For many, it is the time of the year to provide a wrap-up of 2017, in the hope that the wrap-up can give a glimpse into what is likely to come in 2018. I was for a long time, a democratic, liberty/freedom, justice and human right activist, and also for a lifelong a journalist, editor,…
The global arms sales industry is gigantic. Those countries, who are heavily involved in buying arms, are usually governed by some form of authoritarian, where the rule of law is weak, and little transparency to anything. And, often, when governments, changes from democratic, to authoritarian, usually, the spending on the military, sky-rocket, such as the…
Consider this statement, of the reality in Big Data & Anslytics: “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data — How Billions of Trivial Data Points can Lead to Understanding.” And consider this statement about the reality much of Asia: “Asia is Mostly Stuck in Some Level of Orwell’s 1984.” In fact, just to demonstrated that Asia’s Orwell’s…
Time To Redraw The World Map in Global Manufacturing Competitiveness: Mexico, US, UK Are Rising Stars, as Japan investing in robotic workforce to regain status as world’s top manufacturer. And where does that leave ASEAN? The following is from ABC.net.au (Source) Japan investing in robotic workforce to regain status as world’s top manufacturer Once the…
In surveys released earlier this year by American and European Union chambers of commerce in China, member corporations said they felt increasingly unwelcome, believed they are unfairly targeted by recent antimonopoly and anticorruption campaigns and have struggled with mounting labor costs, rising political risk and opaque rules. The EU Chamber said that its members lost…
Around the second quarter of the year, many analyst, including me, were beginning to become very worried about the prospect for Thailand. Globally, there were mainly two school of thoughts, one, Thailand is heading into a crisis and another, everything is OK, and it is business as usual. The business as usual crowd was spearheaded…
The Harvard Crimson, the USA’s oldest continuously published daily college newspaper, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967, had pulled a report critical of the Thai junta. The report is about the Thai junta raising funds for a Thai Study Center at Harvard University, called by the junta, a beach-head. (Up-Dated) Harvard Crimson, said for…
The attached ADB paper says: “The idea of the Asian bond market emerged first from Thailand in the summer of 2002. The creation of a bond market requires both issuers of bonds and investors in those bonds. The Thai initiative focused mainly on the investor side as then-Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, proposed that the members…
What happened to Thailand’s “High Speed Rail (HSR) System” that was to link a regional system together? If the price is right and the quality is good, then most globally wants HSR, and in fact, globally, many countries have opted for HSR. The reasons are numerous, such as cutting total travel time on “Long-Haul” and…
A sustainable integration question for Thailand? Most eyes are on how Fascist Suthep’s movement is hurting Thailand, but some medium to long-term planners are more worried about Thailand’s future, with ASEAN AEC, coming into being next year. Thailand, before the current political crisis, had a reputation of making most traction, in getting the country to…
Despite slower GDP growth in Emerging Asia, Euro Monitors argues, the the markets here should not be overlooked. But with the trouble of middle income trap and ballooning middle class debt, can Asian consumers continue to be the market for global goods? From The Euromonitor: (Source) One in every two dollars spent in emerging markets…
It is an old story, but it is also a new story. About a year ago, a Thai anto parts firm, invested in acquiring a run-down and going out of business, USA auto parts firm. The Thai company, Thai Summit Auto, said the USA automobile manufacturing capability was returning, and Thai Summit wanted to be…
