolitical interest.
It is highly contested due to overlapping territorial claims. China claims most of it, as illustrated by a “nine-dash line” on its maps, which includes parts of the exclusive economic zones of neighboring countries.
The region is a flash point for confrontations between various militaries and coast guard forces, triggering diplomatic tensions, involving not only regional countries but also external powers such as the United States, which conducts freedom of navigation operations to challenge China’s claims.
The same photo with similar claims was shared on X here, here and here.
But the claim is false.
Discrepancies
The Ottawa is 134 meters (440 feet) long and 16 meters (52 feet) wide.
While measurements for the Chinese vessels are unavailable, the U.S. Naval Institute estimates that the Yuncheng is about the same size as the Ottawa.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese navy estimates put the Changsha at 156 meters (511 feet) long and 17.5 meters (57 feet) wide, making it roughly 15% longer than the other two ships.
However, the ships in the photo appear disproportionate, with the two supposed Chinese vessels looking several times larger than the alleged Canadian ship.
The ships in the photo do not match the official measurements of the named vessels.(X, CCTV Military, Baidu and the Ottawa’s Facebook page. Annotations by AFCL)The ships in the photo do not match the official measurements of the named vessels.((X, CCTV Military, Baidu and the Ottawa’s Facebook page. Annotations by AFCL)The ships in the photo do not match the official measurements of the named vessels.(X, CCTV Military, Baidu and the Ottawa’s Facebook page. Annotations by AFCL)
The AI image detection software Hive found a 72.5% chance that the image was AI-generated, while a test with the different tool Sightengine placed this estimate at 98%.
AI detection tools Hive (left) and Sightengine (right) both judged that the image was likely AI-generated.(Hive and Sightengine)
January incident
Canadian broadcaster CTV reported on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 that both the Changsha and the Yuncheng were seen in silhouette shadowing the Ottawa during its passage through the South China Sea.
A CTV journalist was reporting from the Ottawa during the incident.
While the two Chinese ships kept in sight for more than two days, the reports do not mention them trying to approach the Ottawa at close range.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Dong Zhe for Asia Fact Check Lab.
Palestine has strongly condemned Fiji’s decision to open a Fiji embassy in Jerusalem, calling it a violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry and the Hamas resistance group that governs the besieged enclave of Gaza issued separate statements, urging the Fiji government to reverse its decision.
According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, the Fijian decision is “an act of aggression against the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights”.
The Palestinian group Hamas said in a statement that the decision was “a blatant assault on the rights of our Palestinian people to their land and a clear violation of international law and UN resolutions, which recognise Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory”.
Fiji will become the seventh country to have an embassy in Jerusalem after the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay.
There’s a troubling sense of normalcy bias among some Democratic leaders who believe they’ll regain their footing in the 2026 midterms, riding another anti-Trump wave. But here’s the critical question: will the United States even have free and fair elections? To answer that, we need to look back and ask: was the 2024 U.S. election free and fair? Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and those around them, break the law so brazenly, how can we trust they came to power without breaking the law?
According to investigative journalist Greg Palast, this week’s guest and director of the must-see film Vigilantes Inc., which you can watch for free, the answer is a resounding no. Palast’s analysis reveals the shocking normalization of Republican voter suppression: over 3.5 million votes were effectively canceled in 2024. This means 3.5 million Americans were denied their fundamental right to vote. And according to Palast, a significant number of suppressed voters are nonwhite. This isn’t just voter suppression; it’s a modern-day resurrection of Jim Crow, fueled by the Republican Party’s relentless assault on democracy. In this week’s bonus episode, out Friday, Elie Mystal, the Justice Correspondent for The Nation, and author of the new book Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, explains how the GOP’s reaction to the first Black president was to gut the Voting Rights Act, paving the way for Trump.
In this week’s bonus episode, we also continue our conversation with Palast, diving into the power of film as a powerful force for confronting America’s darkest history. Plus, we’ll also hear from Mystal on why European nations must take a stand by imposing a travel ban on Ivanka Trump and others complicit in the destruction of our democracy—a move that could help hold the Musk-Trump regime accountable for its action, along with divestment strategies that brought down Apartheid. Don’t miss this eye-opening episode, out Friday!
Thank you to everyone who supports the show–we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
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Show Notes:
Watch Vigilantes, Inc. by Greg Palast for free: https://www.watchvigilantesinc.com/
Bad Law Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America https://thenewpress.com/books/bad-law
Events at Gaslit Nation
Feb 24 4pm ET – Gaslit Nation Book Club at our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss Albert Camu’s The Stranger (Matthew Ward translation) and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning
March 17 4pm ET – Dr. Lisa Corrigan joins our Gaslit Nation Salon to discuss America’s private prison crisis in an age of fascist scapegoating
NEW! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon.
ONGOING! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon.
