New Mandala

In response to the Distributed Denial of Service attacks that have, in the past few days, disabled a number of prominent Burma news websites, Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw has hit back.  His article in The Wall Street Journal will be of great interest to anyone who watches developments in Burma.  More details on the current campaign [...]

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From The Nation:
Privy councillor Surayud Chulanont yesterday conceded that the 2006 coup had not been able to put politics back on course as anticipated and that two years had lapsed with continuing turmoil.”The political divide persists, and parties concerned should take part in forging reconciliation,” he said, marking the second anniversary of the September 19 [...]

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A New Mandala reader in Laos has sent us this gem from the Vientiane Times
Ensuring all Lao citizens have television coverage by 2020 is a priority for Minister of Information and Culture Mounkeo Oraboun.
Speaking at a national television meeting yesterday in Vientiane , Mr Mounkeo said expanding television coverage would allow people, particularly in rural [...]

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With the brother-in-law of Thaksin Shinawatra now serving as Prime-Minister, Thailand’s democracy is set for another round of turmoil. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s personal links with Thaksin will give the election-denying People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) a much needed energy boost. How far they are willing to push their ill-defined agenda remains to be seen.
Sometimes it can [...]

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Thank you to everyone who has commented on New Mandala’s trial comments policy.  We have, to keep the issue at the top of the agenda, penned this short reaction to your many thoughtful suggestions and critiques.
From where we sit, the conversation that has started in response to the original comments policy post is a perfect example [...]

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In many respects, opium is an ideal crop to grow in the uplands of southeast Asia. As Renard wrote in his 2001 account of Opium Reduction in Thailand:
Poppy grew well in the hills despite the poor tropical soils there. It required no advanced production technology nor did it need agricultural inputs such as chemical fertilizers or [...]

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Over the past years New Mandala has benefited from the over 11,000 comments hosted on the site.  Many of these contributions have opened up important new areas for debate and discussion.  We have always appreciated the time and effort that so many readers devote to the task of commenting.
In the hope of further improving New [...]

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Last week we issued a call for applications for a consultant astrologer.  New Mandala is yet to fill this position.�
And – if this Wall Street Journal report is anything to by – there is a simple explanation.  For Thailand’s legions of fortune-tellers business is booming.  According to one observer this is a “glorious time for astrologers”.  But…
…It can [...]

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New Mandala readers who have followed this conversation may find a weekend article from The Wall Street Journal is worth a look.  Burma is the subject of sustained discussion about half-way down.

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In the beginning, I was not opposed to the Khmer revolution: having lived with the Cambodian peasants from 1965 to 1970, I was painfully aware of their exploitation at the hands of the administration under the corrupt Sihanouk regime….So I welcomed the revolutionaries’ victory as the only possible means of bringing Cambodia out of its [...]

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