THAILAND ON THE BRINK OF CIVIL WAR

BANGKOK POST:

Tanks, armoured cars and about 1,000 soldiers were deployed at Silom and Saladaeng areas awaiting the order to crackdown on red-shirt protesters at the Ratchaprasong intersection, reports said.

Natthawut Saikua, co-leader of the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), said early morning on Wednesday that the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Government (CRES) had sent tanks and more troops to Saladaeng rally site of the red-shirts.

He ordered security guards on duty at all checkpoints to be alert for any crackdown. He told red-shirted supporters to get ready for the situation, while women, children and elderly were advised to move to nearby Wat Pathumwanaram which is believed to be safety zone.

Two army helicopters were seen flying over the Ratchaprasong area, while the red-shirts fired homemade bamboo rockets at them, said the report.

THE ATLANTIC/GLOBAL POST:

For months, the Western and Asian punditry alike have brooded over the threat of a Thai civil war.

Outside of academic circles and op-ed pages, however, this scenario has been largely regarded as hysterical. The silliness seemed to peak last month when charitable groups attempted showings of "Hotel Rwanda" in Bangkok on huge outdoor screens -- a cautionary tale for Thais consumed with class hatred.

But now, the Thai capital looks, smells, and sounds like war. Rifle fire crackles throughout the day. On back alleys, protesters vowing to end the "rule of elites" concoct molotov cocktails from spent bottles of Red Bull.

As I write this, pyres demarcating nighttime conflict zones light up glass skyscrapers with a hellish glow. And for the second consecutive night, explosions rumble outside my balcony's sliding glass door.
Bangkok is 10 weeks and more than 60 deaths into a stand-off between the military-backed government and a faction of self-proclaimed "commoners" -- the Red Shirts -- that insists the ruling party must fall.

In recent days, the army has resorted to picking off protesters (the top brass calls them "terrorists") with sniper rifles from afar. But the Red Shirts have defended their encampment: two-square miles of Bangkok's priciest real estate, fortified with concertina wire and bamboo staves.

As Bangkok slips further into chaos, it's unclear if even the Red Shirt guiding statesmen can turn back the legions of Thai men (and some women) wading into near suicidal combat.

YES: IT SEEMS BANGKOK IS ON THE VERGE OF CIVIL WAR.

• IT WAS ONCE THE MOST STABLE IN SE ASIA.

• THEN CAME THE JIHAD IN THE SOUTH.

• AND THE CURRENT JUNTA DIDN'T LIKE HOW THE PREVIOUS PM THAKSIN WAS DEALING WITH IT: TOO HARSHLY, THEY THOUGHT.

• IN FACT, THE THAKSIN COUP WAS LED BY A MUSLIM GENERAL.

• NOW THE JIHAD-APPEASING GOVERNMENT IS FIGHTING THE PEOPLE WHO WANT THE OLD REGIME BACK.
  

CHAOS AND CIVIL WAR AIDS THE JIHAD ON THE SOUTH.

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