As protests at American military action against the Taliban in Afghanistan
are held outside our local American and British Consulates at time of going
to press, world events have truly arrived in my Chiangmai. Quotations from
mightier men than I spring to mind.
"For evil to triumph, it is required only that good men do nothing."
Possibly the worst terrorist atrocities in history, which killed up to
6,000 civilians from over 40 nations in the USA on September 11th, resulted
in speedy messages of sympathy and support from many nations.
Although it was rapidly apparent that a sophisticated, well-funded,
well-planned militant Muslim force had carried out the 3 co-ordinated attacks,
I saw no rapid condemnation of them from senior non-militant Muslims. On
the contrary, I read some tacit agreement. Commentators of many denominations
- including Islam - have since lamented that these leaders (focal points
of opinion) have consistently avoided criticism of so many violent excesses
perpetrated in the name of their faith. Good men doing nothing. "When
I take action I'm not going to fire a two million dollar missile at a ten
dollar empty tent..." the President of the USA told the 'hawks' of
his administration who wanted immediate and massive retribution on Afghanistan.
It was already clear to him that the brutalised people of that ravaged
nation were, far from being aggressors, also victims.
JUST LIKE THE REAL THING?
Almost! This metal bas relief of a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero-Sen actually
represents an aircraft of the 64th Sentai, wich was stationed here at Chiangmai.
Framed in dark Thai timber, each piece is numbered and only 1000 pieces
will ever be produced. Made by Thai craftsmen with care.
(Read the letter from an Afghani-American in this issue). So the USA
stepped up it's already generous aid programme to those people - while
planning very tightly focussed strikes on the real culprits, Osama bin
Laden and his Taleban protectors. "I fear that all we have done is
to awaken a sleeping giant, who will seek a terrible revenge!" said
one of Japan's top generals after Pearl Harbour. Well, after what has been
called America's "second Pearl Harbour" the leaders of that nation
have NOT sought a terrible revenge. They have used the rifle rather than
the scatter-gun and I applaud them for that.
What DID the protestors now rattling the gates of western democracy
expect? That the USA would do nothing except lick it's wounds, cower in
a corner and wait for yet another atrocity? "We are not a naive people!"
as another world leader once said. I am relieved that non-military casualties
in Afghanistan are being counted in 3 figures. If there had been different
thinking - perhaps a different administration - in the White House in September,
maybe we'd not be alive to debate this now?
Are you a subscriber?
Thanks to the wonders of modern computing, some
Thai and overseas subscribers' details have gone missing. If you see this,
e-mail or snail-mail
your info & final month paid to us soonest. Apologies & thanks!
If you see 3 Nissan pick-ups arrive here from Bangkok
in a blaze of publicity, you'll know they are on the first leg of a 200,000km,
6 month journey to test the efficiency of diesel-with-palm-oil fuel (...).
Deputy
Editor
![[ Yahoo! News Search ]](http://us.yimg.com/i/yahootogo/ytg_news.gif){kind=small}
![[ Yahoo! Weather ]](http://us.yimg.com/i/yahootogo/ytg_weather.gif){kind=small}