Airport Shenanigans

When I visited the USSR in 1976, officials were keen on visitors not leaving with certain items. It was an odd game. You could buy only official souvenirs sold in tourist stores. these were often far too expensive for a recent high school graduate on a budget (and cheaply made).

The official stores did not have what we wanted anyway. We somehow found places that sold us the Red Army belts and Soviet flags to smuggle out and adorn our college dorm rooms. What was most puzzling was the policy on значкий - the little enamelled pins people were constantly exchanging as gifts. They most often commemorated places or events, like Leningrad or the launch of Sputnik. We had brought a few American flag pins and Oregon pins to trade, but quickly ran out. It didn't matter. People were constantly giving us little pins all the time we were there. It was sweet.

And it was illegal to take them out of the country. I never quite got my head around why these cute little pins were so evil. But we played the game and duly smuggled them.

Except that I forgot to hide mine. I had been pinning mine to my hat, and it was a hot, sunny day. I had intended to stuff my hat far down into my brimming backpack before going through security. But, being as absent-minded as I am today, I simply forgot it was on my head.

I approached the uniformed security guard, my backpack full of contraband, my значкий openly on my head. He took one look at me and pointed at my hat and laughed. He waggled his finger and admonished me in Russian for having violated the law (I gave him a nice "deer in the headlights" stare that I reserve for times when I'm scared I'm going to get thrown into a Gulag). He looked at my passport, didn't check my backpack and waved me through, giggling to his comrades about the silly American girl who didn't know enough to smuggle her значкий out properly.

Contrast this with a piece found on slashdot from samzenpus. A guy gets cheeky and writes "Kim Hawley is an idiot" on the outside of the plastic bag he used for his toothpaste and hair gel (Kim "Kip" Hawley is the head of the TSA). He was detained. Police were called. He was told his First Amendment rights did not apply in line at the airport.

Notwithstanding it was a stupid stunt. But it illustrates the point that we live in a nation trapped in the thrall of terrorism. We are terrorized. A note on a plastic bag calling an official an idiot is not a terrorist threat! Any plot, no matter how ludicrous, is taken seriously. A few months ago, there was an alert because of evidence obtained under torture of a plot to dismantle bridges with torches. Any rational person would realize that you can't dismantle a bridge with a torch! No one is even stopping long enough to use the space between their ears before pressing the panic button.

Al Qaeda does not have to plant a single bomb to make us jump. We are doing Bin Laden's work for him. We are undermining our own economy and sacrificing any international goodwill we once had in a fight that our recently declassified National Intelligence Estimate says has made things worse.

It seems the biggest casualty of the war on terror is our national sense of humor.

Live From Bangkok

This the message sent by my friend from Bangkok this evening:

That is a shame. You are half the world away and you know before I do.

I woke up at five this morning, about to get ready for work. I got a strange feeling because it was so quite and dark around my house. But did not realize what was going on.

Then, one of my colleaques, N,called. I swear that I have never heard such a happy voice like that before. It was certainly weird for me to get a call at five. I thought it was (an American friend). She said she called me last night at 10 and kept saying how come I was already in bed. She was up all night. She kept saying something but I did not get it 'til she finally said "it was over, The squared-face is out" I don't know whether because of the words "over" or
"squared-face" but I did wake up. Well, seems like everyone around here know what is going on and that they do not need to go to work today. I feel a little bit guilty of missing what will soon become an outstanding day in the history of Thailand.

So, N and I are home, thinking about a party. It is such a beautiful day in
BKK. That's all I can tell you.


PS. wonder why foreign media and governments are so concerned. They should be
happy for us. We are so delighted and overwhelmed here.

Here is the headline and the news for today.
Coup as it unfolds

The Nation monitors the events that led to the coup as well as events after it
as following:


Sept 19


8.00 am Thaksin Shinawatra calls an urgent teleconference with all armed forces commanders at Government House, but none attends.


Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkarin, the army chief, later says the meeting is hastily called. Rumor then spread around the capital and the stock market that a coup de etat is under way.


12.00 am After finishing the webcamera teleconference with Thaksin, who is in New York, several Cabinet members check with reporters if there would really be a coup.


6.30 pm The Army's special forces from Lopburi move into Bangkok. Gen Prem Tinnasulalonda, president of Privy Council, has an audience with HM the King, reportedly on a meritmaking ceremony for ML Bau Kittiyakala.


6.55 pm Thai News Agency reports that Thaksin will return to Bangkok on Thursday, instead of Friday.


8.00 pm 191 police receive M16 rifles to prepare for an antiriot assignment.


9.00 pm The Army's special forces from Lopburi arrive at the Army's Bangkok headquarters.


