New Mandala

To help some of the non-Thai New Mandala readers who are looking to the Thai-language media for updates on the unfolding political crisis in Thailand I have put together a quick guide to a few of the abbreviations and acronyms that are being most commonly used right now.  I hope it is useful for someone out there in the great digital yonder.
Getting inside [...]

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So far the Samak government has shown remarkable restraint in its dealings with the PAD protesters. The motivations for this restraint (and the behind the scenes manoeuvring that may have produced it) can be dissected in due course. But for now it is worth noting that arrests and minor police skirmishes represent a modest response by what [...]

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The Nation has the details.

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More than two months ago I wrote:
In some quarters the king is regarded as a key defender of Thai democracy. Which makes me wonder …Has there been a royal statement urging the protesters from the People’s Alliance for (Sufficiency) Democracy to respect the fact that there was an election held last December and that this [...]

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Over at the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter “blog/zine hybrid”, Andrew Selth has a neat overview of recent events in and around Burma.  Selth’s take-home message comes right at the end:
Increasingly…it is being understood that foreign powers are likely to have only limited influence in Burma. Real and lasting change will have to come from the Burmese [...]

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The best English language coverage of the PAD madness in Bangkok that I have seen is provided by Absolutely Bangkok. Bangkok Pundit has some useful links to other blog coverage. And Not the Nation is brilliant as usual. But the best comment I have seen so far is from our own regular contributor Srithanonchai:
At the moment, a veritable [...]

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From the Bangkok Post online:
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is betting its future on Tuesday’s showdown with the government with confidence that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet will be toppled.
Calling today’s showdown “the last whistleblow”, Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the PAD leaders said: “If we fail this time, we’ll quit and surrender [...]

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From the TLC list:
I am very excited to announce the publication of the quite monumental “Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos” (New Research on Laos) edited by Yves Goudineau and Michael Lorrillard (Paris and Vientiane: L’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 2008). It has about 29 articles (some in French and some in English) covering many aspects of Lao [...]

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[Last week the National Thai Studies Centre hosted a discussion on the current border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. Here is the text of my presentation.]
Following the political turmoil that has gripped Thailand over the past few months, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the government of Samak Sundoravej has a [...]

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One of the most active ministries during the Olympics was Youth With A Mission, or YWAM, which sent in groups from around the world. One group of Thai Christians went to Yunnan province this month and danced to Thai-language Christian music in coffee shops and restaurants.
- Extracted from Cara Anna, “Missionaries defy ban during Olympics”, [...]

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