April 2, 2007:
The violence in the south continues, with 400 dead in the last six
months, and 2,100 in the three years since the Islamic terrorists began their
killing spree. There are more than 40,000 security forces (soldiers and police)
deployed in the south. The Moslem violence is not seen as a threat to the
nation, but more of a nuisance. The three Moslem provinces down there contain
only about two million people. Thailand has 65 million people, and 85 percent
of them are Buddhist, as are about a quarter of those in the south. At the
moment, Thais are more concerned with a drought in the north, which is threatening
the livelihoods and lives of over eight million Thais. In the south, the
government is trying to reach a peaceful resolution to the violence. Normally,
Thais prefer a violent and quick solution to problems like this. That, however,
is messy, and no longer as fashionable, locally or internationally, as it used
to be. But hunting down the dozens of small groups of Islamic militants is
proving difficult. The bad guys have the Moslem population terrorized as well.
Not many people are willing to talk.
April 1, 2007:
The government has agreed to share intelligence with Sri Lanka, and
crack down on gunrunners supplying weapons to Sri Lankan rebels. Like most
countries in the region, the government will look the other way if illegal
operators maintain a low profile and are big tippers when government officials
come by. This will no longer work for weapons smugglers running stuff to Sri
Lanka.
March 27, 2007:
In the south, about a thousand Buddhists demonstrated, demanding more
protection from Islamic terrorist violence. There have been an increasing
number of revenge attacks against Moslems in the south. But the victims are
rarely the the terrorists themselves, but simply Moslems. This enrages more
Moslems and increases the support for the Islamic terrorists.