Draconian madness

Re: "Crackdown out of control", (Opinion, May 24).

This is precisely what has me concerned. A person may receive a memo he does not know has any illegal content. They open it, discover the problem and delete the offending message. However, under the new processes, the damage has been done.

There are historical precedents for what happens next. Naturally, all I can see is the rounding up of people who saw the memo and, as there will be thousands, they must be housed in special camps.

To oversee this process there must be special police and military units. This does scare me, as my family is Thai, yet I am a foreigner.

Michael Weldon
Nothing in the closet

I should like to point out to Richard Bryant who wrote on May 23, "Skeletons to hide," that the term "hidden skeleton" implies that one has something to hide in one's past that one does not want anyone else to know about.

Would the letter writer kindly point out how the failure to arrest the spoiled scion of the Red Bull empire is hidden? Far from being hidden, it has been a news story, (with follow-ups) in every international paper around the world. It is not a hidden skeleton, but indeed, a very fleshed out one.

Jack Gilead
The real terrorists

Jason Jellison (PostBag, May 21) tells us that unlike Muslims, Christians are peaceful. Yeah right! Is that why America started a totally unprovoked war with Iraq in the time of George W Bush, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of people and leading to the rise of the Islamic State?

And that's why America allows Israel to steal more and more Palestinian land and to commit endless atrocities that have even been documented by Israeli human rights activists?

There has been more bloodshed caused by Christians in the past century than by all the other religions of the world combined. The reason we think only Muslims are terrorists is because we never describe Christian and Jewish atrocities as terrorism.

Eric Bahrt
Duterte loses plot

Re: "Duterte heads to Russia to meet 'hero' Putin in blow to US relations", (BP, May 23).

Am I the only one to note the irony of Philippine "diplomacy" under President Duterte? Under the guise of establishing a more balanced foreign policy, the controversial Philippine president has demonstrated a perverse attraction to the two biggest hegemonic countries in the world today.

Mr Duterte's "favourite hero" Vladimir Putin is responsible for invading and annexing Crimea, after wrenching it away from Ukraine by bloody force. Mr Duterte also has high praise for Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader responsible for illegal construction and militarisation of artificial islands in the South China Sea, including in areas claimed as sovereign territory of the Philippines itself.

Meanwhile, Mr Duterte goes out of his way to alienate and push aside the US -- the one country in the world that could potentially help it defend against the hegemony of China and Russia. I'm afraid Philippine history will not treat Mr Duterte kindly.

Samanea Saman
Short of soldiers?

Re: "2 rangers, villager shot dead", (BP, May 24).

I wonder why the Thai army employs rangers for southern security. Are they short of professional soldiers? We well know that those rangers have far less capability in fighting than properly trained soldiers. This has resulted in the loss of innocent civilian lives and more weapons getting into the hands of militants.

RH SugaLamphun
Negotiations vital

Apparently because of the military's inability to negotiate with the separatists, the separatists have changed strategy and have brought the war to Bangkok. I wonder how many more bombs will have to go off in Bangkok before the government decides to take negotiations with them seriously.

Not Optimistic
Undisciplined drivers

Re: "Focus on speed not making road safer", (Opinion, May 24).

The key words to me were the discipline of drivers. I see it every day that Thai drivers don't know the meaning of discipline.

Pete
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