First casualty of war is truth

December 8, 2025: Thais and Cambodians are living in different universes regarding the question of who fired first.

They will most likely never know the truth and that is the strongest reason why wars, big or small, are the real evil. They deceive the neutrals. They cover up their own crimes. They play victims. They demonise the enemies. They glorify their own acts. They distract attention. They make innocent peoples hate each other. They abuse patriotism.

Last but not least, the winners can convincingly fabricate histories. If they succeed, they can mislead generations.

The latest flare-up at the Thai-Cambodian border does not escape the pattern, which is prevalent in the smallest up to the summit global military showdowns. Every aggressor wants to be seen as being victimised and peace-loving.

With the Kuala Lumpur peace declaration collapsing. Khmer Times has devoted its entire front page for reports insisting that Cambodia has been provoked, but has exercised full restraints, and that its villagers have suffered badly. To be fair, all Thai news websites are as nationalistic.

A country cannot be all bad, be it Thailand, or Cambodia, or Russia, or China. Bad news is wars paint wrong impressions, extremely intentionally. Worse news is those impressions are hard to delete.

Chadchart strolls in popularity poll

December 7, 2025: About 3.5 years in, the city governor’s only problem is there mustn’t be a big flood till the next election.

Even if that happens (and it is not at all impossible), Chadchart Sittipunt might still go into the next Bangkok gubernatorial election a very strong favourite if he wants another term, recent NIDA findings suggest.

Bangkokians surveyed by the pollsters gave him high marks on almost every aspect. Some 2,000 people in all districts of the capital was covered by the poll in late November up until December 2.

The results are music to his ears. Almost 32% said they were “very happy” with his performance. Another 46.5% were “fairly happy.” Only 14.7% were not satisfied and only 6.7% did not like him at all.

The surveyed Bangkok voters gave him strong points on every key aspect of city management _ building more green zones (some 75% love it), giving pedestrian areas more order (more than 77% gave him thumbs up), public cleanliness issues (Over 73% were pleased), public scenery improvement like views of streets and sois (73% liked what they see), safety in city life (71% think it’s great), support for sports (66% were either “very happy” or “fairly happy) and tourism promotion (67.5% compliment him).

The issue of corruption/transparency, which negatively affected the Bangkok administration during his early days in office, seems to be his weakest point. About 25% said they were “fairly” satisfied, compared with 23.5% who said he could do better and almost 23% who gave him absolute thumbs down.

Surveyed Bangkokians were also critical on policies for youngsters. More than 37% liked what he did but over 29% (not “quite satisfied” and “not satisfied at all) thought the opposite.

On the economy, which, to be fair, had to do with the government, not his office, the biggest group (over 53%) was the complainers.

He passed the test on traffic, but barely just. The public satisfaction was not as high as in the other categories in which he was perceived as doing well. More than 41% were “fairly happy” while 26.6% shook their heads and over 11% said no emphatically.

Now, flooding. The finding was a dream come true. More than 40% were “fairly” satisfied and almost 24% were totally happy. That was some 64% altogether.

That is a pleasant surprise when Chadchart is concerned, and he must talk to Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul when it comes to floods and politics, because things can change drastically in the blink of an eye.

Double Fifa shocks

December 6, 2025: A Fifa “peace prize”? They’ve got to be kidding. And guess who is the first recipient.

US President Donald Trump has been named the first winner of the newly created Fifa peace prize. He topped it off by claiming “the world is a safer place now” as he received the award at the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington DC.

In a ceremony on Friday, Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president and one of Trump’s closest sporting allies, presented the honour with a glowing tribute, saying the president had been selected “in recognition of his exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world”.

Trump’s “Safer world” acceptance speech cannot be completed without a Trump-esque gloating. He claimed to have saved “millions and millions of lives” and that America was “the hottest country anywhere in the world.”

Haters must be thinking they are having a nightmare. Even admirers surely had not expected it. Neutrals’ jaws must have dropped to the floors.

It doesn’t matter “who dies”

December 5, 2025: All that matters is “who kills”.

America’s fatal strikes on “drug boats” making headlines at the moment are no different from Thaksin Shinawatra’s infamous extra-judicial killings in his war on drugs when he was prime minister. Human rights advocates around the globe were up in arms against him, and probably rightly so, and the moral question facing the Trump administration will be drowned out by the same “collateral damage” pretext political rulers like to use.

It will pass. And the ones truly responsible will never be punished.

In one September incident, a US strike destroyed a boat, killing everyone but two. The survivors clung onto a floating part of the vessel, but a second strike was consciously ordered, killing them under the “logic” that they could still be rescued and come back to harm the United States again with possible remains of the drug shipment that survived the first strike.

Since the September 2 strike, the US military has carried out more than 20 additional strikes on boats it has deemed to be manned by “narco-terrorists,” killing scores in a campaign that many legal experts have argued is likely unlawful, CNN said.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give the order to "kill them all" during the controversial strike in the Caribbean, many American lawmakers have said. That does not really mean much, does it? Who deployed the soldiers there with clear-cut instructions to prevent drug shipments from entering the United States?

Like Thaksin’s war on drugs, if orders were “legitimate”, nothing could be done about it. The former prime minister did not carry out the extra-judicial killings himself. Yet they died because of his policy, didn’t they?

However, it doesn’t matter who dies. The question of who the killers are justifies right and wrong. If a coup leader condemned by democracy lovers orders the killing, the “war crime” could go to the international court. If an elected leader of a superpower does it, criticism will subside in no time.

