BANGKOK, Thailand -- Washington has expanded into Bangkok's satellite and cyber security, with the U.S. training Thailand's military in "Space Situational Awareness" for the first time during the recently completed Cobra Gold wargames.

China's Huawei meanwhile has partnered with Thailand's National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA), which is responsible for combatting "cyber threats" to this Southeast Asian nation's critical infrastructure and other vulnerable targets.

Cobra Gold is Asia's biggest annual U.S. multinational military exercise and includes training in warfighting skills, weaponry, survival, and other exercises on Thai territory, in the air, and in the Gulf of Thailand.

Almost 10,000 troops, mostly from the U.S. and Thailand, joined forces from about 30 countries on February 27-March 10 to participate.

This year's core war teams included the U.S., Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia.

China was allowed to perform Cobra Gold's humanitarian aid missions alongside Australia and India.

Nice Men Don’t Cheat 

We didn’t get to school at all that day. After Annie told us that Mr. Jimmy was her father and started to cry, she ran off towards Franklin Park. Jean and I were frozen for a few seconds in shock, because even though we kind of knew that it might be something like Annie being related to or knowing Mr. Jimmy, we, or at least I, never thought he was her father. Mr. Jimmy had never mentioned he had a daughter my age. Ever. That seemed weird to me. Why wouldn’t he tell me about Annie?

I snapped out of my daze and shouted after Annie to stop running and wait for us to catch up to her. She kept running until she got to Franklin Park and our favorite spot, the place we first met, where she flopped down on the ground. By the time we caught up with her she wasn’t crying anymore. Her face was blank. “Annie, are you alright?” I asked as I sat down beside her on the ground. She didn’t answer me. “Annie! Earth to Annie!” Jean shouted. Still no answer from Annie. “Sara, maybe we should leave her alone and go on to school.” Jean suggested. “Come on, let’s go. We’re gonna be late.”

Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 07:00 PM

Wolf Mankowitz’s The Bespoke Overcoat is a theatrical adaptation of The Overcoat, a short story written in 1842 by the Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol, who along with Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gorky is one of the most renowned contributors to Russian literature. The one-acter’s plot seems simple enough, except that it is rendered more complex with an otherworldly dimension Mankowitz derived from the original story (what would you expect from someone who wrote Dead Souls, also written in 1842?).

Scenic designer Rich Rose’s set deftly combines the locations delineated in the play (although there is no samovar, alas!), which takes place in London’s East End at some unspecified time in the early to mid-20th century. Fender (a cherubic Harry Herman) is an aging Russian émigré Jew and shipping clerk, who has worked decades for a family business at a desk located on stage right, in front of racks and racks of overcoats. Despite the expertise he has accumulated over the years, Fender has little pay and even less respect than Rodney Dangerfield to show for his lifelong labors.