Thai police and soldiers conducted a surprise raid on the Karen Information Centre (KIC) based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on 4 February 2010.

The Interior Ministry's latest decision to introduce its own cable-television channel - dubbed 'blue-shirt television' by the media for its close association with Bhum Jai Thai Party kingmaker Newin Chidchob - will further exacerbate the already tense political situation and is a reminder of how the government still thinks crude propaganda works.

As a fan of Kdrama, indelibly touched like so many others in 2002 who would stop in at some public place or restaurant in South Korea hooked on catching episodes of Winter Sonata while it was being broadcast, I turn to readers and fellow fans to help make sense of what is going on in South Korea.

Leaders of both the red- and yellow-shirt movements appear to have succumbed, in their self-absorbed way, to thinking of themselves as out-of-this-world characters - often to comic effect. Some time ago, the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy supremo Sondhi Limthongkul dressed all in white like some holy man, splashed his PAD followers with what appeared to be holy water, like that dispensed by Buddhist monks. That was at the height of the PAD's seizure of Government House.

Reading the latest and possibly last letter from jail from convicted lese majeste and computer crime law offender Suwicha Thakor dated January first 2010 was a sobering experience. The letter reflects Suwicha's lack of faith on Thai mainstream media which do not care to put his side of the story to the public. So instead, Suwicha only mentioned in his Thai-language letter, the left-leaning not-for-profit prachatai.com online newspaper which duly published his letter on Wednesday.