Showing 1 - 10 of 1,475
Asean banks face climate pressure
Oped, Rachel Ho, Published on 08/04/2026
» The global oil and gas crisis is worsening. Amid the Middle East war, the central banks of countries in Southeast Asia must address a perfect storm of rising fuel prices, cost-of-living pressures, and worsening impacts of climate disasters.
Fanatics, an obsessive, and a belligerent fool
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/04/2026
» We don't have to look very far to find a useful historical analogy for the current crisis in the Middle East. In 1967, Egypt closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel replied with a surprise air attack that destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground.
Can alliances with the US be replaced?
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 07/04/2026
» The increasingly loud debate over the future of alliances -- after reports that the US could scale back or even withdraw from Nato -- is nerve-racking. It has caused alarm across Europe and in Southeast Asia, another node of the US alliance network. Even without any official decision, remarks by US President Donald Trump on social media were enough to shake already fragile US alliances. The question now frequently asked by Thai policymakers is: What comes next if alliances weaken?
Bridge to nowhere
Oped, Editorial, Published on 07/04/2026
» New Myanmar president Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing will be sworn in on Friday.
Rein in Gun's influence
Oped, Editorial, Published on 03/04/2026
» Influencer Guntouch "Gun" Pongpaiboonwet needs little introduction. Rising from being a noodle seller, he built his reputation through philanthropic activities -- fundraising, providing aid, and rescuing victims -- roles that also highlight systemic flaws in Thailand's bureaucracy.
Oil post draws fire
Oped, Editorial, Published on 01/04/2026
» After a month of ham-fisted oil crisis management, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul appears to be moving in the right direction.
Rethinking Thailand's visa-free policy
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 31/03/2026
» Thailand is planning to cut visa-free stays from 60 days to 30 days. This long-overdue change reflects growing concern over the effectiveness of immigration surveillance. Moreover, scaling down visa-free stays underscores the seriousness of the Anutin government's efforts to combat scammers, illegal work, and other underground activities that exploit easy visa access to turn Thailand into a base for under-the-table operations.
The silent engines of Asean realism
Oped, Imran Khalid, Published on 30/03/2026
» The global economy is currently tackling what may be the most significant energy disruption since the 1970s. The effective throttling of the Strait of Hormuz -- now seeded with Iranian Maham mines and subject to a tense, IRGC-monitored tolling system -- has physically severed the energy arteries that sustain the industrial heart of Southeast Asia.
Trump goes off-script, US gone rogue
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/03/2026
» It was not supposed to work like this. "America First" and "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) were supposed to be about an inward turn to repair, replenish and rebuild an externally overstretched and internally weakened country, weighed down by unnecessary global entanglements, unsustainable national debt, and unimpeded mass migration. It seemed for a time that the MAGA movement to prioritise America above and beyond the international system and its constituent parts had found its final prophet in President Donald J Trump. But now, somehow, President Trump has betrayed the movement that has carried him to office by waging a disastrous war on Iran in cooperation with Israel.
Asean's energy security at risk
Oped, Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, Published on 26/03/2026
» In June 1986, the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) assembled in Manila to discuss Asean's response to the global energy crisis, which began with the Iranian Revolution in late 1978.