Opinion

By Anatole Kaletsky

Weathered rain and sunshine, and great changes have taken place.

A little inconvenience for drinkers occurred on Wednesday and Thursday this week in Thailand because they were Buddhist holidays. People simply cannot buy alcohol or consume it in public, legally at least.

Last week’s failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reignited the pro-vs-anti coup debate in Thailand, particularly on social media.

In grief, people can rise above tragedy and become better or fall to the depths of their base emotions and become barbaric.

In what has become a vicious cycle, riot police needlessly and heavy-handedly disperse protesters using rubber bullets and more, leading to serious injuries or even death, and this is followed by demand for accountability and transparency.

The press cannot be truly accountable to the public if it does not try to analyze and question the current militarization of Thai society because a militarized society is antithetical to a democratic and pluralistic society.

For its eternal beauty and serenity, Kashmir has for ages been called a paradise. Unfortunately, this heaven on earth is now one of the world’s most oppressed and brutalized places.

Pheu Thai Party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is also Chair of the government’s Soft Power Committee, recently announced the promotion of mu kratha (also spelled as mookata in English) as Thailand’s latest soft power dish.

At a recent farewell reception for Peter Prugel, the German ambassador to Thailand, a prominent international human rights activist who was in town from...