Why run for seat?
Re: "Thailand's local vote still matters", (Opinion, Jan 10).
Peerasit Kamnuansilpa's excellent piece on the upcoming Or Bor Tor local election in Thailand brings up many issues regarding fairness and due process which always come up whenever the democratic exercise comes around.
As a long-time resident in a small town in Sa Kaeo province, I've seen a lot of canvassing. To be more precise, I've heard a lot of such canvassing from those converted pickups which can get a tad loud at times.
Usually, two contestants vie for the local seat. You will always see nice pictures of their smiling faces on billboards wherever you go.
The author's main concern was lack of management when it came to the purse strings, leaving the local official at the mercy of some anonymous bureaucrat far away in Bangkok.
Which raises the question, why the driven desire to spend all that money to get into the chair in the first place?
Also, I would like to know the voter turnout at these polls. I suspect pretty high if the wannabe Or Bor Tor chief is determined enough.
Ian Dann
Simple maths
Re: "No knowledge here", (PostBag, Jan 10).
Contrary to what Donald Graber thinks, I never claimed to know "all there is to know" about military operations, but I do claim to know I've read the US Federal Government's public conventional munitions reports, as well as several CSIS analysis reports citing excessive munitions use, then using basic war gaming and math to reliably prove said conflict.
I also know I watched war hawks like Senator Lindsey Graham tell Americans on network TV why we had to go to war with Iraq in the disastrous 2003 conflict. Last week, I saw a very grey Graham tell us on TV why we must go to war with Venezuela.
Using the same exact script word-for-word, he pencilled in a new nation's name as he grinned, dreaming of profiteering off confiscated resources again.
To close, knowing not everything, but at least that, when friends with vast knowledge -- be they mighty as retired colonels/commanders, or simply wiser civilians such as my straight Saudi Arabian pen pal who told me not to even think of a visit as I'm gay and could face horrible trouble -- I have all the sources and facts which I need. But I guess until the enemy is finally on Americans' and/or Nato-supporting Europeans' own driveway, only then shall they believe they can lose.
Jason A Jellison
What's next?
Re: "Trump came to liberate Venezuela's oil, not its people", (Opinion, Jan 10).
I have a few thoughts on President Donald Trump's "kidnappings" of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife as follows:
1. Is this a part of Mr Trump's Make America Great Again agenda?
2. Is colonialism returning to the new world?
3. Is this a slap on the face of the US constitution? No offence.
4. Is this comparable to or worse than a coup d'etat executed by a military regime in one's country?
5. Is Greenland next? Is Colombia next? Who's next?
I sincerely hope that the majority of the American people will "wake up" and run the country in a democratic and peaceful way.
I also hope that -- since my school days in the US -- democracy will finally be able to grow and flourish in the entire world.
CK
