If you don't vote for us, HE will return!
Hello all comrades and friends and friends of friends, it's Monday, May 16 in Bangkok and, eventually, everywhere.
End of a Weekend. Did you have fun again?
Rethinking the Biden summit
THAILAND POLITICS OPPOSITION
Over the past 8 years, Thailand's military-backed regime has shut down/punished most meaningful opposition, let alone dissent.
The dictatorship has "allowed" a free-and-fair election next Sunday for Bangkok governor - a largely useless position similar to "lord mayor". It has sparked the country's only political discussions of the time:
ANALYSIS
Desperate for change
As Bangkok prepares for the first governor's election in almost a decade, the new officeholder will face a daunting list of demands for reforms and solutions to chronic problems.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2310506/
He definitely has a point. Newspaper, TV and internet news outlets on Monday morning shouted that:
Smear sparks poll unrest fear
Anti-Thaksin critics target Chadchart
NOTE: "Chadchart" is a popular pupulist, the leading candidate for Bangkok governor (and, incidentally, the winner). He was the Minister of Transport in the final elected government of then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, ousted by the militay coup of exactly eight years ago.
 The final stretch of the Bangkok governor campaign is heating up with the front-running candidate smeared with a scare tactic last employed in the March 3, 2013 Bangkok election governor campaign.
 This time, the tactic is being exploited in a campaign aimed at diverting votes to one of four candidates approved by the groups behind the campaign which targets Chadchart Sittipunt, a leading independent contender.
BEARS REPEATING
Chadchart is running for Bangkok governor as an independent. He has no known links to the Shinawatra machine, including Thaksin.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2310114/
U.S. ASEAN CHINA
There is growing skepticism in the Southeast Asian region about last week's U.S.-ASEAN "summit". A Monday morning editorial argues:
High stakes for Asean
The commitment of China to the Southeast Asia in terms of military and security partnerships is not yet on a par with the US, which has been involved in the region for a long time.
However, China's participation in a security role in the region is growing as some Asean countries are trying to reduce their dependency on the US in military affairs.
Scariest moment on the streets of Bangkok
If you don't vote for us, HE will return!
A section of Thai politics remains focused... nay, obsessed by Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck, both long gone from the country.
Veera Prateepchaikul, longtime political reporter and former editor of the Bangkok Post, writes on Monday that their focus on the Shinawatras is as confusing as it is misleading.
Scare tactics set to fall on deaf ears
Who really is the proxy of Thaksin as the Pheu Thai Party has not fielded a candidate?
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2310506/
PHILIPPINES MARCOS
Mike Bloomberg's "news" agency claims, from the Philippines:
The [Facebook-TikTok] machine that brought Marcos Jr to victory
Bongbong's win was influenced by a formidable machine, one that sought to sanitise the autocratic rule of his father.
... Like the 2016 US election, the lead-up to
Bongbong's win was influenced by a formidable social media machine, one that sought to sanitise the autocratic rule of his father. Ferdinand Marcos, who declared martial law in 1972, was forced to flee in 1986 amid a popular uprising, deep recession, debt spiral and the erosion of US support for his regime.
"They presented fake news and revisionist history," Robredo voter Mark Domingo, 42, told me after the extent of the Marcos landslide became clear. He held the hand of his wife, Amor, as they sat in a volunteer compound expressing ire for Meta Platform Inc's Facebook and TikTok Inc Social media companies "have ruined the Philippines," he said.
Related
Marcos victory no surprise
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2310162/
This week saw the people of the Philippines elect the son and namesake of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to power - paving the way for the return of the Marcos clan into the halls of Malacanang Palace some 36 years after they were chased out of it during the EDSA People's Power Revolution.
When you've lost Bill Maher...
 Maher pointed out the inevitable way such an expansion of power will eventually be used against liberals and progressives.
 'Yes, Republicans are right to compare this to [George Orwell's 1984] and the Ministry of Truth, that's exactly what it sounds like.
 'Who do you think is going to be the Truth Czar in 2025?' he asked
U.S. Democrats believe the worm will never turn.
https://www.based-politics.com/2022/05/14/bill-maher-slams-bidens-disinformation-governance-board/
THAILAND TOURISM
Suvarnabhumi: Completely random security check.