NEW! Climate Crisis Committee launched in the Patreon Chat thanks to a Gaslit Nation listener who holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences
NEW! Caretaker Committee launched in the Patreon Chat for our listeners who are caretakers and want to share resources, vent, and find community
ONGOING! Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and the first ~40 minutes are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community
This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
Up first on the program, associate editor and producer of the weekly livestream at Electronic Intifada, Tamara Nassar discusses the Gaza-like situation unfolding in the West Bank, violence that has been escalating since the start of, and indeed before, the genocide. Tamara outlines the myriad ways in which the occupation oppresses, dehumanizes and murders Palestinians including tricks the Israelis inherited from the British colonial government, and the twisted use of the Palestinian Authority to support Israeli aims behind a Palestinian name. Next, Eleanor Goldfield sits down with journalist and founder of Payday Report, Mike Elk, to talk about corporate media’s failure to cover Day Without Immigrant strike events that happened in more than a hundred cities across 40 states, and how this also speaks to the presence of news deserts and an anemic alternative independent press. Mike also speaks about the need for a multicultural media system, and how unions can protect against raids and other violence aimed at immigrants.
New York, February 14, 2025— Six months after a mass uprising ousted the increasingly autocratic administration of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi journalists continue to be threatened and attacked for their work, along with facing new fears that planned legislation could undermine press freedom
Bangladesh’s interim government — established amid high hopes of political and economic reform— has drawn criticism from journalists and media advocates for its January introduction of drafts of two cyber ordinances: the Cyber Protection Ordinance 2025 (CPO) and Personal Data Protection Ordinance 2025.
While the government reportedly dropped controversial sections related to defamation and warrantless searches in its update to the CPO, rights groups remain concerned that some of the remaining provisions could be used to target journalists. According to the Global Network Initiative, of which CPJ is a member, the draft gives the government “disproportionate authority” to access user data and impose restrictions on online content. Journalists are also concerned that the proposed data law will give the government “unchecked powers” to access personal data, with minimal opportunity for judicial redress. “Democracy cannot flourish without robust journalism,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Bangladesh’s interim government must deliver on its promise to protect journalists and their right to report freely. Authorities should amend proposed laws that could undermine press freedom and hold the perpetrators behind the attacks on the press to account.”
CPJ’s calls and text messages to Nahid Islam, the information, communication, and technology adviser to the interim government, requesting comment on the ordinances did not receive a reply.
Meanwhile, CPJ has documented a recent spate of beatings, criminal investigations, and harassment of journalists for their work.
Attacks
A group of 10 to 12 men attacked Shohag Khan Sujon, a correspondent for daily Samakal newspaper, after he and three other journalists investigated allegations of medical negligence at a hospital in central Shariatpur district on February 3.
Sujon told CPJ that a clinic owner held the journalist’s legs as the assailants hit his left ear with a hammer and stabbed his back with a knife. The three other correspondents — Nayon Das of Bangla TV, Bidhan Mojumder Oni of News 24 Television, and Saiful Islam Akash of Desh TV — were attacked with hammers when they tried to intervene; the attack ended locals chased the perpetrators away.
Sujon told CPJ he filed a police complaint for attempted murder. Helal Uddin, officer-in-charge of the Palang Model Police Station, told CPJ by text message that the investigation was ongoing.
In a separate incident on the same day, around 10 masked men used bamboo sticks to beat four newspaper correspondents — Md Rafiqul Islam of Khoborer Kagoj, Abdul Malak Nirob of Amar Barta, Md Alauddin of Daily Amar Somoy, and Md Foysal Mahmud of Daily Alokito Sakal — while they traveled to a village in southern Laximpur district to report on a land dispute, Islam told CPJ.
The attackers stole the journalists’ cameras, mobile phones, and wallets and fired guns towards the group, causing shrapnel injuries to Mahmud’s left ear and leg, Islam said.
Authorities arrested four suspects, two of whom were released on bail on February 10, Islam told CPJ. Laximpur police superintendent Md Akter Hossain told CPJ by phone that authorities were working to apprehend additional suspects.
Threats
Shafiur Rahman, a British freelance documentary filmmaker of Bangladeshi origin, told CPJ he received an influx of threatening emails and social media comments after publishing a January 30 article about a meeting between the leadership of Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence and the armed group Rohingya Solidarity Organisation.
Multiple emails warned Rahman to “stop or suffer the consequences” and “back off before it’s too late.” Social media posts included a photo of the journalist with a red target across his forehead and warnings that Rahman would face criminal charges across Bangladesh, leaving Rahman concerned for his safety if he returned to report from Bangladesh’s refugee camps for Rohingya forced to flee Myanmar.
“The nature of these threats suggests an orchestrated campaign to silence me, and I fear potential real-world repercussions if I continue my work on the ground,” Rahman said.
CPJ’s text to Shah Jahan, joint director of the National Security Intelligence, requesting comment about the threats did not receive a reply.
Criminal cases
Four journalists who reported or published material on allegedly illicit business practices and labor violations are facing possible criminal defamation charges after Noor Nahar, director of Tafrid Cotton Mills Limited and wife of the managing director of its sister company, Dhaka Cotton Mills Limited, filed a November 13, 2024, complaint in court against them. If tried and convicted, they could face up to two years in prison.
