Environment

What Happened: In 2021, supertyphoon Odette made landfall on Siargao, an island in the southeastern Philippines. Two years later, seaside communities are struggling to rebuild – and wondering if it’s worth the effort, given the impact of other typhoons since then. Far away, in Metro Manila, 2009’s Typhoon Ondoy has also left a lasting impact. It caused considerable water level rise in Malabon, trapping residents and forcing them to change their lives forever. In both places, people are well aware of the risks to their homes and livelihoods, but have few options other than to stay and attempt to weather the storm.

Our Focus: “The Philippines faces a barrage of typhoons annually (on average 20) and has experienced 14 super typhoons in the last decade alone, causing an estimated $10 billion dollars in damage,” writes Nichloas Muller for The Diplomat. Typhoons are growing stronger and more frequent as sea temperatures climb, and rising sea levels mean flooding is worse than ever. As a result, the communities most at risk from these typhoons are struggling to keep their heads above water – sometimes literally. “Some rebuilt quickly, others left, and others still struggle to pick up the pieces even two years later,” one Siargao resident said of the post-Odette recovery.

What Comes Next: “For vulnerable Filipinos in coastal communities across the country, both in urban centers and on remote islands, millions are living just one storm away from catastrophe with few viable alternatives,” Muller writes. Each storm leaves locals with fewer options for surviving the next one: homes are still damaged and evacuation centers have been destroyed. With little government support for rebuilding or evacuation, locals are fighting to hold on to their lands and their way of life.“We have to stay here, this is our place,” one told The Diplomat.

INTERVIEW

Erika Fatland, author of “High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China,” on the enforced isolation of the Himalayas: “It’s much more complicated to travel in the Himalayan region than in Eastern Europe. The red tape can be a nightmare and in quite a few places you are required to travel with a guide, like in Tibet, Upper Mustang (in Nepal), and Arunachal Pradesh.”

Northeast Asia

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on October 17 and 18. The forum is both a follow-up on the 2017 and 2019 editions, as well as a celebration of the Belt and Road Initiative’s 10-year anniversary. The BRF has brought dozens of world leaders to China – headlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin – but amid the Israel-Gaza crisis in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and a general souring of China’s global image, the headcount looks to be smaller than the 2019 BRF.

South Asia

Three-time former Prime Minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will be returning to Pakistan in October. Sharif was found guilty of corruption after the Panama Papers scandal in 2018, but allowed into de facto exile in London. Now he’s heading back home, sparking speculation that Sharif and his PML-N have cut a deal with the establishment as Pakistan gears up for general elections.

Southeast Asia

This week, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court made a ruling that could have a significant impact on next year’s presidential election. Ruling on a petition that the country’s 40-year age minimum for presidential and vice presidential candidates is discriminatory, the court kept the requirement in place – but also carved out an exception for those who have held positions as regional leaders. The ruling has opened the way for President Joko Widodo’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, currently the mayor of Surakarta, to run in the February 14 election. While the 36-year-old has not yet expressed any interest in running, backers of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto are pushing for him to become Prabowo’s running mate. Coming after the president’s second son’s recent entry into politics, the ruling has prompted fresh discussions about the continuing power of political dynasties in Indonesian politics.

Central Asia

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was built in the ashes of the Soviet Union. At one point, as many as 12 post-Soviet states – out of 15 – participated in the grouping in some fashion. But Georgia left in 2009, Ukraine ceased collaboration in 2018, Moldova announced its intention to leave in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Armenia seems to be on its way out too. That leaves the states of Central Asia in a club with Russia with diminished meaning and diminished returns, as their recent summit in Bishkek demonstrated.

Oceania

In a rare referendum vote in Australia, the country rejected a proposal that would have altered “the Constitution to recognize the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.” The campaign against the Voice rested on the slogan “if you don’t know, vote no” – an embrace of ignorance in lieu of any effort to become informed about why the issue mattered. Once again, Australia has failed the country’s Indigenous peoples, shirking a responsibility to care about the native population in pursuit of myopic, short-term political goals.

The overland railways linking China to Europe – the transit corridors at the center of the Belt and Road – all pass through Russian territory, where sanctions loom large.

Politics

Yīdài yīlù, the Mandarin name for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, literally meaning “One Belt and One Road” (a phrase that was previously used in English as well before being discarded in favor of the BRI nomenclature).