Category Archives: Thailand
Thai voters set to vote on new military-backed constitution
August 4, 2016 Kevin Lees	Leave a comment
Prayuth Chan-Ocha has served as the 'interim' prime minister of Thailand since the military took power in May 2014.
Anyone who cheered on the failed coup in Turkey need only turn to Thailand to understand just what it means to have a democracy 'guaranteed' by the military.
On Sunday, August 7, voters across the country will take part in a referendum that will decide whether Thailand adopts a new constitution — one that would place significant political powers in the hands of the Thai military, in essence making permanent the role of the armed forces, which have governed the country since a May 2014 coup. For instance, the draft constitution includes a new provision that would allow the military junta's executive council — the euphemistically named National Council for Peace and Order (คณะรักษาความสงบแห่งชาติ) — to appoint all 250 members of the Senate in a newly reconstituted bicameral national assembly. Among other things, that would give the Thai military veto power over any future prime minister, future elected governments, their policy agenda, the Thai bureaucracy and the country's judiciary.
RELATED: Why you should believe the worst about Thailand's coup
RELATED: How Yingluck's rice subsidy backfired in Thailand
Under the new constitution, all 500 members of the lower house, the House of Representatives, are to be determined by a proportional representation voting system that makes it almost impossible for a single party or movement to win an absolute majority. Most observers believe that this is a direct ploy to disenfranchise a majority of Thai voters who have supported populists over the last two decades who have promised to redistribute wealth away from wealthy elites.
The referendum follows an atypical campaign, which is to say that there hasn't exactly been a true campaign. Opponents of the new constitution face severe restrictions against speaking out for a 'No' vote, and some have received lengthy prison sentences for doing so. That's standard course for the ruling junta, which has sentenced Thai citizens to prison for comments — even on Facebook or other social media — for speech deemed 'offensive to the royal family.'
In a sense, the military government, headed for over two years now by a retired army officer, Prayuth Chan-Ocha, is in a 'heads-I-win-tails-you-lose' situation.
With no true ability to mobilize, opponents of the draft constitution are at a disadvantage. With no outside election monitors or real checks on ballot integrity, we might never know the true result if the official result is not tallied transparently. Even if the military government allows the 'No' camp a victory, Prayuth has made it clear that the government will simply submit a new constitution en route to fresh elections that are set to take place sometime in 2017. Notably, if voters reject the constitution on Sunday, it will be the second failed effort, after the military jettisoned a first draft last September.
In broad strokes, Thailand is no stranger to military coups or to newly promulgated constitutions. But from 2001 through 2014, a single family came to dominate Thai politics, ably capturing the hearts of a majority of Thai voters, especially among the rural poor and especially in the country's relatively less developed north. Continue reading Thai voters set to vote on new military-backed constitution →
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Why you should believe the worst about Thailand's coup
May 21, 2014 Kevin Lees	Leave a comment
Everyone in Bangkok awoke Tuesday morning to the news that the Royal Thai Army had declared martial law, including the censorship of certain news outlets.
It's not a coup, however, according to the claims of commander-in-chief Prayuth Chan-ocha (pictured above), who ordered the move, and who called for calm in a public announcement later in the day:
The army is determined to restore peace and order in our beloved country as quickly as possible. I request that people from all sides stop their movements so that all can quickly enter the process that will bring about a sustainable solution to the problems the nation is currently facing. Announcements will be made later on to provide details for the rules and regulations under martial law. I urge the public to stay calm and continue their daily activities and work normally. The army is determined to quickly ease the situation.
No one really knows what is happening right now in Thailand, but it's a country with a history of coups and coup attempts. So the latest efforts of the creepily-named Peace and Order Maintaining Command (POMC) that Prayuth leads, on the basis of laws that undermine the rule of law and democracy in the name of military-imposed order, is ominous — even if Thai soldiers have so far taken a light footprint on the ground.
RELATED: What protesters in Ukraine and Thailand are getting wrong
Prayuth, since assuming the commander-in-chief post in 2010, has generally been unenthusiastic about intervening in Thailand's politics — he has previously relented from intervention, even during the tense days leading to February's elections. Like most military officers, however, he's no fan of the regime of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra who, until her court-ordered removal earlier this month, enjoyed a democratic mandate for government. Moreover, Prayuth is known as a hardliner within the military elite, and there's no indication that he's as neutral as he claims to be.
With the imposition of martial law, Thailand's politics could quickly deteriorate. That's because the Thai armed forces have a long reputation of favoring the opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์).
Earlier this month, it seemed as if Thai affairs were back on track after February elections, boycotted by the opposition, delivered a hollow victory to Yingluck. Her administration had agreed with Thailand's electoral commission for a new round of elections to be held on July 20, and the Democrats were even considering contesting them. Continue reading Why you should believe the worst about Thailand's coup →
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New Thai elections scheduled for July 20
May 1, 2014 Kevin Lees	Leave a comment
In a deal designed to reduce political tension in Thailand and clear the way for a legitimate, democratically elected government, the country's electoral commission and the current government of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra have agreed to hold a new vote on July 20, following the invalidated February 2 elections that were boycotted by the Thai opposition.
That doesn't change the ultimate dynamic of Thai politics:
Yingluck (and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, until his resignation and exile) and the ruling Pheu Thai Party (PTP, 'For Thais' Party, พรรคเพื่อไทย) seems remains so popular, especially among the relatively poorer north, that it holds a virtual electoral lock on winning reelection. So when Yingluck introduced an amnesty bill late last year, and her opponents launched anti-government protests, she called snap elections for February.
The opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์) haven't effectively broadened their appeal to win power on purely electoral terms, which explains in large part why the DP's leadership so quickly boycotted the February vote.
That boycott was thinly veiled attempt at induce military intervention to topple Yingluck and install a 'technocratic' government much friendlier to Democrat policies and that would likely include Democrat leaders. Though it's happened in the past, (most recently in 2006 and, arguably in 2008), Thai military leaders are increasingly unenthusiastic about staging coups, much to their credit.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Democrat Party leader and a former prime minister, hasn't ruled out boycotting the elections again this summer. He's called for a national political reform conversation as a means of guiding Thailand out of its decade-long political impasse.
Taken together, these three factors are responsible for the political stalemate that has existed in Thailand since 2001. Yingluck and her 'red shirt' supporters can count on winning any free and fair elections for the foreseeable future, but they're limited by the recalcitrance of the Democrats and their 'yellow shirt' supporters, whose refusal to engage in normalized democratic politics has left military intervention as a real (if shrinking) possibility.
