Pasuth Thothaveesansuk
@pasuth.info
PhD candidate at UNC-Chapel Hill studying international history (UN, internationalism, decolonization, pandas)
Also: running, iced coffee
Also: running, iced coffee
"[T]he Cambodian side had contacted a Thai military unit and claimed "there was no intention to fire into Thai territory," adding "the incident was caused by an operational error by Cambodian personnel."" An "explosive" pile of garbage led to a mortar fire, apparently. www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
January 6, 2026 at 8:09 AM
"[T]he Cambodian side had contacted a Thai military unit and claimed "there was no intention to fire into Thai territory," adding "the incident was caused by an operational error by Cambodian personnel."" An "explosive" pile of garbage led to a mortar fire, apparently. www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Well this seems a bit inconvenient for the budding peace process. Between the land mine incident and now this, the Thai armed forces are exercising quite some restraint by not retaliating. Border clashes resuming could provide quite the wildcard for the elections. www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/gen...
Cambodia breaks ceasefire, Thai soldier wounded
Cambodia broke the ceasefire on Tuesday morning, firing mortar rounds at the Chong Bok area of Ubon Ratchathani and wounding a Thai soldier, the 2nd Army said.
www.bangkokpost.com
January 6, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Well this seems a bit inconvenient for the budding peace process. Between the land mine incident and now this, the Thai armed forces are exercising quite some restraint by not retaliating. Border clashes resuming could provide quite the wildcard for the elections. www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/gen...
Obligatory “there is, just very difficult to enforce,” but this can get quite slippery: should we also say that there is no such thing as domestic law? You can make the very same argument with the federal judiciary now stuck relying on an executive that will not enforce rulings that go against them.
January 5, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Obligatory “there is, just very difficult to enforce,” but this can get quite slippery: should we also say that there is no such thing as domestic law? You can make the very same argument with the federal judiciary now stuck relying on an executive that will not enforce rulings that go against them.
I’m proud to be able to say I’ve already been a Yannick Nézet-Séguin fan before today and that I knew he was going to do a revolutionary job—after all, he has an amazing taste in US college basketball. #neujahrskonzert #goheels
January 1, 2026 at 1:10 PM
I’m proud to be able to say I’ve already been a Yannick Nézet-Séguin fan before today and that I knew he was going to do a revolutionary job—after all, he has an amazing taste in US college basketball. #neujahrskonzert #goheels
I did not have Yannick Nézet-Séguin going rogue and roaming the hall during the Radetzky March on my 2026 New Years' Concert bingo card, but that was amazing. #neujahrskonzert
January 1, 2026 at 12:55 PM
I did not have Yannick Nézet-Séguin going rogue and roaming the hall during the Radetzky March on my 2026 New Years' Concert bingo card, but that was amazing. #neujahrskonzert
This has been the best New Years Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in a while. Turns out we do need more Québec in classical music. #neujahrskonzert
January 1, 2026 at 11:58 AM
This has been the best New Years Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in a while. Turns out we do need more Québec in classical music. #neujahrskonzert
As expected with the restrained Thai response through the Foreign Ministry, Thailand has now released the 18 Cambodian soldiers, fulfilling its end of the ceasefire agreement. Perhaps we will indeed leave all this behind in 2025 and move forward into a more peaceful 2026. www.bbc.com/news/article...
December 31, 2025 at 6:23 AM
As expected with the restrained Thai response through the Foreign Ministry, Thailand has now released the 18 Cambodian soldiers, fulfilling its end of the ceasefire agreement. Perhaps we will indeed leave all this behind in 2025 and move forward into a more peaceful 2026. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Yup—multipolarity by itself does not really mean anything without considering the actual foreign policy orientation of those poles. People forget that the original model for postwar liberal internationalism was also a multipolar one i.e. Roosevelt’s “Four Policemen”—US, UK, Soviet Union, and China.
Brazil and maybe RSA support multipolarity for its own sake but China, Russia, and to an extent India are really looking forward to a world where there are no norms against great powers pushing around smaller ones
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-number-o...
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-number-o...
The Number of Geopolitical “Poles” is Irrelevant Compared to their Disposition
The discourse about the structure of the world political order has come to turn increasingly around the question of ‘poles’ of geopolitical power—centers of influence and control, usually assumed to b...
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Yup—multipolarity by itself does not really mean anything without considering the actual foreign policy orientation of those poles. People forget that the original model for postwar liberal internationalism was also a multipolar one i.e. Roosevelt’s “Four Policemen”—US, UK, Soviet Union, and China.
A few interesting aspects from the Yunnan China-Cambodia-Thailand trilateral meeting press release: "China will continue to play a constructive role in facilitating the rebuilding of trust and achieving lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand in the Asian way." 1/n www.mfa.go.th/en/content/p...
