|
Right now Thailand is about 12 hours away from open civil war. This is not some retoric, there are armed troops fighting armed troops in hte streets of Bangkok right now and for the last 4 days.... again. The official Army has assassinated one of the 'Red Shirt' political leaders who was shot but snipers and hit by 2 bullets in the head in the middle of a crowd while conducting an interview with foreign mdeia correspondents. The idea is to 'cut the head off the snake', but I am concerned that they just made a martyr. Official figures for the dead are now at 35, I think the real figures are about 10 times that figure, the media is under tight control with Twitter, Facebook and Youtube giving a lot of 'on the ground' uncontrolled coverage. Government troops have set up a "Live Fire Zone" where they are firing real bullets at anyone they deem necessary to take out..... or anyone unlucky enough to put his head out a window, or even stand near a window...
Several innocents who unfortunately live in this
large arae of central Bangkok have been shot dead already. Anyone in
this zone is a potential target.
Things are getting very ugly with some outlying
provinces joining in the anti-government violence - this has the
potential to spill over into full on civil war, and to be honest it is
not very far off at all.
All it would take is the government forces going in
and to start firing on women and children (as some radicals want) and
non-violent protestors withing the barricaded protest site and the
rural masses would erupt from the North East regions.
All in all this is very bad for Thailand, many
people have lost their jobs, many more will lose them once the dust
settles and they realise they just killed Thailands biggest industry -
tourism. On top of that the other major industry is car manufacturing with Toyota having 4 major plants, they just announced closing one plant. The Thai economy is shot, massive unemployment will follow and with no social security, unemployment benefits or food stamps the violent opportunistic crime rate is going to soar. The working class Thais do not yet realise the full implications, when you have millions of people with no money, no jobs, and no prospects of obtaining food regularly that creates a massive opportunities for those wishing to recruit these desperate people. I really feel bad for the average working Thai people, things are about to be really, really bad for them. Business owners too are going to lose everything. Yet the Thai Baht currency exchange is the strongest it has been in years, this is not a natural situation, it is being manipulated for outside reasons though even with a University education in Economics I cannot guess what that reason may be though I have a few theories. It would be best for everyone if this could all be solved once and for all, though violence is the increasingly popular option - I am not sure if it is the best - it'll just drive the movement underground pushing more power into the hands of the extreme radicals. If you are a first time visitor to Thailand, don't be a retard and come wander around the war zone (and it is a war zone) taking photos and being oblivious to everything, stay snug in your cosy coffee shop, or do your Club Med thing somewhere safer - like Afganistan. Regular visitors, I'd wait a little while until the Baht crashes and then take advantage of the savings. And if you do come I'll give you some advice - this is F'ING SERIOUS go into the live fire zone or get caught up in a random skirmish anywhere in Bangkok and you will be a target and you will be shot with live military rounds. Some really good photos of the conflict .
|
