The sharper edge to traveling in Asia

Update on the UDD red shirt hospital raid: Is Thailand now ready for martial law?

With UDD redshirts commandeering military trains, setting up checkpoints on expressways, and conducting armed searches in hospitals, people are beginning to ask if a state of anarchy can be far behind? And if it is, will full martial law be the only effective way to stop it. This past week, United Front for Democracy (UDD) […]

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Troops enter Bangkok under cover as crackdown begins

The rumored Thai military crackdown against red-shirted UDD dissidents began this afternoon in a pitched battle north of Victory Monument and south of Don Muang airport. Reportedly, Thai troops are using live rounds, and Red shirt UDD fighters have commandeered gas stations and fuel trucks. Earlier today, troop numbers in Bangkok were surreptitiously increased by deploying them from […]

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Bangkok Silom standoff continues as Crime Detection Division investigates grenade death

Amidst discussions for a possible end to the Silom standoff, UDD red shirts’ barriers were raised even higher, Thai troops bivouacked at the Sala Daeng BTS skytrain station, and the Central Institute of Forensic Science’s director Dr. Porntip Rojanasunan paid a visit to the building where an M79 grenade killed a protester earlier in the […]

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Morlam music: an Isaan pastiche of city and country

Morlam music, an infectious, riotous urban music originally from the Isaan northeast, is one of the predominant Thai musical genres you’ll find in Bangkok today. With its raging organ ostinados, high-flying guitar riffs, and rap-like vocal phrasing, morlam can be heard in street stalls, Thai bars, and taxi radios and VCD (video CD) players. A […]

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Power and Politics in Thailand: a few notes on governmental organization and hierarchy

One of the most vexing challenges for the Westerner in the East is to understand how decisions are made within the Thai political structure. The Kingdom of Thailand has been independent since 1238 ACE, and is considered the only country in Southeast Asia never colonized by an imperialist power. It became a constitutional monarchy in […]

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Bombs fly on Silom as Bangkok Skytrain station becomes target for terror

M79 rocket grenades exploded in and near the Sala Daeng skytrain station last night, killing 3 and injuring dozens. The target was the “multicolored” group of protestors demonstrating against the red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship’s (UDD) group at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection. UDD leaders have denied the attacks originated from their ranks, although it […]

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Bangkok Hotel closures provoke more worry for beleaguered Thai tourism industry

The downtick of Thailand’s tourism business that started with the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy’s (PAD) closing of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport in 2008 has continued unabated with the red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship’s (UDD) protest at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection in 2010. The Bangkok Post reported on April 21 that the InterContinental Bangkok and […]

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Red Shirts play a waiting game in Bangkok

An uneasy rest formed at the corner of Silom and Rama IV roads in Bangkok, as several thousand Red Shirts, supporters of the deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, were faced down by soldiers and police, armed with tear gas and live ammunition. As police and military lined the southern side of Silom between Rama IV […]

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