Showing 1 - 10 of 31
Anutin govt faces three diplomatic tests
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 28/04/2026
» Less than three weeks into office, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has signalled three immediate foreign and security priorities: managing tensions with Cambodia, addressing unrest in the country's southern border provinces, and quietly preparing for a more active role in Myanmar.
Forget births, cut Thai deaths first
Oped, Sergei Scherbov & Vipan Prachuabmoh, Published on 23/04/2026
» Thailand's demographic debate is too often framed as though the country had only one option: raise fertility or accept a shrinking workforce. That view is understandable, but for the next two decades, it is mostly the misaligned policy horizon. If the question is how Thailand can strengthen its workforce before mid-century, the fastest answer is not higher fertility, but rather lower mortality.
Orban's fall seen as a populist turning point
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/04/2026
» Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sent a message congratulating Hungary's newly elected prime minister, Peter Magyar, for having evicted long-serving populist leader Viktor Orban (aka "The Viktator") from power. All the usual welcoming words, but Mr Tusk's message ended with two slightly mysterious words in Hungarian: "Ruszkik haza" -- Russians go home.
Government stability tests performance
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/04/2026
» Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has gone from strength to strength, leveraging a stopgap minority government late last year into solid majority rule after the Feb 8 election.
'Scam-gate' deserves full accounting
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 24/10/2025
» The explosive revelations and allegations of regional cybercrimes and scam networks have hit Thailand head-on and placed the government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in an awkward and defensive position. As more facts surrounding what looks like a labyrinthine cross-border multibillion-dollar transnational criminal ring come to light, more questions have surfaced with no clear answers. The Anutin government needs to come clean and avoid a "scam-gate" of cover-ups and lies at the expense of countless scammed victims across many countries.
Thai politics back at the brink (again)
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/07/2025
» The Constitutional Court's suspension of Paetongtarn Shinawatra from the premiership is déjà vu, exposing a pattern of systematic manipulation and concoction of political outcomes. After so many dissolutions of leading political parties and repeated bans of elected representatives over two decades, it is time to call a spade a spade. Thailand is a faux democracy. Its core foundations constitute an autocratic regime that does not really care about the country's future and the collective will of its people.
Too long in power a bad idea for leaders
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/07/2025
» Leading an entire country for a few years is a steep learning curve, but it's useful experience. Being in power for a dozen years makes most leaders arrogant and careless, but some remain more or less functional. Being in power for more than 30 years just makes you stupid. Consider Cambodia's Hun Sen and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
PM's crisis and Thai political directions
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/06/2025
» What began just a month ago as a minor border dispute with Cambodia has spiralled into an existential political crisis in Thailand. In what she understood to be a private phone conversation with Cambodia's former prime minister and Senate President, Hun Sen, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra compromised her premiership and undermined Thai national interests. While she tries to ride out the storm, her tenure appears wobbly and unworkable. What comes next will likely proceed in one of three directions revolving around the Thai parliamentary processes, each with its own scenarios and considerations.
Test of old ties
Oped, Postbag, Published on 05/06/2025
» Re: "Can Thailand engage with Trump's US?", (Opinion, June 3).
Gender gap won't close without change
Oped, Boonwara Sumano, Published on 12/03/2025
» The Global Gender Gap Report 2024, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), benchmarks gender parity across 146 economies and shows that the global gender gap has closed by 68.5%. However, at the current rate, full gender parity remains 134 years away.