Thailand

Opposition groups’ attempts to bring down the government of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, ongoing for months, appeared to come to a head with the highly public invasion of TV stations and government buildings in Bangkok. But there are strong indications that Samak has the upper hand, and the opposition PAD may have attempted a bridge too far. [more]

The Thai government is engineering a situation to justify a crackdown on the opposition. [more]

The following are internal Stratfor documents produced to provide high-level guidance to our analysts. These documents are not forecasts, but rather a series of guidelines for understanding and evaluating events, as well as suggestions on areas for focus. [more]

With oil prices down to around $125 per barrel, Malaysia, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries are reconsidering the policies implemented because of high energy costs. [more]

A three-month program to help Thai rice growers get the profits due them from high global food prices has hidden political benefits — and some unexpected side effects — for the fragile coalition government in Bangkok. [more]