http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-20/thai-army-moves-to-enforce-curfew-after-ending-protest-assault.html
http://www.lfpress.com/news/world/2010/05/19/14005151.html
For those of you who haven't been following at all, check out these links to get caught up. (I apologize in advance for using so many wikipedia links as references, but for large breakdowns of Thai politics (in English), this is really the most comprehensive way to go):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8004306.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhisit_Vejjajiva
Recent Junk: The most recent series of developments were first the red shirt protests were pushed back by the military using non-lethal weapons, red shirts fought back, held their ground, responded violently, live ammunition was then used in response, and likewise the red shirts responded with explosives and tactics learned from an unnamed foreign support force. After a round of bloodshed, both sides backed off, talks were held, and PM Abhisit agreed to hold a new election. Hooray. The red shirts intended to hold their ground until the election, and somehow during an interview with The New York Times a red shirt general was shot in the head by a sniper... crap. The red shirts go crazy, protests increase in violence, the elections get canceled, live rounds are used on red shirts who are burning tires and setting up barricades in the streets, death toll reaches 37, a curfew is imposed, the protests were forcibly broken up, and now entire buildings are being burned down. City Hall and Central World shopping center, have both been completely destroyed. There is straight up anarchy in Thailand right now, death toll up to 74, and 1700 injured! :( The rebel leaders have been captured, but when fighting idealists, there's always new leaders to replace them.
Speculative JUNK: This is a bit of an aside, but who's in this fight right now? Red shirts and the military. Yellow shirts and other shirt groups have been mostly silent and completely non-violent. So, if a red shirt general gets shot in the HEAD by a SNIPER, who do you suppose did it? The red shirts were all going to go home after the elections right? Instead, Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, a defector, was shot in the head, everyone went nuts, and surprise, the elections got cancelled. Come on, who stands to benefit from this? 95% odds Abhisit called in the order to avoid elections, 5% chance it was the foreign reinforcements on the Red Shirt side being anarchist war mongers. Anyway, no way to confirm, so moving on.
Opinionated Junk: There are clearly fundamental problems with Thailand's democratic government structure which has been a work in progress since 1932 and was radically changed during their last crisis in 2006. Since the start of the prime minister position in Thailand, only a handful of them have left office due to an election. The majority leave by a military coup or their version of impeachment! The reason military coups are so common is because the military is too closely tied in with politics. The senate is largely controlled by the military and only half the members get voted in, the others are appointed.
There's good reason for citizens not to trust their government leadership. The red shirts' original cause was to support a more representative election (their champion was banished, the party disassembled, and their enemy voted in under suspect circumstances). That's a worthy cause that has devolved into total anarchy. I don't promote much international interaction, but I do think that because we are democracy's flagship and Thailand is a floundering democracy, we should at least speak out for peace. I know it seems to be US policy not to promote peace in countries without OIL, but we should do SOMETHING.
Hillary Clinton starts an Asia tour today which includes China, Japan, and South Korea. She will likely discuss Thailand at all three locations, but it would be a very impressive move on her part (and great for her career) to actually VISIT Thailand in this time of need. It is dangerous right now, but the people do have limits. The Thai people are very respectful of foreigners, and also of their king. In all the chaos, the palace has gone untouched out of respect. An American ambassador could speak directly to the people from the palace as a guest of the king and be fairly safe. There would be no need to choose sides, just have them stop the anarchy. It wouldn't be that hard for a respected unbiased party to convince a nation primarily made of peaceful Buddhists to step back and realize the damage they're doing to their beloved country, and that this is NOT the way to achieve a democracy. Also, since the government had already agreed to a new election previously, it would only be reasonable that they could again agree to such a thing if the red shirts just go home. If Hilary doesn't want to or can't do it, send Bill or Jimmy Carter. We have several big names in peace negotiations who have dealt with far worse in the middle east. I think stopping this is well within our power. We could help them restructure their government too, but that may be pushing it.
We've spent trillions on wars in oil rich countries and imposed democracies, can we spare a plane ticket and a few hours of face time for peace in a struggling democracy? It's so simple, I don't know if our reputation can afford NOT to send someone. But who knows, maybe we're too late and a visit is now unnecessary. Maybe the red shirts will return to the countryside defeated now that their leaders have been captured, and the dispute has been resolved violently... :\
Hope to have some uplifting news soon, but probably not the next post. I have some ideas I want to get out soon.
Opinionated Junk: There are clearly fundamental problems with Thailand's democratic government structure which has been a work in progress since 1932 and was radically changed during their last crisis in 2006. Since the start of the prime minister position in Thailand, only a handful of them have left office due to an election. The majority leave by a military coup or their version of impeachment! The reason military coups are so common is because the military is too closely tied in with politics. The senate is largely controlled by the military and only half the members get voted in, the others are appointed.
