Thailand's political future: Defective democracy

Good morning world, this is the early (Bulldog) Fishwrap for Wednesday, January 10.

 

So a baby seal walks into a club. Oops! Correction, Canadian Club!

The Headline Fits The Crime
Father, daughter drown in steel boxes,
babbling son detained

SAKON NAKHON: A 35-year-old man has been detained for interrogation in the murder of his father and younger sister, whose bodies were discovered in locked steel boxes dumped in a pond.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2720989/

South Korea passes bill to ban dog meat trade
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2720963/
Interestingly, a litle bit
Thailand still has no such law.

CHINA USA POLITICS
Similar but different
The Biden re-elecion campaign is bringing (not 'inviting') top journalists to Wilmington and using the trips as an opportunity to tell reporters and editors what they're getting wrong in their newspapers.

https://twitter.com/semafor/status/1744182376249295016

Where 'absolute' is an absolute word.
'asks': Isn't that cute?

By Paul Chambers, Naresuan University, dependable veteran Southeast Asia analyst.
Defective democracy defines Thailand's political future
Summary: 2023 was remarkable in Thai politics. A fairly clean general election ousted the pro-military government, replacing it with a coalition headed by a leading opposition party. But the coalition — which includes pro-military parties — rules under a powerful monarchy and alongside a Constitutional Court and Senate both appointed by the 2014–2019 junta.
https://shorturl.at/abpM7

BANGLADESH DICTATORSHIP
Bangladesh’s Hasina tightens grip. The fantasy of a 'multiparty democracy' is shattered.
The one-sided January 7 election has cemented the Awami League as Bangladesh's dominant political force.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/bengali/election-follow-01082024123337.html

Sidebar
Confusion Nation -- Sheikh Hasina's unyielding reign
The prime minister has been criticised for her undoubted authoritarian streak but she rose to power along a democratic path.
https://shorturl.at/xD019
Election Roundup -- At least India is pleased
Awami League wins Bangladesh polls boycotted by opposition.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her party have secured a fourth consecutive five-year term.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/bengali/bangladesh-polls-election-day-01062024183642.html

COLD WAR ii PHILIPPINES
Philippines hits back at China, says joint patrols with U.S. 'not provocative' -- https://t.ly/ZCziW

CANADA ANTISEMITISM UNIVERSITY
On behalf of 'all Jewish students currently enrolled and graduates of the last two years and... well, heck, the Jewish Community,
A CND$77 million lawsuit claims anti-Jewish, antisemitic words and actions by the university of Marius Grinius. Two billion-with-a-"b" baht in real money.
https://nationalpost.com/news/mcmaster-universit-antisemitic-incidents-lawsuit

Butch Ir Up, Anna
The New York Times outs Taylor Swift as possibly maybe perhaps probably homosexual.
At least so lustfully fantasises the (ALLEGEDLY! lesbian) column writer Anna Marks assures.

https://shorturl.at/biEG3

Not An Actual Accomplishment of the U.S. Congress
Fauci appears before Congress to answer questions on mask mandates, Covid-19 origins.
 Who will continue to not answer any questions.
The Epoch Times: https://shorturl.at/kmuGL
cartoon courtesy Private Eye

GLOBAL WARMING
The East Coast of the United States is sinking at a worrying rate. By 2mm per year. by which they apparently mean, not nearly fast enough. (Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/east-coast-ground-continues-to-collapse-at-a-worrying-rate/

Meanwhile, parts of Jakarta are sinking by up to 10 inches per year. (Wired) (archive site)
Jakarta will soon be the 'former' capital of Indonesia
San Francisco is sinking by 0.07 inches a year -- 140 times slower than Jakarta and also a little less than the 2mm mentioned above for the Eastern seaboard.
https://archive.is/n0E0Q#selection-723.0-728.0

JUST PLAIN TECHNOLOGY
Perfect, except that it costs $2499. For that price you could easily get eight good 27" 4K monitors.
So nice try Acer, but no.
https://www.tomshardware.com/monitors/acer-debuts-57-inch-predator-z57-duhd-gaming-monitor-at-ces-it-launches-alongside-two-new-240hz-oled-monitors

Microsoft is killing Wordpad. (The Register)
Too bad. It's been a halfway-decent word processor for ... holy cow! 40 years?
It had no room to shovel in ads or AI, so it had to go.
Windows still has tiny, useful Write.exe, which can save files both as RTF and Docx, so that's something.

Jane Marple of England, unrivalled murder-detective and judge of human character.