In slightly happier news … I finally have a topic for this year! Quoth my dissertation topic statement proposal thing:

After the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005, leaders of the ten ASEAN member states met with six other regional leaders in the first East Asia Summit … Some commentators have hailed the new institution as a dramatic step forward for the region, but others fear it will amount to no more than a talk-fest.

I will be writing about the “challenges it faces as an organisation seeking regional cooperation and unity” — in other words, will the damn thing actually achieve anything?