Everyone is complicit in propping up the evil Burmese regime

You rightly address the visit of the secretary-general of the United Nations to Burma in your Tuesday editorial as it is of regional and international importance, and you are rightly dismissive, in general, towards the effectiveness of this visit. I share your feelings but mine are far more extreme as they are simply derision.

This man in his toadying to a regime which everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten is totally illegitimate - having acted to prevent a democratically elected government taking office and removing its leader from society and keeping her in total isolation - has yet again given it credibility and legitimacy.

He, his office and the United Nations have been comprehensively ridiculed by a murderous thug parading as the leader of Burma. This is a man who ruthlessly suppresses the people of Burma, murders monks, and while the country starves happily organises a wedding for his daughter that made the excesses of the American soap operas "Dallas" and "Dynasty" look small beer.

Yet Thai ministers merrily trot off to this vile regime, along with an endless collection of others, to, in their words, "engage" with the generals in the hope of encouraging them to have a Pauline conversion and happily move the country to a democracy.

In what drug-fuelled fantasy do these sycophants live? It does not take the intellect of Einstein nor the reasoning power of Euclid to deduce this is as likely to occur as Kim Jong-il seeing the errors of his ways next Tuesday, closing down all his nuclear facilities and inviting McDonald's to open a chain of stores throughout the country.

The world in general and the UN, Asean and those countries bordering Burma specifically have brazenly betrayed the people of Burma under the cruelly fatuous nonsense of engagement.

China's behaviour of not caring a jot can be expected as it has little concern for its people, having cheerfully announced that Western style democracy would never be allowed to be established in the communist dictatorship. It simply wants raw materials at any cost to keep the juggernaut of economic progress rolling, as any blip in that might unseat communist control.

India, despite being a democracy, does no better, being presumably motivated by base greed and jealousy of China's gains in resources from Burma, and happily looks the other way while trying to feed from the trough.

The UN is regretfully an excessively expensive, impotent irrelevance, and Asean but a callous collection of dictatorships and faux democracies trying to play on a world stage. All lack the ability, motivation or intention to right this grotesque aberration that blights the modern world.

JOHN SYMONS

BANGKOK

Foreign minister needs reminding of past promises

Re: "Kasit not to resign", News, July 6.

On February 25 it was quoted in Suthichai Yoon's Thai Talk column that Kasit Piromya said he wouldn't resign under pressure. If he is officially charged along with other members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), he would hand in his resignation and go back on the streets as a political activist again.

Panit Wikitset, vice foreign minister, was quoted this week as saying that Kasit would not stop working and had informed the PM of his intention not to leave office. I hope Khun Panit was misquoted. According to al-Jazeera news on Sunday, the minister was quoted as having said that he would have to resign without doubt. Well, well, well, finally words have caught up with him. Does he belong to the class of "my word is my bond" or "my word has no binding force".

Though I regret his misfortune, as I have started to like his work - especially with his ministry's pursuit of someone on the run and the Cambodian issue - unfortunately he has committed himself too categorically to turn back on his word.

SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT

BANGKOK

Veera would be left red-faced in an open debate

Re: "Responding to a frivolous challenge", Letters, July 6.

Meechai Burapa compares a political debate with a golf challenge. In his letter, he tries to show us that red-shirt leader Veera Musigapong is as good at debating as Thongchai Jaidee is at golfing, therefore Abhisit's challenge to a political debate is similar to me challenging, say, Tiger Woods to a play-off.

This is not the case here as Veera hasn't got any pedigree or track record of showing he is good at debating political issues with another person. He is good at making speeches maybe, but political debate? I don't think so.

PRINCE SERI

BANGKOK