WSJ: All You Need Is... [origami cranes dropped on violent terrorists...?]

Talk about papering over a problem. Since January, the predominantly Muslim southern provinces of Thailand have been the scenes of violent separatist riots and terrorist bombings apparently linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, the al Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia. The death toll exceeds 500.

So what's the Thai government to do? After an initially stern response tragically led to 78 prisoners suffocating in police trucks, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra chose a different approach. On Monday, the Thai Army air-dropped 100 million origami cranes over the region. Another 30 million cranes are to be delivered by land.

The operation was meticulously planned and enormous in scope. Cabinet ministers and prison convicts were pressed into the elaborate effort of folding a piece of paper into the shape of a bird. Some of the origami cranes doubled as coupons for groceries and other prizes, including scholarships or jobs. After the bird drop, Mr. Thaksin boasted of "an enormous, positive psychological effect" for residents of the region.

Maybe. But the news out of Thailand Tuesday was that the origami raid was immediately followed by a new round of terrorist bombings and shootings. It seems the folks at JI Associates were not quite as touched by the peace gesture as Mr. Thaksin.

Still, you've got to sympathize with the PM, who was only putting into literal practice the kind of gesture politics advocated for years by the United Nations, the European Union and the Carter Center as the cure for every international problem. All you need is love, right?

If this wasn't in the WSJ, I would have thought it was an Onion piece.

I'm sure there is some cultural significance to Cranes and peace / harmony / kumbaya.

Rummy needs to run with this idea. Drop a couple million origami peace signs in Baghdad.

That's the trick.

I wrote this for my blog yesterday:

In an effort to quell violence in its troubled Muslim south, Thailand has undertaken to drop millions of paper origami doves over the region.

Now, this was a pretty clever plan except for two major flaws.
1. Origami doesn't kill people.
2. It doesn't break stuff.

Those are both kind of critical features of any modern 'conflict resolution' device. Sure, origami can deliver some rather devastating papercuts, but the logistics of capitalizing on this just aren't there.

For example, origami is ridiculously hard to fold. I don't think I've ever successfully folded anything besides an origami rectangle and an origami boulder in my entire life. At least not by myself.

Imagine how inefficient warfare would be if it were conducted with origami. It was pretty bad when you had to pack your powder and load musket balls and deal with flint locks and whatnot. But battles fought with origami would probably never even get off the ground.

"Men, draw your weapons!"
"Men, fold your weapons!"
"No, Herbert, you numb skull, you have to fold the little right flap under the left corner and give it a half twist. No, no, no. Jenkins, you help. Jenkins, that is not an authorized fold! You dimwits, how many times have I told you that the shiny side goes out? Alright, that's it, EVERYONE START OVER!"

By the time our soldiers finally figured out how to do the fancy 'twist and tuck' maneuver of step 2 C, the Japanese would probably have already folded their first division of full-size origami Abrahms tanks complete with a fully-functional origami GPS.

And then it would rain and everyone who had worked so hard on their origami weapons would be crying. I mean, soldiers don't normally cry, but when it takes an hour just to get the paper creases right, and you work so hard, well, that's hard to take even for the toughest marine.

So, in conclusion, origami will not bring peace.

MOABs--yes. Origami--no.

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