Globe and Mail Thai Article

Today's song is Hugh Laurie's Protest (tongue in cheek) Song 

Opposition to Thailand’s military junta mounts as even mildest protests shut down

NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
BEIJING — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2015 10:47AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2015 12:13AM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/opposition-to-thailands-military-junta-grows-as-mildest-protests-shut-down/article25335369/
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I had a few people inquire if the military junta's coup impacts my life. In all honesty for the most part I think Thais are better off under the current regime. The Yingluck government was heading for trouble as they could not afford the rice pledging scheme.  The rice pledging scheme was just a means of buying the rural vote and it worked. It is not dissimilar to the democratic party courting the Latino and Black vote in the upcoming 2016 US election.

I must admit that I follow the US news much more than the Canadian news. We Canadians are so boring! The US is currently arguing over which money bill gets a woman on it which means that a president gets dissed. It looks like it may be the $20 and not the $10. Of course we Canadian have a PC correct lineup of images on our bills.

I think we have to face the fact that the goal of every politician is to get reelected and that means that policies and plans that they put in place must necessarily be short term whereas a country often needs a longer term strategy. This is what the military junta is trying to do.

They are also trying to get rid of the endemic corruption in Thailand. They are also trying to fight human trafficking and are making headway where past governments were only too happy to have cheap, exploited labor. The politically correct Western governments are only too happy to criticize the non democratic government in place in Thailand.

In the US we will see the Bush dynasty (republicans) duke it out with the Clinton dynasty (democrats). May the party with the most money win! I will take the military junta over that any day. After all, it's not as if I get to vote in Thailand :-)

However, I do admire the 14 students who took on the junta and were quickly locked up for 2 weeks and subsequently released. The junta does not like criticism but I think that is where they are making a mistake. Free speech should still be in effect and who knows, maybe the junta could learn a few things from the students.

Take care and do make sure you vote!

TTYL