We must hail the government's chief for his guts in breaking away from Thailand's long history of independence and taking his nation along in the footsteps of Georgie Boy, who set a precedent despite an outcry from the American populace. Though the public will not know until decades from now what advice Thaksin had sought from his American pal in private letters not revealed to the press, this scheme speaks volumes.

Sean Miguel Esagtawski

Cambridge, Massachusetts

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pha-ngan officials should focus on conservation efforts

Re: "Pha-ngan official warns not to sell land to foreigners", News, July 24.

Thai government officials need to learn how to manage the country's environment.

They have recently suggested not selling land to "foreigners".

What's this all about?

What these government officials need to do is actually focus on their jobs by doing proper environmental assessments and making appropriate recommendations to amend legislation to protect the environment instead of running around in a panic telling villagers not to sell their land to foreigners.

This certainly gives the impression that Thais have been guardians of the environment, and nothing could be further from the truth.

Samchai

Bangkok

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thai postal workers are courteous and efficient

Re: "Thai postal system generally fails to deliver the goods", Letters, July 22.

As a relatively long-term resident of Min Buri district in Bangkok, I felt it only fair to lend my support to the Royal Thai postal system, having read some negative comments recently.

I frequently use the postal service for domestic and international correspondence and in all my years here have had only one letter go astray, and it contained nothing of value.

Staff are always friendly and courteous, and despite many address errors from correspondents abroad, my post always gets to me. (One letter was merely addressed to me at "Min Buri, Bangkok".)

Local deliveries are timely, and foreign (especially the UK) deliveries are amazingly quick.

Christopher Noad

Bangkok

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Govt officials might be suffering from an IQ deficit

Re: "Thai kids rank 'below average' on world IQ ranking", News, July 20.

After yet another "dry" election weekend in Bangkok, with many catering businesses forced to close due to the useless ban on alcohol sales and tourists staying at five-star hotels unable to enjoy a glass of wine with their meal, perhaps it's time that IQ tests were applied to government officials. I'm sure their average score would be far lower than that claimed for Thai kids!

Mike

Bangkok

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excising 'cancer' of Hezbollah necessitates civilian casualties

Re: "Attacks on Lebanon may simply be needed for security," July 22.

We are being officially informed that from a current tally of 1,800 military strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, only 12 Hezbollah fighters have been killed. That's an average of one militant for every 150 strikes. Obviously, many more Hezbollah have been killed, but the Israeli military doesn't want to crow about it.

When a superior military force engages a ragtag force, the rule of thumb for casualties is about 10 to one in favour of the superior force. That's roughly the ratio for the Korean War, Vietnam, the recent Balkans conflict, the Afghanistan mop-up, the current Iraqi imbroglio and many other conflicts.

There are several reasons why the Israeli military doesn't want the real number of Hezbollah deaths to be published, not the least of which is an unwillingness to fan the flames of passions further among Middle Easterners.

Though it's eminently regrettable that civilians get killed and much property and infrastructure gets obliterated, Hezbollah is like a non-benign cancerous growth for Israel.

Invasive surgery cannot be free of collateral damage, particularly if the cancer is embedded within healthy tissue. The reason that nearly all other governments, in and out of the Middle East, are not aghast at what's taking place is they understand that if their countries were similarly threatened, they would also be compelled to protect their citizens and sovereignty in kind.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attacks on Lebanon will only strengthen radical elements

Re: "Attacks on Lebanon may simply be needed for security," July 22.

There is only one word to describe the ongoing Israeli aggression in Lebanon: barbarism. And there is one lesson to learn about international relations from this naked barbarism: might is right.

World bodies such as the UN, the Arab League and the rest of the lot, along with international laws and treaties, are only for academic discourse and intellectual gossip.

The West has destroyed Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Sudan is next. Syria and Iran are under constant threat. These are not conspiracy theories or the fictitious creations of a sick mind.

Let us assume for a moment that the capture of the two Israeli soldiers was a miscalculation by the Lebanese resistance fighting to end more than five decades of Israeli crime and lawlessness on Arab territories. Given the fact that the US-backed usurper state is officially at war with its Arab neighbours, does the seizure of two soldiers justify the destruction of human life and property on such a large scale? How can the governments that overtly and covertly back the occupying power explain Israel's slaughter of hundreds of unarmed civilians, including mostly women and children, and rendering millions homeless?

Any objective observer would conclude the ongoing Israeli military aggression was no longer a question of prisoners or "radical groups", but rather a wider plot to achieve Israeli and Western objectives, with support from some Arab regimes.

However, it is amply clear such an approach and the policy of spreading death and destruction in the Arab Muslim world will create the opposite results, rather than those desired by Tel Aviv and those bankrolling the country from the West. Increased radicalisation coupled with more hatred and hostility towards the West should be seen as a natural outcome of the dangerous events now unfolding in this part of the world.

But I think events over the past week have shown that Israel and its allies will never succeed in eliminating the spirit of resistance. This is something the West needs to understand.

D Chanda

Yala

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel has no intention of 'lying down' for terror groups

Re: "Recent events belie notion that Israel can do no wrong," Letters, July 22.

Hezbollah launched an unprovoked attack from Lebanese territory on Israel by launching Katyusha rockets at Israeli civilians, killing Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two of them. As any country would, Israel responded in an attempt to return its soldiers and stop Hezbollah's shelling of Israel. Israel's long-term goal is to destroy Hezbollah's military capability or drive Hezbollah from Israel's border. Both of these goals are consistent with UN resolutions that call for Hezbollah to give up its vast arsenal and the Lebanese Army to deploy on the Israeli border.

 There have been charges (some quite hysterical) that Israel's response has been "disproportionate". Although 1 million Israelis are either sleeping in bomb shelters or have been displaced, and 15 Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah rockets (and 19 Israeli soldiers killed in the fighting), Lebanese casualties are higher than Israeli casualties. Yet this charge of a disproportionate response has never been used to assess right and wrong in a military conflict.

Hezbollah, the aggressor in this war, makes no effort to spare civilian life and indiscriminately shells civilian targets in Israel. Israel has been lucky that no schools or hospitals have been hit by Hezbollah, which would have caused even more Israeli deaths. Israel, on the other hand, is doing all it can to avoid civilian casualties. The reason that Lebanese civilians have died is because Hezbollah, like all terrorists, fires from and then hides among civilians. Israel has bombed transit routes and is imposing a naval blockade to prevent Iranian weaponry, which is used to kill innocent Jews, from reaching Hezbollah.

The rules of war provide that combatants must try to avoid civilian casualties; but if a country is attacked, and the attacker hides among civilians, the Geneva Convention allows the attacked nation to defend itself and fight back. Israel is in a war it did not start and did not want. Not only does Israel have the right to use force to defend its citizens, but also the government is obliged to provide security to its citizens.

The claim that Israel is acting disproportionately has no basis in fact, history or law and constitutes a double standard, which some folk insist Israel adhere to.

The poet Bob Dylan perfectly described this attitude towards Israel in a song: "Not supposed to fight back, supposed to have thick skin, supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in." Unfortunately for Israel's enemies, Israel has no intention of lying down and dying for fanatical jihadists like Hezbollah, or for anybody else for that matter.

Josh Baker

Thailand

Send us your views in an instant E-mail your opinion, with 'Letters to the Editor' in the subject box, to: letters@nationgroup.com