Showing 1 - 10 of 19
Underwater folly
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/06/2019
» In the aquatic chamber, the tank looms. Encrusted and barnacled, the mighty war machine has become a home of fish and corals. It seems incapacitated, abandoned, useless. Such is an illusion: if the tank is submerged, we're down there with it, drowned in that inexorable aquarium. Look, its gun still points at us, and its shadow all-consuming.
The Faustian promise in a blaming game
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/12/2017
» Through a tangled web of pride, vanity, moral superiority, Nietzschean negativity, Faustian promises and pseudo-Jedi cool, the junta keeps to its playbook by blaming everyone except themselves.
Vampires rule roost in this heartless land
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/11/2017
» The mother looked for her son's heart in a foam box. "Where is it?" she asked. She's already had his body, and only when she requested was she was allowed to take back his soul.
On the ‘right’ side of crime and impunity
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/09/2017
» Crime and punishment, or crime and impunity? For most people, the former. For the powerful, the well connected, for those on the right side of history, maybe the latter.
Armed to the teeth, with no battle to fight
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/07/2017
» When everyone else is dead, the arms dealers will sip champagne and cuddle Playboy bunnies. Why? "Because everyone else will be busy killing each other," said Yuri Orlov, the arms dealer in Lord of War as portrayed by Nicolas Cage. When his client orders him a shipment of machine guns used in Rambo, Mr Orlov, an award-winning salesperson, asks, "Rambo part 1, 2 or 3?"
When history becomes just a hazy dream
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/04/2017
» Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present (tada!) controls the past. In summary, the military, like quantum physicists or mad sorcerers, controls time: The past, present, future, ad infinitum.
Army take on Lahu killing chills to bone
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/03/2017
» This is the quote of the week, a line that should be emblazoned on T-shirts with the boldest font and distributed to all conscripts. Defending the hotly contested extra-judicial killing of the Lahu activist, 3rd Region Army chief Vijak Sriribunsop said: "Firing one shot at him was reasonable. If it were me, I might have put the [machine gun] on automatic mode."
Graft nosedive comes as no surprise at all
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/01/2017
» 'We're disappointed," said Sansern Poljeak of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Sir, we're more disappointed, as citizens who pay tax without fail, to the government to help the NACC battle corruption.
For a ghost of a chance, use your talisman
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/10/2016
» On Wednesday Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha talked for 135 minutes at the Bangkok Post Forum, more than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Monday combined. And this isn't even an election campaign. A good soldier, he's unfazed by the presence of enemies and microphone. From the podium, arms outstretched, the PM touched on a lot of topics: Thai education, the economy, Section 44, Thailand as a "developed" country, the 20-year prophecy, etc. But what struck me like a hammer was when the general mentioned ghosts.
Serving up cruelty, a taste of 'Thainess'
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/08/2016
» The debate on the meaning of "Thainess" always fills me with patriotism and stomach ache. After last week's bombings, the army chief warned us to look out for people who wore hats, glasses and carried backpacks, because "Thais don't do that". The general meant well -- that we should watch out for suspicious agents of terror -- but the way he framed it was a crass, militaristic way of monopolising the definition of something that is shifting, malleable, even undefinable.