Showing 1 - 10 of 27
Fanatics make a mockery of our democracy
News, Atiya Achakulwisut, Published on 18/06/2019
» Is hegemony an option for a military regime on the verge of establishing a new government?
Help the poor, PM
News, Postbag, Published on 22/05/2018
» If this government is unable to win over the poor, it is almost guaranteed that the "Burn, Bangkok, Burn" party will return to power and who knows what lame brain policies Thaksin Shinawatra will come up with.
No, Brexit Britain doesn't want its empire back
News, John Lloyd, Published on 14/01/2019
» Britain is moving towards an exit from the European Union on March 29, possibly with no agreement, and thus courting – according to the Bank of England – an 8 percent drop in GDP and a 7.5% rise in unemployment. A drear prospect, attended by matching drear commentaries on the stupidity of the 52 percent of the British electorate who voted for Brexit in 2016.
Khashoggi saga packs punch
News, Maysam Behravesh, Published on 12/10/2018
» The disappearance and possible murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has cast a long shadow over Saudi Arabia's global image. If the Saudi government did in fact kill or kidnap him, the crime would have significant implications for Middle East politics.
The glue doesn't stick
News, Postbag, Published on 16/06/2019
» The excuse that the "skewed scales must have been due to poor glueing during its making" offered by the director of the Chumpholphonphisai School in explanation for the controversial Wai Kru flower arrangements as reported in the Bangkok Post's June 15 edition, is priceless.
Don't call AI bigoted
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/11/2019
» Despite what some claim, Artificial Intelligence is not racist. Google built a system to detect hate speech or speech that exhibited questionable content. Following the rules given, it picked out a range of people with what some try to claim was a bias toward black people. Wrong. The AI simply followed the rules and a larger number of black people and some other minorities, as defined in the US, were found to be breaking those rules. It didn't matter to the machines that when one group says it, it isn't defined as hate speech by some; it simply followed the rules. People can ignore or pretend not to see rules, but machines don't work that way. What the exercise actually found was that speech by some groups is ignored while the same thing said by others isn't. As the saying goes, don't ask the question if you're not prepared to hear the answer.
Have we solved the floaty-bag problem?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/02/2023
» The United States has been having "a bit of a floaty-bag problem over its airspace", as South Africa's Daily Maverick news site put it.
Thailand's Big Brother is upping the ante
Oped, Thana Boonlert, Published on 06/08/2022
» In the late 18th century, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham visited his younger brother, Samuel, in Russia, who arranged unskilled factory workers in a circle so that he could supervise them. Inspired by this principle, Bentham developed "the panopticon", an inspection tower surrounded by cells. Its uniqueness was that it enabled a watchman to monitor prisoners without them knowing they were being watched.
Leaks aren't always good for politics or journalism
News, Published on 19/10/2016
» Editor's note: This column contains language that some readers may find offensive Both journalism and politics now live in the leak culture, and both professions will be forever changed by it. Both have always benefited from leaks of some kind, from the officially authorised to the criminally filched. But today's ability to download and disseminate vast banks of information constitutes a new chapter in journalistic and political practice. Wikileaks has put US diplomatic cables in the public domain, followed by the much riskier leaking of sensitive files from the National Security Agency and that followed by the leaking of the Panama Papers, which showed how the rich secretly contrive to get richer.
Troubling tale of Donald and the Sultan
News, Thomas Friedman, Published on 21/07/2016
» Turkey is a long way from Cleveland, where the Republicans are holding their presidential convention. But I'd urge you to study the recent failed military coup against Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. America is not Turkey -- but in terms of personality and political strategy, Mr Erdogan and Donald Trump were separated at birth.