Good afternoon,

A new UN report on Burma criticizes the military government’s ill-informed and outdated policies and lack of understanding of modern, international organisations (http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7712).

Thousands marched in Bangkok yesterday to demand a return to election and the resignation of Prem Tinsulanonda, widely suspected of orchestrating the coup in September. Thousands of villagers were prevented from travelling by massive police action across the country. For some reason, this story is not being covered in the English language newspapers. In unrelated news, the Campaign for Media Reform has criticized the junta’s rubber stampers in the NLA for passing new laws restricting free speech and promoting censorship under the guise of ‘national security’ (http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/02Jul2007_news13.php).

The military government is, somewhat ironically, set to scrap the capital gains tax on bond transactions (http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/02Jul2007_biz27.php). You might recall that it was a fabricated fuss about the sale of Shin Corp shares to Temasek that was used as one of the pretexts for the army to mount the coup last September. The junta’s ‘prime minister’ General Surayud Chulanont is still claiming, rather feebly, that there will be an election this year (http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=30257) although, apparently, the date can no longer be fixed. According to another ABAC poll (and long time Thailand watchers will know what that means), nearly two thirds of Thais profess to believe that there will be an election this year (http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=30254).

My review of John L Herman’s Hermanisms has been published at Bookpleasures (http://www.bookpleasures.com/Lore2/idx/0/2784/article/Hermanisms_Axioms_for_Business_and_Life.html), while my review of Nick Drake’s Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead has been published at Bookideas (http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=3817). New content is available daily at ASEAN Affairs, which will have its first print edition in October, apparently.

Back tomorrow.