That doesn't bode well for Thailand's economy or for the income prospects of its nearly 67 million citizens.
If the July elections proceed in an orderly fashion, however, they will determine all 500 members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Ratthasapha (National Assembly of Thailand, รัฐสภา), the lower house of Thailand's parliament.
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Costa Rica, El Salvador, Thailand
Triple-election weekend on two continents
February 1, 2014 Kevin Lees	Leave a comment
Voters in three countries will go to the polls on Sunday in three very different kinds of contests on two continents:
In Thailand (population: 66.8 million), voters will elect all 500 members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Ratthasapha (National Assembly of Thailand, รัฐสภา), the lower house of Thailand's parliament.
Prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called snap elections following growing protests that began last November, ostensibly over an amnesty bill, but which have now torn the country back into the familiar pro-Yingluck 'red shirt' camps and the opposition 'yellow shirt' camps, the same pattern that's gripped Thailand since the election of Yingluck's brother Thaksin Shinawatra in 2001. Their ruling Pheu Thai Party (PTP, 'For Thais' Party, พรรคเพื่อไทย) seems set to win a landslide victory due to the boycott of the opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์). So the election itself is unlikely to end the political protests and growing political violence.
The Democrats and their supporters are instead calling for an unelected governing council, and there's a chance that, if the situation escalates, the Thai military could intervene (as so often in the past).
Read more about what the Thai protests have in common with Ukraine's protests here.
Read more about the Thai government's disastrous rice subsidy scheme here.
In El Salvador (population: 6.3 million), three major candidates are vying for the Salvadoran presidency. Incumbent center-left president Mauricio Funes is ineligible to run for a second term.
Polls show a tight race between Salvadoran vice president Salvador Sánchez Cerén, the candidate of the leftist guerrilla front-turned-political party Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN, Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front) and San Salvador mayor Norman Quijano, the candidate of the center-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA, Nationalist Republican Alliance). Former conservative president Tony Saca is also running at the head of a coalition that includes a breakaway faction from ARENA.
If, as expected, no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will advance to a March 9 runoff, which seems likely to pit Sánchez Cerén against Quijano in a race that features vastly different approaches to security, corruption, economic policy and regional alliances.
Sánchez Cerén is a former guerrilla leader during the 1979-92 Salvadoran civil war, and Quijano has been dogged by corruption charges and is linked to other ARENA figures under investigation for corruption. Funes, a former journalist, became the first FMLN candidate to win election in 2009.
Read more about how, one decade on, El Salvador's dollarization policy is going here.
In Costa Rica (population: 4.8 million), a general election will determine who will be the country's next president and all 57 members of the Asamblea Legislativa (Legislative Assembly).
The two leading candidates, according to polls are longtime San José mayor Johnny Araya, the candidate of the ruling Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN, National Liberation Party) and José María Villalta, the only legislator of the previously minor socialist / social democratic Frente Amplio (Broad Front).
If none of the candidates wins 40% of the vote, the top two candidates will face off in an April 6 runoff.
Araya is seeking the third consecutive term for the PLN after the presidencies of Óscar Arias from 2006 to 2010 and the incumbent Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica's first female president. Chinchilla's administration is unpopular — both for its inability to control corruption or to tackle the country's growing debt.
Two other candidates could conceivably pull an upset, however: Otto Guevara, a conservative attorney, who is running his fourth consecutive presidential campaign, and Luis Guillermo Solís, a social democrat and former diplomat in the Arias administration.
The two Central American elections follow a general election in Honduras last November and precede a presidential election in Panamá on May 4. Earlier this week, Nicaragua also cleared the way for Sandinista president Daniel Ortega to run for reelection in 2016.
Read more about Suffragio's coverage of the recent Honduran general elections and the presidential inauguration last Monday of Juan Orlando Hernández here.
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How Yingluck's rice subsidy backfired in Thailand
January 31, 2014 Kevin Lees	Leave a comment
The outcome of the parliamentary elections in Thailand's February 2 vote is almost certain, with the opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์) boycotting the election, thereby handing an artificially inflated landslide victory to prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her allies.
Anti-government protests, which began in November over a proposed amnesty bill, and which resulted in Yingluck's decision in December to call snap elections, continue to rage on, and Yingluck's government, having already called a state of emergency, has indicated it will start cleaning government buildings in Bangkok of occupying protesters on Monday, February 3.
Though the protests have long eclipsed their immediate cause, an amnesty bill that both Yingluck's supporters and opponents jeered, the ensuing ignition of political tension (and political violence) between the pro-government 'red shirts' and the opposition 'yellow shirts' has threatened to endanger the fragile stability that Yingluck, the sister of former, now exiled, prime minister Thaksin Shinwatra, tried to establish since her initial election in 2011.
But lurking behind the protests and the tension is a parallel controversy over the most consequential policy decision of Yingluck's government — a well-intentioned rice subsidy scheme designed to stabilize the price of the rice crop for Thai farmers not only ran out of money, leaving farmers dissatisfied and angry, but knocked Thailand from its perch as the world's top rice exporter and now threatens to plunge Thai's credit rating to junk status. Continue reading How Yingluck's rice subsidy backfired in Thailand →
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Thailand, Ukraine
What protesters in Ukraine and Thailand are getting wrong
The political crises in both Ukraine and Thailand took a turn for the severe last week, as government police forces clashed with protesters with even greater violence. But what do the protesters want in each country — and can the protests, even if successful, bring stability?
Amnesty: the root cause of the Thai protests
In Thailand, a country of 66.8 million people, anti-government protesters took to the streets in November (pictured above, top) after Thai president Yingluck Shinawatra tried to introduce an amnesty bill that would absolve both her supporters and opposition leaders from the worst charges, including murder, that spring from the political violence that's engulfed Thailand sporadically throughout the last decade. The bill died in the Ratthasapha (National Assembly of Thailand, รัฐสภา) after all sides turned against it. Yingluck's party, the dominant Pheu Thai Party (PTP, 'For Thais' Party, พรรคเพื่อไทย), the third iteration of the party Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, founded in 2001 when he came to power, didn't want to absolve the sins of their adversaries. The opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์) opposed the amnesty bill because they feared it would mean the return of Thaksin from seven years in self-exile.
