Showing 1 - 10 of 138
Will poll be breakout or more of same?
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/02/2026
» As Thais go to the polls this Sunday, the most consequential question is whether Thailand will finally break out of its debilitating cycle of political instability and economic underperformance that has marked the past two decades. The signs and signals suggest otherwise -- at least not yet.
Breaking men: a conscript's tale
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 19/01/2026
» His face looks tired and strained. His voice trembles, carrying the pain and bitterness from the dehumanisation he endured as a conscript.
Three main parties and two directions
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/01/2026
» Although Thailand's election campaign is reaching fever pitch ahead of voting day on Feb 8, the dynamics and contours of its final outcome can be gleaned from past polls over the last 25 years. Only once in January 2001, as was indicated in this space last week, were voter results fully honoured and carried out. Other elections were either upended by military coups or manipulated by judicial interventions.
What would happen if Khamenei falls?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/01/2026
» The demonstrations began again in Iran last week, only two years after the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement convulsed the country for months. However, the current protests are potentially much broader than that episode because they are driven by the collapse in Iran's currency, the rial (now 1,420,000 to the US dollar), and the explosive rise in the cost of living.
Gold beats banks
Oped, Postbag, Published on 26/12/2025
» Re: "Strength of baht spurs fear", (BP, Dec 24).
People's Party not ready for big league
Oped, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 15/12/2025
» Alas, the reformist People's Party (PP) has shot itself in the foot, once again. The latest botch happened on Dec 11 during the joint sitting of the Senate and the House to vote on the second reading of the charter amendment bill.
No-confidence and poll date in flux
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/11/2025
» Amid the drumbeats of military conflict with Cambodia, Thailand's political environment is evidently unruly and unsettled. The minority government of Anutin Charnvirakul, the third prime minister from the third largest-winning party since the latest national election in May 2023, is hard-pressed to stay in office beyond the four-month "Memorandum of Agreement" between his Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) and the People's Party (PP), the largest camp in the national assembly.
Landmine sparks fear
Oped, Editorial, Published on 13/11/2025
» The latest landmine explosion, which injured four soldiers and left one without a foot, not only undermines attempts at peace between Thailand and Cambodia but also sparks fears of an all-out war as Thailand faces pressure to retaliate and teach its neighbour a lesson.
The time I really put my foot in it
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/10/2025
» A half-hearted spring-cleaning session at home during the week came to a welcome halt when I unearthed a couple of my father's wartime RAF books under a pile of disintegrating paperbacks. The Air Ministry books, published more than 80 years ago, always serve as a reminder of when as a kid I made a faux pas of embarrassing proportions.
In an Irish memorial, I see echoes of Palestine
Oped, Andy Young, Published on 03/10/2025
» The figures by the River Liffey in Dublin are more clothes than flesh. The Famine Memorial, created by Rowan Gillespie, holds in bronze a moment of suffering, the settling in of the Great Hunger, which would cut Ireland's population by more than a quarter, the gone either dead or emigrated.