Showing 1 - 10 of 10
America risks grand folly in Iran war
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/03/2026
» It is just the first week of the joint attack between the United States and Israel on the Islamic Republic of Iran, but the repercussions from the Middle East for the Indo-Pacific are already discernible.
The misguided US 'democracy summit'
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/12/2021
» The United States government under President Joe Biden is putting up the right fight in a counterproductive way in its online organisation of a "summit for democracy" this week. Much touted since he won the election in November last year, President Biden's summit of democracies has proved controversial, with both good intentions and unintended consequences. The real battleground, as clichés about the benefits and drawbacks of democracy go, is to make the case that popular rule where citizens should have rights and freedoms for their own collective self-determination is ultimately preferable and superior than all other forms of government.
Asean lags behind Myanmar curve
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/08/2021
» The more it tries to catch up on Myanmar's post-coup crisis, the more Asean falls behind. Since Myanmar's military takeover on Feb 1, Asean has spent nearly the first three months getting its act together for a "special summit" and a "five-point consensus" on April 24 and then more than another three months to meekly implement the agreement. In the event, the appointment of Brunei's Second Foreign Minister Erywan bin Mohd Yusof as the Asean envoy to promote dialogue and humanitarian assistance in Myanmar is likely to prove too little, too late for what has been desperately needed on the ground.
No duopoly in Thai jab procurement
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/05/2021
» Just as Thailand's murky vaccine plan has gone from bad to worse, the plot keeps thickening. The latest development centres on the May 25 publication in the Royal Gazette of the Chulabhorn Royal Academy's authority to procure Covid-19 vaccines within the country and from abroad as needed for public health benefits. As has been promptly noted elsewhere, this vaccine bombshell could be perceived as a snub to the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, particularly Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Thailand's effectively dual-track vaccine strategy is now likely to engender major repercussions.
Domestic drivers of superpower rivalry
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/07/2020
» The coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally global but its impact is mainly local because of the international system of state sovereignty, borders and divergent national interests. What is needed to cope with, contain and overcome the pandemic is more international cooperation and coordination. But we are seeing less international efforts to fight the virus together and more self-help where every nation fends for itself. The upshot from this fractured and fragmented international system during Covid-19 is the primacy of domestic determinants of international outcomes. Nowhere is this reality clearer than the competition and confrontation between the United States and China.
Thailand's strategic path is rudderless
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/06/2020
» As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc worldwide, domestic tension and pressure will compel three broad responses from the various afflicted countries. First, these countries may react to virus-induced domestic challenges by blaming and taking it out on outsiders. Alternatively, they may be so preoccupied at home that they become marginalised abroad. In other instances, countries that have coped effectively with Covid-19 will be able to regain their footing faster and move on sooner as the rest of the pack remains bogged down in acrimony and discord.
Thai-Australian ties in the regional mix
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 05/06/2020
» Unlike the externally originated coronavirus pandemic, the mass protests in the United States in the aftermath of George Floyd's wrongful death at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis are internally driven. Seen from outside, the public fury, street demonstrations and ensuing violence over the fatal suffocation of Floyd, a black man, yield geopolitical ramifications. If the US is socially unwell and geopolitically unreliable, regional states in Asia will have to respond accordingly in view of the US-China rivalry and competition. A case in point is Thailand-Australia relations in the regional mix.
Challenges from outside parliament
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/03/2020
» While it managed to survive the recent censure debate more comfortably that it had anticipated, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's government is now at a new crossroads. While the threat from inside parliament has subsided owing to the opposition's disarray, challenges from outside the legislative chamber, on the streets and in the court of public opinion are likely to intensify.
What the rescue of the trapped boys means
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/07/2018
» Global news cycles over the past two weeks have been saturated by Thailand's gripping story of 12 boys from a local youth football team and their 25-year-old coach trapped in a labyrinthine and partially submerged cave complex in the Chiang Rai hills in the north of the country. Even after their successful rescue, the story continues.
Elections, corruption and Thai democracy
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/02/2018
» People at home and abroad are calling for elections in Thailand on the premise of returning democracy to a country that has been under nearly four years of military government. But elections cannot bring genuine democracy if blatant corruption rears its head in open daylight with utter impunity. No doubt elections will be needed to get rid of the current set of military rulers but democracy in Thailand requires the strengthening of its democratic institutions that are so shoddy and woeful.