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“It is a kindness,” the Roman poet Ovid once wrote, “that the mind can go where it wishes.” Exiled from Italy to a port city on the black sea, the deeply homesick poet wrote a series of letters lamenting his fate to his friends.  Thaksin Shinawatra, in his self-imposed exile of many years, does not […]

“What is an ideology?” This was a question that Dr. Trairong Suwankiri, a former deputy prime minister, rhetorically posed to the audience at the United Thai Nation Party event earlier this month where Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was unveiled as the party’s standard-bearer. “An ideology,” he explained, “is the general direction a political party wants […]

In December, the Democrat Party revealed that it had set up banners of Jurin Laksanawisit, the leader of the party and the deputy prime minister, alongside Chuan Leekpai, the house speaker and a party stalwart, wishing the people a happy new year in every province. Banners for new year’s greetings are a staple of every […]

There was a time many years ago when blogging was the fashionable thing to do and the “blogosphere” was still a term that people used. Perhaps simply by mentioning such a time I run a considerable risk of confusing any younger readers — or indeed any of my non-writer friends — for whom the period […]

The past week, the outspoken conservative academic Seri Wongmontha, wrote a Facebook post on how he had once predicted that several MPs will resign from parliament in order to join a new party near the end of the term. He had been proven right, he noted, given that 31 MPs have just quit their posts. […]

When Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped down from the plane that carried him from Bali to Bangkok for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, he was greeted by 2014 coup leader and current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and while Xi was mounting his aircraft back home, he was also sent off by Prayut. In […]

After the 2014 coup, the then leader of the coup, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, came to power insisting that he had never wanted the post of premier for himself. “I didn’t want to be prime minister. It’s not cool. It’s tiring,” he said in a press conference shortly after the start of his tenure. That was […]

There’s something that’s simultaneously fascinating and sickening about watching the world’s richest man light up forty billion dollars on fire and fumbling all efforts he’s made to make it a worthy investment. Since crowning himself Twitter’s “Chief Twit,” Elon Musk has seemed to be doing his level best at driving Twitter off a cliff. Perhaps […]

Thailand would need to adapt its geopolitical game and its economic revival plans after the conclusion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s 20th National Congress, whereas widely expected, President Xi Jinping secured a 3rd term as the CCP’s general secretary. Given its opaque politics, the party congress, which happens once every 5-years, provides an important window into […]

That chairing Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting is something that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha looks forward to, as it may be his final triumph after 8 long years in office but the road leading to this triumphant event is not looking smoot. The crowing moment for his career would be when the leaders of […]