Electoral factors more complicated than in 2023

December 4, 2024: It was so simple in the last election, which saw anti-coup voters up against the other side.

The next election, expected to take place early next year, will be far more complex. Pheu Thai and the People’s Party (formerly Move Forward) are no longer allies. Conservative parties are also going separate ways. To add to that, there are other influential factors like the Thai-Cambodian dispute, scamming racketeering scandals, southern flooding, and, of course, a proposed charter reform.

Each of the aforementioned factors benefits some and puts others in a disadvantage. For example, the People’s Party might not gain politically from the Thai-Cambodia conflict as much, but it has its nose in front on scamming. The Democrat Party, meanwhile, is not prospering ideologically but it is seeing its southern fan base rebooting thanks in no small part to the massive flooding.

Proposed charter amendment might help the popularity of the People’s Party and Pheu Thai, but both camps can’t see eye to eye like before, having to fight for the same electoral market in fact. And while the Thai-Cambodian standoff could politically help the conservatives, they are very splintered and have their own big problems.

And, last but not least, there is no longer Prayut Chan-o-cha, who clearly divided the pre-2023 political landscape, providing clear-cut campaign war cries.

All these make the next election and its aftermath so unpredictable.

Anutin’s cryptic message

December 3, 2025: It could mean anything, from a House dissolution to a court ruling affecting a party’s future.

“Fasten your seatbelt” is all Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said regarding what would happen next week.

He did add that, as far as he is concerned, his government would have to go within January 31 because of a gentleman's agreement with the People’s Party. That means that if his government is to function beyond that, it will have to assume just a caretaking status overseeing a snap election.

On the remaining possibility of Pheu Thai submitting a no-confidence motion, he issued a standard “Everything has its process” reply. However, the general government and media moods are that Pheu Thai would not risk it, since Anutin’s government will not last long anyway.

An earlier-than-expected snap election will unlikely help Pheu Thai, and Anutin always threatened that he would dissolve the House of Representatives even before the end of the agreed timeline with the People’s Party if he smells a censure plan.

Anutin’s “Fasten your seatbelt” remark was a reply to a reporter who asked if there would be a “political accident” next week. He did not say it out of the blue.

Cambodian poll reveals how difficult true peace is

December 2, 2025:When governments fight but ordinary people are not in it, peace efforts are easy.

But when the citizens of warring countries really hate each other, it’s absolutely the other way round.

In a poll conducted last week by Khmer Timesamid ongoing tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, an overwhelming 94% of 4,328 respondents supported a boycott of all things Thai, the Cambodian media outlet has announced. The support for boycott was always expected, but the overwhelming number of supporters is more worrisome than Hun Sen and his prime minister son verbally attacking Thailand.

Cambodians rely a lot on Thai goods, both in big industries or normal households, especially those at the border. For them to support a large-scale boycott in unison confirms that the anti-Thai sentiment has extended far beyond the political realm to cover an almost entire nation.

Why do peace plans look more realistic for, say, Ukraine and Gaza? It’s because large numbers of Israeli and Ukrainian people do not agree with their governments. A lot of Russians do not care about national security talks by Vladimir Putin, either.

It’s different when it comes to Thailand and Cambodia, with hateful rhetoric coming prevalently from the man on the street. All politicians wanting the tension to remain high have to do is fan the flame.

Said Khmer Times: “The response to the poll signifies not just a reaction to the detention of (Cambodian) soldiers but also highlights broader issues of national pride and self-determination. Many Cambodians view the boycott as a necessary measure to express their collective discontent with Thai actions, which they perceive as aggressive and manipulative.”

There is still the SEA Games to go.

Thailand’s oldest party has nose in front in South

December 1, 2025: Weeks ago, the Democrats were going into a coma. But a miracle may still happen.

A Hail Mary in October, a decision to bring back Abhisit Vejjajiva, can still prove a very good gamble if the latest NIDA survey is any indication.

The poll does not suggest a grand comeback, but it shows a vast improvement when the same pollsters’ findings just over a year ago were taken into account.

That one confirmed that Thailand’s oldest political party was hitting rock bottom, with leadership turmoil continuing and brain drains showing no signs of stopping. The NIDA poll last year surveyed southern backers of the Democrats, asking them what to do in the next election.

A staggering 41.3% said they would no longer vote for it. Another 41% said they were not so sure this time. Only slightly over 17% would still vote for the Democrats no matter what.

Probably Abhisit’s “stubbornness” and his hard-to-read ideological stand had partly to do with the party’s decline. Yet if the party somehow exceeded low expectations early next year, it will add to a lengthening list of major political ironies Thailand has been experiencing.

Southerners electorally up for grabs

November 30, 2025:Once upon a time there was no need to predict election results in southern Thailand.

The region, under the Democrat Party’s iron grip a decade or so ago, is now a political lottery. That’s what the most recent NIDA poll has found.

The mega floods may have been a big factor, whose lifespan remains to be seen. The survey of 2,000 people covering 14 provinces has found that as many as 32.25% of them favoured no particular prime ministerial candidate. That’s the biggest group, followed by the Democrat Party’s Abhisit Vejjajiva (25.65%), Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai Party (15.40%) and Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut of the People’s Party (12.85%).

As we can see, even if Anutin and Natthaphong were combined, the support for both men who are favourites for the top job after the next election would still be less than the number of people who say they still don’t like anyone.

When asked about parties they support, the hard-to-please group slid to second, but was almost as big as the group backing the Democrat Party. It was 28.60% against 28.45%, virtually inseparable.

The People’s Party came third (17.80%) and the Bhumjaithai Party (11.65%).

The race is wide open.

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