Press Release of China-Cambodia-Thailand Fuxian Meeting (29 December 2025) - กระทรวงการต่างประเทศ
Press Release of China-Cambodia-Thailand Fuxian Meeting (29 December 2025)
www.mfa.go.th
December 30, 2025 at 7:25 AM
A few interesting aspects from the Yunnan China-Cambodia-Thailand trilateral meeting press release: "China will continue to play a constructive role in facilitating the rebuilding of trust and achieving lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand in the Asian way." 1/n www.mfa.go.th/en/content/p...
China hosting this trilat with Thailand and Cambodia in Yunnan i.e. China’s southern border with Southeast Asia also sends another message: unlike a distant US, this is China’s backyard and through brokering peace it demonstrates its influence as the region’s superpower.
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
China hosts trilateral talks in bid to cement Thailand-Cambodia truce
Top diplomat Wang Yi to meet Thai and Cambodian counterparts as Beijing seeks to solidify its role as international mediator.
www.scmp.com
December 28, 2025 at 9:19 AM
China hosting this trilat with Thailand and Cambodia in Yunnan i.e. China’s southern border with Southeast Asia also sends another message: unlike a distant US, this is China’s backyard and through brokering peace it demonstrates its influence as the region’s superpower.
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
If you eat Pop-Tarts for winning the Pop-Tarts Bowl, do you file a Form 1040 for winning the TaxSlayer bowl? #gohoos
The University of Virginia has been playing football since 1888. This is the first time the Cavaliers have ever won 11 games in a single season. Heck of a year for Tony Elliott and the Hoos.
December 28, 2025 at 3:46 AM
If you eat Pop-Tarts for winning the Pop-Tarts Bowl, do you file a Form 1040 for winning the TaxSlayer bowl? #gohoos
Really hoping that this ceasefire will last without any additional incursions. Notable that the agreement calls for a maintenance of the military status quo, return to the KL framework + ASEAN, but no mention whatsoever of US role in KL framework or the ceasefire. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Thailand and Cambodia agree ‘immediate’ ceasefire after weeks of deadly border clashes
Two countries pledge in joint statement to halt all forms of attacks and further troop deployments in long-running dispute over contested territory
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Really hoping that this ceasefire will last without any additional incursions. Notable that the agreement calls for a maintenance of the military status quo, return to the KL framework + ASEAN, but no mention whatsoever of US role in KL framework or the ceasefire. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
And this reading, analyzing, and writing takes a lot of time! Not to say that quantitative fields have it easier (it is a different kind of hard work), but in our discipline we have no formula or model to stick our sources into—so much of this just happens in the black box process of human thinking.
I read a bunch of things and I started to think maybe they weren't answering their question completely/correctly, so I formulated a new question and then had to find sources that would help me investigate it. Then I researched and analyzed and produced *new knowledge*---and that's what we ALL do!
December 22, 2025 at 2:02 AM
And this reading, analyzing, and writing takes a lot of time! Not to say that quantitative fields have it easier (it is a different kind of hard work), but in our discipline we have no formula or model to stick our sources into—so much of this just happens in the black box process of human thinking.
Apropos absolutely nothing: "the total budget for UNC football balloons last year? $48,733."
The University of Arkansas spent $36,000 on balloons last year. After seeing what they got, we think it was worth every penny.
In FOIAball this week, we EMBRACE THE HOG.
www.foiaball.com/p/college-fo...
In FOIAball this week, we EMBRACE THE HOG.
www.foiaball.com/p/college-fo...
December 18, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Apropos absolutely nothing: "the total budget for UNC football balloons last year? $48,733."
UNC should maintain these centers because it is the right thing to do, but historians will also note that these centers across the US were founded for national security reasons in order to produce scholars, officers, and policymakers knowledgeable about the world. They weakened a country today.
This is absolutely catastrophic for research in the humanities and social sciences. Not only are these centers crucial sources of the limited research funding we have as grad students, but they have been interdisciplinary intellectual homes for so many of us at UNC. dailytarheel.com/article/a4ee...
UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026
As part of the University's plan to make $70 million in budget cuts across the institution, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman projected that cutting 14 centers and institutes in...
dailytarheel.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:37 AM
UNC should maintain these centers because it is the right thing to do, but historians will also note that these centers across the US were founded for national security reasons in order to produce scholars, officers, and policymakers knowledgeable about the world. They weakened a country today.
CSEEES feels so much like a home that I regularly attend their events and seminars even though I do not speak a Slavic language nor does my research directly focus on the region, but in doing so I got to learn so much from everyone in that community and they have broadened my intellectual horizons.
UNC’s CSEEES was such a bright part of my time at UNC. It not only supported my research, but also felt like home. Such a loss for UNC, its students, and Eastern European and Eurasian studies in the US.
