Without spending hours reading all the dross circling around the Bout mess, it appears that it's just one person, Jatuporn, who's throwing trash at the fan. Jatuporn has as much credibility as his guru, ex-caretaker PM Thaksin. In other words - zero.
The important question is: "Why is Russia so adamant about keeping Bout from going to the US to face charges?" When has Russian officialdom cared for one of its citizens on the international stage? It didn't give a hoot for some of its richest entrepreneurs when it slammed them in prison on flimsy charges.
There's one glaring reason why Russia is desperate to keep Bout from going to the US, and here it is: Unravelling Bout's business dealings will likely expose one or more VIP Russians as being part of illegal arms dealings. The main component of "illegal arms dealing" is selling to countries or terrorist groups that have heavy weapon embargoes instated by the world community.
What other reason would make Russian heavies so afraid of an alleged big-time arms dealer going to face justice in the US?
KEN ALBERTSEN
CHIANG RAI
Sky high prices at the airport
I recently passed through the domestic area of Suvarnabhumi Airport on my way to Phuket and was startled to see that a 70-centilitre bottle of Hundred Pipers Scotch Whisky was priced at the King Power outlet at Bt450, whereas the same volume bottle and brand is priced in 7-Eleven stores at Bt349 … a staggering difference of almost 30 per cent. Is not the Consumer Protection Act designed to stop exactly this kind of overpricing? I have not compared other prices but if these sorts of differentials are applied to other items it is no wonder that the King Power Group can buy an English football team!
PATRICK ROSS
LONDON
Stand up, the elusive one committed person
Ref: "Airport should be a model not an embarrassment", Editorial, August 28
This is an excellent editorial on the dismal state of Suvarnabhumi Airport. I would even broaden your argument regarding our airport's poor logistics to include poor management and operations.
It is a pity that Thailand has such lofty aspirations, but when it comes time to execute, we execute as individuals - everyone out for himself. With this attitude, we can only expect to dream and never realise our ambitions.
What is sorely lacking is discipline. People are vulnerable to shortcuts. It seems that nowadays, more than ever, we all want to be successful without doing the hard work and making the required sacrifices. Moreover, our politicians have become so eloquent they have forgotten that their duty is not merely to persuade, but to get things done, like, for example, disciplining the taxi drivers so they follow the rules and provide fair service, not take advantage of people.
You are correct in assuming that the Airport Link will eventually work, once all the kinks and problems are corrected. We are not good at planning and coordinating the launch of new projects, particularly major complex projects, where the orchestration of many different efforts is required. It seems we get lazy and make excuses for why things can't get done. There is no sense of urgency, no focus and no willingness to overcome tough obstacles. It is easier to give in to vested and personal interests before serving the public welfare.
I, for one, would like to see one individual stand up and do one thing for the good of this country. One act of selflessness to improve the lives of people in our country.
Is this possible? I don't know. But I do know that if that one individual stepped forward and accepted this challenge, he would be uniquely remembered and admired for tenaciously holding to a lofty ambition, and then making it happen.
OUTRAGED TAXPAYER
BANGKOK
Who are the bamboozlers, the govt or the BBC?
Did you know that the red-shirt movement has begun organising "mass" demonstrations all over Thailand again ("Thailand red shirts rallying again," BBC, August 27)? That's what Alastair Leithead has just asserted in his latest chapter of the BBC's reconstruction of contemporary Thai history. Indeed, in the same article he asserts that the Rajprasong demonstration was "mostly peaceful" until the Thai Army opened fire - and he shows you the soldiers kneeling in firing position to be sure you get the message. Indeed, if you didn't quite understand that there had been unnecessary, gratuitous, government "massacres" last April and May, Leithead will show you it by highlighting a clip of the brave women and children sitting peacefully on mats under a huge banner that proclaims, just at camera level: "PEACEFUL PROTESTERS/NOT TERRORISTS" - in English!
The BBC message that "Dictatorship Clamped Down On Democracy" last April is immediately confirmed by the next clip - Thai soldiers lining up to shoot indiscriminately into, apparently, the very same innocent crowd.
No mention of what was actually being said by the red-shirt leaders up on that Rajprasong stage, the fire and the brimstone of it all, nor that none of those women and children spoke a word of English, nor that M79 grenades were being launched almost nightly from the same area into the city at large, nor that hospitals were being seized, ambulances obstructed, surveillance dismantled and firebombs, car tyres, sharpened bamboo stakes and military weapons were being stockpiled in the camp for the coming Armageddon. Nor, minor detail, that no soldier ever lined up to fire into the Rajprasong crowd - that the soldiers kneeling to shoot in the BBC clip were filmed many kilometres from the Rajprasong stage, and that only one person was killed on that day - a soldier!
It's like the word "bamboozle" in another BBC bit of revision just the week before ("Divided Thailand seeks elusive 'normalcy'", Vaudine England, BBC, August 19). Yes, "bamboozle", that's what the BBC insists Abhisit Vejjajiva is doing to the Thai people - and of course Abhisit is "illegitimate", the BBC still claims, never having been elected directly by the Thai people. That's the BBC's default position on Thailand, of course, even when Prime Minister David Cameron wasn't elected directly in the UK either!
What the BBC says in the August 19 article is that the Abhisit government is "bamboozling" the Thai people by trying to restore "normalcy" in the country. Well, what government shouldn't try to restore "normalcy" in such a situation, and what government shouldn't use the budget to try to strengthen what works, for example, or to restore confidence and order in the country?
It would be like saying parents "bamboozle" their adolescent children when they try to bring them through a bad crisis, sometimes by offering them special privileges too, and even bribes to help them grow up. Or the courts "bamboozle" convicts when they give them light or suspended sentences, or make them do community service, or go into therapy. And isn't all "normalcy" elusive, after all? Isn't all government to some extent an exercise in pacification?
What I really want to know is why the BBC feels it's such a bad thing to be associated with the present prime minister's party - because the article seems to assume that the Democrat Party is some kind of Fascist brotherhood determined to enslave Thailand! Is there anybody associated with the Pheu Thai Party who could govern Thailand at all at the moment? Chavalit Yongchaiyud? Chalerm Yoobamrung? Jatuporn Promphan? And what a compliment to the Democrats that Kraisak Choonhavan should have joined the party in the first place, one of the best, brightest and most conscientious servants of truth and openness in the whole of Thailand. And who are you going to find with greater integrity than Sukhumbhand Paripatra or Korn Chatikavanij , what more Asean's Surin Pitsuwan or Unctad's Supachai Panitchpakdi, all Democrats.
This is not to say that the present government is what Thailand ought to have in the long run, or that the Democrat Party should be a model for the future. The coalition government is deeply flawed and full of corruption as always, for sure, but it's at least a viable alternative to chaos. The present government is at least serving the best interests of the Thai people to some extent. At least it's trying to move the country along without burning the whole place down!
BBC - you should look to your tailors!
C WOODMAN
CHIANG MAI