New Mandala

Today New Mandala is not immediately in a position to add much to the analysis of the current standoff in central Bangkok between the PA(S)D and the Royal Thai Police. 
What I can do, of course, is provide links to some of the best “live” coverage.  Bangkok Pundit leads the charge, as usual, with a characteristically well-chosen mix [...]

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Rambo 4 has, over the past couple of years, remained a standard reference point for New Mandala’s discussions of the war that simmers away on Burma’s eastern fringe.
Of course, in recent months the fictional John Rambo has been replaced, both here and in more general reporting, by the Thomas Blemings, Jake Slades, David Everetts and Derek Meltons of the [...]

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I have just seen what I presume is the first full review of Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The politics of environmental knowledge in Northern Thailand.  This new book, regular readers will recall, was written by New Mandala co-founder, Andrew Walker, and his partner in critical environmental debate, Tim Forsyth, from the London School of Economics.  The reviewer, in [...]

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The East-West Center recently hosted an event that saw three major commentators on Burma issues discussing the impact of Cyclone Nargis.  There is a report of the conversation available here.  Readers hoping to learn more from these three quotable notables may also find these links useful: Priscilla Clapp, Kyi May Kaung and David Steinberg.

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Some people suspect that the fire which destroyed the upper floor of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok on May 26 was a tactic to delay the granting of visas to foreign aid workers trying to get into the country for the post-Nargis clean up.
Not so, says a newspaper published by political exiles. The New Era [...]

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The resettlement of villagers displaced by the Nam Theun 2 dam appears to be turning into a livelihood disaster. This is an entirely predictable outcome of a pooly thought out and poorly designed resettlement action plan.
The latest report from the “panel of experts” (engaged by the World Bank to monitor the project since 1997) contains some disturbing information. Here [...]

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