Good morning,

Thailand has become one of the least peaceful countries in the world. According to a report from the Economist entitled the Global Peace Index, Thailand ranks 105^th out of 121 nations, behind Cambodia in 85^th place and Indonesia in 78^th (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30035883). It is not surprising: yesterday a bomb exploded at a football match between two villages which injured twenty teenagers, three seriously (http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=119204). A teacher and a villager were murdered in separate incidents. Two more bombs injured four soldiers and two police officers. One thousand Muslims are occupying a Mosque in protest at the way they are being treated (http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=29713). Around one thousand Buddhists joined a rival demonstration (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30035884). An autopsy on one of the four murdered Muslim women whose deaths sparked these demonstrations apparently reveals that she was not sexually assaulted, as Muslim villagers feared (http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=119203). Leaders of the military junta do not seem to have anything to say about this or any idea what to do.

Head of the military junta General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin is backtracking from his strange and apparently not terribly well thought through idea of announcing an amnesty for Thai Rak Thai leaders (http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=119197). Demonstrations by pro-democracy activists continued in Bangkok over the weekend (http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=29690). Violent suppression of demonstrations has not yet begun but it is likely to only a matter of time (http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=119198). Army officials continue to spread rumours about the demonstrations (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30035889).

The junta is to spend 20 billion baht on improving living conditions in some rural areas (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/06/04/national/national_30035921.php). When similar policies were carried out by the democratically elected Thai Rak Thai policy, they were labelled ‘populist’ and ‘vote buying’ by people who should have known better and many probably did.

My review of Tew Bunnag’s Fragile Days :Tales from Bangkok has now been published at Bookideas (http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=3793).

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