Showing 71 - 80 of 122
'Zbig': Renowned geopolitical maestro
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/05/2017
» Last week's death of Zbigniew Brzezinski, the renowned thinker, writer and practitioner of geopolitics throughout the Cold War and onetime national security adviser to former US president Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, has elicited generally positive global reviews and assessments of his achievements. He died on Friday at the age of 89.
Are Thais getting the dictators they deserve?
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/04/2017
» For a society that has overthrown two military dictatorships over the past two generations, what has been happening in Thailand is astonishing.
Thailand's murky, muddled road ahead
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 31/03/2017
» In a new era of transformative technologies and tectonic geopolitical shifts, standing still is tantamount to falling behind. This is what Thailand is doing. Its recent news flow indicates the country is mired in a regressive holding pattern.
Trump, Southeast Asia and Thailand
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/01/2017
» No newly inaugurated president of the United States in the contemporary era is more controversial nor as derided as Donald Trump. Already, there have been pre-inauguration insinuations and plots among his critics and detractors to see him eventually impeached or at least occupy the White House for only one term. Without much experience in public service, the real-estate tycoon catapulted himself into American political life, and his country's electoral system produced him as the winner in the election last November, even though he lost the popular vote to his opponent by more than 2.8 million votes out of 128.8 million.
America's presidential poll and Thai-US ties
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/11/2016
» As the current presidential cycle in the United States closes with elections on Nov 8, there will be a global sigh of relief that it is finally over. The longest electoral contest in the world's ostensible bastion of democracy has become increasingly dysfunctional and malfunctioning. It has become a gruelling competition to see who is the least worst to put up with rather than who is the best to lead, resembling a drawn-out political circus, tinged with Hollywood dramatic effects and unbecoming of a country that is supposed to lead the community of democracies.
Let Thai electorate be referendum winners
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 12/08/2016
» Amidst the wide-ranging fallout from Thailand's second-ever referendum results, one clear outcome that should not be downplayed and marginalised is that Thai voters have more or less collectively spoken yet again. Their preference this time is to approve a military-inspired constitution that codifies longer-term military supervision of Thai politics. This sobering reality from Thai voters is not music to pro-democracy ears but it must be heeded.
Vote prospects in Thailand's long transition
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 05/08/2016
» Thailand's second-ever referendum on its second consecutive military-inspired constitution in 10 years should be a foregone conclusion. The government of Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha that seized power in May 2014 has deployed all instruments and organs of the state from village headmen and upcountry teachers to the entire bureaucratic apparatus and official media propaganda to ensure the charter's passage. The Referendum Act, a law that effectively prohibits open and inclusive debate and public discussion, has been enacted for good measure to keep the draft constitution on course. Yet what appears like a one-way state-sponsored campaign for referendum approval may boomerang into a rejection owing to several factors.
Turkish, Thai democracy and dictatorship
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/07/2016
» For coup-prone Thailand, Turkey's failed putsch has generated huge but ephemeral interest. When elements of the Turkish military rolled out the tanks and tried to seize power in Ankara and Istanbul, spectators in Bangkok naturally coalesced into two broad camps along the Thai divide, either for or against the putsch.
'New normal' after South China Sea ruling
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/07/2016
» However the Philippines-China verdict is viewed and whatever its immediate consequences, the landmark ruling by the dispute-settling Arbitral Tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will bring about a "new normal" in Southeast Asia that portends more regional tensions and potential conflict in the longer term. This "new normal" means that the status quo ex ante prior to Philippines' recourse to the Tribunal in January 2013 will not be restored.
Aftermath of Thailand's failed UNSC bid
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/07/2016
» Thais generally want Thailand to do well anywhere. When it comes to sports, for example, we have even learned the rules of volleyball to support our women's national team, which has shot up from nowhere to be in the global top 10. But when it comes to diplomacy, where Thailand used to be world class, local cheering recently has not led to international results.