Thai Floods Update.

October 5, 2011

As the death toll of the flood reaches 224 people, Al Jazeera has a video on their website called Thailand hit by worst monsoon in 50 years, which isn’t very informative, but gives you an impression of what it’s currently like in many cities of Thailand.

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World to Thailand: Join ICC to show commitment against war crimes

October 5, 2011

Thailand still hasn’t joined the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is now being called to do so. It’s the first international court that is able to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and currently has 118 member states. Read more: THAILAND: Global Coalition calls on Thailand to join the International [...]

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UN Human Rights Council asks Thailand about possibly distorted reports

October 5, 2011

The Thai government has published several reports on human rights issues in Thailand, including the problems in violent Southern Thailand. These reports differ drastically from reports published by NGOs. These differences will be discussed at the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday. Given the widespread inability among Thai officials to admit mistakes, and [...]

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MSF (Doctors Without Borders) Leaving Thailand After Thai Government Shuts Clinics Down

October 3, 2011

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is shutting down their operations in Bangkok. One of the main reasons is that the government obstructed their work – which is a shame. If you’ve been in the region where they operate, you’ll see that NGOs are needed there, and MSF is a secular [...]

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Corrupt Police Men Get Struck With the Full Force of Justice

October 3, 2011

The chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and 18 senior officers are allegedly involved in illegal gambling dens in Bangkok. This in itself isn’t really very surprising. It’s also not very surprising the it was Chuwit who blew the whistle on this. What’s surprising is that there will be an investigation into their (alleged) involvement. [...]

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Thailand Jewelry Exports 2011: $12 billion (expected)

September 14, 2011

Thailand is still selling more and more jewelry to customers from other countries, despite economic slowdown in the USA & Europe. The overall jewellery export value is expected to surpass US$12 billion this year. This includes sales that are made within the country to customers who bring the country out (mostly tourists, specially from Asian [...]

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Drug Busts in Bangkok (September)

September 13, 2011

The Bangkok police announced what its anti-narcotics operations achieved between August 30-September 12. 277 drug addicts were admitted to the rehabilitation program. Nearly 4,000 suspects were arrested on drug-related charges. The number included 2 major narcotics producers and over 300 dealers. Nearly 700 suspects were arrested for illegal possession of drugs and nearly 3,000 users [...]

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Bangkok Airport: Number of International Passengers 2010

August 10, 2011

The Bangkok airport handled 31.41 million international passengers in the year 2010. Phuket is one of the fastest growing airports (in terms of number of passengers) of 2010 globally. More info & international comparison here (PDF-download).

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Gold Prices Up Up Up

August 9, 2011

There’s a run on gold these days. So much so that police even enforced stricter security in the “gold store” Yaowarat area. According to Thipa Navawattanasap, the president of YLG Bullion and Futures, local gold prices may even hit 26,000 baht in the short term. Read more about it here.

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New BTS Line in Bangkok

August 7, 2011

The new “purple line” of the BTS system in Bangkok is scheduled to open 2014 and will serve north-eastern Bangkok. The estimate costs run into 50bn baht. For more details read: Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit-Purple Line, Bangkok, Thailand

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Southern Thailand: One of the worlds most violent insurgencies

August 7, 2011

Patrick Winn has authored one of the best in-depth pieces looking at the situation in Southern Thailand. It’s very well worth to set 20 minutes, put the phone off the hook, switch of the TV and digest “Buddhists in Arms”.

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Corruption in Thailand before, during and after Thaksin

July 10, 2011

Critics of Thaksin often blame him for corruption – and even among his supporters, there are very few that seriously believe he wasn’t corrupt. It’s nonetheless interesting to look at corruption ratings from Thailand before, during and after the Thaksin administration. There’s no doubt Thaksin was corrupt and used his political power to pocket a [...]

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Possible Worst Case Scenarios for Thailand

July 9, 2011

Now that the election has gone quite well, it should be noted that there are still some ways things could get nasty in Thailand. The Return of Thaksin For example, the winning Pheua Thai party, could bring back Thaksin to Thailand, giving him amnesty, and maybe even try to return part of the money seized [...]

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Chuwit

June 28, 2011

There’s an good Chuwit 101 primer from Associated Press. If you aren’t aware of one of Thailand’s most colorful politicians (the former prostitution tycoon) it’ll be a fun read.

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Army visiting red villages (Associated Press video)

June 27, 2011

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North Korean Refugees in Thailand

June 20, 2011

Not something that is reported a lot on, but: North Korean refugees often try to escape to Thailand. One of the reasons is that South Korea provides financial support to then send them there, where they get supported from the government. However, until they get there, it’s a long and arduous trip. You can watch [...]

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Drug Detention Centers in SEA

June 18, 2011

There’s an interesting 25 minute documentary on drug detention centers (army rehab bootcamps) in Thailand and neighbouring countries. It’s mainly criticizing the lack of effectiveness and lack of skilled staff. However, contrary to some other reports, this Al Jazeera documentary also points out that the inmates are treated good, no abuses, the centers are clean. [...]

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Video: Thailand’s battle for peace (Al Jazeera)

June 11, 2011

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On the Thai Elections

June 10, 2011

Here some quotes from an expert brief you by Joshua Kurlantzick for the Council of Foreign Relations, but it’s worth reading  Thailand’s Elections: Resolution or Implosion? in full. the election could simply accelerate Thailand’s political meltdown, underway since a coup in September 2006 any of the plausible poll scenarios [...] is likely to inflame segments [...]

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Witnesses Who Will Testify Against Police in Rural Thailand Need Better Protection

June 6, 2011

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today issued an urgent appeal to the public in the case of Mr. Kiettisak Thitboonkrong. His body was found dead several days after his arrest in 2004. Here’s a reprint of the appeal: THAILAND: Call for observers in the case of torture and murder of Mr. Kiettisak Thitboonkrong; strengthening [...]

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