(ASEAN)

(ASEAN) Take a look at the political map of the world. Which countries would you say fall in the southeastern Imagine what would happen if they have a European Union football team! region of Asia? Before and during the Second World War, this region of Asia suffered the economic and political consequences of repeated colonialisms, both European and Japanese. At the end of the war, it confronted problems of nation- building, the ravages of poverty and economic backwardness and the pressure to align with one great power or another during the Cold War. This was a recipe for conflict, which the countries of Southeast Asia could ill afford. Efforts at Asian and Third World unity, such as the Bandung Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement, were ineffective in establishing the conventions for informal cooperation and interaction. Hence, the Southeast The cartoon appeared in when the European Union’s initiative to draft a common c onstitution failed. Why does the cartoonist use the image of the ship Titanic to represent EU? © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.