Time for Change: Campaign for an Independent Green Thanet MP and Ramsgate Mayor

  Ten Big Reforms for Isaan, Thailand and Cambodia: A Borderless Future of Justice and Infrastructure 1. Rail Equity Corridor Launch a 600 km Isaan Rail Equity Plan  North-South connecting Mukdahan, Amnat Charoen, Yasothon, and Surin to Khon Kaen and Bangkok. Simultaneously fund a Surin–Siem Reap spur to rupture the rail desert and enable Khmer-Isaan cultural mobility. 2. Cross-Border Health Pact Establish a Thai–Cambodian Border Health Compact : shared clinics, mobile units, and Khmer-language services in Surin, Sisaket, and Battambang. Fund joint disease surveillance and maternal care. 3. Khmer Language Rights Charter Recognise Northern Khmer as a protected regional language. Fund bilingual education, media, and signage in Surin, Sisaket, and Buriram. Partner with Cambodian cultural ministries for curriculum co-design and temples website. 4. Ban on Land Grabs and Elite Logging Criminalise elite land seizures in Isaan and Cambodian border zones. Launch a joint land audit w...

  After the Guns Fall Silent: What the Thai–Khmer Ceasefire Means for Isaan and the Borderlands The July 28 ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia marked a fragile pause in a conflict that displaced over 300,000 civilians and left dozens dead. Brokered under pressure from Malaysia, China, and the U.S. , the agreement includes a freeze on troop movements, a ban on attacks against civilians, and the deployment of ASEAN observers .  But for communities along the border—especially in Thailand’s Isaan region —the real question is: what now? The future all the more uncertain with PM Paetongtarn forced out of power by the Constitutional Court from the leaked Hun Sen phone call.  The PM role is vacant and presumably her Soft Power role with the former an interim PM role just for the next 4 months, possibly a Pheu Thai-Move Forward coalition then Charter reform and elections. So stasis for Thailand until early 2026 at best on major issues on Land Bridge, Digital Wallet etc and f...

  Jakarta’s riots weren’t just about perks—they were about power. When Indonesian MPs awarded themselves allowances 10× the minimum wage, the streets erupted. Protesters demanded not just rollbacks, but rupture: wage justice, transparency, and an end to elite impunity.  Westminster should take note. Here in the UK, Parliament remains a fortress of entitlement. The 2009 expenses scandal exposed how MPs flipped homes, claimed for duck houses, and redecorated on the taxpayer’s dime. But the deeper rot— structural privilege, foreign influence, and institutional excess —was never excised. Bills cap Now: Cap the Cash, Cut the Corruption The average MP earns £86,584 , plus expenses, pensions, and often consultancy fees . IPSA continues to approve pay rises with minimal public oversight. Meanwhile, the UK median wage hovers around £33,000 . The gap is not just economic—it’s ethical. We need a Bills cap : a hard ceiling on total MP remuneration—salary, expenses, and perks—pegged to 1....

  As floodwaters rise across the Philippines, so does public fury. Not just at nature’s wrath—but at the engineered disaster of corruption. Billions of pesos have been siphoned off through “ghost” flood control projects, substandard infrastructure, and contractor monopolies.  The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) admitted that 20% of the ₱545 billion flood budget went to just 15 contractors , many linked to entrenched political clans. This isn’t mismanagement. It’s state-enabled looting . The public fury is only outgunned by Jakarta riots at Indonesian MPs featherbedding their salaries and perks. Shades of UK PPE or Migrant Hotels or Duck houses and Flipping or Baroness Mone and Dido or the King Charles Waitrose bag of castle funds and gongs. Senator Panfilo Lacson exposed how kickbacks now reach 58% of project costs , with road reflectors priced at ₱11,720 instead of ₱1,800. Solar streetlights were procured at ₱157,000 each—five times market value. The result? R...

  The Thai-Cambodian border is once again a theatre of contested sovereignty, civilian resistance, and diplomatic choreography. In Sisaket and Ubon Ratchathani provinces, Khmer villagers were seen dismantling Thai barbed wire barricades , a symbolic act of defiance that underscores the fragility of the July 28 ceasefire brokered by Malaysia, China, and the United States. In all sincerity it's hard to see new barbed wire barriers as anything but a provocation at best or pre-truce land grab at best. Despite formal agreements to freeze troop movements and refrain from provocations, both sides accuse each other of violations. Thailand claims Cambodia has planted new PMN-2 anti-personnel mines, injuring soldiers and civilians. Cambodia counters that Thai troops breached the ceasefire with a mission creep of entering contested zones near Ta Moan Temple.  The ASEAN observer mission , obstructed by drunk Cambodian forces during a recent inspection, revealed the depth of mistrust and w...

