The alleged kidnapping of a Thai citizen by North Korea warrants a robust response from the govt. Thailand must do whatever it can to locate Anocha Panjoy, whom it was alleged earlier this week was abducted and taken to North Korea in 1978. It was a bit disappointing that the Thai government was apparently clueless has to how one of its citizens had disappeared abroad, and was unable to follow up on the case and find out what really happened. The Japanese government had earlier notified the Thai Embassy in Tokyo about the kidnapping of Thai citizens.

THAI TALK: Upcoming clash: participatory politics vs Thaksinomics

Depending on how successful the Democrats are in pursuing their latest strategy, the next big thing in Thai politics could well be a head-on collision between ballot-box decisions and participatory politics.

Subsidies hurting world’s poor farmers

The trade ministers of the 148 members of the WTO are a diverse group. Their December meeting in Hong Kong will place America’s Congressional veteran Rob Portman next to Princess Lubna of the United Arab Emirates. The erudite Mari Pangestu, an Indonesian development economist turned cabinet minister, is side by side with Ireland’s ex-mayor of Cork Michael Martin; Cambodia is next to Canada and the EU next to Fiji. But as diverse as they may be, the ministers have a common mission. Their predecessors in the 1990s eliminated tariffs on semiconductor chips, furniture and aeroplanes; this group is charged with concluding an agricultural trade reform plan, designed to open markets overall for farmers and in particular to cut the subsidies, tariffs and quotas of the WTO’s wealthy members.