Showing 1 - 10 of 75
New tech disrupts global order
Oped, Mark Blyth & Daniel Driscoll, Published on 18/11/2025
» News media tend to focus on the world's major powers because they command more resources by dint of their relatively larger economies, militaries and energy endowments. But there are costs to such dominance. For example, a single American Gerald R Ford-class aircraft carrier costs $13 billion (421.6 billion baht), while the F-35 fighter jet costs about $100 million. So, if you can build your military equipment for less than your opponent, you can gain a strategic advantage.
Paper bags, patriotism and mushy peas
Roger Crutchley, Published on 10/08/2025
» One of the more thought-provoking stories of the week was an unnamed Thai hospital being fined after it was discovered private files on patients were being used to make paper bags for popular street snacks. Apparently some people at the business entrusted with destroying the files instead took them home and made paper bags out of them.
Names muddled
Oped, Postbag, Published on 09/07/2025
» For reasons unknown to me, the Bangkok Post insists on using oddly transliterated Thai, even where the meaning is unclear.
Tackling dengue threat together
News, Prasert Auewarakul & Vanessa Daniel, Published on 14/06/2025
» In the face of a changing climate, now is the time for Asean member states to develop a cure for dengue.
China ramps up global yuan push
News, Samuel Shen & Tom Westbrook, Published on 03/05/2025
» As Chinese President Xi Jinping toured Southeast Asia last month to forge closer ties against higher US tariffs, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) was seizing a moment of confusion and disruption in global trade to promote greater usage of the yuan.
Tit-for-tat tariffs as Trump escalates trade war
News, Kate Sullivan & Josh Wingrove, Published on 08/03/2025
» US President Donald Trump delivered on his threat to hit Canada and Mexico with sweeping import levies and doubled an existing charge on China, spurring swift reprisals that plunged the world economy into a deepening trade war. Yesterday, Mr Trump backtracked and postponed Canada and Mexico tariffs for a month.
Slow horses playing a strange game
Roger Crutchley, Published on 02/03/2025
» Last week's account in PostScript of the painfully slow horse I bet on at the Epsom Derby back in the Dark Ages prompted a reader to enquire if I had seen the British television series Slow Horses. I'm pleased to say I have and for those who are unfamiliar with the production I should point out that it has nothing do with the equine world but is an absorbing British spy thriller laced with dark humour.
Strengthening vulnerable coastlines
Oped, Karen Sack, Published on 05/11/2024
» Roughly 40% of the world's population inhabits coastal areas. In addition to being home to 12 of the world's 15 largest cities, these regions serve as an essential lifeline for countless small villages and towns. With around 80% of international trade passing through seaports, coastal regions also play an outsize economic role, accounting for 60-70% of global GDP.
The US election and the crisis of whiteness
News, Edoardo Campanella, Published on 28/10/2024
» The "crisis of democracy" across Western countries is generally attributed to rising inequality, the hollowing out of the middle class, and the politics of mass migration. But another major factor is demography, especially in the United States, where the threat to democracy tracks developments affecting white voters. Moreover, since demographic trends cannot be easily reversed, America's growing dysfunction is likely to be a persistent factor in global politics for a long time.
There's no happy ending for the Chagos Islands
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2024
» If you believe the British government (which you should never do), a new agreement will bring justice for the people of the Chagos Islands, who have lived in exile for more than half a century after the main island, Diego Garcia, was turned into a giant American airbase in the middle of the Indian Ocean.