The Thailand MiniThread

[alfred russel]

Is it another coup? Half a coup? Not a coup? Do we care?

Since I'm not posting a link or article, I think I'm at least obligated to give a half assed and uninformed opinion. Thailand is jacked up because the yellow shirts have strong representation in a lot of the country's power structure (including the military, the courts, and bangkok), but are unable to command an electoral majority and also unwilling to consider the other side to be legitimate.

[The Brain]

Monstrous.

[Admiral Yi]

Are the yellow shirts the hillbillies, or vice versa?

[Ideologue]

This country would be way better if it had a group that wore a certain color shirt and espoused policies I like.

[alfred russel]

Are the yellow shirts the hillbillies, or vice versa?

Vice versa, the red shirts are the hillbillies.

[celedhring]

Are they hillbillies or rednecks, however?

[alfred russel]

Are they hillbillies or rednecks, however?

Red shirts for the red necks.

It makes sense that they color coded it for us.

Yellow shirts for other Thais. I'm not going to speculate how this makes sense.

[mongers]

Are they hillbillies or rednecks, however?

Red shirts for the red necks.

It makes sense that they color coded it for us.

Yellow shirts for other Thais. I'm not going to speculate how this makes sense.

I may be wrong but I think yellow is closely associated with the Royal family there, certainly the vast majority of those in that faction espouse to be royalist.

[alfred russel]

I may be wrong but I think yellow is closely associated with the Royal family there, certainly the vast majority of those in that faction espouse to be royalist.

I think so, but that wasn't my joke. 

Although, back in the day, I think one of the countries in that region, maybe Thailand though I think it might have been Vietnam, featured yellow prominently in their flag to represent themselves--the yellow race.

[grumbler]

I may be wrong but I think yellow is closely associated with the Royal family there, certainly the vast majority of those in that faction espouse to be royalist.

I think so, but that wasn't my joke. 

Although, back in the day, I think one of the countries in that region, maybe Thailand though I think it might have been Vietnam, featured yellow prominently in their flag to represent themselves--the yellow race.

[mongers]

I may be wrong but I think yellow is closely associated with the Royal family there, certainly the vast majority of those in that faction espouse to be royalist.

I think so, but that wasn't my joke. 

Although, back in the day, I think one of the countries in that region, maybe Thailand though I think it might have been Vietnam, featured yellow prominently in their flag to represent themselves--the yellow race.

Crop your quotes. 

[Razgovory]

I hope the whole country burns down.

[Liep]

Will people vacation next to charred bodies?

[Razgovory]

Fuck if I know.

[Sheilbh]

This happened the day after I read this which seems appropriate:

The grotesque inequality in Thailand makes me worry – for the first time – about the future of capitalism
By Sean Thomas World Last updated: May 18th, 2014
92 Comments Comment on this article

Question: if you put together a small bomb in Siam, a six grand handbag, and two spoilt rich kids, what do you get? Answer: the remarkable possibility that, for the first time in 200 years, a French intellectual may be talking sense.

Let's start with the bomb. Right now I am in Bangkok. To be precise, I am lodged in the raunchy lower sois of Sukhumvit Road.
On the face of it, life here goes on as it has done for ages: the strangely tall ladyboys preen and cackle in Nana Plaza, the fake Irish midgets do leprechaun dances outside the beer gardens.

Yet just a few miles away, life is not normal at all: Thailand's ongoing political crisis has shifted to the ancient heart of the capital, where "Yellow" protestors are amassing, once again, in a bid to seize power from the Reds. And last week this crisis took another tragic turn, as a bomb killed three Yellow protestors, and injured dozens, prompting warnings from the military that they might take over.

When I heard about this bomb, I sadly shrugged (as most people do in Bangkok) and went about my business: I was due to meet a friend in Bangkok's latest shopping mall, Central Embassy.

It was here that I saw the six grand handbag, but I also saw lots of other stuff, most of it Very Expensive. Because this mall was just stupefying in its luxury. My job as a travel writer takes me to lots of wealthy places, Dubai and Monaco, Manhattan and Hong Kong, I also live in the middle of London. But I have seen nothing like Central Embassy anywhere, in terms of relentless, glittering plushness.

Obviously this sparkling, 30 storey, Zara-and-Prada ziggurat is aimed at the one per cent of Thailand (and the one per cent of the world) that is fabulously wealthy – not the rice farmers north of Bangkok on $3 a day, or the blind beggars singing karaoke on the pavement outside. And the chances are this astonishing mall will make money, because the rich in Bangkok are seriously rich.

Here's proof. This video, already viral on the Net, follows two millionaire Thai kids, describing their lifestyles, their political beliefs, and their happy jaunts around Bangkok in beautiful vintage cars.

Much of this documentary is unintentionally hilarious, from the pseudo-British accents (many rich Thai families send their sons to British public schools) to the fatuous posh-boy dialogue. For example, at one point the younger rich kid is complimented on his bravery by his really rich friend: "There are some things I love about you. You have a number of Ferraris, but not even one in red colour. It takes a lot of guts for you not to get a red Ferrari."

One of the most compelling aspects of this documentary is the utter unselfconsciousness of the poshos, their apparent obliviousness to their own absurdity. They are also uncannily similar to the famous, brilliant Youtube spoof of "gap yah" UK toffs.

But the video is also an important political document. Because these two Siamese trustafarians are significant figures in the Yellow protest movement. They are, therefore, living proof that the ongoing Thai crisis is more than just a tribal fight between oligarchic factions – it is also an expression of Thailand's stunning levels of inequality, as evidenced by Central Embassy.

And this is where we come full circle, to that French intellectual. Because inequality is also the thesis of the bestselling book describing the pitfalls of capitalism, written by Parisian economist Thomas Piketty.

As you're probably aware by now, Piketty claims that capitalism has an inbuilt flaw: it creates a world where inherited wealth is increasingly concentrated in narrow elites, because this capital accumulation by the ultra-wealthy outpaces growth in the wider economy.  The end result is that, without state intervention, inequality can only get worse. Much, much worse.

Of course, Frenchman Criticises Capitalism is not a startling headline. And, on the face of it, any critique of capitalism, right now, is daft. Because capitalism has just lifted a billion people out of poverty – perhaps the greatest miracle in the history of economics.

But that sequence of events in Thailand made me wonder. Capitalism has done a fine job to date, but what lies ahead? Is Piketty halfway right? Perhaps troubled Thailand is a glimpse into the future, for everyone. And that future is not good. Unless we find a way to deal with inequality, what begins with Gap Year jokes and six grand Gucci handbags, ends with bombs, bloodshed and brutal civil strife.

The Vice video which is pretty fascinating and awful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2hICl3PPrk