MORE BOMBS
According to the Nation, in the two days of attack in the south of Thailand, there have been 38 bombs, 33 arson and ambushes, resulting in 72 casualties including 7 dead. The attacks continue.
A headline reads: UTTER MAYHEM IN SOUTH. The Thai military government wants to pursue talks in an effort to mollify and appease the “separatists.” They want to find out what the Muslim radicals desire. I can save them the effort. They can ask me. What those Muslims want, Mr. Thai military man, is you and everyone like you dead. Do that for them and they will be appeased.
There’s a summary of the recent happenings *HERE*.
Thailand is called “Land of Smiles” for good reason. These are a friendly and beautiful people. But get their ire up and they are capable of some pretty violent things. When the Muslims killed a Buddhist monk in one incident last year, there was some bad stuff done in retribution. The Muslims are still complaining about that. I can picture some more serious balancing of the books coming if the Muslims do not rein in their own. It is, after all, the Muslims themselves who must police their own ranks. No one else can do that for them. But they appear to be unable or unwilling to do that.
Call me a cynic or a pessimist but I see a great deal of escalation down the road. This stuff will eventually lead to border clashes and perhaps war between Thailand and Malaysia. It is only the border provinces adjacent to Malaysia that are heavily involved in this. Those provinces have most of the Muslims in Thailand. Malaysia is more than 90% Muslim. Can you see a pattern here?
In the meantime, there are fears that Thai tourism will take a hit. As my Mexican girlfriend used to say, “No sheet.” You can read about tourism fears *HERE*. What they don’t say is how it will affect overall tourism. To a potential visitor, a bomb is a bomb. It doesn’t matter that it could be a thousand miles south of his would-be destination. The bombs are going off in Thailand so all of Thailand will pay with loss of the tourist dollar.
Also in the meantime, the G..D…ed Thai baht keeps getting stronger, screwing this farang who lives on the exchange rate. What has to happen for that damned thing to go the other way?
I know it’s not all about me but I can’t win.
A headline reads: UTTER MAYHEM IN SOUTH. The Thai military government wants to pursue talks in an effort to mollify and appease the “separatists.” They want to find out what the Muslim radicals desire. I can save them the effort. They can ask me. What those Muslims want, Mr. Thai military man, is you and everyone like you dead. Do that for them and they will be appeased.
There’s a summary of the recent happenings *HERE*.
Thailand is called “Land of Smiles” for good reason. These are a friendly and beautiful people. But get their ire up and they are capable of some pretty violent things. When the Muslims killed a Buddhist monk in one incident last year, there was some bad stuff done in retribution. The Muslims are still complaining about that. I can picture some more serious balancing of the books coming if the Muslims do not rein in their own. It is, after all, the Muslims themselves who must police their own ranks. No one else can do that for them. But they appear to be unable or unwilling to do that.
Call me a cynic or a pessimist but I see a great deal of escalation down the road. This stuff will eventually lead to border clashes and perhaps war between Thailand and Malaysia. It is only the border provinces adjacent to Malaysia that are heavily involved in this. Those provinces have most of the Muslims in Thailand. Malaysia is more than 90% Muslim. Can you see a pattern here?
In the meantime, there are fears that Thai tourism will take a hit. As my Mexican girlfriend used to say, “No sheet.” You can read about tourism fears *HERE*. What they don’t say is how it will affect overall tourism. To a potential visitor, a bomb is a bomb. It doesn’t matter that it could be a thousand miles south of his would-be destination. The bombs are going off in Thailand so all of Thailand will pay with loss of the tourist dollar.
Also in the meantime, the G..D…ed Thai baht keeps getting stronger, screwing this farang who lives on the exchange rate. What has to happen for that damned thing to go the other way?
I know it’s not all about me but I can’t win.
posted by Walter Guest at 6:31 PM
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