• OPINION

  Without aid of whistleblowers, the West is lost

  News, Published on 28/06/2023

  » Earlier this month, CNN reported that a British court has denied WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange "permission to appeal an order to extradite him to the United States, where he faces criminal charges under the Espionage Act". Although Assange's legal team will continue to explore its options, the snare around his neck is clearly tightening. Time is not on his side. The US and British authorities who are pursuing him can afford to wait for any remaining public interest in his case to dwindle in the face of wars, climate change, anxiety about artificial intelligence, and other global issues.

• OPINION

  Detained Uyghurs deserve freedom

  Oped, Published on 08/03/2024

  » Few people realise that Thailand has been holding more than 40 Uyghur asylum seekers in immigration detention for a decade. The danger to this remaining group is real. The new government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin should free these forgotten people who fled dangerous conditions in China and arrange for their resettlement in a third country.

• OPINION

  Red Bull case must rev up

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 29/02/2024

  » After a long delay, justice is starting to take its course in the notorious hit-and-run case involving Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, the Red Bull scion who allegedly killed a policeman in the Thong Lor area of Sukhumvit in September 2012 before fleeing the country.

• OPINION

  The roots of the India-Canada diplomatic spat

  Oped, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 07/10/2023

  » Rarely have two major democracies descended into as ugly a diplomatic spat as the one now unfolding between Canada and India.

• OPINION

  Trump: The mills of the gods grind slowly

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/08/2023

  » 'The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine," wrote Sextus Empiricus, a Sceptic philosopher who lived mainly in Athens and Alexandria almost 2,000 years ago. Justice may be slow to come, but in the end the wicked will be punished. The mills are turning.

• OPINION

  Slowly moving away from the death penalty

  Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 22/04/2021

  » One of the interesting developments in Thailand is that official circles are gradually moving away from the death penalty as a sanction against crimes. This is witnessed by the Ministry of Justice's campaign to invite the public to look at options beyond the death penalty. What if there is a large proportion of the population in the country which still favours its retention rather than abolition? There is a need to balance with the international trend and the country's obligations.

• OPINION

  Honouring Assange, who is (almost) free at last

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/01/2021

  » On Monday morning, a British judge finally rejected the US attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and jail him forever (or at least for 175 years in a high-security 'supermax' prison) on the grounds that he is, as Joe Biden once called him, a "high-tech terrorist".

• OPINION

  What went wrong in Hong Kong?

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/05/2020

  » 'We are the meat on the chopping board," said Martin Lee, founder of Hong Kong's Democratic Party. "They have set a precedent for Beijing to legislate on Hong Kong's behalf." Or as Dennis Kwok, a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, put it rather more succinctly: "This is the end of Hong Kong."

• OPINION

  Assange hearing takes cues from Pentagon Papers

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/02/2020

  » The cost of being a whistle-blower is going up. When Daniel Ellsberg stole and published the Pentagon Papers in 1971, revealing the monstrous lies that the US government was telling the American public about the Vietnam war, he was arrested and tried, but the court set him free.

• OPINION

  China's civilisational challenge

  Asia focus, Published on 13/01/2020

  » China's "one country, two systems" formula in Hong Kong is failing miserably. After months of large-scale pro-democracy protests – including violent clashes with police -- the city's voters dealt a powerful blow in November to pro-mainland parties, which lost 87% of the seats to pro-democracy rivals in district council elections.

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