New Mandala

As if a cyclone and a disastrous exercise in disaster relief were not enough, Myanmar has in the past week been hit by floods. From Kachin State in the north to Bago in the centre, the Ayeyarwaddy, Chindwin, Sittaung and Bago rivers among others have spilled over into towns, farmlands and villages.
The Chindwin, which flows [...]

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The Nation reports that “Gavintra Photijak, Thailand’s beauty queen, won the national costume award in the Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Vietnam Monday morning.” After the humiliation of Preah Vihear this is happy news indeed!

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Just quickly, do New Mandala readers have anything to add to this report of recent royal aeronautical feats.  The report makes it sounds like the Thai Crown Prince has been flying around “on a 4-5 week tour of European airports”.  My brief searches of royal news don’t turn up any further details but I expect many [...]

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Over at the excellent deathpower, Erik W. Davis introduces the Khmer proverb that supplies the title of his forthcoming doctoral dissertation.  I’m sure he would appreciate any conversation about this proverb and, in particular, any useful comparisions from other Southeast Asian Buddhist “traditions”.  For the students of religion and language among us it may be especially interesting.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an informative little article about a Lao-American police officer working near Atlanta.  It explores his desire to introduce Muay Thai to his police department, and outlines his five “Rules of Combat”.  It also introduces some of the ways that he helps the large local Vietnamese and Lao populations deal with life [...]

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Further to yesterday’s post about the Burmese generals and their reputed lack of intelligence I would like to introduce another slightly contrarian perspective.  Thanks to everyone who has already weighed in with their comments.
I have sometimes wondered out loud whether the exceptionalism that underpins many analyses of the Burmese generals is built on another slight [...]

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