<p>The revelation by the Pheu Thai party that the Democrat-controlled Bangkok Metropolitan Administration purchased more than 1,300 dummy cameras has led to further revelations.</p>

<p>Just days into her Premiership, Yingluck Shinawatra has ruffled international feathers by deciding not to make Lao PDR the destination of her first trip abroad.</p>

<p>While the vast majority of Thai people are commemorating the 5th anniversary of the latest coup in order to show their strong disdain for this unconstitutional method of political change, a small group of people is spreading the possibility of another coup if the fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra returns to the country.</p>

<p>Authorities have confirmed that citizen photographer Bernd Mechsner, 50, passed away earlier in the week. Bernd, a Swiss scientist, businessman and resident in Thailand for over a decade, died as a result of sudden heart complications on Monday evening, at his home in Bangkok. </p>

<p>I'm glad and honored that I'm selected to be one among 48 writers, journalists and activists from 24 countries to be awarded with the <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/2775">Hellmann Helmett award in 2011</a>. I would like to thank the HH awarding committee and HRW for this award. Although this award is an individual award, for me this award is a price for the whole Prachatai team who worked hard and with enthusiasm and never despaired.</p>

<p>In commemoration of ten-year anniversary of the September 11 incident, it is imperative to first and foremost express heart-felt condolences to the departed and their relatives who have suffered from their loss of the loved ones.</p>

<p>The nation can rest safe. Despite the machinations of an insidious anti-monarchy network of immeasurable proportions, daily spreading its poisonous propaganda among a population which, we are constantly re-assured, reveres the institution in perfect and unshakable unanimity, the forces of virtue and morality are tireless in their pursuit of miscreants and malefactors.</p>

<p><em>International Media Advocates on the Case of Prachatai Executive Director Chiranuch Premchaiporn </em><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Thailand&rsquo;s long arm of the law is long indeed. The kindgom claims jurisdiction over speech and acts of all world citizens - conducted within their own countries or not, despite claimed legitimacy based on the need to protect revered institutions and national security, cuts to the very heart of national sovereignty vs. national right of universal prosecution against those who are domestically viewed as in violation of national laws. Confusion rightfully set in as to what then is domestic, what is global?</p>

<p>On September 3, 2011, the Economist published an <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21528262">article</a> which criticizes the role of the Chinese state in China&rsquo;s privatization.&nbsp; In essence, the article asserts that shareholdings by the Chinese government and its influence on corporate decision-making stymies the efficiency of private enterprises and has encouraged corruption among state officials. The Economist thus implicitly urges the Chinese state to refrain from exerting its influence on private enterprises, i.e. colossally privatize state enterprises.</p>

<p>A little clarification is requested from the techies and legal eagles out there familiar with not just the contemporary legal issues of online content, but familiar with what it really is.</p>

<p>&nbsp;(For those readers who have trouble telling the difference, this week&rsquo;s piece is the genuine article.)</p> <p>The constitution of the old Soviet Union was, I am reliably informed, an impressive document, outlining the rights and freedoms of all citizens. Until you got to the last clause, which said that the constitution could not used in any action to protect those rights and freedoms.</p> <p>Something similar is happening in Thailand.</p>