Daring to risk
Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra bulldozes his way to the polls
In 1990, the Government of Thailand invited bids to operate the Thaicom satellite, an exclusive 20-year concession that promised to be a philosopher’s stone for the country’s burgeoning telecom industry. At the time, today’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his corporation were almost broke, according to the Bangkok Post, Yet Shinawatra, trusting implicitly in his ability to make back his investment, went ahead anyway with a daring bid worth the equivalent of almost EUR 400 million. BY SAMANTH SUBRAMANIAN

Bilateral building blocks
Thailand looks to bilateral trade agreements while waiting on WTO progress
The Thais can’t wait any longer. Faced with lengthy negotiations and the occasional setback in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Southeast Asian country is taking matters into its own hands. Officials have set off around the globe to carve out bilateral free trade arrangements, and are negotiating them in some unexpected places. Thailand is hoping such couplings will bring immediate economic benefits as they wait for the WTO to resolve global trade negotiations.
BY SHAUN MCKENNA