The four are: * H. M. Mehidi Hasan, editor and publisher of investigative newspaper The Weekly Agrajatra.
* Kamrul Islam, assignment editor for The Weekly Agrajatra.
* Mohammad Shah Alam Khan, editor of online outlet bdnews999.
* Al Ehsan, senior reporter for The Daily Post newspaper.
CPJ’s text to Nahar asking for comment did not receive a reply.
Md Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the Uttara West Police Station, which was ordered to investigate the complaint, told CPJ by phone that he would send the latest case updates but did not respond to subsequent messages.
New York, February 14, 2025— Six months after a mass uprising ousted the increasingly autocratic administration of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi journalists continue to be threatened and attacked for their work, along with facing new fears that planned legislation could undermine press freedom
Bangladesh’s interim government — established amid high hopes of political and economic reform— has drawn criticism from journalists and media advocates for its January introduction of drafts of two cyber ordinances: the Cyber Protection Ordinance 2025 (CPO) and Personal Data Protection Ordinance 2025.
While the government reportedly dropped controversial sections related to defamation and warrantless searches in its update to the CPO, rights groups remain concerned that some of the remaining provisions could be used to target journalists. According to the Global Network Initiative, of which CPJ is a member, the draft gives the government “disproportionate authority” to access user data and impose restrictions on online content. Journalists are also concerned that the proposed data law will give the government “unchecked powers” to access personal data, with minimal opportunity for judicial redress. “Democracy cannot flourish without robust journalism,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Bangladesh’s interim government must deliver on its promise to protect journalists and their right to report freely. Authorities should amend proposed laws that could undermine press freedom and hold the perpetrators behind the attacks on the press to account.”
CPJ’s calls and text messages to Nahid Islam, the information, communication, and technology adviser to the interim government, requesting comment on the ordinances did not receive a reply.
Meanwhile, CPJ has documented a recent spate of beatings, criminal investigations, and harassment of journalists for their work.
Attacks
A group of 10 to 12 men attacked Shohag Khan Sujon, a correspondent for daily Samakal newspaper, after he and three other journalists investigated allegations of medical negligence at a hospital in central Shariatpur district on February 3.
Sujon told CPJ that a clinic owner held the journalist’s legs as the assailants hit his left ear with a hammer and stabbed his back with a knife. The three other correspondents — Nayon Das of Bangla TV, Bidhan Mojumder Oni of News 24 Television, and Saiful Islam Akash of Desh TV — were attacked with hammers when they tried to intervene; the attack ended locals chased the perpetrators away.
Sujon told CPJ he filed a police complaint for attempted murder. Helal Uddin, officer-in-charge of the Palang Model Police Station, told CPJ by text message that the investigation was ongoing.
In a separate incident on the same day, around 10 masked men used bamboo sticks to beat four newspaper correspondents — Md Rafiqul Islam of Khoborer Kagoj, Abdul Malak Nirob of Amar Barta, Md Alauddin of Daily Amar Somoy, and Md Foysal Mahmud of Daily Alokito Sakal — while they traveled to a village in southern Laximpur district to report on a land dispute, Islam told CPJ.
The attackers stole the journalists’ cameras, mobile phones, and wallets and fired guns towards the group, causing shrapnel injuries to Mahmud’s left ear and leg, Islam said.
Authorities arrested four suspects, two of whom were released on bail on February 10, Islam told CPJ. Laximpur police superintendent Md Akter Hossain told CPJ by phone that authorities were working to apprehend additional suspects.
Threats
Shafiur Rahman, a British freelance documentary filmmaker of Bangladeshi origin, told CPJ he received an influx of threatening emails and social media comments after publishing a January 30 article about a meeting between the leadership of Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence and the armed group Rohingya Solidarity Organisation.
Multiple emails warned Rahman to “stop or suffer the consequences” and “back off before it’s too late.” Social media posts included a photo of the journalist with a red target across his forehead and warnings that Rahman would face criminal charges across Bangladesh, leaving Rahman concerned for his safety if he returned to report from Bangladesh’s refugee camps for Rohingya forced to flee Myanmar.
“The nature of these threats suggests an orchestrated campaign to silence me, and I fear potential real-world repercussions if I continue my work on the ground,” Rahman said.
CPJ’s text to Shah Jahan, joint director of the National Security Intelligence, requesting comment about the threats did not receive a reply.
Criminal cases
Four journalists who reported or published material on allegedly illicit business practices and labor violations are facing possible criminal defamation charges after Noor Nahar, director of Tafrid Cotton Mills Limited and wife of the managing director of its sister company, Dhaka Cotton Mills Limited, filed a November 13, 2024, complaint in court against them. If tried and convicted, they could face up to two years in prison.
The four are: * H. M. Mehidi Hasan, editor and publisher of investigative newspaper The Weekly Agrajatra.
