The recent East-West Center event to honour the Thai king (previously reported on New Mandala here) has motivated an article titled “An unnecessary honor” by Tom Plate. Available originally at UCLA’s AsiaMedia, it has now been published at The Seattle Times (under the headline “Event fit for a king serves up pad thai and pointlessness”) and The Japan Times (“Redundant royal [...]
Tom Plate on the East-West Center’s royal event
March 10th, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · 6 Comments
Tags: Asian Studies · Coup · Thailand
Ad Carabao with the Shan State Army
March 10th, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · Add a Comment
The Shan Herald Agency for News has a great selection of photos of folksy Thai “songs for life” icon, Yuenyong “Ad” Ophakul, celebrating Shan State National Day with troops back in February. Famous as “Ad Carabao”, he appears to have been accompanied to the Thai-Burma border by a delegation of other Thais. Unfortunately, I don’t know [...]
Tags: Shan State · Thailand · Trans-Border Issues
“Maybe Rambo should be the next special envoy to Burma”
March 10th, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · Add a Comment
In The Irrawaddy, David Paquette’s take on this week’s Burmese barber-shop conversation has a darkly comedic touch. Recent news from Burma about street vendors, the KNU, Ibrahim Gambari, Air Bagan and the USDA all get a mention.
Tags: Burma
Message from Burma
March 10th, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · 3 Comments
New Mandala readers looking to understand the ongoing campaigns against the Burmese military regime will find an article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald is worth reading. It describes Pannya Vamsa, co-founder of the International Burmese Monks Organisation, who is currently in Australia druming up support for tougher sanctions and more pressure on the generals in [...]
Tags: Burma · Burma uprising