Thailand's Prime Minister (PM) extraordinaire again shared his unique wisdom with his fellow countryman. You might recall that he has offered such opinions as corruption isn't really bad because it doesn't kill anyone, and denied the killing of forty-six protesters thirty years ago.
Yesterday, PM Samark expressed some admiration for the military junta leaders in Burma. For those of you who follow the news, a few months ago the military junta (a dictatorship) in Burma violently cracked down on protests led by monks. The junta shot and killed protestors and raided monasteries, dragging monks off to prison.
PM Samark said that critics were too hard on the junta leadership. His reasoning was that the generals stated that they meditated prior to making decisions. That was enough to impress the Thai PM. As we all know, anyone who claims to meditate or pray is a benevolent and wise leader. I think that we all admire those genuflecting leaders of the Spanish Inquisition.
I understand the reasoning for Thailand's relationship with Burma. They are a neighbor from which Thailand buys energy and does business. While isolating Burma might have little impact on the U.S., it would be somewhat painful for the kingdom here. Does that mean I think that Thailand should turn a blind eye? Not necessarily, but I understand the reason for the relationship. Even so, the PM's comments lead me to believe that either he is stupid or that he believes that others or stupid. My bet would be the later.
When discussing this, PM Samark talked about how Thailand is surrounded by three neighbors, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. The last line of the newspaper article adroitly pointed out that Thailand is also bordered by Malaysia to the south. Those PMs say the darnedest things.
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