September 27th, 2008, 16:14
HMTK's least favourite political neighbour is, we know from That Book, Suu Kyi. We can assume that the Thai army in many ways envies their Burmese equivalents. I remember saying in a predecessor Forum that the only thing the Thai Army had proved itself any good at was gunning down the Thai population. Some fool in Pattaya berated me because a friend of his who'd been in the Army said that no officer in one Army would ever publicly criticise officers in another Army. It just wasn't "done". I was letting down the side. I have little respect for the Thai armed forces, and even less for the Burmese. who are close to being world experts in the field of shooting their own people. An article in the International Herald tribune assesses the current position (they are entrenched) and mentions, among other things, how dependent they are for their income on selling natural gas to Thailand - http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/26/ ... ?pass=true (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/26/asia/26yangon.php?pass=true)