Showing 241 - 250 of 335
Lessons from the American insurrection
News, Published on 12/01/2021
» The carnage on Capitol Hill last Wednesday provides numerous valuable lessons for both mature and emerging democracies around the world. The US perceives itself to be a beacon of global democracy worthy of emulation. Now that a mob of pro-Trump loyalists have marched on and temporarily seized the Capitol, the American democracy that we all know can never be the same again. The country that wants to lead by example, as President-elect Joe Biden often says, has now become its own worst enemy by setting such a bad one.
Terms which misdefined 2020
Oped, Jeffrey Frankel, Published on 01/01/2021
» US President Donald Trump and the Covid-19 pandemic dominated the news headlines in 2020. Three terms, in particular, came to symbolise the year: "witch hunt", "black swan" and "exponential".
When steamrollers saved the day
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/12/2020
» In recent street confrontations in Bangkok the police have regularly used buses as barricades against the protesters, hopefully letting any dozing passengers off first. People tend to fall asleep on buses and might get a bit of a fright waking up in the midst of a street showdown.
Anti-abortion laws and radicalisation
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/12/2020
» 'Get your rosaries off our ovaries," chanted the women marching in support of the referendum that made abortion legal in Ireland in 2018. Two years later the 2020 election broke the century-long stranglehold on power of the two centre-right parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. They got fewer than half the votes even together.
Ethiopia's new war and how its PM is to blame
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/11/2020
» Americans should congratulate themselves. Their election system is definitely better than Ethiopia's. In fact, it works so well that there's unlikely to be another American civil war.
Bitter fruits of US poll will be felt for years to come
Oped, Published on 12/11/2020
» The aftermath of a US presidential election is, in normal times, a moment to muse about possible new policy directions of the candidate who prevailed at the polling booth.
America can learn from India's weeks-long polls
Oped, Published on 06/11/2020
» Americans have long been accustomed to knowing the results of elections by the time they go to bed on Election Day. This year is forcing them to realise that's not necessarily the norm. Democracy, unlike candy, does not come out of a vending machine delivering instant gratification. And that's a good thing.
Major challenges lie in store for Biden
News, Published on 10/11/2020
» Despite the ongoing electoral lawsuits brought about by incumbent US President Donald Trump, it is only a matter of time until President-elect Joseph Biden is officially declared as the 46th President of the United States. During the US's three-month presidential transitional period, Southeast Asia and the rest of the world have to prepare the strategic ground for a new engagement with the incoming administration.
Time to upgrade Asean-EU relationship
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 03/11/2020
» Today, Americans will go to the polls to elect their 46th president. It doesn't matter who the next president will be, the incumbent Donald Trump or his challenger, Joe Biden. Why? As far as Indo-Pacific region is concerned, the die has been cast due to the strategic competition between the two superpowers, the US and China. Therefore, the presidential outcome and impact on the global stage remain unchanged. New rhetoric and approaches might be generated but that would be it.
Educate, not shame, litterbugs
News, Editorial, Published on 20/09/2020
» More than 20 million tourists visited the nation's 154 national parks in 2019, generating some 2.2 billion baht in revenue, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP). Besides providing a much-needed cash influx, human carelessness or perhaps ironically a lack of care for the environment also meant that these visitors brought with them rubbish -- and lots of it -- in the form of plastic, styrofoam, glass, metal and more.