Though Yingluck won the July 2011 parliamentary elections on a promise to de-escalate tensions in Thailand, the amnesty has brought the country back to the familiar standoff between the pro-Thaksin 'red shirts' and the anti-Thaksin 'yellow shirts.'
EU relations: the root cause of the Ukrainian 'Euromaidan' protests
In Ukraine, a country of 45.5 million people, pro-European protesters also took their grievances to the streets in late November (pictured above, bottom) after president Viktor Yanukovych pulled out of an association agreement that would have engendered closer cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine. Initially, the protests, centered on Maidan Square in the capital city of Kiev, assumed the form of the familiar political struggle between the Europe-oriented, Ukrainian-speaking west and the Russia-oriented, Russian-speaking east, which featured prominently in the 2004 'orange revolution' against fraudulent elections that powered Viktor Yushchenko to power.
Yushchenko ended his presidential term massively unpopular, with his pro-Western allies fracturing into various camps, and in the February 2010 presidential race, the pendulum swung back to the pro-Russian Yanukovych, who defeated the EU-friendly former prime minister Yuila Tymoshenko (by 2010, a Yushchenko ally-turned-foe). For much, much more background, here's Max Fisher's explainer today at The Washington Post.
In both cases, the protests have transcended their original rationales, and they now threaten to topple governments in both Kiev and Bangkok. What's more, Yingluck and Yanukovych haven't responded incredibly well to the protests. Continue reading What protesters in Ukraine and Thailand are getting wrong →
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Bangladesh, Thailand
How Bangladesh could influence next month's Thai election
January 7, 2014 Kevin Lees	1 Comment
They're both located in south/southeastern Asia, they share female prime ministers, and they share the dubious distinction of being the two troubled elections that kick off 2014's global election season.
Though there's little reason otherwise to link Bangladesh's January 5 general election with Thailand's February 2 vote, there are uncanny similarities. In both countries, the main opposition parties are boycotting (or have boycotted) the election, the governing party is set to win the election, leaving each country in a political crisis with no easy apparent solution. In both cases, the electoral crisis has its roots in a struggle that dates back over a decade, and in both cases, the military hasn't been shy about intervening in the past.
In Bangladesh over the weekend, prime minister Sheikh Hasina's governing Bangladesh Awami League (বাংলাদেশ আওয়ামী লীগ) won 232 of the 300 seats in the country's Jatiyo Sangshad (national parliament). The opposition, more Islamist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল) refused to participate in the vote, and it lost all of its seats. Ostensibly, the BNP and its leader, former prime minister Khaleda Zia refused to take part in the vote due to Hasina's refusal to appoint a caretaker government to oversee the elections. But the reality is much more difficult — the BNP has carried out a campaign of attrition through general economic strikes, protests and sometimes violence to protest Hasina's government. Hasina (pictured above, top) has responded with an increasingly authoritarian tone, and Zia and other third party leaders have been detained or put under house arrest. The political violence comes against the backdrop of the controversial execution of Islamist leader Abdul Quader Mollah for war crimes relating to the country's 1971 war for independence, and unresolved matters from the 1971 war tribunal (including the previous life imprisonment sentence for Quader Mollah) led to massive protests in Dhaka's Shabagh Square in early 2013. Violence related to the election has already cost hundreds of lives and unknown damage to the Bangladeshi economy and the garment industry that dominates the country's exports.
In Thailand, prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called snap elections in response to protests against her government that initially sprang from opposition to a proposed amnesty bill that would have pardoned top political leaders from both major parties for political violence over the past decade. Yingluck's populist Pheu Thai Party (PTP, 'For Thais' Party, พรรคเพื่อไทย), however, holds a nearly unbreakable lock on Thai politics, due to the popularity of Yingluck and her exiled brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in northern and northeastern Thailand. The opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์) refused to take part in the elections and is instead calling for an unelected council to govern.
In both cases, the opposition parties are actively banking on military intervention — an outcome that would undermine the fragile democratic institutions and rule of law in both countries, which have each made gains in reducing poverty over the past decade. The Thai Democrats and its leaders, former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, knew they had no chance to win the February election and believe that under a military government, they will have more influence. Zia, who has been Hasina's chief political rival since the 1980s, has never much trusted Hasina. Game theory might teach you that three decades of 'repeated games' between the BNP and the Awami League would make a negotiated settlement easier. But the BNP no longer has any faith in Hasina's government to carry out fair elections, so the longtime animosity between Zia and Hasina may actually raise the costs of a deal. So the BNP may actually prefer the military to the Awami League at this point.
The international community is already pressing Hasina hard to call new elections, and there's even a precedent for how Bangladesh can walk out of the current impasse. When Zia was prime minister in February 1996, she called snap elections that the Awami League boycotted — voter turnout barely exceeded 20% and the BNP on all 300 seats. After a period of negotiation between the two parties, however, fresh elections were held in June 1996, the BNP lost power and the Awami League won a minority government. The Bangladeshi tradition of appointing a caretaker government prior to elections, in fact, comes from the 1996 political settlement between the BNP and the Awami League. Continue reading How Bangladesh could influence next month's Thai election →
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14 in 14, Algeria, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Canada, Catalonia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Lebanon, Namibia, New Zealand, Paris, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand
14 in 2014: Fourteen *more* elections to watch in 2014
As if that weren't enough!
If you've managed to stick with Suffragio through 14 world elections to watch in 2014, here are 14 more honorable mentions that you should probably also keep an eye on:
Thailand general election, February 2.
Popular Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called snap elections for February after the latest round of protests over a proposed (and ultimately tabled) amnesty bill. The fights threaten to reopen a decade of polarization and political violence between the 'red shirts' that support Yingluck and her self-exiled brother Thaksin Shinawatra and the 'yellow shirts' who oppose them. Popular support in Thailand's north among rural voters meant that Yingluck and the Pheu Thai Party (PTP, 'For Thais' Party, พรรคเพื่อไทย) were headed for near-certain victory. The decision by the opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์) to boycott the election is a barely disguised plea for military intervention for an unelected 'governing council' instead.
El Salvador presidential election, February 2 (with March 9 runoff).
El Salvador, with 6.3 million residents, may be small, but it's the third-most populous country in Central America. As in neighboring Honduras, which went to the polls in November 2013, a preponderance of drug violence and a corresponding collapse in public safety is at the heart of the Salvadoran presidential campaign. None of the three major candidates is expected to win an outright majority on February 2, but the learning candidate is vice president Salvador Sánchez Cerén of the governing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN, Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front), a one-time guerrilla movement-that transformed itself into the country's top center-left political party following the 1980s civil war. Sánchez Cerén is hoping to succeed former journalist Mauricio Funes, who has served as president since 2009 and is limited to a single five-year term.
