Do you agree with the Thai governments decision?

[Omnis]

I can fake it. Have a lot of friends who've moved there with no issues. Chinese gives me more options.

Lah.

 

[niky]

 

[Blitz187]

My opinion of the whole thing is pretty neutral.

The Thai government may have waited for the Red Shirts to cause enough damage that their armed clearing of their camp would not cause too much uproar in the international community once they did do this... but make no mistake... this was a huge tactical / financial / political loss for the Thai government. They've probably lost tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars in terms of tourism and possible investment... multinational companies will now be looking elsewhere to set up shop...

While Southeast Asia is seen as a huge growth area by foreign investors, there aren't very many stable places to pick from amongst the "tiger" economies. Indonesia has had those political and military issues in the provinces... the Philippines still harbors quite a few independent warlords and militias (and has corruption up the wazoo, to boot), Vietnam is still too poor, Burma still too fascist, and now Thailand has the beginnings of a possible armed insurrection.

That leaves Malaysia (already very rich) and Singapore (even more so) as investment hubs.

I guess it's time for me to learn some Chinese and move.

Now that everything has calmed down a bit I also started wondering... and I also suspect there is a lot more going on here then you can see at first glance. I can understand that the government might have been waiting in order to justify their decision for armed retaliation. But then I also think why let it carry on so long when everyday is a huge loss for the government and the city financially and economically.... I guess the real motives behind everything will always remain a bit obscure and biased by what the media pumps into it as well.

Also, Thailand was one of the fastest growing economies in that region, but I think this will hurt their reputation a lot.... If order is not restored in the city and it remains unsafe, tourism will drop, obviously and Thailand will have to suffer because of that. Tourism is one of their biggest industries and I dont think they can do without it either... Hopefully it doesnt turn into a military dictatorship like their neighbor Burma.... that would be a tragic loss... But also the worst case scenario....

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

Holy crap thats is insane! bet the owners are pissed off with the red shirts.

EDIT 400th post FTW.

 

[Omnis]

I would be less worried about the riots and the situation if people weren't getting sniped and trading fire.

Snipers scare the crap out of me.

 

[DK]

Snipers scare the crap out of me.

I'd be scared too of some guy (or chick) is prepared to kill me as soon as (s)he sees me.

 

[niky]

I would be less worried about the riots and the situation if people weren't getting sniped and trading fire.

Snipers scare the crap out of me.

Should've visited us back in the 80's. Back in the coup d'etat of 1987 (ridiculously named... it was less a coup and more of an armed insurrection as a small (insignificantly small... tiny, in fact!) number of soldiers camped out in the business district), we had snipers shooting at random guys on the street... and gawkers standing around the body ogling brains oozing on the ground, in full view of the sniper's nests.

What was I doing at the time... hmmm... playing Balloon Fight, apparently. That coup resulted in less damage to properties and people than the Red Shirt protest, and didn't cover such a huge area.