* Kamrul Islam, assignment editor for The Weekly Agrajatra.
* Mohammad Shah Alam Khan, editor of online outlet bdnews999.
* Al Ehsan, senior reporter for The Daily Post newspaper.
CPJ’s text to Nahar asking for comment did not receive a reply.
Md Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the Uttara West Police Station, which was ordered to investigate the complaint, told CPJ by phone that he would send the latest case updates but did not respond to subsequent messages.
Ralph welcomes back Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson to share his view of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and to get his take on the military and political situation in the Middle East. Then, from Tel Aviv we are joined by Alon-Lee Green, co-director of the Israeli peace organization “Standing Together” a progressive grassroots movement based in Israel that organizes Jewish and Palestinian citizens against the occupation and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Army colonel. Over his 31 years of service, Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Colonel Wilkerson also served as Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia, and for fifteen years he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum.
The Pentagon is now led by one of the least-qualified persons ever to be Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. He was exposed by the Democrats and the media when he was going through the congressional-confirmation process as ignorant, belligerent, vengeful, a woman-abuser denounced by his own mother, and a financial mismanager of the two groups that he directed. He’s now Secretary of Defense.
Ralph Nader
What I’d like to see Hegseth do is try his best to get Trump to help him refuse that money (the $150 billion that Congressional Republicans have proposed adding to the military budget). Gordon Adams—a man for whom I have a lot of respect, who was an OMB-type for a long, long time and knows more about the defense budget than probably anyone alive—said the truth the other day when he said: when Defense gets tons of money, it’s polluted, weakened, and turns into a place that can’t do its job. When it has periods of scarcity—and the better the scarcity, the deeper the scarcity, the better the Defense Department—it turns out to operate pretty well. So I think that’s stupid. I think it’s the Congress doing it because the Congress has become a wholly paid subsidiary of the military-industrial complex.
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
Alon-Lee Green is National Co-Director of Standing Together, a progressive Jewish-Arab grassroots movement. Previously, he worked for five years as a political and parliamentary adviser in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and was involved in the legislative process and the building of citizens’ campaigns that influenced parliamentary decisions. During that time, he was responsible for laws advancing the rights of workers, students, and the LGBT community.
It devastates me to know that I’m part—as an Israeli citizen, as a citizen that wants to take responsibility of the society, the Israeli society, it makes me devastated and sick and so, so, so heartbroken to know that we are a part of and a reason for so many tens of thousands reported people that died… I do not understand how someone can come to us Israelis and tell us that this is in the name of our security. I cannot understand how someone can promise us that this will better our lives or create a good or a reality that is livable. I understand it as just something that promises more death.
Alon-Lee Green
It is a given fact, especially after October 7th, a lot of the soldiers went there and did what they did believing that they’re fighting to defend, they’re fighting monsters. But a lot of soldiers died there. A lot of mothers lost their sons. A lot of families joined the circle of grief. And this is something that changed people’s perspectives and people’s opinion about the war. A lot of soldiers came back wounded. A lot of soldiers came back with PTSD. And we are hearing voices right now of soldiers saying, “We will not come back there, even if you call us into reserve duty.” It exists in society. You can hear it. You can hear it also around the question of the hostages, soldiers saying, “I thought I’m fighting for 300 days to release the hostages. And now I realized I’m fighting for the delusional messianic ideas of the right wing to build settlements in Gaza or to forcefully transfer people from there. This is not the reason I went.” And it is a good awakening we see in our society.
Alon-Lee Green
The Israeli media and most of the Israeli parliament and political system celebrated Trump’s declaration of forceful transfer from Gaza and the supposed takeover by the US of Gaza. They said things like, “It’s a Biblical miracle,” “We live in Biblical times,” things like this. The reaction of Standing Together is the complete opposite, of course. This is not only a delusional, scary, and dangerous plan, it is also something that is not going to happen. Trump can dream until tomorrow to remove two million Palestinians from Gaza. It is not going to happen. But only speaking about it is the problem itself. Thinking that you can remove—I don’t know how, but remove two million people from their homeland, fantasizing about somehow making people disappear from the land, it is a dangerous idea.
Quite soon, possibly to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge takeover in April, Cambodia will pass a new law making it a jailable offense of up to five years to “deny, trivialize, reject or dispute the authenticity of crimes” committed during that regime’s 1975-79 rule.
The bill, requested – and presumably drafted – by Hun Sen, the former prime minister who handed power to his son in 2023, will replace a 2013 law that narrowly focused on denial.
The bill’s seven articles haven’t been publicly released, so it remains unclear how some of the terms are to be defined. “Trivialize” and “dispute” are broad, and there are works by academics that might be seen as “disputing” standard accounts of the Khmer Rouge era.
Is the “authentic history” of the bill’s title going to be based on the judgments of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia? If so, there will be major gaps in the narrative.
Cambodia’s courts are now so supine that one presumes the “authentic history” will be whatever the state prosecutor says it is, should a case come to trial.