Though Sánchez Cerén leads polls with between 29% and 31%, two candidates are competing fiercely for second place with between 25% and 28% each — longtime San Salvador mayor Norman Quijano of the center-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA, Nationalist Republican Alliance), which governed El Salvador between 1989 and 2009, and former president Antonio 'Tony' Saca, who left ARENA to run for a second, non-consecutive term for an alliance anchored by Saca's new populist, right-wing party, the Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (GANA, Grand Alliance for National Unity). The bottom line is that Sánchez Cerén will face a tough fight against the ultimate center-right candidate that emerges in the second round.
Costa Rica general election, February 2 (with April 16 presidential runoff).
Costa Rica is perhaps the most developed country in Central America. It is likely to open accession talks to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2015, making it the first Central American member of the OECD. Its GDP per capita is nearly $10,000, which makes it virtually equivalent to Panamá's, and Costa Rica doesn't have the massive canal revenues that Panamá enjoys. That is one of the reasons why the center-left Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN, National Liberation Party) seemed so likely to coast to a third consecutive term to the Costa Rican presidency, despite the massive unpopularity and corruption allegations against outgoing president Laura Chinchilla. The longtime mayor of San José, Costa Rica's capital, Johnny Araya, held a wide lead in polls throughout much of 2013. But that's changed as Araya's missteps on the campaign trail have led to the impression that he's aloof and out of touch. José María Villalta, the sole lawmaker for the social democratic Frente Amplio (Broad Front) is now virtually tied with Araya in polls. Continue reading 14 in 2014: Fourteen *more* elections to watch in 2014 →
Thailand's Democrats boycott election in cynical ploy
December 23, 2013 Kevin Lees	2 Comments
With the February 2 general election approaching, Thailand's opposition has decided that it won't contest the vote and will instead boycott the elections — a strategy that seems like a bet that the Thai military will intervene on its behalf against current prime minister prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
You might assume that an opposition party that boycotts an election is automatically sympathetic — that it's doing so because the polls will be so rigged against it that it can make a bolder statement by avoiding the polls altogether. But it's never really quite that simple. In the most recent 2011 general elections, Yingluck's party, the Pheu Thai Party (PTP, 'For Thais' Party, พรรคเพื่อไทย) won an overwhelming victory with 48.41% of the vote and 265 seats in the Thai House of Representatives, the 500-member Ratthasapha (National Assembly of Thailand, รัฐสภา), the lower house of Thailand's parliament. By contrast, the opposition Phak Prachathipat (Democrat Party, พรรคประชาธิปัตย์) won just 35.15% and 173 seats.
An aborted attempt by Yingluck's government to introduce an amnesty bill earlier this autumn backfired severely, leading to protests against her government that have threatened to exacerbate the long-simmering tension between the 'red shirts' who support Yingluck and her brother, the self-exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the 'yellow shirts' who oppose them.
Yingluck's response was to call early elections in February. But top Democrat leader Suthep Thaugsuban, himself a former deputy prime minister, has demanded that Yingluck also resign as prime minister, a step that Yingluck has refused to do, and earlier this week, Suthep announced that the Democrats would boycott the vote:
"Thai politics is at a failed stage," party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, a former prime minister, told reporters in announcing the decision not to run. "The Thai people have lost their faith in the democratic system."
If Thai politics is at a failed stage, though, it's as much the fault of the Democrats as anyone else. They might not like the politics of Thaksin and Yingluck, which have involved massive handouts to the poorest Thais to improve health care and social welfare. Some of those handouts, most notably rice subsidies, have backfired in ways that hurt the economy in Thailand, which is a top global exporter of rice. But it's more honest to say that the Thai people have lost their faith more in the Democrat Party than in the democratic system.
Suthep's gambit is more a cynical ploy than a legitimate grievance about the election's fairness. The Democrats have done nothing since 2011 to expand their appeal to voters outside their stronghold in Bangkok and southern Thailand. The success of Thaksin and Yingluck lie largely in their hold over voters in the largely rural Thai heartland in the north and in Isan, Thailand's discrete northeastern region. That's one of the reasons that Suthep and the yellow shirts are so insistent that Yingluck be removed from Thai politics — her appeal to northern Thais is so great that the Democrats haven't been able to break the lock that she and her brother have over northern voters. By calling elections, Yingluck invited Suthep and the Democrats to unseat her at the ballot through politics, not mob rule. By boycotting those elections, Suthep is admitting that the Democrats don't have the tools to win an election in Thailand.
It's even more cynical in that the boycott is essentially a plea to the Thai military for assistance. The last time that the Democrats boycotted the vote in the 2006 general elections, Thailand's monarch and the constitutional court declared the results unconstitutional, which only depended fighting between Thailand's two largest parties and led to a military-led coup to reintroduce order. But Thaksin's allies ultimately won the 2007 elections that the military transitional government intro conducted, just like Yingluck won the 2011 elections after a period of military-backed rule under Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva from 2008 to 2011.
So what's the end game? A military intervention in 2014 that postpones Yingluck's electoral victory until 2015?
While the military has never been particularly enamored of Thaksin and Yingluck, there are a lot of good reasons why the military might not come to the Democrat Party's rescue a third time in eight years. Continue reading Thailand's Democrats boycott election in cynical ploy →
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Amid anti-government protests, Yingluck calls early February snap elections
In response to the culmination of a series of protests against her government , Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved the Thai national assembly and called snap elections yesterday, leaving her opponents flummoxed.
It's been a difficult month in Thailand, where Yingluck's opponents started protesting in November over an amnesty bill with roots in the long-term political crisis that began with the election of her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, in January 2001. The background to today's political protests in Thailand is long and not always easy to understand — but bear with me, because it establishes the necessary context to understand what's happening today.
Thaksin's long shadow
Thaksin, a wealthy mobile phone tycoon, came to power as the founder of the Thai Rak Thai Party ('Thais Love Thais' Party, พรรคไทยรักไทย) on a largely populist program of social welfare policies that included the first universal health care program in Thailand. Thaksin was reelected with an even larger mandate in the February 2005 election, on the strength of poor rural northern Thais who supported Thaksin in massive numbers. Continue reading Amid anti-government protests, Yingluck calls early February snap elections →
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Suffragio attempts to bring thoughtful analysis to the political, economic and other policy issues that are central to countries outside of the US -- to make world politics less foreign to the US audience. Suffragio focuses, in particular, on those countries and regions with upcoming or recent elections.
