The UN is about to appoint a new envoy and may be ready belatedly to stand up to the ill-governed country. Even though Razali Ismail served as an outstanding diplomat for Malaysia, he found it very difficult to foster cooperation and dialogue between the Burmese government and opposition.

STOPPAGE TIME: Son or Parliament: which one does PM trust more?

We know something is seriously wrong with this country when our prime minister apparently trusts his son to make do-or-die business decisions worth tens of billions of baht but practically says Parliament has no brains to scrutinise crucial trade pacts with other countries. Why Thai Rak Thai MPs have not already committed mass suicide in front of the party’s headquarters is beyond me.

Bush era will be remembered for repression

How will US President George W Bush’s administration be remembered historically? After five years in office, and with another three years to go, some answers are already apparent. Others are emerging gradually. The latter category includes an increasing assault on civil liberties within the United States that now compares to that of Richard Nixon’s administration more than 30 years ago.