Terrorist attack in Thailand; New Year's countdown cancelled

[Tingkai]

Wow! Junta blames bomb blasts on supporters of the democratically elected government that it overthrew. What a surprise!

Funny, how the supporters haven't done anything since the coup and Thaksin hasn't called for a revolt (probably because the Thai king appears to have sanctioned the coup).

Although, Thaksin and his party won majority governments in three fair elections IIRC, so he does have a lot of support in Thailand.

My money's on the junta staging a Reichstag plot.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Wow! Junta blames bomb blasts on supporters of the democratically elected government that it overthrew. What a surprise!

Funny, how the supporters haven't done anything since the coup and Thaksin hasn't called for a revolt (probably because the Thai king appears to have sanctioned the coup).

Although, Thaksin and his party won majority governments in three fair elections IIRC, so he does have a lot of support in Thailand.

My money's on the junta staging a Reichstag plot.

Maybe. But since the junta has the support of the King, it's not clear what they gain from this maneuver.

And Thaksin is about 1/2 step away from being a Bond villain anyway, so its not like this is out of character...

[Pekka]

I got friends in there, but they called to say they were OK. Kind of weird to get phone calls from other side of the world starting with 'none of us got hit'. I wasn't even worried. I'm an odds man, of course they didn't get hit.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by aneeshm
It's ironic, isn't it? Buddhism is the real religion of peace, whereas the people who are from the "RELIGION OF PEACE - AGREE OR DIE!!!" go around bombing Buddhists. Sad, too.

Yes, because the Tibetans, Chinese, and Japanese have such peaceful histories following the introduction of Buddhism.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

What agressions did the tibetans prosecute?

[chequita guevara]

Against each other. Tibet was a very warlike area. Mythical Shangri-la actually existed and was destroyed by a rival Tibetan prince. Also, the Tibet feudal lords and monks were exceptionally brutal towards their peasantry, which is why the Tibetan peasants lifted not a finger to oppose the Chinese when they deposed the old order.

[Dinner]

I didn't know that.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I didn't know that.

You do realize theres also virtually an industry now harping on how bad pre-invasion Tibet was.

Tibet actually had a considerable empire at one point, but im not sure the timing relative to the conversion to Buddism. As for the peasants, there were reforms under way before the Chinese invasion. Given the overwhelming force of the Chinese invasion, you hardly need class warfare (beyond what youd expect in ANY traditional landed society) to explain a reluctance to resist. Maybe theyd learned that fatalist obedience stuff too well. I have some inlaws who didnt lift a finger to fight the Germans, and it had NOTHING to do with either dissatisfaction with previous regimes in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, or with any sense of being liberated by the Germans - fatalistic, mystical religions just do that to people.

[chequita guevara]

It depends on which destroyed ruin is Shangri-la / Shambahla. According to the wiki article, it was destroyed prior to the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, but a PBS documentary to find the place claims a forgotten ruin they uncovered was the actual kingdom. Apparently several places claim the title for tourist purposes, but regardless of where it was, the site uncovered in the documentary hadn't been destroyed over a thousand years ago, but only a few hundred.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
You do realize theres also virtually an industry now harping on how bad pre-invasion Tibet was.

Which, I think, is necessary considering that so many in the West hold up Tibet as an earthly Utopia ala Bhutan (pre-television).

The following is a good article about pre-invasion Tibet. Take it with a grain of salt, as Parenti tends to understate the crimes of Communists. It's true, but not the whole truth.

http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Which, I think, is necessary considering that so many in the West hold up Tibet as an earthly Utopia ala Bhutan (pre-television).

There seems to be a misconception in the West that Bhutan (pre-television) was some sort of earthly Utopia.

[lord of the mark]

heres a discussion from the Tibet Govt-in-exile.

http://www.tibet.com/WhitePaper/white4.html

An earthly paradise it was not. But an eevil slavery society, which awaited liberation by the noble sons of the Chinese revolution, it also was not.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by LordShiva


There seems to be a misconception in the West that Bhutan (pre-television) was some sort of earthly Utopia.

exactly

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
heres a discussion from the Tibet Govt-in-exile.

Now there's a neutral source.

[lord of the mark]

now Brooklyn pre-cable, OTOH ........