No profiling involved.
TOURISM CHINA
CCP: No one gets out of here alive
The Chinese Communist Party kicked the Thai tourism industry right where it hurts the most.
Over the weekend, Beijing ordered a de facto international travel ban, forbidding citizens from going overseas for "non-essential" reasons.
That would include tourist trips to Thailand.
China's President4Life Xi Jinping and supporters said the ban is an important part of their imaginary and fantastical "Zero-Covid" policy.
PHOTO: Optimistic shoppers wait in a long line in a Beijing supermarket.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/13/china/china-covid-outbound-travel-restriction-intl-hnk-mic/index.html
Masking without end
For those who are counting and for those pretending not to look:
After 112 weeks of lockdown to flatten the curve, Thailand's junta has declared an indefinite extension to the mask mandate. Including tourists, visitors, etc.
All law enforcement including police, military, local constabulary, etc, are authorised to stop mask-scoffs and summarily fine them up to 20,000 baht on the spot - 744 loonies and/or USD$577.
They may also legally demand identification, residence and Covid-inoculation documents.
Thailand has been authorized to have a Sunday.
Monday in Thailand is a make-up holiday for Sunday's Buddhist celebration.
CORONAVIRUS THAILAND
Another 'worse day' for Thailand on Sunday.
The number of confirmed new infections: 9,286, up 2,477 cases from Saturday
54 new deaths from the virus.
vesak15.jpg
Sri Lanka, whose Theravada Buddhism is identical to Thailand, bent over backwards to celebrate Vesak. What remains of a Lankan government lifted the national curfew for a day.
PHOTO: Sri Lankan Buddhists did their best to mark Vesak, which celebrates the birth, death and day of enlightenment of Buddha.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2310338/
Hello officer, how's that trafficking shakedown moonlighting job coming along?
https://t.co/bWvtTC1ZHG
THAILAND POLITICS DIPLOMACY
Thailand's progressives have been idling along so much that people forget about them. But over the holiday weekend, they hit a new campaign.
 They are pushing amendments to the junta-written constitution, with the aim of gaining more decentralisation i.e. removing powers of the central government. This is not appreciated by the military regime and the loyalists it can still organise.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2310114/
So easy to say, so very difficult to commence.
Example: After 16 months as U.S president, Biden not sent a U.S. ambassador to Thailand.
 The author is communications specialist Mark S. Cogan, currently an associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/40030/engaging-thailand-is-the-right-move-for-biden-ahead-of-the-asean-u-s-summit/
ASEAN POLITICS
One of the top issues that U.S. President Biden and the U.S. State Department refused to touch at their "summit" with ASEAN last week - one of several - was Myanmar aka Burma.
 ASEAN, however, can't and won't ignore the issue.
 On Saturday, basically as soon as the Americans released the ASEAN political leaders from the two-day lockdown in Washington, Malaysia went first.
 Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah welcomed a small delegation from Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG) in Kuala Lumpur. The NUG has become the major political opponent to the Tatmadaw (army) dictatorship.
 The generals who seized power in a coup last year, calls the NUG "terrorists" with shoot-to-kill orders.
PHOTOL Myanmar was excluded from the U.S. summit, but more importantly Biden ignored issues like the above (in Burma), as well as Thailand and the Philippines.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2310322/
UNBIDDEN COMMENT
The world and your life run on computer chips from Taiwan that can't be replaced.
TECHNOLOGY
From the first day that the keyboard monkeys of Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up the goofy "Thailand Pass" website, there have been troubles.
One of the common ones, by reports, is that when an applicant gets through the tedious no-fun process of providing all information and hits "SEND" this nasty message appears:
 Error in API Server
This article has a couple of good ideas about why, and about how to proceed.
https://bangkokherald.com/business/tech/thailand-pass-api-error-heres-how-to-fix-it/
ARTS AND LETTERS
An absolutely lovely read about the great 19th century's artist William Blake.
 "Shall I call him Artist or Genius - or Mystic - or Madman?"
PHOTO: Songs of Experience: Frontispiece, by William Blake, c. 1825.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/god-has-beautiful-mansion-me-elsewhere
