Showing 1 - 9 of 9
The populist climate threat
Oped, Published on 04/10/2022
» Reactionary populism is now the biggest obstacle to tackling climate change. With outright climate denial no longer an option, populist politicians have increasingly positioned themselves as climate doubters and delayers, and this new approach is proving to be quite insidious. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that global greenhouse-gas emissions must peak within three years to keep the Paris agreement's 1.5° Celsius target in reach; by slowing effective action, the tactics of today's populists are becoming an existential threat.
US presidential poll and implications
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/11/2020
» It is surprisingly unsurprising. Contrary to most polls and pundits, incumbent United States President Donald J Trump did not lose by a landslide in the presidential election this week. The final results are so close that both candidates, Mr Trump and Democratic Party rival Joe Biden, have claimed victory. Despite ongoing rancour and acrimony until the next US president is sworn in next January, several outcomes and implications are already clear.
From top down, are we broken beyond repair?
News, Published on 29/09/2020
» In this country, there is a section of a road in the middle of the capital Bangkok that was named "the 100-deaths curve'' because of the frequent deadly accidents there.
Don't back Uighur abuse
News, Editorial, Published on 23/11/2019
» Secret Chinese government documents leaked to The New York Times have provided chilling details about its "no mercy" approach to repression of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The revelation should serve as a reminder to Thai admirers of Chinese President Xi Jinping of the brutal and paranoid reality of his regime.
Patience wearing thin with Iranian regime
News, Published on 05/05/2018
» In the early weeks of 2018, protests swept through the small towns of Iran, mobilising the disgruntled lower rung of society. Demonstrators chanted slogans against the country's theocracy. Meanwhile, large cities, where some of the largest anti-regime demonstrations previously had taken place, remained relatively quiet.
Facebook's problems abroad disturb
News, Published on 31/10/2017
» For months, Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, has been in crisis mode, furiously attempting to contain the damage stemming from its role in last year's presidential campaign. The company has mounted an all-out defence campaign before this week's congressional hearings on election interference in 2016, hiring three outside communications firms, taking out full-page newspaper ads, and mobilising top executives, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, to beat back accusations that it failed to prevent Russia from manipulating the outcome of the election.
Liberal democracy bows to the reactionaries
News, Roger Cohen, Published on 18/04/2016
» Liberalism is dead. Or at least it is on the ropes. Triumphant a quarter-century ago, when liberal democracy appeared to have prevailed definitively over the totalitarian utopias that exacted such a toll in blood, it is now under siege from without and within.
Washington pulling back from the world
News, Peter Apps, Published on 04/04/2016
» For many in the US, the attacks on Brussels must have felt like more of the same. Once again, militants struck, the systems designed to stop them failed and all the blood and treasure of 15 years of "war on terror" appear more wasted than ever.
Debasing the US TIP report
News, Editorial, Published on 14/07/2015
» Alarming reports are coming from Washington about the highly anticipated Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. It seems that US officials have been ordered to promote Malaysia from Tier 3, the bottom ranking where Thailand was controversially placed last year. The reports - not denied by US officials - say Malaysia's rise back to Tier 2 was for purely political reasons, because President Barack Obama needs Malaysia's support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations.