In Thailand, even an immensely popular and wealthy politician like Thaksin Shinawatra cannot match the authority wielded by the king. If the courts are now showing unprecedented steadfastness in pursuing Mr Thaksin, it could well be because they believe they have royal backing.
- Extracted from Jonathan Head, “Thaksin family’s gamble fails to pay”, BBC News, [...]
The king, the courts and the former PM
August 1st, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · 30 Comments
Tags: Coup · Thailand · Thaksin
Rats in the Indo-Burmese borderlands
August 1st, 2008 by Nicholas Farrelly · Add a Comment
Over the years I have sometimes mentioned the social and economic chaos that occurs in certain parts of mainland Southeast Asia after the flowering of bamboo forests. Apocalyptic rat plagues can descend on villages, particularly in northeast India and western Burma, destroying lives and livelihoods as they go.
Until now there have only been scraps of information about the ecological [...]
Tags: Burma · Environment · Northeast India · Trans-Border Issues