New Mandala

Anthropologist Grant Evans has written a review of Handley’s The King Never Smiles. The review appears in the Far Eastern Economic Review (volume 169, issue 7). For those of you who cannot access the review on FEER’s public web site, here it is:
Evans review of The King Never Smiles
Grant Evans doesn’t like the book. I [...]

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New Mandala readers who closely follow developments in the Shan State (and I know there are a few) have to put up with one of the world’s most complex political and military stalemates.  Surrender, denial, ceasefire, hostility and speech-making – it has it all.  Making sense out of the mess probably takes a lifetime of [...]

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In Bangkok Pundit’s characteristically cautious style, there is hesitation to offer a comment on the recent Far Eastern Economic Review article by Colum Murphy.  Murphy’s article examines the relationship between Thaksin and King Bhumipol. 
The ambiguous, rarely enforced and, yet, much feared mechanisms associated with Thailand’s lese majeste laws leave many unwilling to venture their own analysis. 

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A Thai government announcement that the loopholes around “visa runs” will be tightened up, has been reported by The Bangkok Post.
The target of the tighter restrictions is - if the article’s emphasis is any indication – to be Chinese and Indian abusers of generous visa-on-arrival provisions.  The article also cites the increasing use of information technology at [...]

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Sarinda Singh is a PhD student at ANU doing important research on “Intersections between Authority and Morality: Wildlife Conservation in Laos.” She has written an interesting short piece in the latest (September 2006) issue of Asian Analysis:

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Thanks for the comments on my earlier post titled “Thais Love Tesco”.  Further to the ideas that have been raised, it is probably worth highlighting one important way that the Tesco Lotus juggernaut markets itself to potential customers. 
Rather than shirking from the fight in areas where it faces some opposition, the company actively supports informative (and tourist friendly) signposting [...]

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