Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Scoop InfoPages
This InfoPage in unregistered, if this is your news page register Richard S. Ehrlich for InfoPages here.
Richard S. Ehrlich - Latest News [Page 1]
Cambodia & China, Diverting The Mekong River
Monday, 22 April 2024, 3:49 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
Cambodia wants to divert Southeast Asia's Mekong River into a planned $1.7 billion, Chinese-financed shipping canal to reach a deep-sea port at Kep near Sihanoukville on southern Cambodia's Gulf of Thailand coast. More >>
A Coup, An Escape, A Conviction, And Freedom
Wednesday, 6 March 2024, 3:58 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
Eighteen years after a military coup toppled one of Thailand's most politically powerful leaders, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra walked free on parole, finishing six months in a police hospital and sparking fears he now shares power ... More >>
Linking The Andaman Sea & Gulf Of Thailand
Tuesday, 5 March 2024, 2:48 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Bangkok hopes Beijing will help build a $2.8 billion, east-west highway and railway "Land Bridge" across Thailand, linking the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand as a short-cut for oil and other international cargo currently ... More >>
How Buddhist Thailand Freed Its Hostages From Hamas
Friday, 1 December 2023, 1:03 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Buddhist-majority Thailand gained the release of 23 Thai hostages from Hamas, the most foreigners freed as of November 30, after Bangkok boldly began direct negotiations with the Palestinian militant group's representatives in Iran ... More >>
Thailand Negotiated With Hamas In Iran For Hostages
Wednesday, 8 November 2023, 1:33 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand negotiated directly with representatives of Hamas in Iran to release 24 Thai hostages from Gaza, the largest nationality among kidnapped foreigners. Thailand also expressed "outrage" against Israel's U.N. ambassador ... More >>
Hamas Slaughtered 30 Thais & Seized 19
Friday, 27 October 2023, 4:48 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
Buddhist-majority Thailand's new prime minister flew to Palestinian-friendly Malaysia and reached out to other Muslim nations amid hopes for the release of 19 impoverished Thai laborers held by Hamas, who already slaughtered 30 Thais during the assault ... More >>
Surf's Up For Chinese & U.S. In A New Thailand
Friday, 6 October 2023, 2:09 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- China's navy quietly sailed into the shallow, energy-rich Gulf of Thailand earlier this month for Blue Strike 2023, a joint naval exercise to increase Beijing's influence with Thailand's newly elected, military-backed civilian government, ... More >>
THAKSIN By Ehrlich
Monday, 11 September 2023, 1:39 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- While visiting Bangkok in 2003, then-President George W. Bush designated Thailand a "non-NATO treaty ally" and congratulated Thaksin Shinawatra, the popular, elected, civilian prime minister. Three years later, a desperate, ... More >>
International Fugitive Thaksin Returns To Prison
Friday, 25 August 2023, 2:54 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- After 15 years as an international fugitive ousted in a coup, homesick billionaire ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned on August 22, allowing the Supreme Court to sentence him to eight years for corruption and send ... More >>
Pita Dumped & Replaced By A Tycoon
Monday, 7 August 2023, 12:34 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The anti-establishment winner of May's national election lost support to become prime minister on August 2 when his coalition dumped him, clearing the way for a conservative real-estate tycoon's possible nomination. Parliament's ... More >>
From Father To Son, Authoritarian Power In Cambodia
Monday, 31 July 2023, 3:09 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who won reelection on July 23, announced on July 26 he would install his West Point-trained son next month as the country's leader and resign after monopolizing politics, jailing rivals, and ... More >>
Political Monopoly: Vote But No Free Speech Or Choices
Thursday, 27 July 2023, 6:33 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen won reelection on July 23, as expected, extending his 38 years in power by monopolizing politics, jailing rivals, silencing free speech, and winning virtually all of parliament's seats. "We've won a landslide," ... More >>
Shakespearean "Et Tu Brute?" In A Hostile Senate
Thursday, 27 July 2023, 6:31 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
Millions of Thais were gripped with suspense, misery, or delight seeing a Shakespearean display of political knives and an agonized "Et tu Brute?" echoing in the hostile Senate when it voted twice to crush popular Pita Limjaroenrat's chances to ... More >>
Pita May Be Pulverized & Replaced Before Or After
Tuesday, 27 June 2023, 1:19 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Job opening: Prime minister. Must be able to end Thailand's cycle of coups by satisfying the demands of Thailand's U.S.-trained, putsch-empowered military. Must be able to seduce junta-appointed senators into supporting the next ... More >>
China's Monetized Soft Power Is Influential
Tuesday, 13 June 2023, 7:05 am | Richard S. Ehrlich
Rotting weapons, faded battlefield photos, and rough-sketched jungle maps from defeated, anti-communist, U.S.-equipped Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) guerrillas are cherished in this northern border village. The KMT and China stopped killing each other decades ... More >>
China's Monetized Soft Power Is Influential
Monday, 12 June 2023, 4:01 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BAN RAK THAI, Thailand -- Rotting weapons, faded battlefield photos, and rough-sketched jungle maps from defeated, anti-communist, U.S.-equipped Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) guerrillas are cherished in this northern border village. The KMT and China stopped ... More >>
A Political Minefield, Littered With Politicians
Thursday, 1 June 2023, 3:17 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Pita Limjaroenrat is deliberately entering a political minefield, littered with politicians and governments which failed. Wealthy Mr. Pita's youth-led victory in nationwide elections on May 14 to try and become Thailand's youngest prime ... More >>
The Legacy Of A Prime Minister Who Was Khmer Rouge
Monday, 29 May 2023, 3:47 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is expected to resign after winning re-election in July, ending his rise from a severely wounded guerrilla in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during the U.S.-Vietnam War to become one of the world's longest-ruling ... More >>
Winning An Election, Upsetting The Military
Thursday, 18 May 2023, 1:50 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Liberal Pita Limjaroenrat, 32, won the most seats in Sunday's (May 14) nationwide elections, and is trying to form a coalition to become prime minister, possibly sharing power with a scion of Thailand's two convicted coup-toppled ... More >>
China & America Woo Thailand's Hearts & Minds
Monday, 24 April 2023, 4:08 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- More than 3,800 U.S. troops led 30 countries' forces and observers through Cobra Gold, the Pentagon's biggest Asian military exercise, trying to keep Thailand's coup-empowered army allied with Washington while Beijing increases its ... More >>
