THE ECONOMIST: LIKELY SCENARIOS

The non appearance of The Economist in Thailand this week could be down to any number of reasons, which I have ranked below in my own order of probability.

1) As detailed in an email to its subscribers, The Economist has been unable to distribute the magazine through its normal channels for the second week running because of a backlog of cargo following the recent airport closures.
2) As happened in 2002, the distributor has taken the decision by itself not to distribute this particular edition. If this is the case The Economist would probably keep quiet for fear of upsetting their usual channels. There are few options for magazine distribution here.
3) As eluded to in comments elsewhere, The Economist has taken the decision not to distribute this edition in Thailand to protect its staff and subscribers.
4) There is an official but as yet unpublicised ban on this edition appearing in Thailand. If this is the case I am sure we will hear about it sooner or later, probably from The Economist themselves as it would reinforce one of the elements of their articles.

I will seek answers from my industry contacts as to what has happened, and also comments relating to the copyright issues of translating the original stories into Thai. In the meantime which option do you think is more likely to have happened?