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West Island, Chagos, pic: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Flickr CC)

Chagos Islands: Imperialism with an environmental face

By Graham Land Wed, May 23, 2012 9:04AM UTC View Comments

The Chagos Archipelago is a group of over 60 islands located in the Indian Ocean some 500km (310 miles) south of the Maldives. The isolated location of the islands resulted in a unique ecology and culture. It was also deemed strategic by the US and UK militaries. In 1965 the UK bought the Chagos and...

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Analysis: Is Thailand’s military compromising for the sake of reconciliation?

By Siam Voices Fri, May 18, 2012 10:00AM UTC View Comments

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinatwatra (center) and army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha (right). (Picture via Flickr, licensed under CC)

By Saksith Saiyasombut The East Asia Forum recently published a column on the current political role of Thailand’s military written by John Blaxland, Senior Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University with 30 years of service experience with the Australian Military and also a graduate of the Royal Thai Army Command and Staff...

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That other Supreme Court case, you know, the one about stealing elections

By Ahsan Butt Thu, May 17, 2012 2:18AM UTC View Comments

Durrani and Beg, seen here in their natural habitat

The news in Pakistan has been recently dominated by discussions about the Supreme Court convicting Prime Minister Gilani for contempt of court. There is, however, another case ongoing as we speak, and it’s all quite hilarious. You will recall, of course, the bombshell news in early March, when a frail, wheelchair-bound former banker named Younis...

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Tongue-Thai’ed! Part XIII: A coup (de main) for national unity

By Siam Voices Tue, Apr 24, 2012 10:30AM UTC View Comments

By Saksith Saiyasombut “Tongue-Thai’ed!” encapsulates the most baffling, amusing, confusing, outrageous and appalling quotes from Thai politicians and other public figures – in short: everything we hear that makes us go “Huh?!”. Check out all past entries here. The General Sonthi Boonyaratglin of 2006 is very different from the Sonthi Boonyaratglin of today. The former was army...

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Tongue-Thai’ed! Part XII: Dumb questions, dumb answers

By Siam Voices Mon, Mar 19, 2012 10:30AM UTC View Comments

By Saksith Saiyasombut “Tongue-Thai’ed!” encapsulates the most baffling, amusing, confusing, outrageous and appalling quotes from Thai politicians and other public figures – in short: everything we hear that makes us go “Huh?!”. Check out all past entries here. We all know the special role the Thai military plays in the country’s politics and also the apparent...

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