Good morning,

New evidence of the economic crisis resulting from the unelected government comes with the figures for the property industry (http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=120849). New land registrations are down 50% on last year and disastrous declines in all sectors of the industry.

The referendum on the new military junta-appointed constitution is due to take place on Sunday and junta henchmen are trying to boost the vote to provide a figleaf of credibility for it (http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/14Aug2007_news01.php). Martial law will remain in force over the weekend.

Thailand qualified for the semi-final of the football tournament at the University Games currently going on by beating Mexico 1-0 (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/14/sport/sport_30044920.php). All attention was on the fighting between the two sides, after the Mexican goalkeeper was accused of elbowing a Thai attacker. Two players from each side were sent off. Both teams became involved in a ‘free for all melee’ with spectators and officials piling in as well and the police becoming involved. The Thai manager has apologized (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30044924) but will have to do without the two players for the game against Ukraine tomorrow.

Back from Kyoto now where I delivered: Walsh, John, “The Development of Thai Entrepreneurs,” paper presented at the SGBED Conference, Kyoto, August 2007.

I also got my hands on: Walsh, John, “The Impact of China’s Economic Internationalization on the Business Environment of Mainland Southeast Asia,” in C. Jayachandran, Juhary Hj. Ali, Samir Chatterjee and Singha Chiamsiri, eds., Services Management in Asia Pacific: Issues and Challenges (UUM Press: Kuala Lumpur, 2007), pp.67-88.

Kyoto is a good place to visit and the conference was successful. I will provide more details later.

These are this month’s Suite 101 articles to date:

Walsh, John, “Post-Coup Thai Politics,” Suite 101 (August 1^st, 2007), available at: http://thailand.suite101.com/article.cfm/post_coup_thai_politics.

Walsh, John, “Khmer Rouge Trials Begin,” Suite 101 (August 2^nd, 2007), available at: http://cambodia.suite101.com/article.cfm/khmer_rouge_trials_begin.

Walsh, John, “Han,” Suite 101 (August 2^nd, 2007), available at: http://chinese-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/han.

Walsh, John, “Breastfeeding in the Philippines,” Suite 101 (August 3^rd, 2007), available at: http://philippines.suite101.com/article.cfm/breastfeeding_in_the_philippines.

Walsh, John, “Bakun Dam,” Suite 101 (August 4^th, 2007), available at: http://malaysia.suite101.com/article.cfm/bakun_dam.

Walsh, John, “Vietnam the Magnet for Investment,” Suite 101 (August 5^th, 2007), available at: http://vietnam.suite101.com/article.cfm/vietnam_the_magnet_for_investment.

Walsh, John, “Demand for Palm Oil in Indonesia,” Suite 101(August 6^th, 2007), available at: http://indonesia.suite101.com/article.cfm/demand_for_palm_oil_in_indonesia.

Walsh, John, “Will the Eco-Car Fly?” Suite 101 (August 7^th, 2007), available at: http://thailand.suite101.com/article.cfm/will_the_ecocar_fly.

Walsh, John, “Myanmar Solves Malacca Dilemma,” Suite 101 (August 8^th, 2007), available at: http://burma.suite101.com/article.cfm/myanmar_solves_malacca_dilemma.

Walsh, John, “Human Rights for ASEAN,” Suite 101 (August 9^th, 2007), available at: http://easianaffairs.suite101.com/article.cfm/human_rights_for_asean.

Walsh, John, “Malaysia at 50,” Suite 101 (August 10^th, 2007), available at: http://malaysia.suite101.com/article.cfm/malaysia_at_50.

Walsh, John, “The Chinese Domination of Tibet,” Suite 101 (August 13^th, 2007), available at: http://china.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_chinese_domination_of_tibet.

There should be more articles coming out daily for the rest of the week. I am going to try to schedule one per day for a while and see how that works.

Three recent book reviews as well:

Le Carré, John, The Mission Song, Bookideas: http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=3892.

Macleod, Ken, Newton’s Wake, Bookideas: http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=3893.

Pratchett, Terry, Feet of Clay, Bookideas: http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=3894.

I have rather fallen behind in my reviewing duties and I am going to devote some hours on Thursday to catching up with this.

Back tomorrow.