Khmer Rouge fighters brandish their rifles after seizing the garrison protecting Poipet village on the Thai-Cambodia border, April 19, 1975.(AFP)
There are two concerns about this.
First, the Cambodian government is not being honest about why it’s pushing through this law.
There is some scholarly debate about the total number of deaths that occurred between 1975 and 1979, and estimates range from one to three million.
There also remain discussions about how much intention there was behind the barbarism or how much the deaths were unintended consequences of economic policy and mismanagement.
No nostalgia
Yet, in Cambodian society, it’s nearly impossible to find a person these days who is worse off than they were in 1979, so there’s almost no nostalgia for the Khmer Rouge days, and the crude propaganda inflicted on people some fifty years ago has faded.
There are no neo-Khmer Rouge parties. “Socialism”, let alone “communism,” is no longer in the political vocabulary. Even though China is now Phnom Penh’s closest friend, there is no affection for Maoism and Mao among Cambodians.
Moreover, as far as I can tell, the 2013 law that covers denialism specifically hasn’t needed to be used too often.
Instead, the incoming law is quite obviously “political”, not least because since 1979, Cambodia’s politics has essentially been split into two over the meaning of events that year.
For the ruling party – whose old guard, including Hun Sen, were once mid-ranking Khmer Rouge cadre but defected and joined the Vietnam-led “liberation” – 1979 was Cambodia’s moment of salvation.
People leave Phnom Penh after Khmer Rouge forces seized the Cambodian capital April 17, 1975.(Agence Khmere de Presse/AFP)
For today’s beleaguered and exiled political opposition in Cambodia, the invasion by Hanoi was yet another curse, meaning the country is still waiting for true liberation, by which most people mean the downfall of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of Hun Sen and his family.
The CPP is quite explicit: any opposition equates to supporting the Khmer Rouge. “You hate Pol Pot but you oppose the ones who toppled him. What does this mean? It means you are an ally of the Pol Pot regime,” Hun Sen said a few years ago, with a logic that will inform the incoming law.
Crackdown era
The ruling CPP has finished its destructive march through the institutions that began in 2017 and is now marching through the people’s minds.
A decade ago, Cambodia was a different sort of place. There was one-party rule, repression, and assassinations, yet the regime didn’t really care what most people thought as long as their outward actions were correct.
Today, it’s possible to imagine the Hun family lying awake at night, quivering with rage that someone might be thinking about deviations from the party line.
Now, the CPP really does care about banishing skepticism and enforcing obedience. What one thinks of the past is naturally an important part of this.
Another troublesome factor is that, with Jan. 27 having been the 80th anniversary of Holocaust Remembrance Day, there is a flurry of interest globally in trying to comprehend how ordinary people could commit such horrors as the Holocaust or the Khmer Rouge’s genocide.
The publication of Laurence Rees’ excellent new book, The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History, this month reminds us that if “never again” means anything, it means understanding the mentality of those who supported or joined in mass executions.
Yet we don’t learn this from the victims or ordinary people unassociated with the regime, even though these more accessible voices occupy the bulk of the literature.
Listen only to the outsider, and one comes away with the impression that almost everyone living under a despotic regime is either a passive resister or an outright rebel. There are a few devotees who find redemption after realizing their own sins – as in the main character in Schindler’s List.
Yet no dictatorship can possibly survive without some input from a majority of the population. Thus, it’s more important to learn not “why they killed,” but “why we killed” – or “why we didn’t do anything.”
Remembrance is vital
The world could do with hearing much more about other atrocities, like Cambodia’s.
For many in the West, there is a tendency to think of the Holocaust as a singular evil, which can lead one down the path of culture, not human nature, as an explanation.
One lesson of the 1930s was that the people most able to stop the spread of Fascism were the same people least capable of understanding its impulses.
The left-wing intelligentsia was content to keep to the position until quite late that Fascism was just a more reactionary form of capitalist exploitation, while conservative elites had a self-interest in thinking it was a tamable version of Marxism.
Their materialism, their belief that life could be reduced to the money in your pocket and what you can buy with it, didn’t allow them to see the emotional draw of Fascism.
These intense feelings brought the torch parade, the speeches, the marching paramilitaries, the uniforms and symbols, the book burnings, and the transgressiveness of petty revenge and bullying.
Perhaps the best definition of Fascism came from Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who said: “there lives alongside the twentieth century the tenth or the thirteenth. A hundred million people use electricity and still believe in the magic power of signs and exorcisms.”
Likewise, the same people now who were supposed to stop the rise of new despotisms have been as equally ignorant about the power of signs and exorcisms.
Europe kidded itself that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin was as much a rationalist as Germany’s Angela Merkel.
The notion that all the Chinese Communist Party cared about was economic growth blinded world leaders to its changing aspirations: Han supremacy, jingoism, revenging past humiliations, national rebirth and territorial conquests.
In Cambodia, it is possible to find books by or about Khmer Rouge perpetrators, yet the curious reader must exert a good deal of effort.
