Showing 1 - 10 of 185
Let's give a hip hippo hooray for soft power!
News, Saritdet Marukatat, Published on 25/09/2024
» Every breath you take / Every move you make / Every step you take / The world is watching you.
Former Merkel rival aims to become chancellor
News, Published on 24/09/2024
» Squeezed out of top-level politics by his arch-party rival Angela Merkel more than two decades ago, Friedrich Merz is on course to land his first-ever government job as Germany's next chancellor. The conservative Christian Democrat Party (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, which together are topping nationwide polls, last Tuesday agreed to nominate Mr Merz, 68, as candidate for chancellor in next year's federal election.
We don't need to kill animals for food
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/09/2024
» A bit behind the curve (it was first posted last April), I have stumbled across "The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness".
Reimagining human rights and China?
News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 23/09/2024
» Should human rights be reimagined, especially in the context of China? From one angle, the answer is obvious. Plenty of norms are already agreed upon globally without the need for reimagination, and China is part of that universality. Yet given the situation on the ground level and the evolving nature of human rights, there might be room for some innovative reimagination, and this deserves balanced reflection.
US can't rely on inflation shamanism
News, Published on 23/09/2024
» Google "shamanism" and you will find that it is "a tradition of part-time religious specialists who establish and maintain personalistic relations with specific spirit beings through the use of controlled and culturally scripted altered states of consciousness." Every element of that definition applies to monetary policymaking today, as illustrated by the reaction to the US Federal Reserve's Sept 18 decision to cut the short-term interest rate by 50 basis points.
Flood woes are systemic
Oped, Editorial, Published on 21/09/2024
» The severe floods in Chiang Rai and Phayao provinces raise questions about Thailand's early warning systems. Are there sufficient early disaster warning systems in place? If so, why were hundreds of thousands of villagers in flood-hit areas left to fend for themselves?
Arizona aspires to be chip off the Taiwanese block
Oped, Published on 21/09/2024
» Contrary to expectations, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) semiconductor plant in Arizona is reportedly on track to meet its 2025 production targets. This announcement poses a challenge to the many observers who predicted that the effort to bring chip manufacturing back to the United States would fail. What went right this time?
Candidates vying to lead economy out of crisis
News, Published on 21/09/2024
» Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election has become a referendum on a US$3 billion (99.1 billion baht) International Monetary Fund loan programme that has helped to pull the island nation out of its worst economic crisis since independence. The contest pits the incumbent president, who negotiated the bailout, against the country's main opposition leader -- both members of the Sri Lankan political elite -- and a Marxist politician waging a populist campaign. The three have put contrasting views before voters over how to steer the South Asian nation past the crisis.
Exploding pagers: What was the point?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/09/2024
» The exploding pagers that killed at least 12 people and injured 2,800 others in Lebanon and some adjacent places on Tuesday were mostly just a new wrinkle on the exploding cellphones that Israel has used to assassinate its opponents in the past, but there was one major innovation.
We must not lose sight of Myanmar
Oped, Published on 20/09/2024
» Three years on, there remains no end in sight to the crisis in Myanmar. As the international community is increasingly beset by the gridlock in Myanmar and instead drawn towards conflict elsewhere in the world, there is a real concern of a "Myanmar fatigue" setting in. Be that as it may, Thailand cannot afford to lose sight of the dire situation in its immediate neighbour.