Suthep Spreads More Rumours

March 10, 2010

So, another unsourced claim with no evidence to support it that there may be 30-40 bombs in Bangkok and more in the north and north-east of Thailand (why? Who would do such a thing?) – if this is not another obviously made up pretext to bring the jackboots onto the streets with a license to [...]

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It Starts with a Coup …

March 9, 2010

It starts with a military coup launched by military top brass concerned that their decades’ long extra-constitutional power, looted wealth and sense of entitlement are being threatened by a politician with a genuine democratic mandate (or ‘populist,’ as it is know).
The coup is followed by the forcible imposition of unjust laws and the appointment of [...]

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Not Really Credible, Is It?

March 9, 2010

You might recall that the pretext used in a recent high profile case that a certain person was the ‘real’ owner of property which a previous court decision had ruled he was not and for which supposition no meaningful evidence was provided.
Today, according to The Nation: “Statesman General Prem Tinsulanonda Foundation is under his name [...]

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Border Trade

March 8, 2010

Border trade fell about 10% last year, as a result of the global economic crisis, the PAD incitement against Cambodia and the increase in the number of Vietnamese and Chinese goods to substitute for Thai ones. However, prospects for the future are still considered positive because of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and the improvements [...]

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Chiang Rai Residents to Protest at Chinese Embassy

March 8, 2010

What with the million person demonstration to come in Bangkok this weekend and the theft of weapons from the army by …. well, we all have suspicions as to what is going on there … what with all this, we could do without an outbreak of anti-Chinese sentiment but the ongoing problems with the River [...]

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The Meaning of Chiang Mai Airport

March 5, 2010

Thailand was a poor country at the end of the Second World War: it became a mid-income country by the 1980-90s because of its adoption of a version of the East Asian Economic Model – that is, export-oriented manufacturing of products that would otherwise by imported, with all kinds of incentives offered to international investors [...]

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Tension with China Likely as Mekong at Lowest Level for 30 Years

March 4, 2010

As the Mekong runs to its lowest level in three decades, boat traffic has had to be suspended and, in common with other waterways in the region, people wonder how they are going to survive. There will be the economic cost of reduced trade (there is an estimate of 100 million baht so far) and [...]

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Iran 1 Thailand 0

March 4, 2010

A last-minute goal by Javad Nekounam allowed Iran to put the Thai team out of its misery last night as the Land of Smilers went down 1-0. That will be the end of the Asian Cup campaign for another cycle and probably marks the beginning of the end of the managerial tenure of Bryan ‘Robbo’ [...]

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Rubbish Thought for the Day

March 4, 2010

The radio news hour from MCOT, which is aired daily from 7-8 a.m., generally closes with some kind of thought for the day (although these are often recycled regularly if considered to be particularly useful or if whoever gets to choose them is not available).
This morning’s offering seemed particularly suitable for the contemporary political situation. [...]

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Even the Pretence of Justice Is Being Set Aside

March 3, 2010

Even the pretence of justice is being set aside. According to the Bangkok Post:
“Attorney-general Chulasingh Vasantasing said on Wednesday he will immediately ask the Supreme Court to issue an order seizing 46.37 billion baht of Thaksin Shinawatra’s assets, as set out in Friday’s verdict, even though the ousted prime minister’s lawyers say they will provide [...]

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It Kicks Off in Tehran Tonight

March 3, 2010

The big one kicks off tonight at 11 local time (Bangkok time is now 45 years behind the rest of the world) as the plucky Land of Smilers take on the fierce Iranians – consternation has broken out in Bryan ‘Robbo’ Robson’s camp as it transpires the Iranians, who have already qualified for the finals [...]

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B2S

March 2, 2010

What is happening to B2S? The branch at Central Ladprao was an increasingly nicely organised place with a good range of books and CDs – good for Bangkok, anyway, where there are very few places to find interesting music. Then I poked my nose in this lunchtime and it had completely changed – all the [...]

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OTOP Success

March 2, 2010

There is more evidence of the success of the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) project initiated in 2002 and aimed providing income-generating opportunities to local communities across Thailand making traditional products of one sort or another. This also reduces the attractiveness of labour migration as part of the 2001-6 vision to help Thailand get past [...]

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New Revenue-Generating Opportunities for Jackboots Establishment

March 1, 2010

Baht signs have lit up in the eyes of the establishment as the opportunity to take advantage of the recent post-junta verdicts – now they can annul laws, regulations and all kinds of things necessary to administer a complex modern economy. But nothing is going to stand in the way of a General Jackboots and [...]

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Save Us, General Jackboots, from the Evil Poor

March 1, 2010

It turns out the entire working class is composed of vile ne’er do wells who drink alcohol and gamble! Oh sweet General Jackboots Prem, save us from this terror. They will surely all come to murder us in our beds. Why don’t you establish a blacklistof political dissidents, demonise them as enemies of the state [...]

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Adorno-a-Day

March 1, 2010

Adorno-a-day:* “There is to be found in African students of political economy, Siamese at Oxford, and more generally in diligent art-historians and musicologists of petty-bourgeois origins, a ready inclination to combine with the assimilation of new material, an inordinate respect for all that is established, accepted, acknowledged.” I wonder whether this might explain something about [...]

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Greatest Robberies in History

February 26, 2010

Discounting the stories about Saddam Hussein stealing US$1 bn (33 billion baht) from the Bank of Iraq, which I suspect to be untrue at least in part, the biggest robberies in history appear to be:1. Boston Museum 1990 – approximately US$300 million (about 10 billion baht) worth of art work was apparently stolen.2. Kent Securitas [...]

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Why the Aristocracy Hates Capitalism

February 26, 2010

Well, there are several reasons, of course but one of the more important is pointed out by Theodor Adorno,* who wrote:
“The concept of connections, a category of mediation and circulation, never flourished best in the sphere of circulation proper, the market, but in closed and monopolistic hierarchies.”
The patronage system is challenged by market-based activities where [...]

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How the Junta Thinks

February 26, 2010

In his book Naypyidaw: The New Capital of Burma (White Lotus, 2009), Dulyapak Preecharushh writes this about the Burmese junta:
“Additionally, from the late Cold War period (1981-91) to the present, the military regime has faced numerous complex security issues, which are a new threat in the context of globalization such as bombing, terrorism, computer hacking [...]

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Frightful Hobgoblins

February 25, 2010

There is a frightful hobgoblin stalking the sois and paddy fields of Thailand. Is it the hobgoblin of continued, intensified repression or will it be the hobgoblin of freedom? We will not know for certain tomorrow if it is the latter but we will be likely to be able to tell if it is the [...]

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