Rex Preston Stoner
@rexpstoner.bsky.social
Risk Management | International Business Consultant - Georgetown University (MSc, Foreign Service), Washington DC - Political Risk/International Macroeconomics (Bangkok, Thailand)
THAILAND/POLITICS : Essential reading for those following the endless cycle of political instability in Thailand, a country almost engineered for periodic political self-destruction.
Good morning...or is it? After the ouster of PM Paetongtarn, the scramble to form the next Thai govt is on.
- Pheu Thai Party-coalition sticks together, but does NOT confirm Chaikasem as PM pick
- Bhumjaithai Party claims to have enough votes with @peoplesparty.or.th
🧵Here's a break down...
- Pheu Thai Party-coalition sticks together, but does NOT confirm Chaikasem as PM pick
- Bhumjaithai Party claims to have enough votes with @peoplesparty.or.th
🧵Here's a break down...
August 30, 2025 at 4:15 AM
THAILAND/POLITICS : Essential reading for those following the endless cycle of political instability in Thailand, a country almost engineered for periodic political self-destruction.
THAILAND : "With those conditions set, wh/ already left the military with great influence over civilian politicians, in recent months the army has sent fairly clear signals that, after years of reformist parties trying to restrain it, it wants to be back in full power."
www.cfr.org/article/coup...
www.cfr.org/article/coup...
Is a Coup Coming Soon in Thailand?
Are signs pointing to a coup in Thailand?
www.cfr.org
June 27, 2025 at 12:56 AM
THAILAND : "With those conditions set, wh/ already left the military with great influence over civilian politicians, in recent months the army has sent fairly clear signals that, after years of reformist parties trying to restrain it, it wants to be back in full power."
www.cfr.org/article/coup...
www.cfr.org/article/coup...
THAILAND/CORRUPTION : This piece (below) from the Substack by @mattyglesias.bsky.social entitled "The stationary bandits of New York City" got me thinking as I continue my research into institutionalized corruption in Thailand. It explores the concept of government as... 1/
June 26, 2025 at 1:47 AM
THAILAND/CORRUPTION : This piece (below) from the Substack by @mattyglesias.bsky.social entitled "The stationary bandits of New York City" got me thinking as I continue my research into institutionalized corruption in Thailand. It explores the concept of government as... 1/
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
2/2 1 new prize is for "The Voices of Women, Workers, and the Forgottten" & his post ends: "Let us remember: democracy does not only live in parliaments, but in memory, ideas, & the courage to speak." (Netiwit figures centrally in the book I talk about here www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic... )
The Struggle Against Autocracy in Asia - Dissent Magazine
An interview with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of The Milk Tea Alliance.
www.dissentmagazine.org
June 25, 2025 at 12:34 AM
2/2 1 new prize is for "The Voices of Women, Workers, and the Forgottten" & his post ends: "Let us remember: democracy does not only live in parliaments, but in memory, ideas, & the courage to speak." (Netiwit figures centrally in the book I talk about here www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic... )
THAILAND : Greetings from BKK. Pl note below. How shall I advise my Thai colleagues ? Pls share if poss. @emptywheel.bsky.social @nuclearanthro.bsky.social
June 23, 2025 at 5:56 AM
THAILAND : Greetings from BKK. Pl note below. How shall I advise my Thai colleagues ? Pls share if poss. @emptywheel.bsky.social @nuclearanthro.bsky.social
The number of American MAGA supporters I encounter in Thailand is genuinely shocking incl their weird sympathies for RU. Anyway…see below. 👇🏻
Goryachev has refused to submit the SF-86 form required for background investigation for security clearance adjudication. He appears to have been granted an interim clearance without any vetting.
nypost.com/2025/06/17/u...
nypost.com/2025/06/17/u...
Exclusive | Powerful Trump aide who’s in charge of vetting thousands of staffers still hasn’t been fully vetted himself: sources
Three administration insiders told The Post that the vetter-in-chief has not turned in his Standard Form 86, or SF-86 – a 100-page set of questions required for officials who need security clearanc…
nypost.com
June 21, 2025 at 2:24 AM
The number of American MAGA supporters I encounter in Thailand is genuinely shocking incl their weird sympathies for RU. Anyway…see below. 👇🏻
Excellent ! 😆👇🏻
COMFORTABLY NUMB in a bluegrass (?) style by a band that insists they're called Salty Strings, from here in Santa Barbara. Outside La Arcada opposite Satellite, as is a standard staging area for live music these days. They'd earlier played a version of NORWEGIAN WOOD. #PinkFloyd
June 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Excellent ! 😆👇🏻
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
And, this is a dumb example of Trump trying to leave his mark on us, but it's the part that stands for the whole. Every day, he wants to win the day and make us think he's a hero who can never be forgotten: jennifermercieca.substack.com/p/trump-is-o...
