One year ago, the Royal Thai Government massacred ninety-one people to avoid an early election it feared it might lose. Finally, the general elections for which dozens of Red Shirts gave their lives are on track to take place in June or July 2011. While it is hoped that the elections will be free of outright fraud and ballot stuffing, the competitiveness and fairness of the process are being undermined in many other ways.

The upcoming elections will take place in a context of intimidation and repression, coupled with the continuing efforts by most of the institutions of the Thai state to secure a victory for the Democrat Party. Aside from competing against a hobbled opposition under rules designed to artificially boost its seat share, the Democrat Party will once again avail itself of the assistance of the military, the bureaucracy, the judiciary,

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I wouldn't be the first one to point out the absurdity of the Kyrgyz government's decision to name a mountain peak after his holiness Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, but given that the U.S. State Department just happened to pass along an award to President Roza Otunbayeva, it would seem that I am not too late.

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Having spent a fair amount of time in Bishkek, I had to wonder how a country which holds no particular admiration for the Russian leadership, how such a flattering dedication unfolded.

On the eve of the debates in the newly-elected Kyrgyz parliament last September, the future prime minister of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev traveled

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Below is an excerpt of a wide-ranging interview with Robert Amsterdam by the Estonian publication Diplomaatia:

How did you end up doing what you are doing? How do people all over the world find you?

I would have to say that in Thailand and Kyrgyzstan it was by word of mouth. As for Khodorkovsky, we did this major case that is still going on in Guatemala and that got a lot of attention over the years because it involved us representing a group who was prepared to take on the whole oligarchy, which we were prepared to do. That case has been something of a template case for what we did for Khodorkovsky, in Nigeria or for the Red Shirts in Thailand, in Kyrgyzstan and for other cases - we've been involved for the last year in a major

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A not-young Kyrgyz came up to me on Chui prospect in Bishkek and asked: "Brother, how do I get to the Alamedin market?"

I didn't know yet how to get to the market, but I did already know that in Bishkek - I'm a brother.

At this time, in my Moscow, a group of young thugs was in the process of killing its Kyrgyz counterpart. (There's a peculiarity of Russian nationalism for you: a Chechen goes and kills a Russian, so Russians go and kill a Kyrgyz in revenge).

There are very many youth on the streets of Bishkek. And they gather in the center of the city often for lack of anything else to do. According to official

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Red Shirts Appeal to ICC over Killings of Protesters by Thai Military

Compiled evidence alleges crimes against humanity by Royal Thai Army

BANGKOK-TOKYO, Jan. 31, 2011 - Today lawyers acting on behalf of the Red Shirt pro-democracy movement are presenting a petition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague requesting prosecutors to open an inquiry into the situation in the Kingdom of Thailand relating to the alleged commission of crimes against humanity during the April/May crackdown of last year.

"We are appealing to international justice to put an end to Thai impunity," said Thida Thawornseth, leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). "Our courts have failed to administer justice, and our government has failed to investigate the

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Interesting piece from EUobserver which is somewhat skeptical about Manuel Barroso's upcoming charm visit to the capital of Turkmenistan, as the EU begins its effort to secure future natural gas exports potentially for the Nabucco pipeline.  But there's something fishy about the article ... you can't argue that the Turkmens think a trans-Caspian route is "unrealistic" and yet the preposterous South Stream project is going forward?  Given the nod to Brussels lobbyists Brunswick at the end of the article, this looks quite a lot like a placement on behalf of parties that really don't want Europe making independent ties with Turkmenistan.

A Turkmen diplomatic source told this website that Mr Berdymukhammedov is unsure why the commission is sending over its big gun at a time when the EU has "no new offer" and "no new ideas" on how to get

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The video clips below provide a handy summary of the reports expected on the economic, financial and corporate front around the globe during the week ahead.

U.S.: Auto show, Intel The U.S. market will gauge the health of the car industry with the Detroit auto show. Also, Intel’s quarterly earnings will be reported and a slate of economic data will roll out next week.

Europe: Retailers in focus Retailers Tesco, Carrefour and Sainsbury are giving updates. On the economic front, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) announce interest-rate decisions on Thursday.

Asia: Rate

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