5 05 2021
Readers may recall that, a couple of days ago, in posting on military budgets, we observed that key supporters of the current regime were Sino-Thai oligarchs and their conglomerates. They are handsomely rewarded for their loyalty to military and monarchy.
As we noted then, several times already this group has come to the rescue of Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha’s regime, most recently offering more virus help to the government in a mass rollout of Covid-19 vaccination from June. Special mention made of billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont’s Charoen Pokphand Group. Clipped from The Rand Blog
With the developing virus cluster around Klong Toey, it is reported that Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) has “launched a mass vaccination scheme to support the government…”.
2 05 2021
There’s a story at something called the Atlas Institute for International Affairs which sounds very 1960s and argues that militaries kept “fed” with taxpayer funds don’t intervene politically. This long discredited notion is in part based on work on Thailand. The fact that coups in Thailand bear no relationship to that military’s ability to grab loot from the taxpayer should alert the authors. Think of “self-coups,” coups against military leaders and other rightists, and, most recently, the coup against Yingluck Shinawatra, when spending on the military increased.
That said, there’s no doubt that Thai military leaders love kit and money. One graph in the Atlas story demonstrates how the military has benefited by sucking the taxpayer of the people’s money.
Disappointed Thais are demanding that their government be vaccinated
The Thai Prime Minister received praise for his successful leadership of the country in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. But as cases have risen and vaccines have spread, large companies and ordinary Thais have sparked anger and frustration with the government.
Criticism has led to a sharp rise in infections in the kingdom by medical experts bound to the fastest spreading variant of the virus first identified in the UK.
Thailand vaccination plan up to 50 percent with a population of 70 million this year, and 70 percent by 2022, has so far been based almost entirely on a single vaccine: Oxford / AstraZeneca jab.
April 19, 2021 Global consulting leader Mckinsey & Company wrote a very timely article about innovation as a launchpad out of Covid-19 and it clearly highlighted a strong message: “To innovate your way out of this downturn, you need to change behaviors and mindsets starting at the very top. Crises are adrenaline for innovation. You must make decisions quickly under extremely uncertain conditions, and you never have enough time or information to fully weigh difficult choices that may affect both employee livelihoods and the survival of the business. Yet these very constraints can unleash waves of creativity. Necessity and urgency spur ideas and dissipate inertia. Leading innovators seize such conditions to reshape mindsets and behaviors, embracing the opportunity to uncover fresh solutions and make bold bets that can reignite growth.”
April 14, 2021 at 14:14 PM EDT
No winter is missed, no spring is forgotten. The establishment of a new development pattern, featuring domestic and international circulations, welcomes a boost in Chinas domestic consumption and enables commercial real estate companies to swiftly move from the haze of the pandemic. Internal calculation entails new business demand, as market confidence continues to recover and improve.
After more than two decades of rapid development, Chinaâs real estate market has entered the era of âIncrement to Stockâ. Commercial real estate faces âstructural surplusâ with intensified regional and sector differentiation. Advantages and resources are accelerating their convergence to more competitive cities.