Showing 1 - 10 of 2,285
When will the IMF ever learn?
Oped, Timothy Kaldas, Published on 16/04/2026
» This year's International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings come at a time of heightened economic uncertainty and intense scrutiny of the institution's capabilities and approach. Critics on the left argue that the IMF imposes regressive austerity measures on borrowers, exacerbating poverty, hampering economic growth, and undermining their ability to achieve debt sustainability. On the right, US President Donald Trump's administration has accused the IMF of "mission creep," claiming that it has strayed from its core mandate of maintaining macroeconomic stability.
Oil shock risks wider chain reaction
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 16/04/2026
» There is no such thing as a free lunch. When global oil prices rise sharply, as they are doing now, someone must bear the cost. Some countries choose to absorb it through government support, as in Japan, while others pass the burden on to consumers, as in Thailand. Neither approach is inherently right or wrong; each carries different economic consequences. Policymakers must decide which set of outcomes is more acceptable and act accordingly.
China's water security ambitions
News, Amit Ranjan and Genevieve Donnellon-May, Published on 15/04/2026
» China holds only 6% of the world's fresh water, which supports nearly 20% of the global population and generates over 18% of global gross domestic product. The country faces water challenges largely due to water quality concerns and significant spatio-temporal imbalances.
Sins of the amulet trade
News, Editorial, Published on 15/04/2026
» The disturbing report of a decapitated dugong is gruesome. To calm public anger, Environment Minister Suchart Chomklin has offered a 50,000-baht bounty for clues leading to the perpetrators, who are believed to be selling the bones and carcasses in the amulet market.
Let's try that again
Postbag, Published on 15/04/2026
» Re: "Parnpree backs new Myanmar president", (BP, April 13).
Rethink Asean-Pakistan relations
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 14/04/2026
» Pakistan became an Asean sectoral dialogue partner in 1993. Yet for more than three decades, the grouping's engagement with this nuclear-armed state has remained limited. The time has surely come to reconsider its status and elevate it to a full dialogue partner.
Our shared heritage
News, Editorial, Published on 13/04/2026
» Songkran, the traditional new year, has become a time when Thai and Cambodian netizens wage a war on screens, as both have defiantly claimed ownership over the centuries-old tradition.
Countering the fallacy of the buffer zone
Oped, Daoud Kuttab, Published on 10/04/2026
» Territorial buffers rarely, if ever, deliver the peace and security their advocates promise. After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine was seen as a neutral cordon between Russia and Nato. Instead, it became a zone of increasingly fierce geopolitical contention, followed by open war.
Let's save Chiang Rai's wetlands
Oped, Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, Published on 10/04/2026
» Wetlands are essential for Thailand's ecological health. Yet our wetlands face threats nationwide. In Chiang Rai province, the Royal Irrigation Department has dispatched bulldozers to convert the Wiang Nong Lom Wetland from a living landscape into a water reservoir, erasing its vitality as a natural system.
The day the US became Britain at Suez
Oped, Philip J Cunningham, Published on 09/04/2026
» The world's focus is on the US-induced debacle in the Strait of Hormuz, but it's another narrow strait that sums up the current state of US power in the world: Suez.