• OPINION

  Myanmar revolts against dictatorship

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/02/2024

  » When Myanmar's military coup took place three years ago, few thought it would turn out this way. Never has a military in Southeast Asia staged a successful coup and then failed to consolidate power afterwards. Yet this is precisely what's happening in Myanmar. A fierce and determined coalition of resistance forces is in the process of prevailing over Myanmar's battle-hardened army.

• OPINION

  Thailand's policy on Myanmar stinks

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/06/2023

  » The latest move to coddle and recognise Myanmar's junta government by caretaker Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's outgoing regime does not add up. Sanctioned and supported by Gen Prayut, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai arranged an Asean-wide ministerial meeting in Pattaya on June 18 with Myanmar's junta-appointed Foreign Minister Than Swe with unusual haste. Shrouded in controversy and desperation, both the PM's and the FM's clichéd explanations just do not wash. It begs the question of whether there are vested interests involved, above and beyond Thailand's national interest, in the outgoing government's seeming acceptance of Myanmar's military regime that took power by force on Feb 1, 2021.

• OPINION

  The fault line that polarises Thai politics

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/04/2023

  » With all of Thailand's contesting political parties lined up behind populist policy platforms ahead of the general election on May 14, it is not readily obvious what sets them apart.

• OPINION

  Reversing Myanmar's internal strife

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/02/2023

  » This month marks two anniversaries of ongoing conflicts in Europe and Southeast Asia, namely 12 months after Russia invaded Ukraine and two years since Myanmar's military seized power by toppling a democratically elected and civilian-led government under Aung San Suu Kyi.

• OPINION

  Myanmar's military takeover falters

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/02/2023

  » Global news headlines this month will be focused on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which falls on Feb 24. This external aggression, where a bigger state unilaterally takes territory from a smaller neighbour by force, can be juxtaposed to an internal subjugation in Myanmar, where a military coup took place two years ago this week. Whether the aggression is externally between states, or internally within a state, the oppressors behave the same way and pursue similar objectives of conquest and dominance. Reversing an internal subjugation is as morally compelling as turning back an external aggression. What Myanmar's civilian-led resistance coalition needs is a fraction of the aid the Ukrainians have been receiving.

• OPINION

  Global, regional, local trends for 2023

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/12/2022

  » Although economic predictions are usually reserved for the foolhardy, as the future is always difficult to ascertain, there are certain trend lines and probabilities that can be discerned at the global and regional level as well as the local level here in Thailand. As a year-end exercise, we can tease out a few contours with a reasonably high degree of probability.

• OPINION

  Thai sovereignty is not for abuse

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/10/2022

  » Thailand's dramatic and damaging shift in position towards Russia's aggression in Ukraine raises myriad questions with few answers -- none holding any water.

• OPINION

  Early implications of Russia's invasion

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/03/2022

  » Just one week after his military invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has found some truisms of warfare the hard way. Once war starts, the fog that accompanies it and the friction that it creates lead to unanticipated and unintended outcomes. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, borne out of choice rather than necessity, appears to be dragging on, not the short and swift victory Mr Putin and his military planners might have envisaged. While Russia may still triumph on Ukrainian battlefields, it has lost the war just about everywhere else.

• OPINION

  Japan's post-Covid regional dilemma

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 21/01/2022

  » Among the major powers that are moving forward with an eye on the post-pandemic era, when Covid-19 will eventually become an endemic with flu-like manageability, Japan is second to none. The visit last week by its minister of economy, trade, and industry (METI), Koichi Hagiuda, made front-page news in Bangkok, following similarly notable media coverage in Jakarta and Singapore. But while it has played a critical role in Asean's economic development and regional security, Japan's Indo-Pacific geostrategic environment has become adverse with more downside risks.

• OPINION

  Govt ducks Asean Myanmar challenge

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/04/2021

  » Asean's highly anticipated "special" summit tomorrow in Jakarta on Myanmar's crisis can be declared moot on arrival. What goes into it is likely more telling that what will come out of it. Nearly three months and more than 730 civilian deaths after Myanmar's military coup on Feb 1, Asean is still unable to address its rogue member state's atrocities against its own people. The summit attendance foretells trends and dynamics of what might come next in Myanmar's fast-moving and deadly events on the ground and how they will shape regional responses and global concerns.

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