Sunday, August 07, 2011

Wikileaks Based Story

There's a June Foreign Policy article on the Thailand based on wikileaks documents.  That's as much as I want to say here, but for anyone who wants to understand the politics of Thailand, this (actually the much more detailed "extensive article" linked in the quote below) is must read stuff.  Here's a snippet on the background:

A few months ago, through my work as a senior Reuters editor, I gained access to the "Cablegate" database of U.S. diplomatic communications believed to have been leaked by U.S. soldier Bradley Manning. The cables revolutionize the understanding of 21st-century Thailand because unlike almost all journalistic and academic coverage of the country, they do not mince words when it comes to the monarchy. As I began work on an extensive article about the cables, I realized that because it represented an epic breach of the lèse-majesté law, it could never be published by Reuters, and I would be unable to visit Thailand again for many years. I took the decision to publish the article anyway, and resigned from Reuters on June 3 to do so. That I had to leave my job and become a criminal in Thailand just to report on the cables says all that needs to be said about the lack of freedom of information that is stifling important debate on Thailand's future.

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