Mediators needed now, not later

Yingwai Suchaovanich reports that my letter regarding possible civil war was “inappropriate”. She feels that what I had to say was like something from a movie script. This is the sort of thinking that brings about disaster.

First, I did not suggest that an international tribunal would invade Thailand if the fighting got bad enough. I merely suggested that the government invite an international tribunal now to mediate the dispute and investigate those involved. As for no country invading another without UN approval, obviously Khun Yingwai must have missed what occurred in Iraq with the Americans and British, Tibet with the Chinese and Afghanistan when the Russians entered.

Khun Yingwai’s second paragraph was the most revealing, though. She believes the red shirts are only interested in their crops and have no inkling about what goes on in government. This is the mindset of the powers in Thailand that has brought on the present situation. She is probably right to some degree, but seems to forget that the red shirts have leaders, many of whom are former establishment hacks. They know what goes on in Parliament and are well trained in manipulating the masses.

What occurred in Bangkok with the burnings, in Mukdahan with the attempted burning of city hall, and with the red-shirt roadblocks in Yasothon, which I experienced, and probably every city in Isaan, was nothing but a demonstration of what they were capable of. Let’s hope that the decision-makers in Thailand recognised that more clearly than Khun Yingwai.

I have no agenda or sympathies for either side because it is evident that it’s all just a power struggle, with greed the motivating factor. All I am suggesting is that you bring in an objective tribunal to put an end to it before everyone loses. 

John Arnone

Yasothon