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In fairness, there may be Space Ents. https://t.co/DIxUUiuMaI about 7 hours ago from Twitter Web App
RT @realDonaldTrump: Steyer is running low on cash. Nobody knows him. Made his money on coal. So funny! https://t.co/vS48ta5IFr 12:44:49 AM January 15, 2020 from Twitter Web App
RT @matthewstoller: For the first time I feel like Trump is going to win re-election. Democrats are just so out of touch, it's like the Dem… 11:12:34 PM January 14, 2020 from Twitter Web App
Now more than ever, Oman (and the Middle East) needs a successor worthy of the legacy Sultan Qaboos leaves behind: https://t.co/O1YXzn5vwd 02:47:40 PM January 13, 2020 from Twitter Web App
In no small part, Booker had to deal constantly with thinly veiled comments like this that smack of homophobia that… https://t.co/Dik7ZUUk3e 12:29:50 PM January 13, 2020 from Twitter Web App
If you say so, @Grindr https://t.co/ag3OikgTSn 09:54:12 PM January 08, 2020 from Twitter for Android
Gotta, admit @TuckerCarlson has been very thoughtful on Iran in the last 96 hours; his takedown here of @BenSasse i… https://t.co/93f3kgyjD7 10:54:37 PM January 06, 2020 from Twitter Web App
Iran 2020 is not Iran 1979. Saudis are just as bad, it's a cold war! Of course there're proxies. What's great about… https://t.co/1vWgZsdLDC 04:00:24 PM January 06, 2020 from Twitter Web App
So I take that @DrPaulGosar is endorsing Ahmadinejad. https://t.co/u4tf6ETRYx 03:56:49 PM January 06, 2020 from Twitter Web App
With this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any… https://t.co/d6aTDzf8d5 06:07:52 PM January 05, 2020 from Twitter for Android
RT @aliarouzi: Very very unusual to see a red flag flying over holy mosque of Jamkaran in Qom, Iran's holiest city. It's is almost always b… 05:54:29 PM January 05, 2020 from Twitter for Android
RT @RichardEngel: What a mess in the Middle East. Shiite world enraged. Sunni states nervous. Isis fight on back burner. US allies against… 05:52:58 PM January 05, 2020 from Twitter for Android
That the Iranian foreign minister seems to be tweeting with more maturity (and restraint) than the US president ton… https://t.co/FYTskTAAX7 11:32:50 PM January 02, 2020 from Twitter Web App
RT @DSilverbergDC: I have in mind tonight not only US forces abroad but State Dept diplomats, USAID employees, and other personnel in embas… 11:30:57 PM January 02, 2020 from Twitter Web App
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Mark Kelly "voted to allow prison inmates to receive stimulus checks five separate times."
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., participates in a debate with his 2022 Republican challenger, Blake Masters, on Oct. 6, 2022. (AP)
By Tom Kertscher October 20, 2022
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly voted for Trump and Biden laws that let prison inmates get stimulus checks
There have been three laws passed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, two signed by then-President Donald Trump and one by President Joe Biden, that provided stimulus checks to millions of Americans. Prison inmates were eligible for all of the payments.
One law was signed before Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., took office. Kelly voted in favor of the other two and against a failed amendment to one bill that would have excluded inmates from receiving a stimulus payment. That amendment was the only vote specifically about inmates receiving stimulus checks.
Republicans supported the first two bills signed by Trump, then denounced the Biden bill. Republicans criticized the Biden stimulus payment for going to incarcerated people, even though the previous ones went to them, too.
An ad that spoofs a TV commercial makes claims that are no joke about Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona's high-profile U.S. Senate race.
"Are you here illegally but need help getting your taxpayer benefits?" says the narrator in the 30-second spot that includes Spanish subtitles. "Are you an inmate that wants your Biden stimulus check? Mark Kelly is here to help."
Kelly "voted to allow prison inmates to receive stimulus checks five separate times," the ad says.
The ad ends with an image of Kelly behind the words: "Call Mark Kelly today! 1-800-LIBERAL."
The ad is from Saving Arizona PAC, which did not reply to emails requesting information to back up the claim. The super PAC supports Kelly's challenger, Republican Blake Masters, in one of the races that will decide which party controls the Senate.
Similar claims about Kelly approving stimulus checks for inmates were made in an earlier Saving Arizona PAC ad and by Masters in an Oct. 6 debate.
We rated a claim that Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., supported "nearly $1 billion in stimulus checks for prisoners, including domestic terrorists" Half True. But the Saving Arizona PAC ad's "five separate times" claim exaggerates Kelly's support for giving stimulus checks to inmates.
The ad does not make it clear whether it is referring to five votes by Kelly or five payments issued to eligible inmates. Neither claim is accurate.
There have been three laws passed in response to the coronavirus pandemic that sent stimulus checks to Americans, including prison inmates.
One of the laws was adopted before Kelly took office. He voted in favor of the other two, one signed by then-President Donald Trump and another signed by President Joe Biden. Kelly also voted against a failed amendment to exclude inmates from the Biden stimulus. That amendment was the only vote specifically about inmates receiving stimulus checks.
Three stimulus measures in total
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress approved three rounds of stimulus checks, with 472 million payments totaling $803 billion.
stated on January 10, 2023 in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity
"When the Republicans were in power the last time for eight years, do you know how much discretionary spending increased in those eight years? Zero."
Each of the laws allowed incarcerated people to receive stimulus payments. The ad is missing the context that most Republican members of Congress voted in favor of the first two rounds of stimulus funding, which included stimulus checks for incarcerated people and received overwhelming bipartisan support.
The first law, signed by Trump in March 2020, distributed checks through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, aka CARES Act. The payments were $1,200 per income tax filer plus $500 per child. That was before Kelly took office.
When Kelly took office in December 2020, he voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which Trump signed. It distributed coronavirus relief checks of $600 per income tax filer plus $600 per child.
Kelly also voted for the American Rescue Plan Act, which Biden signed into law in March 2021.
