Showing 1 - 10 of 175
Middle powers can do their bit
News, Moreno Bertoldi & Marco Buti, Published on 02/02/2026
» Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, the world is increasingly caught between the United States -- an extractive superpower -- and China, a "dependency superpower" whose global influence rests on making other countries reliant on its exports. In the absence of meaningful resistance, both are likely to remain on this course, leaving middle powers to comply with their demands or face retaliation.
Living in Thailand's age of impunity
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/01/2026
» There's no place like Thailand. Joyscrolling TikTok and Reels reveals dozens of clips made by international visitors lamenting having to leave our lovely country and return to dreary Europe or joyless America. "Nobody talks about how hard it is to go from this" -- insert a cut of a wonderful beach in Krabi -- "to this"--cut to a drab, damp suburban street somewhere in the West. Add a crying-face emoji. "I want to move here!" the traveller announces. True, everybody loves Thailand.
Safety failures cost lives
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/01/2026
» First and foremost, this newspaper extends its condolences to the families of the victims of two deadly crane collapses -- one on Wednesday at a railway construction site in Nakhon Ratchasima province, and another yesterday on a section of Rama II Highway in Samut Sakhon. We join the public in praying for those injured and receiving treatment in hospital, hoping for their full recovery.
Trump's Greenland logic rattles Europe, Nato
News, Sara Sjolin & Andrea Palasciano & Sanne Wass, Published on 08/01/2026
» Donald Trump's rationale for decapitating Venezuela's government is fuelling concerns among European officials that they could soon face an existential dilemma over Greenland.
Somaliland: Mixed motivations
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/01/2026
» Last week Israel was the first country in the world to establish diplomatic relations with Somaliland. Not Somalia, a wreck of a country on the East African coast that has been mired in civil war for the past thirty-five years, but Somaliland, a different country just north of there that has been peaceful, relatively prosperous and even democratic for all those years.
Trickery in the land of tavern trivia
Published on 23/11/2025
» The world of pub quizzes was shaken in Britain recently when a team at The Barking Dog pub in Manchester was kicked out for cheating. Although disputes may occasionally occur in such quizzes it doesn't usually come down to such strong disciplinary action. However the team involved was believed to be clearly in breach of trivia etiquette.
Socialism's novel brand of nomenclature
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 18/11/2025
» On Nov 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed. On a very ordinary night, thousands of East Germans started crossing the dividing barrier between the communist East and capitalist West Berlin after the East German regime had suddenly opened tightly controlled border crossings. In a matter of hours, history was made. Throngs of people soon swamped the Wall and then started smashing the hated communist barrier into concrete rubble.
Time, ladies and gentlemen, please
Roger Crutchley, Published on 16/11/2025
» Well it looks like a decision has finally been made even though it has taken 53 years. According to Deputy Prime Minister Sophon Zarum, that quirky ban on the sale of alcohol in Thailand from 2pm to 5pm will soon be lifted. The ban had always defied logic. Let's hope there's not a catch, as the build-up to it, which involved several U-turns, has been a trifle confusing to say the least.
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).
SAO award whitewash
News, Editorial, Published on 23/08/2025
» The annual Integrity and Transparency Assessment (ITA) -- known as the ITA awards by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) -- has raised millions of eyebrows this year.