<p>This week the criminal court in Southern Bangkok sentenced four men to lengthy jail terms for their alleged roles in a plot to kill the former president of Thailand&rsquo;s Supreme Court. The judges convicted the two organizers of the purported crime to 25 years each; the gunmen, from whom the police obtained confessions, to more than 16.</p>

<p><font><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Can anyone explain why Apirak Kosayodhin, who is running for a second term as Bangkok governor come this Sunday, is enjoying a commanding lead in polls?</font></font></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Last Friday marked two years since the 2006 coup d&#39;etat that ousted then premier Thaksin Shinawatra and shattered any confidence among Thais since the May 1992 uprising that military intervention was definitely a thing of the past.</font> </p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Marking the anniversaries of the student uprising on September 18, 1988, and the Buddhist monk-led demonstrations last year, the Burmese junta has launched another offensive&mdash;a cyber attack&mdash;on <span style="font-style: italic">The Irrawaddy</span> and several other Burmese news agencies in exile.</font></p>

<p>Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai media mogul and leader of the right-wing People&rsquo;s Alliance for Democracy, is currently facing arrest and certain detention along with his fellow &lsquo;conspirators&rsquo; for what Thai police are citing as treason.</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px" class="Apple-style-span">Among all the responses to the judicial sacking of the prime minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej, this week, the New Mandala blog summed it up:&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px" class="Apple-style-span">&quot;Hosting a TV cooking show = Guilty!&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px" class="Apple-style-span">Staging a coup and tearing up a constitution = No problem!&quot;</span><br /></span></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">A newly-created group of scholars for peaceful politics, &quot;Santi-Prachadhamma Network&quot;, yesterday launched a campaign saying &quot;no one can be above the law and the country has to be restored to normalcy&quot;.</font></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">HARRY Nicolaides, the Melbourne writer arrested on a charge of insulting Thailand&#39;s royal family, has described his appalling prison conditions and his fear of contracting tuberculosis, and pleaded to be allowed to apologise.</font></p>

<p><span class="texto1"><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">BANGKOK, Sep 5 (IPS) - On first impressions, Thailand&rsquo;s political crisis appears to be an attempt to shape the future of democracy in a kingdom that has witnessed 18 military coups. But the anger that drives a protest movement to topple an elected administration has pitted it against the old media order.</font></span></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"> Two years to the month since the army in Thailand launched its latest takeover of government, the proof of its success is in the mayhem and madness on the streets ofBangkok and the utter farce to which politics there has again descended. </font></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">The violent clash between the anti-government People&#39;s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the pro-government United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) in the early hours of Sept 2, which resulted in the death of one person and more than 40 injured, reflects sadly on the future of Thai politics. It is also a reflection of the government&#39;s failure to ensure the safety of its citizens. </font></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry has detected more than 1,200 websites that violated the Computer Crime Act - of which 344 had content deemed insulting to the monarchy. </font></p>