Kelly voted against a failed Republican amendment that would have prohibited prisoners from receiving checks — $1,400 for single taxpayers and $2,800 for joint filers. Democrats said the amendment would have hurt incarcerated people's families, making it harder for them to pay their bills.
There were a number of other votes in relation to the 2021 bill, but they did not pertain to whether inmates should receive payments. For example, Kelly voted for a motion to proceed, and against a motion to exclude illegal immigrants from receiving checks.
Kelly's campaign pointed out that one vote footnoted in the ad refers to loans in the Paycheck Protection Program. But that vote doesn't support the ad's claim because that program was not a stimulus plan. The vote concerned a failed measure in March 2021, which Kelly voted against, that would have prohibited awarding Paycheck Protection Program loans to people convicted of a felony "in relation to a riot or civil disorder" during the preceding two years.
Saving Arizona PAC claimed Kelly "voted to allow prison inmates to receive stimulus checks five separate times."
Stimulus checks have been sent to Americans three times in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Inmates were eligible to receive all three payments. There weren't five votes by Kelly or five payments to inmates.
Kelly, who wasn't in office when the first stimulus package passed, voted for two of the measures, one signed by Trump and one signed by Biden. He also voted not to exclude inmates from the Biden package, which was the only vote specifically about inmates getting stimulus checks.
The statement contains an element of truth that Kelly voted in favor of stimulus checks, which prison inmates were eligible to receive. But the claim ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, including that Kelly was not even in office when one of the stimulus payments was approved, with support from Republicans.
We rate it Mostly False.
RELATED: Fact-checking ads in the 2022 election campaigns
RELATED: Arizona fact-checks
YouTube, Saving Arizona PAC "Mark Kelly Law" ad, Oct. 11, 2022
NBC News, "Super PAC backing Blake Masters launches $2 million ad buy," Oct. 12, 2022
Breitbart, "Two Million Dollar Ad Buy Slams Democrat Mark Kelly Over Record on Illegal Immigration, Criminal Justice," Oct. 12, 2022
National Republican Senatorial Committee, "Senate Democrats Vote to Give Stimulus Checks to Prisoners," March 6, 2021
PolitiFact, "Mark Kelly's votes did not give benefits to immigrants in the country illegally," May 2, 2022
PolitiFact, "Yes, Democrats voted to send stimulus checks to prisoners, as Republicans did last year," March 9, 2021
PolitiFact, "Ask PolitiFact: Who's eligible for a stimulus check under the American Rescue Plan?", March 9, 2021
Washington Post, "Murderers, undocumented immigrants: Hyped-up claims about who's getting stimulus checks," March 9, 2021
FactCheck.org, "Republican Talking Point Omits Key Details About Stimulus Payments to Inmates," Sept. 19, 2022
U.S. Senate, "On the Amendment (Kennedy Amdt. No. 1401)," March 25, 2021
U.S. Senate, "Question: On Passage of the Bill (HR 1319, As Amended)," March 6, 2021
Internet Archive, "Congressional Record: Senate," March 5, 2021
GovTrack.us, "H.R. 133: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 [Including Coronavirus Stimulus & Relief]," Dec 21, 2020


carnevalemanfredonia.it » Children's Books » Ice Sports (Olympic Sports)
eBook Ice Sports (Olympic Sports) download
by Robert Sandelson
Robert Sandelson Sports and Outdoors English
Author: Robert Sandelson
Publisher: Crestwood House; Library Binding edition (October 1, 1991)
Other formats: mbr doc azw docx
Subcategory: Sports and Outdoors
Presents a history of ice sports competition in the Olympic Games, featuring bobsledding, ice hockey, figure skating, pairs skating, ice dancing, and speed. Select Format: Library Binding. Select Condition: Like New.
Presents a history of ice sports competition in the Olympic Games, featuring bobsledding, ice hockey, figure skating, pairs skating, ice dancing, and speed.
Presents a history of ice sports competition in the Olympic Games, featuring bobsledding, ice hockey, figure skating, pairs skating, ice dancing, and speed skating.
See if your friends have read any of Robert Sandelson's books. Robert Sandelson's Followers. None yet. Robert Sandelson. Robert Sandelson's books. Olympic Sports by. Robert Sandelson, Tim Merrison.
by. Sandelson, Robert. Presents a history of ice sports competition in the Olympic Games, featuring bobsledding, ice hockey, figure skating, pairs skating, ice dancing, and speed skating. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46) and index. Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books.
Day one of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games from Lausanne in Switzerland - watch live BBC Sport coverage. Jack Cunningham, Daisi Daniels, Sophie Foster and Robert Holmes representing GB in alpine skiing. Third Winter Youth Olympics taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 9-22 January. All times stated are UK. Posted at 8:47 10 Jan8:47 10 Jan. GB bobsledders return Olympic medals after 'farcical' error. Great Britain's bobsledders had to wait nearly six years to officially receive their 2014 Winter Olympic bronze medals - seven weeks later they are returning them.
Describes the history, rules, and great moments of the Olympic combat sports of boxing, fencing, judo, and wrestling. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
From Optimist to Laser. I think these five Olympic Games represent a life dedicated to sport, a life in which I have invested all my energies and all my time in making the absolute most of my potential as an athlete, says Scheidt. I am very proud of that, because each time has been a different story for me. You have to keep the flame inside you alive.
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2016 Summer Olympics included 28 sports, with five additional sports due to be added to the 2020 Summer Olympics program; the 2014 Winter Olympics included seven sports. The number and types of events may change slightly from one Olympiad to another. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation (IF).
Ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic Games at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The tournament also served as the 1st World Championships. The matches were played between April 23 and April 29, 1920. Canada, represented by the Winnipeg Falcons, won the gold medal. The silver went to the United States and Czechoslovakia took the bronze.
Olympic Sports 1920-04-26 Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring 7 goals in Canada's.
1896-04-07 American athlete Robert Garrett wins the throwing double at the Athens Olympics by taking out the shot putt (1. 2m); wins the discus the previous day. Olympic Gold. 1920-04-26 Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring 7 goals in Canada's 12-1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match. 1920-04-27 Sweden takes the figure skating double at the Antwerp Olympics when Gillis Grafström wins his first of 3 consecutive men's gold medals; Magda Julin earlier wins the women's singles event.
