Leave it to the drama queens, Reds

I would enjoy the long weekend, see movies, have parties, go shopping and thus make the Abhisit government look like a bunch of paranoid leaders who waste hundreds of millions of baht on silly security buffers.

If the red shirts want to ridicule the Thai government, they should do just that. If they want to justify the deployment of 36,000 troops and confirm Cambodian Premier Hun Sen - who has offered "best friend" Thaksin Shinawatra a home sweet home in Phnom Penh - as the man Thailand can't trust, they can feel free to run amok.

The Abhisit administration has no choice. It would rather spend massively on security measures and face a mini embarrassment in case nothing happens, than lower its guard and suffer a diplomatic humiliation it would never recover from.

The red shirts have the upper hand, although attempting to disrupt the summit is a double-edged strategy. If executed properly, the government's image will be dealt another blow. A clumsy effort to stir trouble will backfire against the movement itself.

The red shirts can simply choose to lie low. They have nothing to lose and may even be able to shake off a shade of the fanaticism which has hounded their reputation since Songkran. There is no need to try to tell the world Thailand is hosting the Asean Summit under abnormal domestic political circumstances. Let the gigantic security presence do that job.

Moreover, the red shirts now have Hun Sen to care about. Having established himself as Thaksin's best friend with the most touching sympathetic statement by a foreign leader to date, the Cambodian leader has stuck his head out for the entire red movement. Of course, considering the timing of his speech, Hun Sen obviously doesn't mind being seen by Bangkok as a bad neighbour. But he might mind being seen internationally as Thailand's bad neighbour.

Red-shirt violence would betray Hun Sen's sacrifice. As Thaksin would undoubtedly be linked with any trouble created by his supporters, Hun Sen's offered hospitality could be painted in a bad light internationally. It's one thing to offer Thaksin a home close to his real home; it's another if such an offer coincides with hell breaking loose on the Thai side of the border.

My assumption is the red shirts know what to do. After all, why take the headlines away from the Thai-Cambodia diplomatic soap opera starring top drama kings of both countries?