Those who do that find that a temperament for the transgressive and the cynical motivated the Khmer Rouge’s cadres.
It won’t be long before the world marks a Holocaust Memorial Day without any survivors present at the commemorations.
Cambodia’s horror is more recent history, yet anyone who was a teenager at the time is now in their sixties. We haven’t too long left with that generation.
Even aside from the clear political reasons for introducing the new law, it might give historians pause before writing about the more gray aspects of the Khmer Rouge era – or exploring the motives of the perpetrators.
Once it becomes illegal to “condone” the Khmer Rouge’s crimes, whatever that means, revealing what one did as a cadre could skirt the border of criminality.
My fear is that the law will confine history to the study of what the Khmer Rouge did, not why it did it. This would be much to the detriment of future generations worldwide.
David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by A commentary by David Hutt.
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Anchorage Daily News. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.
The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court told state lawmakers this week that the court system is taking steps to reduce the amount of time it takes criminal cases to reach trial, a problem highlighted by a recent ProPublica and Anchorage Daily News investigation.
In an annual State of the Judiciary speech to legislators Wednesday at the Capitol in Juneau, Chief Justice Susan M. Carney said the court system has increased training for judges, created new policies on postponements and authorized overtime pay. She noted that the court system’s mission includes deciding cases “expeditiously and with integrity.”
“You are probably aware that we are not meeting expectations — our own or Alaskans’ — about the expeditious part of that mission,” Carney said.
Noting “recent media accounts” of extreme delays, Carney said the state is gaining ground and that resolving the problem is “our No. 1 priority.”
“We must, and we will, improve how we handle criminal cases to prevent that kind of delay,” Carney said.
The Daily News and ProPublica reported in January that the most serious felony cases in Alaska can takefive, seven or even 10 years to reach trial as judges approve dozens of delays. These delays might be requested because defense attorneys are waiting for prosecutors to share evidence or because attorneys have high caseloads to juggle, or even as a tactic to weaken the prosecution’s case with the passage of time.
The category of cases that ProPublica and the Daily News examined, the most serious felonies such as murders and violent sexual assaults, took the judicial system a median of three years to complete in 2023, a threefold increase from 2013.
The Alaska judicial system and lawmakers were aware of serious pretrial delays long before COVID-19 disrupted the courts, particularly in Anchorage. In 2009, a report by the National Center for State Courts noted that the time to resolve felony criminal cases in Anchorage had increased nearly 400% over the prior decade.
While acknowledging the long delays described in news reports and their impact on victims and defendants in major felonies, Carney told legislators that less serious criminal cases — which are most cases in the system — do not take as long to resolve.
“I do this not to justify those extraordinarily delayed cases, but I do want to provide a bigger picture,” said Carney, a Fairbanks judge who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2016 and became the chief justice this year.
The median time to close misdemeanor cases is six months or shorter, Carney said. Less serious felony cases such as vehicle theft and certain assault charges are resolved within a median of six months, she said. Class A felonies, which include some sexual assaults, manslaughter and some drug charges, take a median of 13 months.
Carney also noted that only about 3% of criminal cases go to trial. Many are resolved when the defendant agrees to plead guilty to reduced charges, rather than take the chance of being found guilty by a jury, or when prosecutors drop the charges.
Carney told legislators that judges have created new limits on the number of times a case can be delayed and on the duration of the delays, and that judges devoted one-third of their annual conference to training on how to reduce the number of pending cases.
More cases are now being closed than are being opened, and the number of open cases last month was down by one-third from a year before, Carney said, bringing the number of open criminal cases to its lowest since 2018.
“So we are making progress,” said Carney, who spent nearly three decades as a lawyer for the Alaska Public Defender Agency and Office of Public Advocacy.
She did not provide caseload figures specifically for unclassified felonies, the category of serious crimes that ProPublica and the Daily News focused on.
Alaska’s sluggish justice system has created palpable impacts on crime victims, defendants and the community.
A Daily News and ProPublica report in October found the city of Anchorage dismissed hundreds of criminal cases in 2024 because it didn’t have enough prosecutors to meet speedy trial deadlines. Dismissed cases included charges of domestic violence assault and child abuse.
State prosecutors have responded to that investigation by offering added staff to help the city keep cases moving.
This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. President Donald Trump offered to act as a future mediator between China and India when asked about recent tensions on the border between the two countries.
Trump spoke to reporters on Thursday after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.
“I look at India and I do see the skirmishes on the border and I guess they continue to go on,” he said. “If I could be of help, I would love to help.”
Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia last October on the sidelines of a summit for leaders of developing nations shortly after their governments reached an agreement over a disputed area along their shared border.
Thousands of Indian and Chinese troops faced off in June 2020 at three or four locations in the western Himalayas after Beijing’s forces intruded into Indian territory, according to Indian security officials and local media.
China denied intruding into Indian territory near the Galwan River in the mountainous Ladakh region.
At a joint press conference in the Oval Office, Trump emphasized strengthening U.S.-India ties.
