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Thailand Bombing Is No Surprise - Joshua Kurlantzick, Asia Unbound

On Tuesday (Thailand time), several explosions were detonated in one of the most heavily crowded areas of Bangkok. According to current news reports, there were at least three expl...

Thailand Politics Heating Up for '12 - Kittipong Thavevong, China Post

2011 was a year of political transition that saw a change of government following the general election in July. For political observers, last year was rather dull compared to the ...

Thailand Gripped By Stagnation - Peter Warr, East Asia Forum

Are current policies making it better or worse, and what needs to be done to escape the trap? The ‘middle-income trap’ is an empirical generalisation based ma...

Giant of 21st Century Begins to Awake - Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia

The Asian industrial revolution is the single most transformative social event on our planet today....

Is It Time to Move Bangkok? - Joshua Kurlantzick, Asia Unbound

One solution that some Thai environmental experts have begun to suggest: Move the whole capital to land that is higher, more secure from flooding, and easier to protect with dike...

What Happened to Thailand? - Joshua Kurlantzick, Asia Unbound

By now, with the major flooding in the Bangkok area well into its second week, even resilient Thais are reaching their breaking point. Angry, frustrated Bangkok residents have been...

Thailand's State of Paralysis - Christopher Johnson, Japan Times

Like the Japan tsunami, flooding in Thailand will have a global impact on the supply and price of rice, cameras, computers and cars....

China's Trouble With the Neighbors - Zhu Feng, Project Syndicate

China’s neighbors will not be reliably good to Chinese interests unless and until China begins to provide essential public goods – not just commerce, but also fu...

The Volatile World Politics of Rice - Michael Richardson, Japan Times

A campaign promise that helped bring Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her political party to power in July elections is roiling the global market for rice, Asia'...

Al-Qaeda and Islam in Southeast Asia - Jon Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun

After much optimistic talk, government now concedes violence is increasing and there is no end in sight....

The Bloody War for Southern Thailand - Richard Ehrlich, Asia Sentinel

Each morning, Buddhist monks wrap themselves in saffron-colored robes and silently stroll, collecting alms in Thailand's three southern provinces while a phalanx of troops armed wi...

New Thai Government's Clashing Agendas - Kavi Chongkittavorn, China Post

Once again personal and national agendas clashed head-on once Surapong Tohwichachaikul, MP from Chiangmai, was named Thai foreign minister last week. Focus has been zeroed in on hi...

South China Sea Is the Future of Conflict - Robert Kaplan, Foreign Policy

The 21st century's defining battleground is going to be on water....

Yingluck Shinawatra's Herculean Task - Lennox Samuels, The Daily Beast

Thailand's New Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra must end unrest, heal divisions, fix the economy - and prove she's not a puppet of her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatr...

Asia's Bloodiest Insurgency - Patrick Winn, Global Post

Dawn smolders above this seaside city in Thailand’s southern borderlands. Troops already occupy the streets in force. Skinny conscripts with assault rifles patrol through th...

North Korea's Underground Railroad - Irwin Loy, The Diplomat

The sleepy Thai district of Chiang Saen has become a key transit hub for North Korean refugees. But it's leaving Bangkok with a political headache....

Thailand's So-Called Democracy - Doug Bandow, The National Interest

The Thai people have voted. The crony populists decisively defeated the establishment thugs. It probably was the best outcome among imperfect choices. Thailand has been in various ...

A Stunning Reduction in Global Poverty - Chandy & Gertz, Yale Global

It is customary to bemoan the intractability of global poverty and the lack of progress against the Millennium Development Goals. But the stunning fact is that, gone unnoticed, the...

New Hope in Thailand's Change of Government - Washington Post

We hope this time that the establishment gets the message - and that the newly elected government in turn will operate in a spirit of moderation and compromise....

What China Can Learn from Thailand - Daniel Lynch, The Diplomat

The Thai opposition's election triumph should act as a warning to China's leaders - they resist political change at their peril....

Is Thailand Headed for a Coup? - Joshua Kurlantzick, The New Republic

On Sunday, in the first national elections in four years,Thailand’s voters decisively backed the populist Puea Thai Party, delivering an apparently crushing blow to Thailand&...

Mr. Thaksin Wins Again in Thailand - Japan Times

Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai party have won Thailand's parliamentary elections, claiming a commanding majority in the legislature. The results are a vindication of s...

Can Yingluck End Thailand's Chaos? - A. Lin Neumann, Jakarta Globe

If the reactions to Sunday's stunning electoral win by Yingluck Shinawatra in Thailand's general elections hold, perhaps the nation has finally found a way out of the mess create...

New Era for Deeply Divided Thailand - Luke Hunt, The Diplomat

Thailand began a new era Monday, with the tantalizing prospect of an end to the violent strife that has wracked the country for more than five years, following Yingluck Shinawatr...