Presents a history of ice sports competition in the Olympic Games, featuring bobsledding, ice hockey, figure skating, pairs skating, ice dancing, and speed skating
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Passenger in car who suffered brain injury has award reduced
by Anthony Carmody | Oct 21, 2014 | Personal Injury
MAN AWARDED €364,000 COMPENSATION FOR BRAIN INJURY SUFFERED IN A DRINK DRIVING CAR CRASH WAS DEEMED TO HAVE BEEN PARTIALLY NEGLIGENT
Michael Tevlin, a 35 year old man was awarded a sum of €364,000.00 by the High Court in what the Court described as a 'truly horrific' accident. However, the original award which had been made to Mr Tevlin, was €660,000 but it was reduced by 45% as he was found to be negligent to this extent for getting into a car with a man with whom he had been drinking with and because he was not wearing a seat belt. The accident claimed the lives of three people including a pregnant woman.The driver of the vehicle in which Mr Tevlin was a passenger was later jailed for dangerous driving.
The Motor Insurer's Bureau of Ireland were a named defendant in the action. The Motor Insurer's Bureau compensates victims of uninsured drivers and had fought the case in full but, had been ordered to pay the sum of €364,000 to Mr Tevlin for his injuries. A stay as been put on the order pending an appeal by the Motor Insurer's Bureau but, Mr Justice Cross stated a sum of €150,000 was to be paid to Mr Devlin in the meantime. The Motor Insurer's Bureau of Ireland is a statutory body to which all insurance companies operating in Ireland have to contribute. It was set up specifically for the purposes of compensating victims of accidents where they have sustained personal injury or property loss and where the guilty party was not insured.
CLAIMS AGAINST UNINSURED DRIVERS
In recent years there has been evidence that more and more drivers are not renewing the insurance on their vehicles. In the High Court alone in 2014 in excess of 250 cases had been brought against the Motor Insurer's Bureau of Ireland. These included cases where there was no insurance at all on a vehicle or the driving of the vehicle was not covered by insurance (usually in circumstances whereby somebody else other than the named person on the insurance drives the vehicle). Image Credit: Flickr
At Carmody Moran we have helped many clients who have found themselves the victims of negligent driving of uninsured vehicles.
We have obtained for them the appropriate and just compensation which they are deserving of by bringing actions against not only the drivers of the vehicle (and in some cases the owner of the vehicle as well) but also against the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland.
The bringing of claims against the Bureau is under the MIBI Agreement and strict rules apply in relation to taking of such proceedings with can often catch out the unwary.
Contact us at 01-8272888 and our expert panel of solicitors are well placed to advise in relation to such matters.


Marvel's The Avengers Official Trailer
Marvel Studios have released the trailer to the upcoming superhero movie based on characters from the Marvel Universe, The Avengers.
The Joss Whedon directed movie follows Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., as he assembles a team of superheros to help save the world from annihilation.
Marvel's The Avengers stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill.
Marvel's The Avengers is set to open in cinemas May 2012.
Tags Black Widow Bruce Banner Captain America Chris Evans Chris Hemsworth Clint Barton Cobie Smulders Hawkeye Hulk Iron Man Jeremy Renner Joss Whedon Loki Maria Hill Mark Ruffalo Marvel Marvel Studios Natasha Romanoff Nick Fury Robert Downey Jr. S.H.I.E.L.D Samuel L. Jackson Scarlett Johansson Steve Rogers SuperHero The Avengers Thor Tom Hiddleston Tony Stark Trailer
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Cryptolocker ransomware is not dead!
Ransomware Trojan, Cryptolocker was first discovered in September 2013 and are known for attacking PC's running Microsoft Windows. Cryptolocker could infect PC's using various sources, the most common being a legitimate email attachment.
Earlier this month, the FBI came out with a status report on Cryptolockers and provided a great relief to the online community. The report claimed that "all or nearly all" of the active computers infected with GameOver Zeus have been liberated from the criminals' control, and Cryptolocker is "effectively non-functional and unable to encrypt newly infected computers."
However, according to the security firm Webroot, Cryptolocker ransomware is not dead.
Webroot warned users that Cryptolockers are still very much active and ransomware could be distributed through other botnets, including the likes of CryptoWall, New "CryptoLocker", DirCrypt and CryptoDefense.
Tyler Moffitt, Threat Team Member at Webroot, said,
"While seizing the majority of the GameOver Zeus Botnets from the suspected "mastermind" Evgeniy Bogachev was a big impact to the number of computers infected with GameOver Zeus – about a 31 percent decrease, it's a very bold claim to state that Cryptolocker has been "neutralized. The reason why this claim should be scrutinized is because it is only the samples dropped on victims computers that communicated to those specific servers seized that are no longer a threat".
Tyler further pointed out that most attackers spread their samples through botnets that they either accumulated themselves (Evgeniy), or just rent time on a botnet from someone like Evgeniy (most common). So now after Evgeniy's servers are seized, malware authors would target other available botnets to spread the ransomware.
Though the FBI has claimed the Cryptolocker to be dead, it would be wise to believe the Webroot's report and be cautious. As Tyler says, the best way to stay protected is to utilize backups to either the cloud or offline external storage.
Protect your PC. Be safe. Prevent Ransomware.
Tags: Malware, Ransomware
Critroni crypto ransomware uses the Tor network for control
Bing to display Live School Ratings
AnkitGupta@TWCN
Ankit Gupta is a writer by profession and has more than 7 years of global writing experience on technology and other areas. He follows technological developments and likes to write about Windows & IT security. He has a deep liking for wild life and has written a book on Top Tiger Parks of India.


Tumblr Now Allows Creators to Charge for Content
TechnologyGadgets
The Tumblr app logo shown on a tablet screen in July 2019.
Photo: Martin Bureau (Getty Images)
Tumblr is following the lead of virtually all its competitors and introducing a new paid subscription tool for artists, writers, bloggers, other creators, the Wall Street Journal first reported on Wednesday.
The once-massive blogging site has fallen on tough times. In 2018, Tumblr misread the room in a staggering fashion and implemented a sweeping ban on adult content. Tumblr's hand was forced after Apple temporarily removed it from the iOS App Store over child porn that slipped past its moderators' attention, but the move still resulted in an avalanche of criticism. It also alienated a large swathe of its fanbase, an unsurprising number of which were only there for the porn in the first place. Its then-owner Verizon flipped Tumblr to WordPress.com owner Automattic Inc. in 2019 for less than $3 million (the telecom giant had originally paid over $1.1 billion for it). In the aftermath, its porn filters continued to infuriate remaining users by flagging non-porn content en masse, and many of the holdout communities crumbled. Between 2018 and 2019, Tumblr may have lost up to a third of its traffic.
