Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Back to the war on drugs
News, Editorial, Published on 04/12/2017
» For a while there, it appeared that Thailand and the military regime were preparing to take new steps to update the worn and losing campaign against illicit drugs. Instead, the people in charge of reforming and modifying policies have largely doubled down on the old ones. The losing ways of the country's war on drugs will remain in place and dominate the amended and now patchwork Narcotics Control Bill.
War crimes justice slow in coming
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 04/12/2017
» The suicide of Croatian war criminal Slobodan Praljak in open court last week was bizarre -- mostly because it felt like something out of another century. Sure, Hermann Goering famously cheated the executioner at Nuremberg by swallowing cyanide. But Praljak wasn't going to be executed, no matter how many innocent civilians he was found guilty of killing. In the highly civilised, highly bureaucratic world of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the worst thing that can happen is a long jail sentence -- like the 20 years awarded to Praljak.
Suu Kyi should heed Pope's suggestion on UN role
News, Larry Jagan, Published on 04/12/2017
» Pope Francis' visit to Myanmar last week was an overwhelming success and may provide the much needed spark to ignite the government's peace process and its efforts to bring reconciliation to the country's violence-torn western region of Rakhine. The Pope's message was loud and clear: the only way forward for Myanmar was "love and peace", the title used for his visit.
An Ithaca idyll with Surin Pitsuwan
News, Philip J Cunningham, Published on 04/12/2017
» During Surin Pitsuwan's visit to Ithaca, New York, this past September, a barbecue party was arranged by long-time family friends who live on the edge of town where the still lush and green rural surroundings could at a glance be mistaken for rural Thailand. Chickens cackled in a nearby coop and birdsong was everywhere in the air.
Bangkok needs a smarter plan
News, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Published on 04/12/2017
» While being shown how "smart" Berlin is as a city during a study tour last month, I came across a piece of news from Thailand about an effort to turn an area in Bangkok into a "smart city". I couldn't help but try to figure out how smart a city Bangkok could become if it embraced this model of development.
Junta needs to provide more than promises
Life, Apipar Norapoompipat, Published on 04/12/2017
» It's been a few rough weeks for the junta.