Showing 1 - 10 of 24
Impacts of Iran war on Southeast Asia
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/03/2026
» For the most part, Southeast Asia as a region has taken a neutral stance toward the joint attack between the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Even the Philippines and Thailand, two formal US treaty allies, have distanced themselves, calling for restraint and de-escalation.
Digesting Trump's trip through Asia
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/11/2025
» Storming through Asia last week, US President Donald Trump's first stop in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 26, before moving on to Japan and South Korea over the next four days, capped by his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping before returning to Washington, was the most consequential for Southeast Asian economies.
Thailand's false sense of tariff security
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/05/2025
» Thailand is in deeper trouble among its peer group in view of United States President Donald Trump's tariff offensive. Yet senior Thai officials appear nonchalant, complacent and smug. They seem to think Thailand will come out of the US tariff war in good shape as the Trump administration will prove unable to go through with its hefty import duties. The domestic political battle between the US executive and judicial branch -- with the Court of International Trade's injunction this week on most of the Trump tariffs -- further adds to the absurd sense of security and false perception of Thailand's importance by Thai officials.
Authentic intelligence rises with AI
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/05/2025
» As the cognitive power and proliferation of artificial intelligence take the world by storm, the case for authenticity and originality paradoxically becomes more compelling and carries higher premiums. It is now a widely accepted reality that AI is on its way to master human thought processes and proceed beyond them. This means that it will be more difficult for humans to differentiate between what comes from AI and what does not. As such, the time has come after nearly 40 years of being published -- including more than 25 of them with this newspaper -- that this column goes subjective.
Thailand's spreading rot of irregularity
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/07/2024
» The rot in Thailand's institutional makeup has become so deep, dense and widespread that it can be found nearly everywhere there is controversy. Newly elected Senator Keskamol Pleansamai is the latest case in point. Just about everything that comes with her meteoric rise to the Senate spurs accusations of irregularity and impropriety.
Give Asean seat to Myanmar opposition
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/10/2021
» Nearly nine months after its forceful takeover of the country from a legitimately elected civilian government, Myanmar's military has shown that it is one thing to seize power but an entirely different reality to consolidate and impose control.
Correcting the pandemic policy tack
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/07/2021
» That Thailand's coronavirus pandemic has been grossly mismanaged is self-evident. Infection rates have soared to new highs this month while vaccine availability and access remain shoddy and abysmal. The overstretched healthcare system is creaking under growing demand, while several scenes so far of Covid-afflicted people being left to die on the streets have shaken the country's collective morale and elicited soul-searching questions about how Thailand has managed to reach this dire juncture.
Thailand's jab fiasco needs an inquiry
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/07/2021
» Thailand's vaccine rollout is evidently a complete shambles due to questionable procurement, supply shortage, and misallocation amid a deadly surge of the Covid-19 "Delta" variant. The situation has been going from bad to worse with no end in sight as a poorly conceived strategy unfolds into a national calamity. As public anger mounts with fast-spreading calls for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's ouster, the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming Thailand's political game-changer more than anyone could have anticipated.
Prayut govt stuck in self-made trap
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/07/2021
» Thailand's multi-layered crises from persistent virus infections and vaccine shortages to economic damage are building up into a potential political upheaval. The ravaging Covid-19 crisis is worse than the infamous Tom Yum Kung economic crisis in 1997-98. This time, the military-predominant government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is stuck in multiple traps of its own making. Getting out of this predicament means the pandemic situation is likely to get a lot worse before any hope of recovery and way forward can be found.
China-US rivalry on Mekong mainland
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/11/2020
» Unlike other key foreign policy areas where President-elect Joe Biden will likely change the course left behind by outgoing President Donald Trump, the Mekong River region in mainland Southeast Asia represents a low-hanging fruit where continuity from Washington carries consensus. As China has dominated the Mekong space by operating a string of upstream dams and controlling downstream river resources, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam as adversely affected riparian countries have looked for ways and means to mitigate and counterbalance Beijing's aggressive freshwater offensive. All the incoming Biden administration has to do is to keep its eye on the Mekong and work with like-minded partners to keep mainland Southeast Asian countries from becoming Beijing's uncontested front yard.