Thailand's Female PM No Victory for Feminism - Michelle Fitzpatrick, AFP

Thailand is set to get its first female premier in Yingluck Shinawatra, but observers say her victory as her famous brother's political proxy cannot be seen as a milestone for wo...

Thailand's First Female Prime Minister - The Economist

Ms Yingluck's transformation into a popular symbol of resistance to the military-backed coalition is quite a feat. An adept campaigner with a keen sense of the common touch, she ...

In Thailand, a Campaign for an Exiled Leader - Anthony Kuhn, NPR

Since Thailand overthrew its absolute monarchy in 1932, the country has seen elections followed by street protests followed by coups. Observers are concerned that this election w...

Thailand's Referendum on Thaksin Shinawatra - Rachel Harvey, BBC News

As Thailand prepares to go to the polls on Sunday, the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey examines the long shadow still cast over the elections by former Prime Mini...

Uncertainty Shadows Thai Election - Todd Crowell, RealClearWorld

TOKYO – Thailand has had a pretty good year since the demonstrations of April and May 2010, culminated in a bloody crackdown on May 19 in which 91 people died. The country is...

Back to the Ballot Box - Bangkok Post

When it comes to the trappings of democracy we have no equal. This was demonstrated last August when the foundation stone for a magnificent new parliament was laid with a 2013 comp...

Law of the Sea vs. Law of the Jungle - Gavin Greenwood, Asia Sentinel

Two boundary disputes creating tension in Southeast Asia are potential flashpoints for localized and in one case, even global conflict. While the former is credible and the l...

Real Story Behind Thai Chaos - Andrew MacGregor Marshall, Foreign Policy

A decade ago, Thailand was a beacon of democracy and progress in a neighbourhood mired in archaic autocracy. Three of its neighbours -- Burma, Laos, and Cambodia -- are trapped in ...

A Renaissance in Thailand - Jason Szep, Reuters

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Festive campaign posters across Thailand promise voters the world in Sunday's election: free tablet PCs, wage increases, high-speed trains, tax cuts. The list g...

The Political Game Changes in Thailand - Brittany Damora, Korea Times

Thailand is gearing up for an election that will do little on its own to end years of polarized politics and social divisions. Tensions are rising in Bangkok over fears of a resurg...

ASEAN Punts on Brewing Thailand-Cambodia War - Bangkok Post

If ever there was a good reason for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the government to keep Asean out of the disagreement with Cambodia, it was on full show during the weekend....

A Thai-Cambodia War? - Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Project Syndicate

If ASEAN is not allowed a mediating role, the Thai-Cambodian spat may wind its way back to the United Nations Security Council, which earlier delegated the issue to ASEAN amidst he...

Thailand, Cambodia Spat Gets Ugly - William Lloyd-George, The Diplomat

Domestic politics could be pushing leaders of the two countries to more intense conflict as thousands flee border fighting....

Thai-Cambodia Conflict Exposes ASEAN - Awidya Santikajaya, Jakarta Post

A fresh arms conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over the last several days looks like it was a time bomb that erupted suddenly. It is really the most serious dispute between ...

Can Thailand, Cambodia Step Back from Brink? - Josh Kurlantzick, CFR

Will the two countries’ militaries intervene to stop the senseless fighting? Going to the ICJ is at least a positive step, but unless the civilian governments can gain bett...

Can ASEAN Solve Thai-Cambodia Violence? - Rizal Sukma, Jakarta Post

Despite the ongoing Indonesia-mediated peace process, Thailand and Cambodia once again engaged in bloody skirmishes along the disputed border between the two countries. ...

Thailand, Cambodia Near All-Out War - Richard Ehrlich, Asia Times

BANGKOK - Thailand and Cambodia fortified their border positions on Tuesday after four days of artillery and mortar ba...

Thailand's 'Topless Teen' Scandal - Emily Rauhala, Global Spin

Although the affair has indeed led to much societal soul-searching, it's the government that's now being critiqued - and rightly so....

Thailand's Democracy on the Brink - Shawn Crispin, Asia Times

BANGKOK - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has raised hopes that early elections will reconcile bitterly opposed political camps and steer the ...

Thailand in Yellow & Red - Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Project Syndicate

After three consecutive years of deadly street protests, Thailand has arrived at the point where it will need to hold new elections, as the current term of its national assembly e...

Thailand's Forgotten Conflict - Luke Hunt, The Diplomat

While the international media focuses on Red and Yellow Shirt clashes and a temple spat, a deadly rebellion still brews in Thailand’s south....

Thailand

Europe Ignoring Lessons of 1997

Unending Unrest in Thailand's Muslim South

Asia as Global Leader? Not So Fast

Was Bangkok Attack Just the Start for Iran?

Iran's Bomb Gang in Bangkok

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