Trump is or is becoming the Leviathan
And it's really not good
jennifermercieca.substack.com
June 20, 2025 at 1:17 AM
And, this is a dumb example of Trump trying to leave his mark on us, but it's the part that stands for the whole. Every day, he wants to win the day and make us think he's a hero who can never be forgotten: jennifermercieca.substack.com/p/trump-is-o...
THAILAND : This reporter’s understatement of the week :
“It is hard to read whether the minister’s optimism is warranted.”
It’s not. It’s the time-honored tradition of Thai public officials floating wildly over optimistic forecasts.
“It is hard to read whether the minister’s optimism is warranted.”
It’s not. It’s the time-honored tradition of Thai public officials floating wildly over optimistic forecasts.
The country’s commerce minister says the 36 percent tariff imposed in April could be reduced to as low as 10 percent.
Thai Government Confident of Good Outcome in US Tariff Talks, Minister Says
The country’s commerce minister says the 36 percent tariff imposed in April could be reduced to as low as 10 percent.
buff.ly
June 17, 2025 at 8:15 AM
THAILAND : This reporter’s understatement of the week :
“It is hard to read whether the minister’s optimism is warranted.”
It’s not. It’s the time-honored tradition of Thai public officials floating wildly over optimistic forecasts.
“It is hard to read whether the minister’s optimism is warranted.”
It’s not. It’s the time-honored tradition of Thai public officials floating wildly over optimistic forecasts.
THAILAND/LESE MAJESTE : Songchai Niamhom is a prominent ultra-royalist in Thailand, self-proclaimed leader of the King Protection Group, a small but active vigilante organization in the southern provinces. 1/2
June 17, 2025 at 8:06 AM
THAILAND/LESE MAJESTE : Songchai Niamhom is a prominent ultra-royalist in Thailand, self-proclaimed leader of the King Protection Group, a small but active vigilante organization in the southern provinces. 1/2
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
Moments like this are when you should be educating yourself, so I've put together this playlist of podcasts about the various philosophical ideas that I've based my work defining Verification, Deliberation and Accountability as pillars of healthy democracies around open.spotify.com/playlist/3NJ...
Philosophical Foundations of the VDA Framework: A Structured Listening Guide
Playlist · TheyCallMeBrownMoses · 32 items · 254 saves
open.spotify.com
June 13, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Moments like this are when you should be educating yourself, so I've put together this playlist of podcasts about the various philosophical ideas that I've based my work defining Verification, Deliberation and Accountability as pillars of healthy democracies around open.spotify.com/playlist/3NJ...
LA PROTESTS : A video 🧵. To be honest, the cops here are not nearly as brutal as their Parisian gendarmes counterparts but this is shocking all the same. 😳👇🏻
For the sixth day in a row, hundreds of anti-ICE protesters are marching through downtown LA in opposition to recent immigration raids.
June 12, 2025 at 2:36 AM
LA PROTESTS : A video 🧵. To be honest, the cops here are not nearly as brutal as their Parisian gendarmes counterparts but this is shocking all the same. 😳👇🏻
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
If you're in DC and interested in Asia, it's a rich week for speakers. Jeff Wasserstrom @jwassers.bsky.social talks about his new book on dissenters in Hong Kong, Burma and Thailand, "Milk Tea Alliance," at the National Press Club on 6/12, Thursday, at 6 pm. Info: www.press.org/events/npc-h...
June 12, 2025 at 2:00 AM
If you're in DC and interested in Asia, it's a rich week for speakers. Jeff Wasserstrom @jwassers.bsky.social talks about his new book on dissenters in Hong Kong, Burma and Thailand, "Milk Tea Alliance," at the National Press Club on 6/12, Thursday, at 6 pm. Info: www.press.org/events/npc-h...
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
In case anyone's interested in Buddhism and how young people engage with organized religion in Thailand!
