© Soichiro KoriyamaRed Shirt Terror: The people responsible for doing this to Thailand, never get to run the country again. Period.
So-called Thai "academic" Thitinana Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University in a
Bangkok Post op-ed titled, "
Thailand lags as Myanmar gains ground," attempts to convince readers that Myanmar is an example for Southeast Asia to follow, while Thailand is in reverse.
Thitinan's simplistic analysis is based on the most superficial metrics one can observe. Myanmar
had "elections," so therefore Thitinan concludes functioning and fair
"democracy" must exist. The US and Europe hailed the ascension of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to power, therefore it must be "good." And Myanmar's military leadership made
concessions to allow all of this to take place, therefore
"so should Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia."Thitinan condemns Thailand for what he calls, "fits and starts from
military-authoritarianism to popular rule only to revert to dictatorship, enabled by two military coups in 2006 and 2014." He fails to mention the "popular rule" removed from power by "two military coups" was led by
Thaksin Shinawatra, a man who literally mass murdered nearly 3,000 innocent people in 2003, another 85 protesters in a single day in 2004, and carried out a
systematic campaign of murder, assassinations, kidnappings, and physical and legal intimidation to silence his critics and political opponents all while illegally and very openly consolidating his power.In the wake of the 2006 coup, twice Shinawatra
brought mobs to Bangkok, and in 2010 those mobs included
300 heavily armed terrorists who tipped off street battles that killed nearly 100 protesters, by-standers, soldiers, and police. That was before Shinawatra's political subordinates openly called for
nationwide arson upon protest stages before dutifully and destructively carrying it out.
Thitinan, like many pro-Shinawatra lobbyists impersonating academics,
intentionally leaves all of this out, as well as any feasible alternative that could have been used to remove a "popular ruler" from power who was openly trampling both the rule of law, and the lives and livelihoods of the people of Thailand.
Thitinan, and Impersonators Like Him, Represents the West, Not AsiaThitinan then touches back on Myanmar, citing
Western condemnation and sanctions as one of several causes for Myanmar's failure to keep up with its Southeast Asian neighbors. He incorrectly cites however, "the force and logic of basic rights and freedoms" as why the military-led government there finally gave in to Suu Kyi's opposition party.
Comment: NATO member countries are often forced by the US - recently using the terrorism card - to keep them in line and the people in fear. The US directs and owns NATO: It is a corporate military industrial complex and a central bank delivery system, and it needs enemies and people to fear same.
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