TOM PLATE WRITES — The way it is going now, I might have been wrong. The professor had written a good book but (in my mind) smudged it with an ethically snarky title: Destined for War. A few critics (okay, mainly me) pointed out that the addition of a simple question mark (Destined for…
Full Article INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: DUMPED BY TRUMP?TOM PLATE WRITES – When “Conversations with Mahathir,” the second of four volumes in the Giants of Asia series, was published a few years ago, some of my friends and colleagues were utterly aghast. How could you ― gullible American author ― dignify this vulgar man with such semi-reverential treatment?…
Full Article MALAYSIA: MAYBE MAHATHIR IS RIGHT?TOM PLATE WRITES — You don’t have to be a saint to be a great and effective leader, but you do have to be audacious. So when an audacious leader comes along that a good many admirers suspect to be a saint, you probably have got something special in front…
Full Article CHINA AND THE POPE: HEAVEN ON EARTH?THAILAND’S LEASDING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER BANGKOK POST REPORTS: “A former MP has filed a lese majeste complaint against Thaksin Shinawatra and two other people, as well as Matichon Plc, in connection with a translated book. ‘Jub Khao Kui Thaksin Shinawatra’ has been available in the local market for more than…
Full Article THAILAND: POLITICIAN ATTACKS THAKSIN ‘GIANTS’ BOOKTOM PLATE WRITES: The stakes in the outcome of the ongoing Thai Crisis are huge and go beyond the strict parameters of the country itself. Geopolitically, Thailand has been a solid U.S. ally, particularly during the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Economically, it has been a vital force amid…
Full Article BANGKOK: THE GRAVE DARKNESS DESCENDING OVER THAILANDTOM PLATE WRITES IN HIS INTERNATIONALLY SYNDICATED COLUMN: – A country of beauty is in danger of turning into a beast. The Kingdom of Thailand, the land of the smiling people, the gorgeous countryside and a storied history as the once-upon-a-time Siam, now has a severe case of the political…
Full Article THAILAND: NO WAY TO TREAT A LADYHCT NEWS, the home page of the sprawling Higher Colleges of Technology system in the United Arab Emirates, hreaded by Vice Chancellor Tayeb A. Kamali (pictured), recently posted this story: Tom Plate, the Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, recently made an…
Full Article UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: ‘Asia Media’ Founder and LMU Professor Gets Royal TourEarlier this month a lunchtime assemblage of committed Asiaphiles (policy wonk division) convened to Tom Plate’s views on what makes leadership special and how Asia has sometimes benefited from exceptional leadership. Plate, who is a syndicated columnist and the Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies at Loyola Marymount University,…
Full Article HONG KONG: Asia Society Gets “Leadership’ Briefing“Conversations with Ban Ki-moon,” the fourth in the ‘Giants of Asia’ series, and the first book on the current UN Secretary General with which he has cooperated, is moving closer to publication, now scheduled for September by Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore, New York, London). Late last month, author Tom Plate…
Full Article PROGRESS REPORT: “Conversations with Ban Ki-moon”