When U.S. President Barack Obama was first sworn in, expectations that a departure from the Bush Administration’s obsession with the Middle East were imminent. The argument was that the United States had paid too much attention to its military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and too little was spent on Asia, where an emerging China was now developing islands by hand and attempting to influence weaker Southeast Asian states to do its bidding.
In late August, Thailand’s House of Representatives passed the draft budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. The 3.1 trillion baht budget is soon expected to be up for casual debate in the junta-appointed Senate. There were a number of important outcomes from the budget process, including spirited debate over potential budget cuts to Thailand’s monarchy. Up until recently, challenges to the government’s allocation to the monarchy would have been unspeakable, however in the current political environment, the proposed 8.76 billion in funding was debated.
India’s foreign policy is at a crossroads in Afghanistan, where past policy decisions are producing strategic, moral, and political consequences. To a large extent, India made a mistake, as many Western powers did: it put its faith and confidence in the Ashraf Ghani government, while rivals such as China and Pakistan made overtures toward the Taliban, and are now certain to advance their interests and influence over the country.
At a protest earlier this month, a large banner was unfurled on the side of an overpass that read, “1.8 million children are about to fall out of the school system due to online instruction that doesn’t give a shit about them.” A young girl also hung herself over the side, a mock public suicide. The protest by the pro-democracy youth group Bad Student was a part of a six-day “online school strike.”
Along a road in Surin Province, a billboard reads, “Protect yourself from COVID, get a jab.” Medical personnel are featured prominently on the sign, an encouragement to locals to get vaccinated from the coronavirus. Recently, the number of COVID-19 cases in Surin province increased to more than 100 per day, which in the northeast of Thailand is second only to Nakhon Ratchasima. The pandemic has hit Surin province hard. Many are out of work, including the province’s fabled elephants and their carers. Shops and restaurants are quiet as people mostly stay at home.
In Nakhon Sawan province, a 24-year old man arrested for selling methamphetamine pills suffocated to death as corrupt Thai police officers attempted to extort a bribe of two million baht for his release. The leaked footage sent chills down the collective spine of Thailand, and ignited—or renewed a debate over both the common practice of police brutality and the need for comprehensive police reform. Police reform is a tired subject because somehow, attempts have failed or not lived up to their billing.
The ancient Chinese strategy game of weiqi, or Go, involves a competition in which the player who occupies the most board space wins. Logic would dictate that in Afghanistan, a Go strategy by the Taliban would have resulted in a decisive victory, but that would be absolutely wrong. Had the Taliban pursued a Go strategy, holding the countryside, where some three-quarters of the Afghan population lives, it would not have succeeded as spectacularly as it did in seizing power following the U.S. withdrawal earlier this month.
When Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, the former magazine editor and current pro-democracy activist, shared on Facebook earlier this month what appeared to be a copy of an old top secret document that classified opponents of the military-backed regime, it didn’t take many by surprise. The list, which emerged on August 9 and may have originally been released by the Move Forward Party – whose Secretary General and at least two members of Parliament are named – contains individual photos, Thai ID numbers and passport numbers.
Inside the walls of the United Nations compound in Afghanistan over the past few weeks, diplomats scurried about looking for some semblance of security and operational control, for after all, the Taliban were on the doorstep of Kabul and later, president Ashraf Ghani fled, leaving a slew of questions in his wake. Afghans and international staff sent hundreds of exchanges to senior UN officials in Kabul, frightened by the prospect of Taliban rule and afraid for the security of themselves and their families.
Recently, a young woman from Baan Kam village in Buriram province contracted COVID-19 after working in Samut Sakhon province. After seeking treatment at Satuek Hospital in her hometown, her doctor gave her permission to return home, with orders to self-quarantine for 14 days while obeying public health guidelines. The local news report noted that she quarantined alone, isolated herself from everyone around her, and stayed inside her home by herself.