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Category: Thailand
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Thailand’s Bid for a Seat on the UN Human Rights Council is Poorly Timed
Thailand is currently bidding for the third time for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), with the election for a three-year term for 2025-2027 being held at the U.N. headquarters in New York in October.…
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Thailand’s PM Misses the Forest for the Trees on the Country’s Pollution Problem
Thailand’s Chiang Mai now has airborne pollutants that are 20 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. Last week, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin declined to designate the northern city as a disaster area…
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The Self-Defeating Nature of Thailand’s ‘Soft Power’ Push
Thailand’s new government cannot get enough of “soft power.” It has become such a buzzword in the Kingdom that a Chiang Mai man on X (formerly Twitter) gasped at the extent of its use, mockingly noting,…
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Thai-Cambodian reset a symptom of a wider problem
On February 2, three political activists, including Lim Sokha, a senior member of the Candlelight Party, the once fledgling opposition party that was banned from participation in Cambodia’s sham July 2023 elections, were arrested in Thailand after…
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Thai Constitutional Court Decision on Move Forward is Judicial Overreach
Thailand’s nascent semi-democracy suffered a tremendous blow last week (31 January), when the Constitutional Court ruled that the Move Forward Party’s (MFP) campaign to reform Article 112 of the 2017 Constitution was tantamount to treason. The Court…
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Will Thailand Deport a Group of Dissident Musicians to Russia?
Members of a self-exiled Russian rock band that has openly opposed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine were recently detained in Thailand and face deportation, but if returned to Russia could face severe consequences. Seven members of…
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Why Srettha should risk it all for Pita
As Charles E Weller once wrote, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country". While the quote's original purpose was just a typing exercise, it rings true…
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Tourism Aside, Thailand Should Look to India for Broader Economic Cooperation
Thailand has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism-dependent economy shaken by severe border restrictions saw arrivals slowing to a near standstill. When borders began to open in 2021, the Kingdom saw…
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ISOC Once Again Puts Thailand’s Government Between the People and the Military
Last week, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin made his first visit to the headquarters of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) at Ruen Ruedi Palace in Bangkok. In addition to serving as prime minister and finance minister,…
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A Bad Idea Revisited: Thailand Pitches Prayut’s ‘Land Bridge’ to Beijing
A very old idea has resurfaced in Thailand. In a direct pitch to Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chinese investors at the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) held in Beijing last week, Thai Prime Minister Srettha…
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