Showing 1 - 10 of 39
Forget the gloom
Oped, Postbag, Published on 03/11/2025
» Re: "Thailand now 'the sick man of Asean'", (Opinion, Oct 30).
Time to help Rohingya refugees
Oped, Kannavee Suebsang, Mercy Chriesty Barends & Andrew Hudson, Published on 29/09/2025
» Just over eight years since 700,000 Rohingya were forced out of Myanmar over the border into Bangladesh in what the UN has described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing", people continue to languish in camps in Cox's Bazar without access to work or education. Those remaining in Myanmar are largely confined to internally displaced camps, or forcibly conscripted to fight for the military junta.
Tiny Vanuatu steps up to protect the climate
Oped, Antara Haldar, Published on 28/08/2025
» Although the International Court of Justice (ICJ) turned 80 this year, there is a sense in which it has never felt younger. In a David-versus-Goliath moment, the tiny Pacific Island state of Vanuatu recently changed international law forever by bringing the world's most important issue before its highest court. The result is an ICJ advisory opinion on "the legal obligations of states in respect of climate change", as requested -- at Vanuatu's urging -- by the UN General Assembly (with 132 states co-sponsoring the resolution).
Ishiba's summit absence shows lack of Nato faith
Oped, Sayuri Romei and Alice Dell'Era, Published on 21/07/2025
» Since a Japanese prime minister first attended a Nato summit in 2022, Japan has sent its highest-level representative to the event for three consecutive years. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a key catalyst for Tokyo's decision to attend that year, and the 2025 summit in The Hague would have marked the fourth consecutive appearance by a Japanese leader.
Time to rethink the casino debate
Oped, Andrew W Scott, Published on 13/06/2025
» I've been visiting and studying the world's casinos since 1986, particularly those in Asia. And boy, have they changed a lot in the past 40 years.
State entities too complex to be treated as startups
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel, Published on 17/04/2025
» Around the world, governments are trying to reinvent themselves in the image of business. Elon Musk's DOGE crusade in the United States is quite explicit on this point, as is Argentina's chainsaw-wielding president, Javier Milei. But one also hears similar rhetoric in the United Kingdom, where Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden wants the government to foster a "test-and-learn" culture and move towards performance-based management.
How Italy managed to beat fascism after WWII
Oped, Mark Gilbert, Published on 22/01/2025
» Americans are alarmed by their country's stark political divisions. But they shouldn't despair. After WWII, Italy was even more politically polarised than today. Yet by the mid-1950s, it had succeeded, against the odds, in turning the page on its fascist past and constructing a contentious but functioning democracy.
Making public investment work
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato and Jonathan Glennie, Published on 21/11/2024
» Following the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Colombia (COP 16) and in the midst of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) in Azerbaijan, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Climate change and biodiversity loss are not just looming threats; they are already here, exacerbating social inequalities, economic instability, and environmental degradation before our eyes.
Thai Human Rights Council aspirations
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 17/05/2024
» Thailand's quest for membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Geneva, for the period 2025-2027, is rightly gaining interest among the general public. With a new foreign minister today, it is intriguing to prospect whether there will be more (or less) momentum in the competition towards the winning post -- with elections for the HRC due in New York in October.
Lifting Asean's efforts with Myanmar
Oped, Andrew Ong, Lina Alexandra & Min Zin, Published on 27/04/2024
» About three years ago, Asean leaders gathered in Jakarta for an emergency summit on Myanmar at which the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) -- entailing the cessation of violence in the country, constructive dialogue among parties to the conflict, the appointment of a special Myanmar envoy and the provision of humanitarian assistance -- was agreed upon with the State Administration Council's (SAC) senior general Min Aung Hlaing.