  The UK Government is investing £250 million to expand MOD Cadet forces by 30% by 2030. On paper, it’s framed as youth development. In practice, it risks becoming a taxpayer-funded pipeline for militarised identity, with questionable outcomes and disturbing ethical shadows. 98% Dropout: The Quiet Failure Despite the fanfare, internal MoD data and independent reviews suggest that up to 98%(!) of cadets never enlist in the Armed Forces. Even among those who do, dropout rates are disproportionately high for under-18 recruits. A 2013 report by Child Soldiers International found that training minors costs twice as much as adults, with 36.6% dropout compared to 28.3% for adult recruits. This isn’t just inefficiency—it’s systemic waste. The MoD spends £88,985 per minor recruit , compared to £42,818 per adult , yet the majority never serve.  That’s not investment. That’s massive tax leakage. And in the unmanned drone era only likely to increase? Child Soldiers by Design? Also the ...

  Here’s a breakdown of the   41 states that have  neither signed nor ratified   the Rome Statute and the   29 states that  signed but did not ratify   it — meaning they are   not full members   of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as of 2025: 41 States That Have Neither Signed Nor Ratified the Rome Statute These countries have  no formal legal ties  to the ICC: Asia-Pacific : China, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand Middle East & North Africa : Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon Africa : Angola, Eritrea, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cameroon Europe : Belarus Americas : Cuba, Nicaragua Others : North Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan 29 States That Signed But Did Not Ratify the Rome Statute These countries  expressed initial support  but never completed the ratification proces...

  Ban White Phosphorus: Gaza’s Agony and the Thai Border Flashpoint In Gaza, white phosphorus has become a symbol of indiscriminate suffering. But it’s not just the Middle East where this incendiary substance is raising alarms. Along the Thai-Cambodian border , recent clashes have reignited debate over its legality, deployment, and humanitarian impact. Gaza: A Humanitarian Catastrophe According to Al Jazeera ov er 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, with starvation deaths now exceeding 260. Amid this devastation, reports of white phosphorus use in civilian zones have drawn condemnation from rights groups. Its effects—deep burns, toxic smoke, and environmental contamination—are incompatible with international humanitarian law, especially in urban warfare. Thai-Cambodian Border War: A Legal Grey Zone In August 2025, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) accused Thai forces of firing white phosphorus shells into Oddar Meanchey province during a five-day bord...

  The Bitter Irony of Cambodia’s Landmine Legacy: From Clearance Champion to Alleged Violator In the shadow of the Ottawa Treaty and decades of humanitarian mine clearance, recent allegations against Cambodia have cast a dark irony over its international reputation. Thailand’s military claims that Cambodian forces have planted new anti-personnel landmines along disputed border zones—injuring Thai soldiers and reigniting tensions that many hoped were buried with the mines themselves. This is not just a geopolitical flare-up. It’s a symbolic rupture in Cambodia’s carefully cultivated image as a post-conflict nation committed to peace, reconstruction, and the eradication of indiscriminate weapons.  The irony is sharp: a country that once bore the brunt of Cold War proxy violence and became a global poster child for mine clearance now stands accused of deploying the very tools it vowed to eliminate. A Legacy of Mines—and Redemption Cambodia’s terrain is scarred by more than 1 mill...

  Thai Defence Communications: Glitter Over Guns? by Tim Garbutt Panadda Wongphudee’s appointment as Thailand’s defence spokeswoman is emblematic of a media-first strategy . Her beauty queen past (Miss Thailand 2000) and celebrity status are leveraged to counter Cambodia’s Lt Gen Maly Socheata, who herself blends military rank with media presence.  The Thai Defence Ministry’s comment—“she is more beautiful”—wasn’t just a jaw droppingly foolish jab, but a signal that optics could matter in this information war. Panadda’s reported experience in border camps and her upcoming series on muzzle velocity and field logistics (if confirmed) would mark a shift from symbolic to substantive. If she’s documenting first-hand military operations, it could redefine her role from spokesperson to embedded communicator. Or provide Lt Gen Maly to highlight her inexperience on defence matters, much as USA's Pete Hegseth struggles with walking and talking as Defence Sec. Certainly Pannada's borde...

