IS THE WORLD STILL WATCHING THAILAND?
Today's edition of The Economist has a story about the current wave of protests in Thailand. Although His Majesty the King is mentioned in connection to Thaksin's recent swipe at his chief advisor, I don't think there's anything in this story that is likely to lead to distribution problems.
The writer of this story says: "The latest round of street demonstrations could take the endless feuding of Thai politics to a new, more dangerous level."
I'd be really keen to hear from anyone outside Thailand on how the current demonstrations are being reported. I don't think there's anywhere near the kind of coverage the yellow shirts got in the latter months of last year, but obviously what happened at that time, especially with the airport blockades, impacted far more people.
For me and probably 99 per cent of Bangkokians life goes on. The only way it's affecting me relates to my choice of shirt each morning. Now I think twice before opting for yellow or red.
1 comments:
I've got to say that as a Thailand watcher since I left in 1995, there is far more coverage of what is going on in Thailand now than there used to be.
While the red shirts are not getting the attention the yellow shirts got, they also have not been as destructive and contentious as the yellow shirts were.
While there is a sense from Thailand that "the world doesn't really understand", I think the coverage in the press has been typical of any mob-based attempt at governmental change: A mix of commiseration and condemnation, depending on the editorial slant of the writer, simply because there isn't all that much to report as straight news.
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