LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Southeast Asia
built 658 days ago
The new credo in Southeast Asia may well be: "You are what you have attached to your belt or what is sticking out of your handbag" (there is definitely gender equality in the obsession with communicators and smart phones). The Nokia E90 is what you want to be seen with these days, although you can ... show off with some the latest multimedia features of the N93. The Sony Ericsson M600i is a bit too old; their W950i model is much more prestigious. And if the style and elegance is more important than the megapixels in the camera, you should probably aim at the LG Prada.
Source:
While Southeast Asia is rich in flora and fauna, Southeast Asia is facing severe deforestation which causes habitat loss for various endangered species such as orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. At the same time, haze has been a regular occurrence. The worst regional haze occurred in 1998 in which multiple countries were covered with thick haze. In reaction, several countries in Southeast Asia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in order to combat haze pollution.
Source:
The majority of indigenous terrorist groups in Southeast Asia have limited resources to expand their fight outside their home countries, and they are small enough that local governments, with the requisite political determination, should be able to quash them. The United States can help regional governments to identify domestic terrorist organizations with foreign support and it should cooperate with them to cut off that support. Finally, the United States should make clear that it would defend its allies and friends in Southeast Asia against international terrorist attacks.
Source:
Every Southeast Asian country has its own currency, so frequent money exchange is an unavoidable hassle. However, the US dollar is the official currency of East Timor, the unofficial currency in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, and accepted in a pinch anywhere else, so this is often the traveller's monetary unit of choice. Exchange rates for Southeast Asian currencies tend to be very poor outside the region, so it's best to exchange (or use the ATM) only after arrival.
Source:
Advancing American interests in Southeast Asia requires more than simply wooing ASEAN, although that is desirable and inexpensive. To deal with terrorism, the U.S. government needs to further enhance intelligence and law enforcement cooperation and in some cases military to military cooperation with states of the area. To foster economic growth and commerce, the private sector requires a framework of good working relations among governments. Moreover what the United States needs to recognize clearly is that all its interests—counter-terrorism especially and any concerns about China—are best served by the evolution of strong, effective governments in the region. Over the longer term the best antidotes to jihadism are good governance, education, and economic progress. If ASEAN is to prosper it requires strong member countries, particularly the larger ones that have real weight in the region and have both the fiber not to be intimidated by China but ... the realism to deal cooperatively with Beijing.
Source:
After the war the countries of Southeast Asia have reemerged as independent nations. They have been plagued by political turmoil, weak economies, ethnic strife, and social inequities, although the situation for most Southeast Asian nations improved in the 1980s and 90s. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s... there were open conflicts between Communist and non-Communist factions throughout most of the region, especially in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia (see Vietnam War). In 1967 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand created the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the objectives of which are to promote regional economic growth, political stability, social progress, and cultural developments. Since then, Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos (1997), and Myanmar and Cambodia (1999) have joined ASEAN. In 1997 a monetary collapse in Thailand sparked a general economic crisis in several nations in the region; the results were most severe in Indonesia, which underwent economic, political, and social turmoil in the late 1990s.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Southeast Asia