2025/42 “Examining Religious Engagement Among Thai Buddhist Undergraduates” by Panarat Anamwathana
This paper examines the relationship between Thai Buddhist undergraduates and their religion, drawing on survey data from the Youth and Civic Engagement Survey carried out by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Insti...
www.iseas.edu.sg
June 11, 2025 at 9:20 AM
In case anyone's interested in Buddhism and how young people engage with organized religion in Thailand!
It's important to remember that these are not typically "rubber bullets"--they are "rubber-coated metal rounds."
Watch the slow motion: it appears to me that the officers discuss the photographer and reporter before the one on the end fires on them (it looks to me like he's aiming at the camera, not the reporter, but you decide)
June 9, 2025 at 3:10 AM
It's important to remember that these are not typically "rubber bullets"--they are "rubber-coated metal rounds."
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
We all know AI models can now create realistic images and videos but how do they fare at identifying where a real image was taken? Bellingcat researchers have put Large Language Models to the test: www.bellingcat.com/resources/ho...
Have LLMs Finally Mastered Geolocation? - bellingcat
We tasked LLMs from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Mistral and xAI to geolocate our unpublished holiday snaps. Here's how they did.
www.bellingcat.com
June 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
We all know AI models can now create realistic images and videos but how do they fare at identifying where a real image was taken? Bellingcat researchers have put Large Language Models to the test: www.bellingcat.com/resources/ho...
😆👇🏻 The “Jesus Conspiracy” !
“Ever since Christ was executed in broad daylight in the middle of Golgotha, questions have swirled about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, but no longer,” said the Bishop Of Rome theonion.com/new-pop...
New Pope Declassifies Jesus Crucifixion Documents
VATICAN— In an effort to bring openness and transparency to his role as supreme pontiff, Pope Leo XIV vowed Friday that “the truth will finally be revealed” as he issued an order fully declassifying the Church’s Jesus Crucifixion Documents. “Ever since Christ was executed in broad daylight in the middle of Golgotha, questions have swirled […]
theonion.com
June 7, 2025 at 1:03 AM
😆👇🏻 The “Jesus Conspiracy” !
😆👇🏻
June 2, 2025 at 3:32 AM
😆👇🏻
THAILAND/AUTHORITARIANISM : From the piece 👇🏻: “This case demonstrates how Article 112 has transformed from a law intended to protect the monarchy into a tool of political repression. Its vague language allows authorities to reinterpret academic discourse as a threat to national security.”1/2
June 1, 2025 at 9:21 AM
THAILAND/AUTHORITARIANISM : From the piece 👇🏻: “This case demonstrates how Article 112 has transformed from a law intended to protect the monarchy into a tool of political repression. Its vague language allows authorities to reinterpret academic discourse as a threat to national security.”1/2
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
The lesson people infuriatingly never seem to master is that there is no creating a police state just for other people. If you create a police state with no due process for immigrants or accused criminals, then that's the system you've created for yourself.
May 31, 2025 at 7:53 PM
The lesson people infuriatingly never seem to master is that there is no creating a police state just for other people. If you create a police state with no due process for immigrants or accused criminals, then that's the system you've created for yourself.
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
That would be awful. Don’t share this.
May 31, 2025 at 1:17 AM
That would be awful. Don’t share this.
This 👇🏻.
If you really believe that Elon Musk is no longer involved in the workings of the Trump Administration, you shouldn't be in journalism or politics.
May 29, 2025 at 2:13 AM
This 👇🏻.
👇🏻 This. Don’t fall for Musk’s PR play.
I wouldnt be too quick to buy this. Musk got what he came for all along—our personal information. The world’s richest guy doesn’t walk away from a $250 mil investment empty handed. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/u...
A Disillusioned Musk, Distanced From Trump, Says He’s Exiting Washington
www.nytimes.com
May 29, 2025 at 2:09 AM
👇🏻 This. Don’t fall for Musk’s PR play.
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
Incredible work from everyone involved here
May 27, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Incredible work from everyone involved here
Reposted by Rex Preston Stoner
Identifying birds that are visible in photos or audible in audio or video recordings can sometimes provide important clues when doing geolocations. Learn more about the bird identification tool Merlin in @bellingcat.com's Open Source Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...
Merlin | Bellingcat's Online Investigation Toolkit
Identify birds (visually), through an app.
bellingcat.gitbook.io
May 27, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Identifying birds that are visible in photos or audible in audio or video recordings can sometimes provide important clues when doing geolocations. Learn more about the bird identification tool Merlin in @bellingcat.com's Open Source Investigation Toolkit: bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more...