OPINION

Strongman playbook

Re: "Senate votes to curb Potus' war powers", (World, Jan 10).

President Donald Trump has just proposed a US$1.5 trillion (47.1 trillion baht) budget for the rebranded War Department for 2027, over a 50% increase over the current budget, equalling the defence spending of the rest of the world!

How should we view this event? Certainly with fear and trepidation.

Mr Trump's proposal signals a tacit admission: current deployed methods of containing China have failed. Efforts to leverage Western financial systems, impose tariffs, restrict technology transfer (including AI), and rebuild domestic supply chains (such as rare earths) have proven ineffective or too slow to close the gap.

By proposing this enormous budget at a time when its ability to borrow money from the rest of the world is greatly reduced, and alternatives to the US dollar as the world reserve currency are becoming available, it has taken the next step to convert the US economy into a war economy.

By pivoting to a war economy, the US government will be able to use the old playbook European countries used leading up to World Wars I and II and is now being used to continue to support the war in Ukraine. But Mr Trump has two more objectives he's planning for.

Firstly, is the "great reset" of the sovereign debt. War provides the ultimate legal cover for a financial great reset. In a declared state of total war, the United States could invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act to freeze and effectively nullify foreign obligations.

Secondly, there is the suspension of democracy for "continuity of government". Along with massive demonstrations in the United States stemming from recent policies mandated by Mr Trump on tariffs and the forced deportation of targeted ethnic groups, a shift toward a war economy could provide him with a pretext to declare martial law and attempt to suspend the democratic process indefinitely, keeping him in office and flouting the two‑term presidential limit established in the US constitution. Mr Trump has already foreshadowed this intent by floating the controversial idea of cancelling the 2026 midterm elections.

The world has seen this playbook before. It is a prelude to war.

Stop arguing

Re: "Tired of feuds", (PostBag, Jan 14).

I agree with Jerry Feldman. I have written to Postbag often and have even been published a few times.

Postbag is a place to state one's opinion. Fine, print said opinion, and that is that.

If the need is felt to satisfy people's desire to engage in an argument about "facts", please devote print space to a crank column elsewhere.

Space fillers?

Re: "Tired of feuds", (PostBag, Jan 14).

Amen Jerry. Perhaps this confounding dominance of available PostBag space by the tit-for-tat between a few oft-repeated contributors is due to a paucity of cogent submissions from other readers?

Perhaps the simple explanation is the BP editors are under pressure to fill their three columns with something rather than nothing? I wonder if the BP would be willing to share how many printable Letters to the Editors they receive per day on average.

Passport madness

Does the BTS even want customers? I have been a user of the BTS since it first opened. And as a regular user, purchased a card (Rabbit cards now).

At random times, the BTS decided that these had expired and had to be renewed.

The first couple of times, it was easy, simply an exchange. Then came the abrupt demands for a "passport".

Although it will come as a surprise to the management of the BTS, people seldom carry their passports with them every day, everywhere they go.

Fortunately, a copy was sufficient for the first time, and subsequently I used my pink ID card, which seemed to be appreciated as it is familiar and in Thai.

About a week ago, when I went to top up my card, I was met with the dreaded "passport" again. This time, the pink ID card was refused, along with a passport copy. "Cannot, cannot" was all I got.

Today, I duly arrived with my passport, but it seems that is not sufficient either, although, to be fair, the staff did try. So neither a passport nor an ID card is sufficient documentation to renew my Rabbit card.

If the BTS does not want foreigners to use their system, that is fine; we can make other arrangements. But make that fact clear, post a sign, something like this: [NO FOREIGNERS (Except Chinese)]. But, if on the other hand, they do want our money, at least make a system that can be used.