<p>It appears that most so-called &ldquo;softer head&rdquo; (หัวอ่อน) hard-core leaders on the run since last year are returning back home accepting a new compact with the amaat regime which they took a stand against since events following 19 September 2006. This compact was enabled through the &ldquo;electoral&rdquo; UDD group, involving no doubt some interesting conversations with various stakeholders both at home and, importantly, abroad, and of course certain higher powers.</p>

<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;For this no-confidence debate, don&rsquo;t blink! I will shift the blame. We will battle it out on the truth, but you will need to be patient. We didn&rsquo;t intend to kill protesters. We did not use the force of the police and soldiers to disperse the protest, but they died as they ran into [bullets],&rdquo;</p>

<p class="rteleft">Thongbai Thongpao, noted lawyer and former political prisoner, died on 24 January 2011 at the age of 84. Although I did not ever meet Thongbai, I had been moved by his writing of his incarceration as a political prisoner from 1961 until 1966 in Communists of Lad Yao (<em>คอมมิวนิสต์ลาดยาว</em>), which I read as part of preparation for my Ph.D. comprehensive exams.&nbsp; <em>Communists of Lad Yao</em> was first published in 1974, eight years after his release from prison and during the time of open politics between 14 October 1973 and 6 October 1976.</p>

<p>On 28th February 2011, the Thai Foreign Minister Mr. Kasit Piromya, addressed the 16th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva at its High Level Segment (HLS). The HLS, which takes place in March of each year, was the first Ministerial level speech that Thailand delivered since it was elected as a member of the Council in May 2010. </p>

<p>Following a proposal on land reform by the National Reform Committee last month (see <a href="http://bkkpost.9destinations.com/business/news/221727/cabinet-approves-land-reform-proposals">here </a>and <a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/02/15/national/Anands-land-reform-proposals-approved-in-principle-30148731.html">here</a>), Chair of the National Reform Assembly Prof Dr Prawase Wasi has explained in an <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1298894257&amp;grpid=01&amp;catid=&amp;subcatid=">article</a> published in Matichon how giving 5-6 rai, or about 2-2.4 ac</p>

<p>Middle class and well educated Thais will be in for less shock and better equipped to handle political change if they do not cling on to the &quot;tales&quot; of rural folks being politically naive, of all Thais loving one another and coexisting in harmony under a benign father figure, said Thammasat University political scientist Prajak Kongkirati.</p>

<p>The sudden reversal of the findings of the Department of Special Investigation in the killing of Reuters photographer Hiroyuki Muramoto while he was covering the violence on April 10 last year should not really come as a surprise. In fact it follows a pattern of unexpected fresh evidence, often discovered long after the event, which overturns all previous assumptions about the facts of a case.</p>

<p>About two years ago, Prachatai columnist and university lecturer Surapot Thaweesak met a monk from the Dhammakaya Temple who visited his university to propose a joint Buddhist training programme for students.&nbsp; He was told that his university would have to recruit students to attend the programme and they would be required to pay for Dhamma books and other expenses.&nbsp; However, the temple provided a promotion discount for the expenses if his university decided to join the programme immediately.</p>

<p>&nbsp;A grim milestone was reached in the operations of Suvarnabhumi International Airport yesterday when a flight departed with no checked-in passengers on board. All the passengers for West Cambodia Airlines flight WC083 to Battambang, scheduled to depart at 9.15 yesterday morning, had been trapped in the immigration queues and failed to make the flight in time.</p>

<p>&nbsp;We all know Fairtrade. The Fairtrade bananas that have you feeling good about yourself and the Fairtrade coffee that has you washing your mouth out, it tastes so bad. But the range of fair-traded goods has tended to cluster on the semi-luxury fringe of the market &ndash; ethnic handicrafts and non-essential foodstuffs from parts of the world that the global middle-class might feel a bit guilty about.</p>

<p>&nbsp;As the international news agencies parachute even more, and more eminent correspondents into Cairo, the real story disappears under a deluge of platitudes, misinformed commentary and a perverse persistence in reporting the &lsquo;mood&rsquo; more than the events and reporting the events more than explaining the history and context.</p>

<p>The wheels appear to be coming off the micro-credit bandwagon. It was long touted by many, especially those on the by-your-own-bootstraps wing of development thinking, as the silver bullet that would end poverty, empower the powerless (especially women) and unleash a world of budding billionaires.</p>