Anutin Charnvirakul arrives at the Bhumjaithai Party headquarters on election night in Thailand -- image via news video screenshot By Kay Young The march of the Ultra-Right in the Global South continues on, but unlike their Global North counterparts like Trump, Le Penn & Farage, as bleak as the future may seem, there are green shoots amongst the concrete. On 8 February 2026 following the Thai general election , there was a paradigm shift ushering in a new era of Southeast Asi

The bar at The Foreign Correspondents Club in Bangkok, 2019 -- image via X By Kay Young Since the American War on Vietnam, Bangkok has been a key hub for international journalists and academics in Southeast Asia. It offers modern infrastructure, easy travel, and a high quality of life, allowing them to chopper into the periphery and return home for drinks. These advantages foster a professional environment removed from the region it purports to cover. Western expatriates oper

An election campaign poster of Pheu Thai Party on the Charot Withi Thong Road in Sawankhalok district, Sukhothai province, January 2026 -- image via Chainwit, Wikimedia Commons By Kay Young As Thailand goes to the polls, three visions compete: one which experiments in strange new populist economics, one which critiques from the seminar room, and one paying to keep the countryside quiet. In the Thai election, scheduled for 8 February, we can see the Global South’s political la

As consumers flock to “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” skincare, beauty brands are selling a vision of ocean purity that is more marketing-driven than science-based. By Kate Petty The personal care industry has mastered the art of marketing eco-consciousness— evolving beyond familiar labels like “green,” “clean,” and “natural”—into a new wave of sea-inspired branding that claims to champion ocean conservation. Terms such as “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” evoke images of cry

Washington’s unease is rising as Brazil’s Pix bypasses U.S.-dominated payment networks. The country’s digital payment revolution may soon be impossible to contain as other countries adapt their own models. By John P. Ruehl The Trump administration’s July 2025 decision to have the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigate Brazil’s “ attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices ,” followed by the launch of 50 percent tari

Image via X By Kay Young Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar’s civil war has escalated into its most violent phase in decades, the scale of the...

Architects and everyday people are teaching each other to build spaces for community and climate resilience using local, natural...