One might be forgiven for basically forgetting Tumblr exists. But more than a flicker of life remains. TechCrunch reported SimilarWeb data shows it has between 310 and 377 million page views each month, and while Tumblr declined to share monthly active user stats with the site, it did claim to have 11 million posts per day and 500 million blogs. So it's hardly surprising that Tumblr sees an opportunity to catch up on rival platforms that either allow content creators to monetize their work or are rushing to do so (such as Facebook, Patreon, Substack, Twitter, and even Pinterest).
According to the Journal, Tumblr began testing a Post+ feature on Wednesday that allows select users to charge their followers $3.99, $5.99, or $9.99 monthly for access to premium content. Tumblr is taking a 5% cut.
Lance Willett, Tumblr's chief product and technology officer, told the Journal that over 48% of Tumblr users belong to Gen Z, which is rapidly developing an expectation that their toiling in the content mines will result in some kind of financial reward. Artists, writers, musicians, and other creators on Tumblr already have ample methods to monetize their fanbases either by switching to a rival site or directing followers to pay for access to a private feed via a third party like Venmo, which Willett suggested was reason to simply do it in-house.
"When Tumblr first launched the product was perfectly attuned to millennial curation over creation, a kind of mood board," Willett told the paper. "… When we looked at the younger generation, trying to figure out what would be the hook for them, we decided to make Post+, because it's something that will push the boundaries and it's following their behavior they're already doing."
"Not reserved only for professionals, or those with 10K followers or higher, Tumblr's Post+ will push the boundaries of what's considered money-making content on the internet: Shitposters, memelords, artists, fan fiction writers, all of the above and everyone in between will be able to create content while building their community of supporters, and getting paid with Post+," a Tumblr spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Honestly, this does make sense—the main question is why Tumblr didn't do this a lot sooner, like maybe before many of its communities fled for pastures greener in more ways than one. In any case, Tumblr told the Journal it hopes to have the ability for all users to charge for content, so long as it's not super horned up, by fall 2021.
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Home » News » Breaking News » Stephen Curry sets NBA three-point record
Stephen Curry sets NBA three-point record
December 15, 2021 Dorcas Funmi
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry set the NBA's all-time three-point record at New York's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, making his 2,974th long-range shot in the first quarter to surpass Hall of Famer Ray Allen.
Curry, a three-time National Basketball Association champion and two-time league MVP, pounded his chest and let out a roar after hitting the 28-foot shot.
He was immediately embraced by his team mates, coaches, father and former NBA player Dell Curry, and Allen.
"To do it here, in Madison Square Garden, in front of this guy right here (Allen) and Reggie Miller, it's special," Curry said in a courtside interview.
"I've had crazy faith since I started playing basketball, to think this moment was possible.
Stephen Curry against the KnicksCurry entered Tuesday's contest just two three-pointers shy of Allen's regular-season record and the sold-out crowd remained on its feet throughout the early part of the game in anticipation of the record being broken.
"It's been a long week since our last home game, where everybody was talking about me being 16 away," Curry said.
"It seemed like every shot I took there was another level of anticipation and anxiousness around it.
"I've just been trying to play my game.
Today it kind of set up perfectly, to make the first one, get it out of the way and then let the record-breaker come to me.
Read More: Riyad Mahrez Makes Premier League History Against Leeds
Curry ended the game with five three-pointers, taking his career total to 2,977, as the Warriors rode a late surge to beat the Knicks 105-96.
The 33-year-old Curry, who is playing in his 13th season, is widely considered the greatest shooter in the history of the league, a description he is now comfortable with.
"I pride myself on shooting a high percentage, on allowing that to help us win games, and now I can pride myself on getting to the number Ray set," Curry told a news conference later.
"I never wanted to call myself the greatest shooter until I got this record, so I'm comfortable saying that now.
Njidda Usa/Reuters
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Martin Polley, Sports Historian
← Advertising and the World's Oldest Tennis Tournament
Running in the New Year →
A new job and new research opportunities
Sorry for my silence over the last few months. It's been a hectic time in which I've started my new job as Professor of History and Director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture (ICSHC) at De Montfort University. It's great to be at the heart of the sports history scene, and to be working closely with my colleagues in the Centre and the in wider History department. It's also exciting to be in at the start of the new BA in Sports History and Culture, a unique undergraduate course, and to be working with the wonderful international students who make up the MA in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport.
I'll get back to some proper blogging soon, but for now I just wanted to publicise a research opportunity that is available through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and which is perfect for high quality candidates wanting to undertake a PhD in sport and leisure history with us at the ICSHC. It's called the Midlands3Cities (M3C) Doctoral Training Partnership, and it brings together six universities – Birmingham, Birmingham City, De Montfort, Leicester, Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent – in schemes of collaborative supervision. There are various kinds of funding available for UK and EU students. If you are interested in finding out more, or if you are a lecturer and think that some of your students might be up for this, then please email me on martin.polley@dmu.ac.uk for an informal chat.
The M3C website is here.
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Site consultancy: Dr Bex Lewis @digitalfprint
Martin Polley, Sports Historian · Contemporary sport through a historical lens
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New CEO for Gadelius
Hans Porat is to take over as CEO of Ratos's associated company Gadelius KK in Japan on 1 March 2002. He will succeed the present CEO Hans-Bertil Håkansson. Hans Porat is currently deputy CEO in Trelleborg.
"I see this as an exciting challenge and consider it important that Gadelius continues to growth organically combined with acquisitions within selected customer segments," comments Hans Porat on his new appointment.
Hans Porat has previously held leading positions within ABB and Fläktgruppen, stationed in Tokyo and elsewhere. This has given him a good knowledge of the Japanese market.
Gadelius is a Japanese trading house with its roots in Sweden from 1890, which has been established in Japan since 1907. Today, Gadelius is a distributor of high-tech products with a focus on niche products with a high knowledge content in areas such as IT, medical technology, construction, machines for the packaging and food industry, as well as exports of mechanical and electronic components to European manufacturers.
Sales in 2000 amounted to approximately SEK 1.1 billion and the company has some 240 employees.
Ratos has a 50% holding in the company.
Arne Karlsson, CEO, +46 8 700 17 00
Clara Bolinder-Lundberg, Head of Corporate Communications, +46 70 719 84 43