Poll: South unrest related to drugs

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Poll: South unrest related to drugs

Published: 29 Jul 2012 at 10.20
Online news: Local News

Most people believe the unrest in the southern border provinces is caused by a variety of problems particularly the trade in drugs and illegal war weapons connected to terrorism, according to the results of an Abac Poll revealed on Sunday.

The poll was conducted on 2,229 people between July 20-28 in Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Lop Buri, Ayutthaya, Chanthaburi, Nakhon Sawan, Phetchabun, Chiang Mai, Mukdahan, Nong Khai, Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Surin, Udon Thani, Phatthalung, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces. Asked what they thought were the causes of unrest in the southern border provinces, more than one half, or 55.7 per cent, pointed to the trade in drugs and...

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android
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Discussion 10 : 29 Jul 2012 at 13.3510
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Discussion 7 geoffo : "The killers live somewhere nearby and people down there know, everyone except the head of the Army and Police it seems."

An expat knows far more than the local security officers. Amazing thailand!
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khunbj
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Discussion 9 : 29 Jul 2012 at 12.559
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D6 bern 1005, agree , let the people living in the south formulate in their own words what the problems are instead of presenting random people with a questionnaire with multiple choice answers, could be that the correct answer was not amongst the possible choices and that renders this poll useless.
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lek
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Discussion 8 : 29 Jul 2012 at 12.418
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I think it is an established fact that the terrorist violence in the South is primarily in support of Islamic independence. Drugs may well be a part of the equation, as terrorists anywhere in the world have to fund their arms-buying from somewhere.
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geoffo
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Discussion 7 : 29 Jul 2012 at 12.247
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D3 Waters and D4 Pointoffew. Thanks for your comments, the video has been removed now from YouTube so we have to leave that for another day.

As others said you feel for the soldiers,their families and locals that deal with this each day.

In that photo there were three late model pickups with crash bars etc. They are not coming from hundreds of kilometers away. The killers live somewhere nearby and people down there know, everyone except the head of the Army and Police it seems. What a mess.
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bern1005
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Discussion 6 : 29 Jul 2012 at 12.186
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I fail to see the point of this "poll" given that most of those who voted have little or no direct experience of the situation in the south.

I would be interested in knowing what those who live in the region think.
I would also like to read analysis by "experts" in this situation.
However, publishing this piece is just a waste of newsprint.
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hillfarang
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Discussion 5 : 29 Jul 2012 at 12.015
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"...particularly the trade in drugs and illegal war weapons in connection with terrorism, according to the results of Abac Poll revealed on Sunday."

The people agree with my various postings that this is, at its foundation, NOT a religious struggle. As to the details of drugs funding weapons on the other way around, that is not the most important consideration. Now is the time to adopt an effective paradigm after admitting that all previous & present governments have so far failed. In fact, recently, the bombings have become more brazen.

Islamic separatists may even call themselves that, but criminal / terrorist is a much better nomenclature.
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pointoffew
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Discussion 4 : 29 Jul 2012 at 11.404
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The poll was conducted in 15 provinces, 12 of which far away from the region concerned. In other words: the view of those polled is strictly based on the information they are given by media, which more often than not do little less than disseminate government propaganda. Investigative reporting is virtually non-existent in Thailand. The poll doesn't add anything to what we know - or believe to know - about the conflict.
@ geoffo, discussion 1: CCTV cameras are often installed on high, unstable poles, affecting the quality of the images they produce.
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waters
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Discussion 3 : 29 Jul 2012 at 11.183
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geoffo, DS # 1
I share your fustration with that poll results, but remember, it's an opinion poll, not a factual poll. Many of those polled don't even live in the South, and are as clueless to the unrest causes as we all are, because all we know is what the media tells us.
The Abac pollers didn't even ask if the cause could be a result of a religious ( Muslim ) movement towards independence. Seeing as how the Saudis have poured millions of dollars into the Southern Muslim coffers I would have opined that the cause was attributed to Muslim extremism, but Abac didn't include that polling option.
If the Army were to capture and interrogate a few dozen of these insurgents we might learn the truth. If they decided to tell us.
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dickemery
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Discussion 2 : 29 Jul 2012 at 11.172
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this is how terrorist at work they sell drugs and donation to finance there cause it happened in northern ireland and libya and afganistan, wake up this regime and the generals, this is terrorism by insurgents the taliban have threaten to go into burma ,thailand could be next on their list
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geoffo
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Discussion 1 : 29 Jul 2012 at 10.301
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Now this is a terrific conclusion. Is it terrorism funded by drugs and sales of war weapons or is it drug sales supported by terrorism using war weapons.

No wonder so called leaders don't have a clue.

BTW Does anyone know why the video from a "hidden place" was wobbling around, zooming and panning.
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