<p>Kristie Kenney, US Ambassador to Bangkok, gave a farewell to Thailand and is on her way back to Washington DC. She was in this position for much longer than the normal term of 3 years, raising a question if there might be problems within the US internal politics. But Thailand is not the only country where the US diplomatic mission will be without its ambassador. The vacancy in such an important position could be detrimental to the US foreign policy at this critical time in international politics.</p> <p></p>

<p>Bangkok in 2014 must be one of the most infertile laboratories for communication.</p> <p>Any attempt of communication between the polarized sides in a society, for nearly a decade already, has broken down, and seemingly the first and only successful attempt of the two sides to sit down together turned out to be a trick to arrest everybody at the table and put the army in control. Facebook has been the battleground of the two sides and soon became a place where citizens monitored fellow citizens to inform on any suspicious comments/activities.</p>

<p>A recent comment on the New Mandala blog said of the Pheu Thai rice-pledging scheme: ‘It stripped wealth out of Thailand to about 800 billion baht, on a criminally stupid rice scheme and maybe another similar amount to the Thaksin and cronies.’</p> <p>OK, you have to excuse the ‘and cronies’ stuff.&nbsp; The poor dears who make comments of this ilk seem obligated to use such flaming language.&nbsp; I am beginning to suspect they have a programme on their computers that waves red flags if they fail to include ‘crony’ or ‘clone’ or ‘fugitive from justice’ or the like.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As the shadow of the junta spreads over the nation, including its universities, activists have felt demoralized that the democratic spirit in commemorating the 6 October incident was again having to compromise with military supremacy which currently is enthusiastically waving the royalism flag.</p>

<p>The study tour by Election Commission officials to observe the recent Scottish referendum on independence has been widely criticized.&nbsp; Some have noted that the Election Commission has not shown itself to be overly keen on organizing elections in this country, so why the interest in other countries?&nbsp;</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/15172544087_8ca6f2e9ff_z.jpg" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ff8c00;"><em>'Muslim Youth and the Modern World', the book was based on research a few years ago commissioned by Thailand Research Fund, Chulalongkorn University's Social Research Institute.</em></span></p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em>Patiwat S., the author of this poem and a student in the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Khon Kaen University, was arrested on 14 August 2014 in relation to a complaint under Article 112 of the Criminal Code in Thailand, which stipulates that, “Whoever, defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years.” The complaint against Patiwat is in relation to his role in a play, “The Wolf Bride,” (Jao Sao Ma Pa), performed in October 2013 at Thammasat University in Bangkok. </em></div>

<p>It doesn’t work.&nbsp; I’ve tried and tried, but it just doesn’t work.</p> <p>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *</p> <p>Excuse me, but could I have my fare back please?</p> <p>What?</p>

<p>Rewriting a history in an intricate business. Nations thrive on extraordinary history. It must be replete with heroism, sacrifices, courage and patriotism. History is employed to reaffirm the longevity of a nation. The longer the life of a nation is, a deeper sense of national belonging it becomes. Given this importance, history is a powerful tool in instigating nationalism. To make a perfect nation, a perfect history is necessary. In the world of nationhood, history tells stories of miracles, achievements and memorable occurrences.</p>

<div>Prefatory note to the English translation: During the crackdown on red shirt protestors during April-May 2010, at least 94 people were killed and over 2000 injured. In an unprecedented event in Thai political history, the leaders who presided over the crackdown -- former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban (now a monk) – were indicted in October 2013 for premeditated murder under Articles &nbsp;80, 83, 84 and 288 of the <a href="http://www.thailandlawonline.com/table-of-contents/thailand-criminal-law-translation">Criminal Code</a>. </div>

<p>Educational reform is going to be tricky.&nbsp; I mean, where to start?</p> <p>The Office of the Vocational Education Commission or OVEC (sibling to Basic Ed or OBEC and Higher Ed or OHEC) (stop giggling there; if they hadn’t called it that it would be Further Ed) (OK you may laugh now) has already had to start its reform by recalling its Basic Mathematics textbooks.&nbsp; Or more accurately the covers.</p>

<p>The captain of Thai industry was interested to see the results of Thailand’s education reform.&nbsp; Hearing that a fast-tracked ‘model student’ had applied for employment at his firm, he decided to conduct the interview himself.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thai businesses have long complained that the products of the Thai education system are virtually unemployable, lacking the skills necessary for the modern economy.&nbsp; The CEO was eager to see the results of the NCPO-inspired reform of the schooling system in developing the kind of graduates that the corporate sector required.</p>