Thai employers - who already profit richly from their labour? Punish slave-labour exploiters - confiscate their assets and give them to the exploited workers. Ignore completely the murderous military dictators from Rangoon - Thailand does not need them, and they do not deserve any notice or respect.

This policy would be good for Thailand, which would continue to get the low-priced labour it needs, and it would be very good for Burma, which would have a growing body of democratically inclined, and increasingly prosperous citizens outside of Burma to pressure the current monsters that are killing the country. These exiles would be in a good position to return and take their capital with them when the evil junta is removed, as it must be, hopefully sooner than later.

When the vile Burmese generals are finally thrown out, the Burmese people will ask themselves: What did Thailand do to help us? The answer: Thailand colluded with the generals. Thailand greedily arranged to plunder our natural resources. In short, Thailand raped us. Apart from the justified anger that the Burmese should feel toward Thailand for standing by and allowing atrocities to continue without even a whimper of concern at the evil being done, I would not want such collusion in evil on my conscience.

And by treating the Burmese in Thailand well now, rather than kow-towing to the monsters of Rangoon, Thailand will benefit enormously when the regime in Burma changes for a decent and democratic one.

Alicia

Bangkok

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Treat Burmese workers with the respect they deserve

Re: "Thailand's cynical ploy on Burmese migrant workers", opinion, December 11.

It is true that Burmese migrant workers are being treated unfairly on Thai soil. It is time to show our humanitarian attitude towards those in need of help. Thai and Burmese people share so many things in common. Both are Buddhist. Both have great pasts. And both have their cultural pride. I have hardly ever seen Burmese beggars. The Burmese are proud of being decent people in the same way Bangkokians are proud of leading Thai society through any crisis.

Bangkokian People

Bangkok

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iTV deserves to sink under the weight of its own greed

Re: "Plea to save iTV has come six years too late", Opinion, December 12.

Let them burn and fine them to the max. I can still remember the 20 staff members that were kicked out. The iTV staff just sat there and did nothing because they are in it for the money. They don't care about each other, and now they ask for mercy. Pathetic.

iTV sucks

Bangkok

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Death of iTV leaves airwaves in the hands of the military

Re: "A coup against the 1997 constitution", opinion, December 12.

Chang Noi has another side of the story. The military controls all TV stations and makes plenty of money from these convenient propaganda machines. Now iTV goes under, leaving the entire TV landscape to the military, under which iTV, reverting to its former role as an independent and critical channel, seems remote.

So the pathetic programming with brain-dead soap-operas and game shows will continue, missing an opportunity to educate the populace. This might be what the current military junta has in mind.

As for the Central Administrative Court being the "the only independent body that managed to survive political interference under Thaksin", I believe the reinstatement of 20 iTV staff was decided by the Labour Court, and the three EC commissioners were jailed by the Constitution Court if I remember correctly. Things were moving in the right direction even under Thaksin, and this has been nullified and destroyed by the putschists.

Krid

Bangkok

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Global warming is caused by the world's rich, not the poor

Re: "ADB needs to clean up its stance on climate change", Letters, December 10

There is no evidence that carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants causes global warming or that global warming increases the severity or the frequency of typhoons. In any case, there could not be a more inappropriate target for protest than the Asian Development Bank. The sum total of the annual CO2 production from ADB-funded power projects is likely to be less than a single day's production in America alone. ADB projects provide electricity to the poor, who otherwise would not have access to electric power. It is the rich who are consuming the world's energy, not the poorest of the poor.

Cha-am Jamal

Phetchaburi

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Some Thai women are more westernised than Westerners

Re: "Don't blame Isaan wives; women are all the same", Opinion, December 2.

I agree with Veena Thoopkrajae on this - many Thai women in Bangkok are more westernised than Westerners. In idolising our ways, they seem to have the knack of picking our worst characteristics to imitate. This actually applies not just to women but teenagers also. Regarding food and healthy living, no sensible Westerner would endorse pizza or hamburgers, but on the other hand, Thai food is too high in sugar and, at least in Bangkok, too low in vegetables. I cannot adjust to the high sugar levels in Thai bread, omelettes, congee ... everything tastes too sweet to me.

Ian

Bangkok

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Report was misleading about who exploited Thai workers

Re: "$1m payment for trafficked Thai workers", News, December 10.

As an American I strongly object to the inaccurate article you published concerning the settlement between Trans Bay Steel and the US Equal Employment Opportunities Commission over the working conditions of Thai contract labourers. Nowhere in your article does it mention that the US branch of a Thai labour contractor was the one who confiscated the passports and did not pay the labourers' wages. Nowhere in the article does it mention that the US branch of a Thai labour contractor diverted most of the workers to be used as slave labour in Thai restaurants in the US.

US law enforcement is actively seeking the president of the LA branch of the Thai recruiting company. When he is caught, he will be charged with serious crimes. Involuntary servitude is a serious crime in the US that will earn the offender a long prison term if convicted.

I became suspicious when I read the breaking news article your paper published last Saturday when it did not make mention of any criminal charges against Trans Bay Steel. When I read the US newspaper accounts it became evident why there were no criminal charges. Your newspaper conveniently left out important facts that make it appear an American business was the principal culprit. Such biased reporting only serves to give Thai citizens a bad impression of American businesses.

There are, in fact, unethical and criminal businesses in the US, but in this instance it appears the primary culprit is a Thai company. The Global Horizons incident, in which Thai farm labourers were cheated by a US registered company owned by an Israeli immigrant, is one such case. That incident was not widely reported here. For whatever reason, it appears your newspaper did not want the public in Thailand to be aware of the alleged illegal behaviour of the Thai company in the current situation. Instead, it appears you wanted to make it seem an American company confiscated the passports and kept the labourers in squalid conditions.

Neal R Yerkes

Bangkok

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World must unite to tackle Iran's nuclear ambitions

Although it seems impossible, I agree with Dr Stephen Carter and Mr Bill with regards to their ideas on US foreign policy. Dr Carter is correct that Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia are controlled by horrible regimes that are destabilising the region and the world. Although Shi'ite Iran and its junior partner Syria are bitter rivals of Sunni Saudi Arabia, both camps are successfully exporting their radical and violent ideologies. Yet, Mr Bill is correct that military options are always horrible options. In the case of Iran, the military option appears to be an extremely bad option and could be even more disastrous than the war in Iraq.

There is a way forward that could avoid war and provide a semblance of stability in the Middle East. The world needs to unite and come to a consensus regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran has massive oil and gas reserves and its economy is undeveloped. Thus, Iran has no need for nuclear energy. There is only one reason that Iran is proceeding with its nuclear programme. While Iran's president is a fanatic who may really believe that a nuclear Armageddon will usher in the messianic age (in the form of the hidden imam), ultimate power in Iran resides in the unelected mullahs who agree with Ahmendijahd in theory, but do not want to cut their country off from the rest of the world.

I believe that if Russia, China, India, Japan and Europe halted all business with Iran until it verifiably ends its drive for nuclear weapons, Iran's mullahs would give up their nuclear programme (at least for the time being). Iran has threatened to cut off the flow of oil, but it needs petro dollars much more than the world needs its oil. The civilised world could cut off all refined oil shipments to Iran (Iran has no oil refineries), which would cripple Iran's economy.

If Iran develops a nuclear weapon, the best case scenario is an even more aggressive Iran dominating Iraq and Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia and Egypt going nuclear. The worst case scenario is all-out nuclear war with the tragic loss of millions of lives. Diplomacy can work, but the world has to unite and show resolve in order to avoid a nightmare that could make the world wars of the 20th century look like tea parties.

Josh Baker

Thailand