New Mandala

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A blast from the past. In the early 1990 as the upper-Mekong borders started to open there was a flurry of interest in the “Economic Quadrangle” that would link the economies of Laos, Burma, China and Thailand. Early opportunists found that good profits could be made from exporting cars, through Thailand and Laos, into southern China [...]

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There are many theories, most of them fused with conspiratorial intrigue, that are filling column inches since yesterday’s “assassination attempt”.  For those not in the loop on decades of Thai power grabs, military politics and shifting allegiances, the discussion all probably seems obscure and personal.  �
With the Class 7 heavies, the Thaksinites, factions in the intelligence services, and potentially [...]

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Asylum issues, and the treatment of refugees and internally displaced persons, are a major historical and contemporary concern for every country in mainland Southeast Asia.�
Today, Australia’s most readable broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, carries an article about North Korean asylum seekers facing court in Bangkok.  According to the report, “They had made their way, in small [...]

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Bilaterals.org “is a collective effort to share information and stimulate cooperation against bilateral trade and investment agreements that are opening countries to the deepest forms of penetration by transnational corporations.” It contains a very useful libraries of information on the various bilateral free trade agreements that are proliferating in the region. Just put the [...]

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Over the next weeks, I will be providing some of New Mandala’s trade-mark commentary, anecdote and analysis from the sauna that is southern Thailand.
Back in the land of coconut plantations, tourist vistas and bustling maritime commerce – it is good to be home.�
Everything is busier, faster and louder down here.  With the rubber price consistently over 70 [...]

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Earlier this month NewMandala commented on the recapture of a grey wolf that had escaped from Chiang Mai’s Night Safari. The head of the Night Safari (and ex-Royal Forest Department supremo) Plodprasop Suraswadi had christened the wolf Lhong – “a Thai word for lost.” NewMandala is now sad to report that Lhong has passed away. The Canadian [...]

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Today, The Times of India is carrying renewed calls to formally reopen the “Stilwell Road” between northeastern India and southwestern China - across northern Burma.  With a border crossing open between China and India at the Nathu La Pass, we will, no doubt, see more pressure to revitalise other trade routes between the world’s two most populous nations.�
The Times [...]

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When you’re running a paranoid military dictatorship it must become hard to judge the real threats, from the half threats, from the non-threats.  It really must.
The well-connected Irrawaddy crew are running a piece which discusses a ban on a literary workshop organised by a Kachin Baptist Church in Rangoon.  The workshop, “was aimed at young people, [...]

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Speaking to Bernama about a Japanese proposed regional Free Trade Agreement, Dr Nam Viyaketh, the Laos Minister of Industry and Commerce, said:
The way to prevent economic hegemony and preventing rich countries from pressuring poor countries is through strong economic cooperation.
Bernama continues its brief report by paraphrasing the Minister’s strong backing for the Japanese deal. 

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Thai TV, and all of the local newspapers, are reporting a violent scuffle at Central World Plaza - another shopping mall in downtown Bangkok - between opponents and supporters of Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.  Thaksin was, once again, officiating at a Prime Ministerial event in the mall that became the site of confrontation.  A small number of injuries [...]

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