There's good reason for citizens not to trust their government leadership. The red shirts' original cause was to support a more representative election (their champion was banished, the party disassembled, and their enemy voted in under suspect circumstances). That's a worthy cause that has devolved into total anarchy. I don't promote much international interaction, but I do think that because we are democracy's flagship and Thailand is a floundering democracy, we should at least speak out for peace. I know it seems to be US policy not to promote peace in countries without OIL, but we should do SOMETHING.
Hillary Clinton starts an Asia tour today which includes China, Japan, and South Korea. She will likely discuss Thailand at all three locations, but it would be a very impressive move on her part (and great for her career) to actually VISIT Thailand in this time of need. It is dangerous right now, but the people do have limits. The Thai people are very respectful of foreigners, and also of their king. In all the chaos, the palace has gone untouched out of respect. An American ambassador could speak directly to the people from the palace as a guest of the king and be fairly safe. There would be no need to choose sides, just have them stop the anarchy. It wouldn't be that hard for a respected unbiased party to convince a nation primarily made of peaceful Buddhists to step back and realize the damage they're doing to their beloved country, and that this is NOT the way to achieve a democracy. Also, since the government had already agreed to a new election previously, it would only be reasonable that they could again agree to such a thing if the red shirts just go home. If Hilary doesn't want to or can't do it, send Bill or Jimmy Carter. We have several big names in peace negotiations who have dealt with far worse in the middle east. I think stopping this is well within our power. We could help them restructure their government too, but that may be pushing it.
We've spent trillions on wars in oil rich countries and imposed democracies, can we spare a plane ticket and a few hours of face time for peace in a struggling democracy? It's so simple, I don't know if our reputation can afford NOT to send someone. But who knows, maybe we're too late and a visit is now unnecessary. Maybe the red shirts will return to the countryside defeated now that their leaders have been captured, and the dispute has been resolved violently... :\
Hope to have some uplifting news soon, but probably not the next post. I have some ideas I want to get out soon.
5 comments:
OK, let me try to dissect this upheaval. Disclaimer, I don't know squat about Thailand, but would sure love to go there someday to take pictures! So anyway, looks like we have a spat between the constantly dislodged government forces versus the poor country villagers who have become aware of the potential for a better democratic lifestyle, and sense that they've been sucking hind for way too long. Now they are really pissed!
Sounds like those damn Tea bagger's! Becoming more and more aware of how the government is stealing their freedom's by imposing BIGGER & BIGGER government. If there were no opposition to unsustainable spending, and government takeover of everything from soup to nuts, we would be another Greece in about ten years.
Federal government has been overstepping it's bounds, disregarding states rights. More govenment equals LESS rights, LESS MONEY, as they try to tax their out of debt. 800 BILLION dollar stimulus didn't stimulate anything on Main street, unemployment is still close to 10 percent. Any mythical progress will be offset by INFLATION and higher taxes down the road. All the Socialist BIG government models from history have been complete failure's!
Even the poor uneducated villager's in Thailand can figure that out! They want DEMOCRACY! If all the SOCIALIST wanna be's in America's spent one or two years in any of the decrepit socialist countries around the world, they'd be running home crying like babies!
Wayne Yasuhara
Haha, oh man, I divide up topics for a reason man! Gotta attack socialism in the socialism post when it shows up :P As for Thailand, there's corruption at every level, an ill defined hierarchy prone to coups, a parliament full of military folk, and a volatile public with a high poverty rate that has become aware of their situation, the media censorship, and misinformation. In retaliation they've made their own even crazier version of Fox News that actually promotes violence against the government (so I've been told). Be happy you're here with the "socialists" who at least follow democratic process :P
btw, thank you for picking up on the parallels between TEA Partiers and Red Shirts. There's a post on that coming up I'm sure.
Am I the only one who thinks it's possible, based on the news we're getting, to consider that Thailand may be heading towards a Communist Revolution more than democratic repair? The circumstances remind me very much of the incidents preceding the Russian Revolution.
I really wouldn't be surprised. Their model for democracy is obviously failing, and it would seem chaos in budding democracies is more the trend than the exception. Also, I think with the economic failures of the west and the rise of China, the anti-communist stigma has to be subsiding. But I'd have to do more research to brush up on parallels to Russian history.
It seems to me the culture of the governed should dictate the type of rule, rather than trying to use universal templates of democracy or constitutional monarchies that have worked elsewhere.
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