December 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
CSEEES feels so much like a home that I regularly attend their events and seminars even though I do not speak a Slavic language nor does my research directly focus on the region, but in doing so I got to learn so much from everyone in that community and they have broadened my intellectual horizons.
This is absolutely catastrophic for research in the humanities and social sciences. Not only are these centers crucial sources of the limited research funding we have as grad students, but they have been interdisciplinary intellectual homes for so many of us at UNC. dailytarheel.com/article/a4ee...
UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026
As part of the University's plan to make $70 million in budget cuts across the institution, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman projected that cutting 14 centers and institutes in...
dailytarheel.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:21 AM
This is absolutely catastrophic for research in the humanities and social sciences. Not only are these centers crucial sources of the limited research funding we have as grad students, but they have been interdisciplinary intellectual homes for so many of us at UNC. dailytarheel.com/article/a4ee...
I have long found it interesting that my Europeanist friends seem to all be familiar with Thongchai Winichakul's Siam Mapped (1994) as a major contribution to the history of maps and nationalism and yet the book (as far as I am aware) is known in Thailand at best as an obscure academic text.
'A historical dispute over lines drawn on colonial maps is often used as a pretext for simmering nationalism. The two countries have had what one historian called a “sibling rivalry” for decades, fanned by competing claims to the region’s rich cultural heritage'.
A visual guide to the historical maps and temples at the heart of the Thailand-Cambodia conflict
Border conflict has roots in colonial maps and long-standing ‘sibling rivalry’
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:16 AM
I have long found it interesting that my Europeanist friends seem to all be familiar with Thongchai Winichakul's Siam Mapped (1994) as a major contribution to the history of maps and nationalism and yet the book (as far as I am aware) is known in Thailand at best as an obscure academic text.
This is just the end of the loan period, so the pandas going back is not a diplomatic sanction, but China is about to get the best bargaining chip in its negotiations with Japan amidst the worsening of bilateral ties: want new pandas? Better tone down your rhetoric! asia.nikkei.com/life-arts/li...
Japan's last 2 pandas headed to China in January
Tokyo zoo will part with twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei as bilateral relations worsen
asia.nikkei.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:25 AM
This is just the end of the loan period, so the pandas going back is not a diplomatic sanction, but China is about to get the best bargaining chip in its negotiations with Japan amidst the worsening of bilateral ties: want new pandas? Better tone down your rhetoric! asia.nikkei.com/life-arts/li...
All aboard the Democrat comeback train! 🚂
December 15, 2025 at 7:15 AM
All aboard the Democrat comeback train! 🚂
With the discourse about the US National Security Strategy this morning, I figured I should familiarize myself with Thailand's National Security Strategy if I want to be able to come up with some educated commentary.
Friends, it is 169 pages long... and yet somehow there is no strategy to show for!
Friends, it is 169 pages long... and yet somehow there is no strategy to show for!
December 5, 2025 at 5:48 PM
With the discourse about the US National Security Strategy this morning, I figured I should familiarize myself with Thailand's National Security Strategy if I want to be able to come up with some educated commentary.
Friends, it is 169 pages long... and yet somehow there is no strategy to show for!
Friends, it is 169 pages long... and yet somehow there is no strategy to show for!
Interesting that the new US NSS talks of "denying aggression" in the First Island Chain instead of explicit commitments to "defend" it. Treaty allies mentioned only to demand for more defense spending without assurances. Can you blame Japan or South Korea if they seriously consider nuclearization?
December 5, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Interesting that the new US NSS talks of "denying aggression" in the First Island Chain instead of explicit commitments to "defend" it. Treaty allies mentioned only to demand for more defense spending without assurances. Can you blame Japan or South Korea if they seriously consider nuclearization?
Xi invoking US-China cooperation during WW2 to make a point about Taiwan is really salient here especially after he recognized an ROC/KMT veteran at the 80th Anniversary of Victory over Japan celebrations earlier this year. Memory about the War continues to play a big role in East Asian geopolitics.
November 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Xi invoking US-China cooperation during WW2 to make a point about Taiwan is really salient here especially after he recognized an ROC/KMT veteran at the 80th Anniversary of Victory over Japan celebrations earlier this year. Memory about the War continues to play a big role in East Asian geopolitics.
Hey @wmatagm.bsky.social, I appreciate @wmata.com opening early for the marathon today, but the crowd situation needs to be managed better. We had an overflowing platform at Pentagon this morning and now at Rosslyn post-race no one can get into the station, leaving runners standing on tired legs.
October 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Hey @wmatagm.bsky.social, I appreciate @wmata.com opening early for the marathon today, but the crowd situation needs to be managed better. We had an overflowing platform at Pentagon this morning and now at Rosslyn post-race no one can get into the station, leaving runners standing on tired legs.