|
ICT minister went too far with cyber closure threat |
 |
 |
 |
Thailand
Pheu Thai Party people and the red-shirts are understandably angry with cartoonist Chai Ratchawat for his offensive remark about Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but the ICT minister's threat to shutdown websites hosting any criticism of her is too much to swallow.
I disagree with the use of the word "prostitute" by Thai Rath cartoonist Somchai Katanyatanan, alias Chai Ratchawat, in referring to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her controversial speech in Mongolia, deemed by critics as damaging to the kingdom’s credibility and reputation.
It is both rude and insulting to refer to a decent woman to being as bad as a prostitute, as being better than a prostitute or, in this particular case, worse than a prostitute. I am not sure whether Chai himself would like it if a member of his family was referred to in the same fashion.
Chai posted his offensive remark on his Facebook page on April 30 in a reaction to Ms Yingluck’s speech at the Community of Democracies forum in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, on April 29.
|
Thailand
Another report by the US Trade Representative (USTR) on intellectual property (IP) abuses spells another year in purgatory for Thailand.
The annual Special 301 Report has extended Thailand's time on the Special Watch List to seven years. The action essentially brands Thailand in American eyes as one of the world's 11 worst offenders of copyright, trademarks and patents. It is no longer clear that the listing really means anything.
Section 301 refers to a US law on trade, while the special watch list is for US regulators to monitor. This year, Thailand heads the list along with Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia and Venezuela. Canada and Israel both "graduated" from last year's priority watch list with Thailand, to just the standard watch list for 2013.
The Ukraine was moved in the opposite direction, and became the only designated Priority Foreign Country on the USTR's list. There are threats of actual trade punishment or sanctions against Ukraine. Some say this is a good thing, since, to some extent, it takes the heat off Thailand and the other 10 members of the priority watch list.
|
|
Signs of coming genocide in Burma? |
|
|
|
Burma
The Burmese majority are in a state of denial that Burma now displays the early warning signs of genocide, “ethnic cleansing” or “crimes against humanity.” Rights activists are among them. Aung Myo Min, the director of Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), has called the findings of last month’s Human Rights Watch report into violence in Arakan State “unacceptable.”
By rejecting the use of the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe the attacks on Rohingya Muslims there, these people have become both active and passive accomplices to the crimes. The criminals enjoy safe haven, continuing to pursue a situation where full-scale mass killings are possible. They run the risk of staying silent while all the warning signs are there.
|
Cambodia
“What can you share with me about Cambodia’s experience on economic sanctions?”
This was one of the questions put to me by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when I had the privilege of meeting her early 2011 during a visit by the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats and during another discussion that year with the National League for Democracy’s Women’s Wing.
International sanctions were imposed on Cambodia throughout the 1980s during the occupation of the country by Vietnam, which had ousted Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.
The answers to Daw Suu’s profound question came from what I have lived with as a citizen and a Cambodian opposition member. An immediate positive result of the lifting of sanctions in 1992 was the open contact that Cambodians were able to have with the outside world.
It allowed the return home of the members of the Cambodian diaspora like myself. It brought in an atmosphere of hope, of a new beginning. There was an immediate boom of non-governmental organizations, small and medium-sized businesses, and the local and international media made its re-appearance at newsstands and in the city’s cafes. People enjoyed the new sense of freedom.
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 8 of 1961 |
