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Analysis: Will Thailand’s military again intervene?

Expect more turmoil next week in Thailand’s dysfunctional political culture, writes international affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe. The big question in the expected fracas between the two main factions – identified by the yellow shirts worn by urbanites or the red garb of rural dwellers — is whether the military will intervene. Excerpt: Thailand is awash with rumours of a looming military coup as opposition activists aim to shut down the capital, Bangkok, on Monday, in their campaign to oust the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. All the signs are, however, that the military is reluctant to intervene unless the

Analysis: Iran and United States join forces against common foes

International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe writes on the sea-change in the Middle East as Tehran and Washington find common cause and turmoil grows in Iraq and Syria. Excerpt: As al-Qaida-linked groups hijack the anti-government insurgencies in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, Washington is finding itself making common cause with its old enemy, Iran, and exciting the anger of its traditional ally, Saudi Arabia. This tectonic shift in Middle Eastern alliances stems from two decisions made by the administration of President Barack Obama in the closing months of last year. Washington is now finding itself in the previously unthinkable position of leaning

Science and Abortion: an interview with Tracy Weitz

There is an interesting side issue, about science and American law, to this Dispatches, Science story about research on abortions, featuring an interview with Tracy Weitz, one of the most prominent abortion researchers in the United States. Comments Weitz: “there’s a whole body of criticism — a lot of it around climate change — over whether courts should have anything to do with science…. There was a recognition that these issues were really complicated — more science-y — and you needed to have judges who had specific expertise to decide them. Now, whether they’re about environmental science or, in our

Week in Review

 New work on Facts and Opinions, and random observations from the week past: In Think, Commentary, Natural Security columnist Chris Wood writes of ecosystems as life-support systems in We’re All In This Together, a perspective that challenges the outdated biological understanding that underpins Western individualism. “That splendid, solitary, neurotically cultivated and over-examined individual of pop cultural celebrity, of too many moody novels, of philosophy, and more recently of Darwinian economic ideology, turns out to be just another of those enterprises’ many fantasies,” writes Wood. “In reality, we are not individuals, we are collectives.”  Also in Commentary,  International affairs analyst Jonathan

Analysis: Turkey’s military, Islamists, and prime minister

International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe examines the contentious roles of the military and Islamists in the desperate quest by Turkey’s prime minister to cling to political power. Excerpt: Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has spent a decade trying to curb the political power of the country’s military, but now there are early indications he wants the support of the generals as he confronts the more serious threat of vengeance by his former Islamist allies. Erdogan is turning to the military for support as he fights for his political life against the supporters of popular Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen. Since coming

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