Trump was also asked on Thursday about how he expects the United States to compete with China if it also implements tough trade measures on India.
“We are in very good shape to beat anybody we want, but we are not looking to beat anybody. We are looking to do a really good job,” Trump said, adding that he expects to have a “very good relationship with China.”
Modi noted the summit of leaders from the Quad — made up of the United States, India, Australia and Japan — is scheduled to be held in India this year, possibly in September.
The grouping formally convened in 2007 but it was largely dormant until Trump revived it a decade later during his first presidency. The Quad was a pillar of the Biden administration’s efforts to counter China.
China has derided the grouping as a relic of what it calls a U.S.-driven “Cold War” mindset and insisted that it has no designs for territorial expansion or aggression in the vast Indo-Pacific region.
Modi said he looked forward to hosting Trump in New Delhi for the summit.
“The partnership between India and the U.S. strengthens democracy and democratic values and systems,” he said.
Trump’s comments about engagement with China appear reflective of the “different approaches he’s contemplating, and different voices among those around him, on how much to engage or compete with Beijing, and in what manner,” said Dhruva Jaishankar, executive director of the Washington-based Observer Research Foundation America.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Matt Reed.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Dickyi and Passang Dhonden for RFA Tibetan.
You can earn a dollar a day driving a minivan taxi owned by a rich woman in North Korea — a huge sum that has young men lining up in droves, hoping to be chosen for the job, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
Though the taxis are officially part of a government-owned company, in actuality they are privately owned, and competition to be a driver is so fierce that drivers are hired only one day at a time, residents said.
It’s yet another example of the side-hustles that are characteristic in North Korea’s nascent market economy — people cannot support themselves with the salaries at their government-assigned jobs, so most families have to find a way to go into business for themselves.
The private taxis are mostly Chinese minivans purchased by women, who then need to hire men to drive them, because women can’t get licenses in North Korea.
“These days, in Anju, if you drive a minivan taxi for a day, the owner of the taxi will pay you 20,000 won (US$1),” a resident of South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.
Taxis are parked outside a department store in central Pyongyang, North Korea May 4, 2016.(Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
The resident said drivers used to get only 10,000 won (US$0.50) each day, but prices doubled last month because of fluctuations in the exchange rate between the North Korean won and foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan — currencies that people prefer because they are more stable.
De facto privatization
Most companies in North Korea are owned and operated directly by the government, and, at least on paper, the taxi companies are too.
But taxi companies do not own fleets of taxis. Instead these are individually owned vehicles that the owners must register with the company to operate legally. This way, the owner is on the hook for the cost of the vehicle and its maintenance.
The company gets 30% of the profits and the owner gets 70%, a second resident from the same province said.
Finding drivers is never a problem, the first resident said.
“Every morning, these wealthy women hire taxi drivers at the vacant lot near the Anju railway station — there are always lots of young men standing in line there,” he said. “If they can drive the taxi for two or three days, they can make more money than a factory worker [earns in a whole month].”
The second resident said that some drivers can earn even more — 50,000-100,000 won (US$2.50-5) — by driving a long-distance taxi that takes customers to locations more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.
Women excluded
Although it isn’t legal for women to obtain drivers’ licenses, it isn’t exactly easy for men to get them either. Only men who are in the military or work in a factory and are approved by the government are eligible to undergo driver training, which can take three to six months to complete.
After training, successful applicants are awarded a class-4 license. With more training, they can level-up to class-3, which allows them to drive trucks and buses, class-2 for any type of vehicle, and class-1, which is a car designer or manufacturer’s license.
Most would-be taxi drivers aim for at least class-3.
A taxi driver waits for customers in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 26, 2018.(Dita Alangkara/AP)
Despite not being legally allowed to drive the taxis themselves, taxi ownership is a way for women to escape the drudgery of having to run a family business — buying and selling goods and services in the marketplaces — while their husbands are off at their government-assigned jobs earning a pittance, the second resident said.
“These women can save up the money they earned at the market and buy a taxi,” he said. “They register it with the local government … and then they go hire a male driver.”
With the increase in wages for drivers, it’s become an employer’s market because of all the interested applicants, he said.
“In the past, taxi drivers were hired after being introduced through relatives or connections, but not anymore,” the second resident said. “This is because if you hire someone you know, it is difficult to cut off their daily wages in case of poor driving skills or an accident.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hyemin for RFA Korean.
New York, February 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Taliban to reverse Thursday’s ban on the broadcast of political and economic programs by domestic Afghan outlets.
The Ministry of Information and Culture issued a verbal directive to media executives in the capital Kabul on February 13, stating that organizations may only address political and economic issues through the group’s spokespersons, two local journalists told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
“The Taliban must allow Afghan media to operate independently,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “This latest move to censor discussion, reporting, and debate of political and economic issues is yet another repressive measure that indicates the extreme measures the Taliban are taking to totally dismantle Afghanistan’s independent media.”
