Photos of tourists in Washington, DC during the 1980s. I love it. For so many reasons.
(Via World Hum.)
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Category: Misc.
It’s been less than a week since I last wrote about the protests here in Bangkok.
A lot has happened since then.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has been forced from office. Thailand’s Constitutional Court found him guilty of breaking the law by continuing to host his TV cooking show. At first, Samak’s political party, the PPP, said they’d re-nominate him for PM. Then parliament met on Friday to vote on the matter, but coalition parties and even some PPP MPs boycotted the vote. So word trickled out, late on Friday, that the PPP would nominate someone different for the post. Samak is now out.
Meanwhile, the state of emergency has been lifted here in Bangkok. And the parliament is due to meet this week to vote on a new PM. (The caretaker PM, interestingly enough, is now the PPP’s Somchai Wongsawat, brother in law of…Thaksin Shinawatra.)
If you’d like to see some images of the protests, here are 35 photos I’ve just posted from my visits to Government House. Demonstrators are now occupying the compound for a third week.
Here’re the latest headlines:
AP: “Thailand lifts emergency, citing drop in tourism”
AFP: “Thailand lifts state of emergency”
NY Times/IHT: “Drop in Thai tourism leads to plea for end to crisis”
Bloomberg: “Thailand Votes on Premier This Week After Emergency Rule Lifted”
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Thai PM Quits (for now) Over Cooking Show
CNN:
Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the country’s prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, should resign from his post for violating the constitution by hosting a TV cooking show while in office.
Tuesday’s ruling against Sundaravej, who has faced weeks of violent street protests, also forces the resignation of his cabinet.
Ministers are barred from working for private companies, and Samak’s opponents filed the case hoping that a conviction will compel him to step down.
In theory, analysts say, Samak can return as prime minister in days — if the ruling coalition nominates him again and a parliament vote is taken.
As ever, for more info, I suggest The Nation, the Bangkok Post, and Bangkok Pundit.
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What I’ve Been Reading
Okay. I’ll be writing more about the political situation here in Bangkok next week. But for now, let’s move on to this: Conundrums solved by MacGyver. North Korean agitprop. And dope raps about supercolliders.
Here’s a list of some links that have caught my eye over the past fortnight.
— Storyboard: a profile of a profile of Charlie Kaufman
An almost-real-time, behind-the-scenes look at the assigning, writing, editing, and designing of a Wired feature.
…a rap about CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Some are calling it the greatest physics rap of all time.
— Tales From the Cellphone Tour
Most people take a vacation to get away from their jobs. Cyriac Roeding took a vacation for his job.
Instead of relaxing on a beach, Roeding — a mobile technology expert and enthusiast — took a ’round-the-world odyssey to see how the rest of the world uses cellphones.
— Monitoring the Future of Newspapers
A professor of mine used to say – a tad cryptically, I thought – that “history doesn’t happen at the same time in the same place.” Similarly, the Armani-clad “futurists” who haunt the corridors of Fortune 500 companies are fond of quoting William Gibson’s apothegm that “The future is here. It is just not evenly distributed.”
One place where the future remains unevenly distributed is the newspaper business. The country’s most successful dailies are enduring draconian cutbacks in personnel and coverage. Some of the also-rans are disappearing altogether. What no one knows is: What will the newspaper of the future look like? Maybe it will look like The Christian Science Monitor.
— National Explainer: A Job for Journalists on the Demand Side of News
This American Life’s great mortgage crisis explainer, The Giant Pool of Money, suggests that “information” and “explanation” ought to be reversed in our order of thought. Especially as we contemplate new news systems.
— Photo Essay: North Korean Propaganda Posters
“When provoking a war of aggression, we will hit back, beginning with the US!”
China Defends Its Reviled Soccer Team
The Olympic Games have shown that sports and national pride are still tightly intertwined, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the minds of Chinese leaders.
The evidence is indisputable: the more than $40 billion spent on the Games, the record haul of 51 gold medals by Chinese athletes, the invitations to 80 world leaders to attend the opening ceremony.
Now, the government is taking a step to shore up the reputation of that most dubious of national sports icons: the men’s soccer team.
And last but not least:
— List of problems solved by MacGyver
This is a list of problems that have been solved by the fictional character MacGyver from the television series of the same name. (This list is not yet comprehensive.) MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life or death crises. He spontaneously creates inventions from simple items to solve these problems. These inventions became synonymous with the character and were called MacGyverisms by fans. MacGyverisms became a distinct motif of the series. MacGyver was unlike secret agents in other television series and films because he carried only a Swiss Army knife and duct tape, instead of relying on high-tech weapons and tools.
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Bangkok Protests: Thursday Update
When news spread last night that Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was to give a radio address at 7:30 a.m. today, rumors swirled that he would use the occasion to announce his resignation. Instead, he refused to cave in. “Don’t even think I am going to quit,” he said. “The country needs a leader, and the world is watching us.”
As protesters occupied Government House for the 10th straight day, Samak proposed a nation-wide referendum to find a way forward.
The state of emergency continues, and more and more countries are warning their citizens to exercise caution here — or not to come at all. The majority of Bangkok is unaffected by the demonstrations. Still, there are concerns about what the turmoil means for the Thai tourism industry.
