Showing 1 - 10 of 55
Solving the conflict in Myanmar
News, Charles Petrie, Published on 15/09/2025
» The Myanmar military has recently launched a new offensive in different parts of the country, determined to claw back territory it has steadily lost since the coup of Feb 1, 2021. These operations, though at times tactically successful, are being carried out through brute force: airstrikes, mortar attacks, and the increasing use of drones. Entire areas are being destroyed. What will follow is not liberation, but military occupation. But how viable and effective will be the administrative structures that the generals will impose to govern these shattered spaces?
Porosity can reduce city flood effects
Oped, Nuntachart Ratanaburi, Published on 02/07/2025
» The rainy season, which officially began in May, combined with the La Niña effect, brings unusually heavy rains that leave several areas inundated. Worse, the climate change impact intensifies weather turbulences with intense, localised rainfall -- known as "rain bombs" or cloudbursts -- that may cause severe floods in areas with a poor drainage system.
Tower collapse puts builder in spotlight
Oped, Philip J Cunningham, Published on 02/04/2025
» Even before the dust settled in Bangkok after the March 28 quake, China Railway's 10th Bureau was deleting posts and photos about its key role in constructing the infamous collapsed building.
Tariff man doubles down on his passion
Oped, Anne O. Krueger, Published on 27/03/2025
» US President Donald Trump has long been a staunch advocate of import tariffs, proudly calling himself "Tariff Man" and asserting that tariff is "the most beautiful word in the dictionary."
Walls of shame
Oped, Postbag, Published on 19/03/2025
» Re: "Border wall won't work", (Editorial, March 18).
Border wall won't work
Oped, Editorial, Published on 18/03/2025
» If a border wall could keep all criminals at bay, all countries across the globe would have encircled themselves with such a barrier, and the world would be a safe place.
Centre-left parties must regain relevance in Germany
Oped, Bartosz M Rydlinski, Published on 01/03/2025
» Germany's Social Democrats are one of the West's oldest political parties, with a legacy of advocating parliamentary democracy, opposing Nazism, and leading the modernisation of postwar Germany. In addition to many notable labour, economic, and human-rights reforms the party has implemented over the years, ex-SPD leader and West German chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik in the 1970s laid the groundwork for Germany's reunification in 1990.
How Italy managed to beat fascism after WWII
Oped, Mark Gilbert, Published on 22/01/2025
» Americans are alarmed by their country's stark political divisions. But they shouldn't despair. After WWII, Italy was even more politically polarised than today. Yet by the mid-1950s, it had succeeded, against the odds, in turning the page on its fascist past and constructing a contentious but functioning democracy.
How China and Japan's values 'differ'
Oped, Philip J Cunningham, Published on 05/12/2024
» Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad famously saluted "Asian values" citing "diffidence" as one of the characteristics that ostensibly made Asians different, though he did so in an arrogant, attention-grabbing kind of way. More successful was his "Look East Policy", (which, from the geographic confines of Malaysia is actually the Philippines) and there was no mistaking that it was Japan that Mr Mahathir had in mind, with China hovering somewhere out of focus in the background.
Transport tops clean air tasks
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/11/2024
» This week, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) launched a walking-cycling promotion to tackle the city's notorious traffic congestion. Quite an ambition.