Showing 1 - 10 of 35
Politics at the border
Oped, Editorial, Published on 06/02/2026
» Amid a fierce election campaign, Bhumjaithai -- once a mid-sized party -- has ridden a wave of nationalism, becoming a force to be reckoned with in Sunday's poll.
Marking time at the COP30 climate summit
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/11/2025
» Populist parties are already in power in some developed countries and waiting just outside the door in many more. The key trick of populist politicians is to tell the voters what they want to hear, and the voters definitely do not want their lives to be disrupted by global heating, so they are told it is not happening. It's "the world's biggest con", in Donald Trump's words.
UN assembly opens amidst wars, other woes
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 23/09/2025
» Presidents, prime ministers, kings and potentates are converging on New York for the United Nations General Assembly session. The upcoming General Debate, starting today, will bring together a cast of thousands of delegates for 10 days.
Defending our rights is now even deadlier
Oped, Jodie Ginsberg, Published on 09/05/2025
» The harassment, detention, torture, and eventual murder in 2006 of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist who exposed government corruption, the horrors of the Second Chechen War, and the increasingly autocratic regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the subject of a new film, Words of War.
Fireworks within limits
Oped, Editorial, Published on 04/01/2025
» New Year's Eve and fireworks seem like an inseparable package. But mini rockets of exploding gunpowder in close proximity to a wild habitat is not a good idea. Ever.
Middle Kingdom and 'boomerang effect'
Oped, Kasit Piromya, Published on 25/10/2024
» President Xi Jinping, on the eve of assuming the supreme leadership of China, came forward with the notion that China, the Middle Kingdom, lost its grandeur and supremacy in the middle of the 19th century to Western influence and encroachment, as well as the Japanese and island kingdoms that essentially acted as imperial Western powers inflicting military defeats against the massive but inadequate Chinese forces.
Air quality vs tradition
Oped, Editorial, Published on 10/02/2024
» Over the past few years, government agencies have tried, with limited success, to convince worshippers to stop burning incense during Chinese New Year in Thailand.
Those were the days, my friend...
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/01/2024
» A fortnight ago I enjoyed Thai hospitality on a very pleasant New Year's Eve at a small gathering in our neighbour's garden in Chaiyaphum. There were about 10 of us and although I was the only non-Thai the hosts insisted on playing western music rather than the mor-lam they almost certainly would have preferred.
Political landmine
Oped, Editorial, Published on 06/01/2024
» A group of Cambodian dissidents were rounded up by police in the Rangsit area on Dec 29, while others were attacked on New Year's Eve by Thai men while giving a lecture on the country's charter and human rights situation to their compatriots in Samut Prakan.
Welcome to the really silly season
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/12/2023
» It's Christmas Eve and we are well into the Jinger Ben season in Thailand (Jingle Bells to the uninitiated). But in these dodgy times one suspects there might not be too much jingling going on. Nonetheless, considering all the gloomy news of late, a couple of weeks of being a bit daft offers a welcome break. So we might as well make the most of the Jinger Ben jollity, like a lady teller at my bank who was sporting some rather cute rabbit ears.