Showing 1 - 10 of 604
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.
School bus safety ignored
Oped, Editorial, Published on 05/02/2026
» In January alone, there were eight school bus accidents, the Thailand Consumer Council says -- a prominent civic group campaigning for school bus safety. These incidents claimed one life and injured 122 others, yet they were treated as snippet news that drew little public attention.
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.
It's the economic history, stupid
Oped, Iker Saitua, Published on 14/01/2026
» Every year, I walk into a first-year lecture hall in Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and watch shoulders slump. The title of the course I'm teaching -- "Economic History" -- draws a similarly dejected reaction from my students: "Meh." "Boooring." "What's this even for?" Some call it "the history class", as if it belonged to another century.
Thailand's political trajectory in 2026
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 09/01/2026
» What happens in Thai politics this year and the immediate horizon will be determined by the upcoming election on Feb 8. While contesting political parties are in full campaign mode, the contemporary history of Thai polls so far in the 21st century is not encouraging. Only once in the past 25 years have voting results went the way they were meant to, in accordance with the popular will. Whether the vote in four weeks will follow the same pattern will depend on whether the conservative establishment gets its preferred outcome.
The end of China's one-child policy, 10 years later
Oped, Yi Fuxian, Published on 09/01/2026
» Jan 1 marked a decade since China repealed its one-child policy. Just ten days earlier, Peng Peiyun, who long oversaw the often-brutal enforcement of China's family-planning rules, died at the age of 96, having never been held accountable for her actions. Some obituaries praised Peng for being "reform-minded", even though, in practice, she only perpetuated an utterly inhumane policy, whose consequences have barely begun to materialise.
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.
Power with no sensitivity
Oped, Editorial, Published on 26/12/2025
» The border may be contested, but the message sent by bulldozing a Hindu god was unmistakable -- and damaging.
Another wasted year in Thai politics
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/12/2025
» As Thailand winds down 2025 with an early election looming on Feb 8, the most consequential issue to watch in the coming year will be whether recent topsy-turvy political patterns of polls, protests, and military and judicial interventions give way to a compromise between the old guard clinging on to vested interests and the new generation clamouring for reform and change.
Where's the data?
Oped, Postbag, Published on 27/11/2025
» Re: "Partnering up for a resilient future", (Opinion, Nov 20). My social media feeds have been overflowing with desperate reels from the recent mega-flooding. And amid all this chaos, one question hangs heavily in the air: Where is the government? And more importantly, even if it wanted to respond, how would it know where help is needed?