Web surfers post messages on Pantip.com asking if there is a coup de etat.


9.10 pm The armyowned TV Channel 5's mobile TV broadcast unit arrives at the Army's Bangkok headquarters.


9.30 pm TV channel 5 cancels regular programming and puts on air royally authored songs.


Reporters at Government House say situation is normal, but rumour was rife that deputy premier Pol Gen Chidchai Vanasatit and defence minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkun have been under custody.

Panthongthae, Thaksin's son, reportedly has left Thailand for the UK.


9.40 pm Police commandos arrive Baan Chansongra, Thaksin's residence.


10.00 pm Army tanks take position at Bangkok Makkawan Rangsan Bridge and Rajdamnern Avenue.


10.10 pm CNN reports Bangkok situation


10.20pm Thaksin declares a state of emergency via the phone from New York. He also issues two orders, transferring en Sondhi from the post of army chief to the PM's Office, and naming Gen Rungroj Mahasaranond as the officer in charge of the crisis.


11pm "The Administrative Reform Council" (ARC) issues a first statement on TV network, saying the armed forces and national police have peacefully seized control of Bangkok and surrounding areas. Soldier seize the Shinawatra Building, iTV television station and Thaksin's residence.


11.15pm Soldiers put steel barricades at Sri Ayudha and Rajdamnoen Roads


11.50pm ARC issues the second statement explaining the reasons for the coup d'etat, citing national disunity and rampant corruption. ARC says it plans to return power quickly to the people


12.39am ARC issues third statement, nullifying the constitution, the caretaker Cabinet and the Constitutional Court.

8:00 am ARC spokesman announces Gen Sonthi will make announcement on TVs at 9 am. The spokesman also announces that TV stations can resume their normal programmes but most continue to relay signals from Channel 5 except iTV, which briefly airs its morning news programme.

8:50 am: Permanent officials and rectors of universities start arriving at the Army headquarters to report themselves to the ARC. Khunying Jaruvan Mainthaka, the auditor-general, flashes a thumb-up to reporters.

9:16 am Sonthi holds a press conference. The first part of his statement is similar to the first statement of the ARC. He says the ARC has to seize power to solve the country's problems caused by the Thaksin admnistration.

Sonthi appears on TV along with the police chief and commanders of other armed forces in the four-minute announcement.

After Sonthi finishes reading the statement, a spokeswoman announces that the TV pool is disbanded and TV stations resume normal programmes.

9:50 am A source in New York tells a radio programme that Thaksin is considering whether to go to England or not.

10:00 am Sondhi Limthongkul, a decision maker of the People's Alliance for Democracy, announces that the planned rally in the evening is cancelled.

Sondhi also praises the army chief for staging the coup.

J

Shinawatra Shuffle

Our Thai friends are among the kindest people we know. Seldom do we hear prejudicial remarks about other people from their lips. Our experience of Thai culture is that manners are important, and that keeping one's mouth closed rather than saying something unkind is expected.

We were, therefore, taken aback when sitting in the company of four singular Thai women this summer. Two were University professors, working at a government-run University and on the Thai government payroll. One was a member of a Thai goverment ministry. Another owned a tour agency. All of them agreed that they wanted to see Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra not only out of power, but dead.

The reality is that none of these devout Buddhists would ever harm another human. But they consider his crimes against the Thai people so heinous that his death would serve to save lives.

My Thai friends should wake to good news. As of this writing, BBC and CNN are blacked out in Bangkok and there are tanks in the streets of the city. But Reuters is reporting that a peaceful coup has taken place ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he is in NY attending the UN General Assembly Session. So far, there have been no shots fired, and the Army Commander-in-Chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalinarmy has already met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Military leaders have not taken government titles and insist that democracy will return as soon as possible.

We find it interesting that American newservices are the only newsservices of the many we have read this afternoon that mentioned that Sonthi Boonyaratkalinarmy happens to be muslim. We sincerely doubt the relevence of this detail, save that it may keep insurgents in southern Thailand from adding to the stress of this troubled time.

Smiley Smiles

In a strange sequence of events reminiscent of a LeCarre novel, Richard Tomlinson, a former M16 officer has thumbed his nose in the face of the British Secret Service and published his novel online.

Tomlinson was separated from MI6 in 1995 for poor service when he became depressed, and has since been accused of publishing the names of more than 100 MI6 agents on the internet. He claims not to have published the list himself.

Tomlinson threatened to publish portions of the book in an effort to get MI6 to return possessions taken in a raid resulting from the publication of the MI6 list. He's already had one blog shut down.

Alleging MI6 connections to Princess Diana's death, Iraq war documents and plots to assassinate him, even if Tomlinson is a total crank, he's a character worth watching.