In September, the Taliban banned live political shows and ordered journalists to obtain their approval before broadcasting pre-recorded shows, featuring pre-approved topics and participants. Journalists wishing to interview an expert outside of the Taliban’s list of 68 approved speakers had to seek the information ministry’s permission.
CPJ’s text messages requesting comment from Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not receive a response.
Trump administration officials barred two Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering White House events this week because the US-based independent news agency did not change its style guide to align with the president’s political agenda.
The watchdog RSF condemned this “flagrant violation of the First Amendment” and demanded the AP be given back its full ability to cover the White House.
“The level of pettiness displayed by the White House is so incredible that it almost hides the gravity of the situation,” said RSF’s USA executive director Clayton Weimers.
“A sitting president is punishing a major news outlet for its constitutionally protected choice of words. Donald Trump has been trampling over press freedom since his first day in office.”
News from the AP wire service is widely used by Pacific media.
First AP reporter barred
AP was informed by the White House on Tuesday, February 11, that its organisation would be barred from accessing an event if it did not align with the executive order, a statement from executive editor Julie Pace said.
The news organisation reported that a first AP reporter was turned away Tuesday afternoon as they tried to enter a White House event.
Later that day, a second AP reporter was barred from a separate event in the White House Diplomatic Room.
“Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment,” the AP statement said.
Unrelenting attacks on the press Shortly after he was inaugurated on January 20, President Trump signed an executive order “restoring freedom of speech,” which proclaimed: “It is the policy of the United States to ensure that no Federal government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”
Yet the president’s subsequent actions have continually proved that this statement is hollow when it comes to freedom of the press.
The White House . . . clamp down on US government transparency and against the media. Image: RSF
Prior to barring an AP reporter, the Trump administration launched Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigations into public broadcasters NPR and PBS as well as the private television network CBS.
It has restricted press access to the Pentagon and arbitrarily removed freelance journalists from White House press pool briefings.
In a startling withdrawal of transparency, it removed scores of government webpages and datasets and barred many agency press teams from speaking publicly.
Chinese authorities have expelled over 1,000 Tibetan monks and nuns from the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in the latest blow to the major center of Tibetan Buddhist learning, sources inside Tibet with knowledge of the situation said.
Citing a lack of proper residency documentation, officials said they need to reduce the number of Buddhist clergy residing at the academy from 6,000 to 5,000, the sources said.
The move is the latest in a long series of steps taken by China to destroy and shrink the academy, which by the early 2000’s was home to about 40,000 Buddhist monastics.
In 2016, Chinese authorities destroyed half the compound and sent away thousands of monks and nuns. At the time, county authorities issued an order that spelled out the plans for the 2016-2017 demolitions and forced expulsions.
In December 2024, about 400 officials and police were deployed to Larung Gar, which is in Serthar county (Seda in Chinese) within the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan province.
Officials have pressured hundreds of Buddhist clergy to leave voluntarily, the sources said.
“Those expelled have been ordered to leave under the pretext of lacking proper residency documents,” he said. “And to avoid drawing public attention, more than 1,000 monks and nuns have been gradually forced out over the past month.”
An aerial view of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serthar county of Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, July 23, 2015.(China Stringer Network/Reuters)
The source said that government officials have been stationed at the academy, imposing strict controls on the movement of monks, nuns, pilgrims and tourists.
“They are strictly prohibited from taking photos freely and are only allowed to visit designated areas within the monastery.”
Many of the residences of expelled Buddhist clergy have been marked for demolition, although they have not been destroyed yet, he said.
Plans are in place to build a road through the monastery in April, leading to further demolitions, he said.
Part of broader strategy
The latest crackdown is seen as part of Beijing’s broader strategy to reduce the size and influence of religious institutions, particularly those ties to Tibetan Buddhism.
While Beijing says such policies are meant to ensure social stability, rights activists argue they they aim to suppress Tibetan culture and religious freedom.
Chinese authorities want to roll out a 15-year residency limit for Buddhist clergy at Larung Gar starting this year.
They also plan to shrink the academy’s population even more by making registration mandatory, which will force Chinese students to leave, according to a report by Phayul, a news website about Tibet.
Larung Gar has long been a symbol of resistance to Chinese control over Tibetan Buddhism — but it has suffered for that.
When the Chinese government deployed around 400 troops from Drago county (Luhuo) and other areas to Larung Gar last December, with helicopters flown in to monitor the movement of monks and nuns, the source said.
Founded in 1980 by the late Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, Larung Gar, was established as a center for Tibetan Buddhist education and meditation.
Unlike traditional monasteries, it welcomed monks, nuns and lay practitioners from diverse backgrounds, fostering a unique blend of inclusivity and scholastic rigor that are now under threat.
Larung Gar at one time was home to 40,000 Buddhist nuns and monks, but in 2017, over 4,000 monastics were expelled, and 4,700 dwellings were destroyed.
“During that time, Chinese government officials stated that the Chinese Communist Party owned both the land and the sky, giving them the authority to do whatever they wanted with Larung Gar,” a second source said.
Translated by Tenzin Palmo and Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.