  Losing the Narrative Abroad: Thailand’s Diplomatic Stumble and Cambodia’s Symbolic Surge by Tim Garbutt In the wake of the recent border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, a troubling pattern has emerged: Thailand is losing the international narrative, while Cambodia is winning hearts and headlines. Despite the ceasefire brokered on July 28, Thailand’s diplomatic posture remains reactive and fragmented, allowing Cambodia to dominate the global conversation with symbolic gestures, strategic messaging, and emotionally resonant media. Thailand’s Communication Breakdown The Bangkok Post’s editorial, Losing the Narrative , lays bare the Thai government’s failure to assert its position on the world stage.  Bangkok Post - Losing the narrative Despite evidence of Cambodian shelling of civilian areas and violations of the Geneva Convention, Thailand’s response has been muted, delayed, and largely invisible to foreign audiences. A joint press briefing by the Thai military and Fore...

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  The Twin-Front War That Wasn't: Strategic Noise and Realpolitik Realities by Tim Garbutt Amid the rising crescendo of what some call “NATO anxiety journalism,” the suggestion in the ipaper that Russia and China might simultaneously launch coordinated offensives—against the Baltics and Taiwan respectively—has stirred up speculation and policy chatter. But beneath the surface, the scenario reveals more about Western insecurities than strategic likelihood. Mark Rutte’s recent comments, imagining Xi Jinping phoning Vladimir Putin for a diversionary NATO assault before moving on Taiwan, tap into a growing trend: threat inflation. The idea of a synchronized blitz, while logistically nightmarish and diplomatically toxic for both aggressors, serves more as a rhetorical tool than a tactical forecast. The Myth of Mutual War: Allies, Not Accomplices One core flaw in the twin-front hypothesis is the assumption of strategic altruism. Even if China were to move on Taiwan, the notion that Russi...

  Isambard AI: The Pandemic Sentinel the UK Deserves In a world of unpredictable viral mutations, borderless outbreaks, and shrinking response windows, the UK needs more than a playbook. It needs a sentinel — a system that sees before others blink . That’s where Isambard AI at Bristol Unversity, the UK's fastest computer, comes in. While most public health strategies remain reactive—waiting for symptoms, hospital surges, or government alarms—Isambard operates differently. It's designed to scan, analyse, and forecast disease drift from the molecular up to the infrastructural , using data sources the NHS barely touches. Isambard isn't an app, a dashboard, or a chatbot. It's a national intelligence layer for health—capable of processing every swab, every lab result, every bio-kit sample, and turning it into actionable insight within hours. And it doesn’t need crisis permission to do it. Its design philosophy is rooted in constant, strategic vigilance. Imagine a scenario: ...

  Border Patrol or Battlefield? How America’s Military is Turning Inward by Tim Garbutt In a scathing new investigation, The Intercept reveals that under President Donald Trump’s renewed administration, the U.S. military has quietly deployed over 20,000 troops across American soil, with estimates suggesting the true number could be far higher.  What began as “border support” has morphed into a sprawling, multi-agency network of armed forces conducting ICE raids, guarding federal buildings, and patrolling immigrant neighbourhoods from California to Florida . While the Pentagon publicly claims operational control along the southern border, its accounting is murky—multiple agencies involved in Joint Task Force–Southern Border (JTF-SB) and Task Force 51 refuse to give concrete tallies. The result? No one officially knows how many troops are deployed, what they’re doing, or who’s overseeing their mission. Posse Comitatus: Eroded Beyond Recognition Experts like Elizabeth Goitein...

  As rockets fall on petrol stations and Times Square lights up with Thai flags, the Thai-Cambodian border conflict has spilled far beyond the jungle terrain. It’s now raging across screens, feeds, and hashtags—where keyboard warriors have become frontline combatants in a war of words. This isn’t just a geopolitical standoff. It’s a digital psyop, a media melee, and a test of national resilience in the age of algorithmic warfare. From Border Blasts to Facebook Feuds The July 24 Cambodian rocket strike on a PTT station in Si Sa Ket province, which killed eight civilians and injured 13, was a brutal reminder of the conflict’s human cost. Yet even as the debris settled, the battle shifted online. Cambodian influencers circulated images alleging Thai use of poison gas and suicide drones—claims swiftly debunked as wildfire suppression photos from California. Thai netizens responded with hashtags like #TruthFromThailand , rallying behind military denials and patriotic slogans. The digit...