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Richard S. Ehrlich - Latest News [Page 2]
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 >>
"No Coup Again" If You Vote For Coup Maker
Monday, 17 April 2023, 3:49 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Coup-maker Prayuth Chan-ocha hopes his snappy new promise -- "no coup again" -- will get him re-elected prime minister in May and end worries that the U.S.-trained military will topple the next government if the polls ... More >>
Ex-British Spy's "Great Game" In Afghanistan
Monday, 20 February 2023, 2:20 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
By Richard S. Ehrlich BANGKOK, Thailand -- A former wartime British spy in Afghanistan and Pakistan for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, says he regrets disguising himself as a foreign correspondent but is proud of his ... More >>
San Francisco's Cookies Cannabis In Thailand
Sunday, 12 February 2023, 6:51 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
Cookies, a popular San Francisco-based cannabis and fashion company, opened its first Asian franchise on January 21 with billowing marijuana smoke, a Buddhist monk's blessings, Muay Thai boxing, and ceremonial drumming within sight of the American ... More >>
Thai Coup Leader Suspended From Power
Saturday, 3 September 2022, 12:30 am | Richard S. Ehrlich
A Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha from office on August 24, immediately replacing him with his deputy, while judges decide when Mr. Prayuth's prime ministry should end after he seized power in a 2014 coup and won ... More >>
Tourism, Air Tickets, & Medical Sleaze
Thursday, 4 August 2022, 2:30 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Vietnam arrested foreign ministry, tourism, air, medical, and manufacturing officials and expelled them from the ruling Communist Party, amid multi-million dollar corruption scandals which are testing Hanoi's reliability in the U.S. Indo-Pacific ... More >>
Marcos Dynasty Elected President In The Philippines
Friday, 20 May 2022, 5:13 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
In a stunning victory, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. won the Philippines' presidential election, bringing him to the frontlines of U.S.-China confrontations in the South China Sea amid denials that he is Beijing's puppet "Manchurian ... More >>
American THC For Medical Clinic In Bangkok
Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 12:42 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Las Vegas-based cannabis company has become the first foreign franchise to jointly open a medical marijuana clinic in Thailand, treating Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, eating disorders and insomnia in Bangkok's flashy tourist zone. ... More >>
Russia Woos Southeast Asia To Buffer Sanctions
Tuesday, 19 April 2022, 3:26 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Moscow is trying to profit by offering weapons, investment, tourism and diplomatic support to Thailand and other best friends in Southeast Asia, to buffer Russia's international losses caused by U.S.-led sanctions against its ... More >>
