Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Pandemic no time to play favourites
News, Editorial, Published on 31/01/2021
» A pandemic, by its very definition, affects the entire world without exception. After all, viruses -- be it the novel coronavirus, polio, or HIV -- do not discriminate on the basis of background.
Time to swim against the 'yoo pen' cultural tide
News, Atiya Achakulwisut, Published on 19/11/2019
» Whether to go with the flow or go against it -- to Yoo pen or to Yoo mai pen -- is the political dilemma of the day, but it is essentially a question of character, individual as well as collective.
UN tramples its own ideals
News, Editorial, Published on 16/10/2018
» The UN General Assembly has once again openly mocked some of the major principles it purports to champion. It has elected several of the world's worst human rights violators as full members of its Human Rights Commission. In the process, it employed a questionable procedure in which there was no competition. Member countries of the UNGA were presented with 18 candidate-nations for 18 pending vacancies on the UNHRC. In the event, as usual in such UN processes, none of the candidates failed to gain a majority vote, so the 48-member UNHRC will at least have all its seats filled when it meets in Geneva next year.
One step forward, two steps back for cultural progression
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/10/2018
» There was bound to be a backlash to the "Me Too" movement, and the struggle over the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court is clearly part of that culture war. "Me Too" is going to lose this battle unless there is some new and horrendous revelation of Mr Kavanaugh's past behaviour in the next few days, and lots of people in the US and elsewhere see this as evidence that the war itself is being lost.
USA's baffling exit from UN Human Rights Council
News, Rizwanul Islam, Published on 25/06/2018
» After threatening to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for some time, finally on June 19, the Trump administration declared its withdrawal. The UNHRC, an international body of 47 states with a rotating membership, is tasked with the protection of human rights and condemning states for violation of human rights. Possibly, even for casual observers of the global politics, this move by Mr Trump's Administration may not spring a surprise. After all, this administration has been isolationist on many pressing global matters and this is just one in that list. However, what this move would achieve is not clear and it does not seem that the US would achieve any of the things that Washington says it would.
Thailand's global standing at a low point
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/05/2018
» When the fourth anniversary of Thailand's coup comes to pass later this month, Thailand's foreign relations will be one of the many costs to be counted from the military government. While the Thai administration of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insists otherwise, Thailand's international standing has sunk to its lowest point. One of the immediate tasks facing the elected government after the poll will be to rectify and restore Thailand's international reputation.
Tip of the iceberg
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 14/01/2018
» Myanmar's government and entirely out-of-touch military soiled themselves again, over the Rohingya issue of course.