I am no great fan of iTV nor its staff, but shutting it down, albeit temporarily, seems most ill conceived. Expecting iTV to find Bt100 billion to pay fines and fees seems like a planned trap to close the station.

Although iTV journalists hardly deserve our support given the lack of support they showed their colleagues who lost their jobs during Thaksin's initial "cleansing" of the station, the closing of iTV seems somewhat extreme. It seems more like payback than sound government policy.

Surely someone can find a way to keep the station going without it falling under the mind-numbing control of the Mass Communications Organisation of Thailand. Funny how so many problems facing the government and Thai society today can be traced back to the long line of misdeeds committed by Thaksin and the Thai Rak Thai Party. And over at PTV, they are waiting.

Boris Loosebrain

Bangkok

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Tammy's excuses for poor play hard for fans to stomach

Re: "Tammy out of shape?" Sports, February 28. It's quite obvious that this tennis darling's trophy case hasn't grown commensurately with her size. Note her appearance at the Pattaya Women's Open. Please note, I am not being cruel to overweight people, only Tammy because she is an athlete and deep down in her gut, next to the digesting piece of blueberry cheesecake, she knows better.

You write: "Tamarine Tanasugarn says no matter what the scales say, she is more concerned about her health. She makes it clear that she has no plans to cut her weight but would instead try every possible way to get stronger." Who is she kidding? Her obesity is the biggest obstacle to health and success. Her regular injuries would surely abate if she shed some poundage, not to mention how much faster she'd be on the court. But that seems lost on Tammy or more likely, she's in denial.

Being an overweight star means having to come up with excuses for poor performance and if she is a pro at something it's making excuses, which mainly include injuries or being tired. But none of her excuses ever include blaming her weight, which is at the core of her problems.

At the Pattaya Women's Open early last month after being dispatched faster than she could slurp down a plate of egg rolls at a Chinese buffet, Tammy exclaimed: "I was still exhausted from that match," referring to one she'd played the night before.

When athletics is your bread and butter, you'd think she'd have the wherewithal to avoid the, well, bread and especially the butter. Lindsay Davenport realised this long ago and went from heifer to steed. She became nimbler and her game improved, vaulting her to near the top of the standings. Obviously Tammy is not hungry or financially driven enough to do what she knows is the right thing: go on a diet.

Copper Johnny

Bangkok

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Coup justification and govt performance different issues

Re: "A searing indictment of the coup", Opinion, March 5. Chang Noi would see the situation better, if he separates it into two issues. First, was the September 19 coup justified? Second, is the Surayud government doing a good job?

For the first question we have to see things the way they were. Who else would have stopped Thaksin pillaging the nation and ruling the country as if it were his own company? There was no student movement. Voices from intellectuals were deafening in their silence. Labour groups sat on their hands while Bangkok taxi drivers were bought and paid for by Thaksin. It was Sondhi Limthongkul and the People's Alliance for Democracy who provided energy and a unifying voice, "Thaksin awk pai!" People who think, "Sondhi's allegations of corruption were embarrassingly thin", just wallow in denial. An objective estimate will show that Thaksin benefited by more than a trillion baht, especially from conferring benefits to ShinSat, AIS and other enterprises under his control and his network, including Suvarnabhumi Airport. People who saw PAD rallies dwindling must have bought into Thaksin's TV outlets.

In Thaksin we had a man wealthy enough to have bought a parliamentary majority as easily as buying another company. It was Thaksin who said, "Democracy is not an end, it is a means". From what democratic ideals can you defend Thaksin? His electoral landslide? Why were his electoral commission members convicted like common criminals? Why is his political party on the verge of being dissolved?

If Chang Noi wants food for thought about the monarchy, he should go back to read Thongchai Winichakul's writings. The term "monarchical institution" is misleading. The monarchy is always an institution. Neither Chang Noi nor Thongchai should hide behind "monarchical institution" if they want to discuss royal performance. In real life we have His Majesty the King, the royal family and royalists with allegiance to the monarchy, including the Privy Council. Some analysts might see the whole country as a "monarchical institution", commonly referred to as "the Thai kingdom".

On the second question, I agree with Chang Noi. The Surayud government has stumbled royally, but this is not the same as questioning whether Thaksin should have been removed.

Netirat Intira

Bangkok

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Statistics point to the positive benefits of foreign investment

Re: "Leadership wise to avoid relying on foreign investment", Letters, March 5.

With the recent departure of Somkid Jatusripitak, maybe there is an opportunity for John Arnone to fill the vacant post in articulating the concept of the sufficiency economy in terms of the negative impact globalisation has had on Thailand's "run-away credit, consumerism and rape of the environment". Illegal logging, I have always understood, has had nothing to do with foreigners, let alone investors.

An article in the business section ("Thais riding high on Asian boom", Business, March 5) shows that the latest figures from Deutsche Bank Real Estate point out that cross-border investment in real estate was Bt5.3 trillion in 2005 and that European and US institutional investors are so sanguine about it they are pouring more money into the region. It goes on to say that "Thailand is riding on the wave of Asia's property boom" and that it has the "right infrastructure" to attract it.

But maybe "naive" Thailand should shun this investment altogether so that the West has no further interest in pursuing and "corrupting yet another wonderful paradise".

Sucatash

Bangkok

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Natural resources alone do not make a country great

John Arnone's thoughts about the sources of Thailand's wealth are not completely convincing. He says "Thailand is doing well economically because it is one of the few countries in the world that not only produces enough food for its own population, but also ample food for export. Coupled with that, it is one of the most desirable tourist locations in the world".

If natural resources were the whole story about wealth, you would expect Burma to be the wealthiest country in Southeast Asia. One hundred years ago it was the largest rice exporter in the world, and its Andaman coast surely rivals that of Thailand. But just take a look at the place, a poorly-developed country with some of the worst health statistics in the world. The case of Burma surely tells us that other things matter too - notably politics and economic management.

The ability of a medium-wealth country like Thailand to play the system is surely crucial in an era of capitalism. In Thailand's case this has often meant doing nothing to hinder the system and accepting capitalism with all of its downsides. The current turmoil tells us that intervention is not so easy, and adversarial intervention is asking for trouble.

Richard Sproat

Bangkok

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All nations should adhere to tenets of ICC's Rome Statute

Re: "International justice brought into focus", Opinion, March 6.

The Nation should be commended for bringing to the active attention of its Thai and Asian readers the recent proceedings of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which indicted a member of the Sudanese government with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

There is no doubt that the topic of international justice is becoming increasingly important, but as convincingly demonstrated by Conor Foley in his article, some journalists need to know more about the ICC in order to avoid deliberate or involuntary confusion about the most significant development in the history of international law over the last decade.

Indeed, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of July 17, 1998 entered into force on July 1, 2002. This unique legal instrument has 139 signatories and 104 parties who ratified it and are legally bound by its provisions. However, among the parties there are only six Asian countries (Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, South Korea, Tajikistan and Timor-Leste).

The ICC has a role to play in a multilateral system that aims to end impunity, establish the rule of law, promote and encourage respect for human rights and achieve sustainable peace. Therefore, the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of 192 Member States adopted by consensus last year a resolution calling upon all states from all regions of the world that are not yet party to the Rome Statute to consider ratifying or acceding to it without delay.

Unfortunately, this appeal received no publicity. This is regrettable. Individuals, not abstract entities, commit crimes. Establishing individual criminal accountability for all persons who commit criminal acts against the peace and security of humankind is a cornerstone of international criminal justice. It must receive tangibility in our highly vulnerable world.

Ioan Voicu

Bangkok