Sensors, Ports, and Sovereignty: Southeast Asia’s New Invisible Front
The sea is no longer just water. Singapore, March 2026 There was a time when Southeast Asia’s strategic tensions could still be narrated through a…
Sanjaya Ramanathan
Sanjaya Ramanathan, Southeast Asia correspondent at Phoenix24. Specialist in maritime security, ASEAN tech strategy, and authoritarian digital ecosystems.
Islands Under Watch: Biometric States and the New Cold War in ASEAN
Power in Southeast Asia no longer arrives only by ship or treaty. It arrives by camera, cable, algorithm and code. Manila, January 2026. The new…
The South China Sea: A Militarized Ocean of Data
The contest for reefs and rocks now extends into cables, satellites, and the invisible empire of information. Singapore, October 2025. Beneath the contested waters of the…
Biometric Leviathans: Digital Authoritarianism and the New ASEAN Surveillance State
Singapore, September 2025. Across Southeast Asia, surveillance is no longer hidden in the shadows. It is embedded in everyday life—through biometric checkpoints, digital ID schemes,…
From Sea to Server: How AUKUS Is Redrawing Sovereignty in the Philippines and Vietnam
What was once dictated by gunboats is now negotiated through code, logistics ports, and satellite interoperability. Singapore, August 2025 —The geopolitical map of Southeast Asia is…