Tales from the “Big Mango”
They say you should never talk about politics in polite company but this is the Internet so throw that kind of thinking right out the window. Thai politics can be scary and at the same time amusing. How can you not laugh when the PM counters critisism over his plans to build a casino by renaming it an entertainment complex?
I’m not sure if Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan has been mainlining rice extract but I have to ask after reading this:
Mingkwan said the continuing trend would help turn Southeast Asia into a prosperous region, comparable even with the Middle East.
First let’s overlook the fact that Mingkwan has not sung a consistent [...]
Popularity: 4% [?]
In the last few days, this excerpt from the Bangkok Post is the most intelligent (and perhaps the only intelligent) thing I’ve read in the newspapers about the current political situation:
Bangkok Post Oped contributor Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said… “It bodes ill for Thai democracy [...]
Popularity: 4% [?]
I recieved this email a few days ago and thought I would share it with all of you. I can’t guarantee it’s authenticity but it makes for an interesting read.
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‘To Return to a Democratic Thailand’
By: Thaksin Shinawatra
One year ago today I was in New York , preparing to address the United Nations General Assembly on [...]
Popularity: 12% [?]
Recent changes to the visa rules coupled with general political instability in Thailand have prompted many ex-pat residents to ask themselves if now is the time to go home or at least time to seek out a new home somewhere else. Somewhere where we might be better received buy our hosts.
It has always been [...]
Popularity: 12% [?]
While Thailand claims to be a beacon of free speech and democracy (cough, military coup, cough) in South East Asia, it’s all just really propaganda. The military has such a tight grip on everything that goes on in the country. The newspapers and TV stations are all pro government. You can’t even purchase a VHF [...]
Popularity: 14% [?]
I just got myself a copy of the yellow book, AKA, the new draft of Thailand’s oh so democratic constitution.
OK it’s not like I can’t read Thai but the Thai people use in these law texts is horribly incomprehensible for normal people. Guess they’re trying to fool us with their big words so we’d think [...]
Popularity: 12% [?]
Before the loy kratong festival at the end of the rains when romantic floats of banana leaf called kratons are launched on rivers and waterways at night to carry away the past year’s sins, there always seems to be a media frenzy in the newspapers about teenage sex. For some obscure reason it’s become fashionable [...]
Popularity: 12% [?]
