<p>Supara Janchitfah, Bangkok Post - Subcontracted workers are often the first to be axed when costs need to be cut. It might be a cost-effective solution for investors, but it threatens many people&#39;s livelihoods.</p>

<p>According to an announcement issued today on the website of Prachatai, one of the few independent and outspoken media outlets operating in Thailand, </p> <p>&quot;On March 6, at 3 pm, seven police officers visited Prachatai office in Bangkok, showing a search warrant and an arrest warrant for Chiranuch Premchaiporn, Prachatai Director. She is charged with the offense according to Article 15 of the Computer Crime Act. She has refused to answer any questions, and is waiting for her lawyer.&quot; </p>

<p>On the eve of its delayed annual summit, the 10-member bloc must show its policies are practical rather than rhetorical.</p>

<p>Since the military coup in Thailand of September 2006 the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) warned of a strong resurgence of regressive anti-human rights forces, especially within the military and the network of their allies in ultra-conservative political circles. Unfortunately, events of the last year offer ample evidence that these forces have now firmly re-entrenched themselves in all parts of government in Thailand and are in the process of pulling apart the nascent liberal-democratic state nurtured during the 1990s, replacing it with an internal-security state reminiscent of that found during earlier decades. </p>

<p>Pravit Rojanaphruk - The unexpected flight of Chulalongkorn University political scientist Ji Ungpakorn last week to England to escape lese majeste charge has sent shock wave through Thai society. It also serves as a reminder of the heavy price to be paid by not only those believed to be violating the controversial law but by Thai society as a whole as the high price to be paid by Thailand in keeping the law - is getting steeper in the eyes of other democratic nations where freedom of expression is a fundamental right.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya appears to be a lightning rod for the current government, due to his previous active roles both on and off the PAD stage.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p>

<p>Now that the red-shirt pro-Thaksin Shinawatra protesters have succeeded in hurling an egg on the face of Chuan Leekpai, mentor of premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, and a former PM himself, what is next? <div> </div> </p>

<p>Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) has just received <a href="http://facthai.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/2008-mict-secret-thai-blocklists-1303-new-websites-blocked/">secret blocklists</a> leaked from Thailand&rsquo;s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. We know they&rsquo;re secret because each one is stamped <span>ลับ!</span></p>

<p><span>The appointment of &quot;Democrat&quot; Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the new Thai Prime Minister is the final stage of the second coup against an elected government. </span></p>

<p>The ouster of a constitutionally elected government may be only the beginning of trouble. Many analysts believe that the decision Tuesday by Thailand&rsquo;s Constitutional Court to dissolve the People&rsquo;s Power Party (PPP), Chart Thai Party, and the Matchima Thipatai Party &ndash; the three key coalition parties which constituted the large component of former Prime Minister Somchai Wongswat&rsquo;s government &ndash; will put an end to the political crisis. What they have not considered is the strong possibility that the events leading to and resulting from the dissolution could actually lead to a larger and wider conflict. </p>

<p><span>Today the Constitutional Courts dissolved the democratically elected governing party in Thailand for the second time, forcing the Government to resign. This follows the refusal of the Armed Forces and the Police to follow government instructions to clear the two international airports blocked by armed PAD Fascists.</span></p>

<p>I have become one of the thousands who have been held hostage by the self-styled People&#39;s Alliance for Democracy indefinitely shutting down Bangkok&#39;s Suvarnabhumi Airport. After arriving at Seoul&#39;s Incheon Airport to board a flight via Hong Kong to the Thai capital on Wednesday, I was told by the Cathay Pacific staff that it was impossible because the connecting flight from Hong Kong had been cancelled indefinitely, along with all other flights to Bangkok.</p>