Here’s a roundup of the latest media coverage:
New York Times: “Thai Leader Promises Referendum”
Economist: “An emergency in Thailand: The army is called in as pro- and anti-government protesters clash”
Bloomberg: “Thailand May Miss Tourism Targets as Unrest Spurs Cancellations”
Reuters: “Defiant Thai PM refuses to quit”
AP: “Thai protest leader wants to reduce voters’ power”
Wall Street Journal: “Thailand’s New (Old) Politics”
Telegraph: “Bank steps in to support the baht as Thailand plagued by political unrest”
Notable blog posts:
Bangkok Pundit: “Resign, No; Dissolution, No; Referendum, Yes UPDATE”
2Bangkok: “PAD’s ‘final war'”
Following my previous effort, here’s a 2-minute, 18-second audio slide show I put together after spending some time at Government House today. That’s where PAD protesters are demonstrating against Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Early today a protester was killed and several were seriously injured, which prompted the government to declare a state of emergency.
Despite the fact that gatherings of more than five people have been prohibited, the protest felt much like a carnival: protesters clad in yellow — a color that represents their beloved King — stood in front of a large stage and listened to various speeches. Others relaxed under tarps and clapped, chatted, and snacked. Riot police stood by a few blocks away.
“We are fighting against the tyranny of Thaksin and Samak,” one protester told me. “We are willing to give up our lives for freedom.”
(Note: Those of you reading this via my rss feed will need to click through to view the slide slow on my site.)
My audio slide show from last week can be found here.
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Thai PM Imposes State of Emergency
A state of emergency has been imposed here in Bangkok after a protester was killed and several were seriously wounded in clashes between anti-government and pro-government demonstrators early this morning.
For ongoing coverage, check out:
Here’s a story from the Straits Times: “Emergency in Bangkok: At least one killed by PAD gunfire in pitched battle between pro and anti-government mobs.”
And here’s an AP video report on YouTube: “Thai PM Declares Emergency in Capital”
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Bangkok Protests: Monday Update
Here’s a round-up of media coverage regarding the ongoing protests here in Thailand.
The most recent news:
— There was a small explosion at a police booth here in Bangkok early today (Monday). There were no injuries.
— The airport in Phuket has re-opened.
— And Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who protesters say is a puppet of ousted PM Thaksin, says he won’t resign. Protesters say they won’t relent until Samak steps down.
New York Times/IHT: “Thai Government Backers Take to Streets”
Thailand’s political crisis entered a more delicate and volatile phase on Sunday when government supporters took to the streets as a counterweight to the antigovernment protesters who have occupied the prime minister’s compound for almost a week.
Thai academic Thitinan Pongsudhirak, in the Bangkok Post: “Tyranny of a minority”
In other civilised countries, provocation and occupation of the seat of government would bring swift enforcement of the law. The PAD’s revolting rampage has been met with tame official responses.
AFP: “Thai PM searches for end to protests after rejecting new polls”
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej sought a peaceful solution Monday to end a week of anti-government protests, after again rejecting calls for him to resign or hold new elections.
Thousands of protesters remained camped at the main government complex in central Bangkok early Monday, after storming through the gates seven days ago accusing Samak of acting as a puppet for ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Samak called an emergency session of parliament on Sunday, but the debate failed to produce any plan for ending the protests.
Wall Street Journal: “Thai Leader Vows to Remain Despite Crisis”
Thailand’s besieged government is struggling to defuse a political crisis after waves of antigovernment protests spread beyond the country’s capital, forcing closures of several regional airports and disrupting rail services.
The escalating political confrontation threatens to destabilize the popularly elected government of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and could begin to undermine the country’s economy, especially the vital tourism sector, which is vulnerable to any prolonged disruption of air travel.
Reuters: “Small bomb explodes near occupied Thai Govt House”
A small bomb exploded in a central Bangkok police booth on Monday as a stand-off between the Thai Prime Minister and protesters occupying his office entered its seventh day with no sign of either side backing down.
The blast, shortly after 1 a.m. (1800 GMT on Sunday), shattered nearby windows but caused no injuries.
And the BBC’s Jonathan Head has this analysis: “Rifts behind Thailand’s political crisis”
It has been nearly two years since an unexpected military coup deposed then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and appeared to freeze Thailand’s democratic evolution in its tracks.
The country has experienced 15 months of benign military rule, the drafting of a new constitution, and a general election which returned a party run by Mr Thaksin’s allies to office.
Yet there is still a sense of unending crisis, of a country still deeply polarised over the former prime minister and his attempts to transform Thailand.
The occupation of the main government offices in central Bangkok this week by protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has underscored just how difficult it is to end this turbulence.
For ongoing news, check out Bangkok Pundit. And my audio slide show from last Wednesday contains some images and sounds from the protests.
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Bangkok Protests: Audio Slide Show
Here’s a 1 minute, 42-second audio slide show I just created after spending a few hours snapping photos and recording audio at the site of massive anti-government protests here in Bangkok today.
Protesters are rallying against Thailand’s Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej. The protests has been organized by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which accuses Samak of being a proxy for ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra. People at the event who I talked to said they want Samak to resign, and they want Thaksin — who has fled to England — to return to Thailand to face corruption charges.
For more information on the situation, you can search Google News.
Update 1: Those of you reading this via my rss feed will need to click through to view the audio slide show on my site.
Update 2: Here’s my newest audio slide show about the protests, from Tues. Sept. 2.
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Bangkok Protests
AP: “Protesters lay siege to Thai television station”
Bloomberg: “Thai Protesters Storm TV Station in Bid to Oust Samak”
Reuters: “Thai PM says losing patience with anti-govt protests”
And Bangkok Pundit is live-blogging the protests.