Replies

Maybe I've been in Asia too long and am starting to think autocratically. Democracy is very young and fragile in Thailand, and the protesters have gotten what they want, they should stop all protests now.

The military's warning seems to me (and again, maybe I've "gone native") to be a rather responsible thing to do. After all the people can't just run the whole country from the streets everyday, they have achieved their goal, and they still want to protest (or "make trouble" in the eyes of many people).

Thailand is not America. (How ironic that WE have millions of marching criminals, but we will condescend to other's practice of democracy! We can't even demonstrate healthy democracy ourselves!). But even so, America is more stable than Thailand, so Thailand should not play games like this anymore.

I was willing to minimize the importance of the demonstrations because of Thai culture and recent history, but I think anymore will pose the danger that GOP_1900AD sees, and I think the military's warning actually counter acts the danger of continued instability, not adds to it.

And regarding the "highway to KunMing", let's never forget that the Thais are out for the Thais, they will not be controlled by the Chinese or anyone else. They'll do whatever benefits themselves, while keeping a firm grip on their piece of real estate.

I will grant you that a stepped up military face right about now is NOT necessarily a bad thing, under the circumstances. It is actually somewhat of the silver lining, assuming a return at some point to normalcy and assuming that it does not end up looking more like Myanmar in terms of point of view. Lots of caveats in my statement though ....

After all the people can't just run the whole country from the streets everyday,

They were not. The situation was being watched carefully and if it ever did out get out of hand, the government was prepared to squash them like ants. To me, the fact that the government kept a hands off policy shows the military's respect for democracy, not their contempt as some posters are saying.

they have achieved their goal, and they still want to protest (or "make trouble" in the eyes of many people).

Where are you getting this information?

Mixed blessing. The Thai military has been a force for good and ill. Same with student protests. In the 70s and 80s, when the students were allying with communist insurgents, the military was great. In the 1990s, the military oppressed the Thais for a fascist bastard.

Tough call.