Posts by Chris Waugh
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Speaker: Colour coding Jonestown, in reply to Simon Grigg,
the South China Sea of course
Of course. And the Mekong - remember that case when the crew of a Chinese boat was massacred by a notorious drug gang a couple of years back? That sparked new, closer security cooperation on the upper Mekong. And, of course, the worries downstream countries have of China damming the Lancang (as the Mekong is known north of the border). But I was also thinking that, in the unlikely event of another coup, ties with China give the Thai military a fallback option if the US imposes sanctions. And China [ahem] understands how it is trying to pacify the mob. China can certainly sympathise with the authoritarian instincts some in Bangkok are displaying.
Likewise, I've been wondering what China's been up to in Fiji since Bainimarama's coup, but I've seen nothing more than one or two vague hints. Certainly a lot of Bainimarama's moves seem to have come straight out of Han Feizi's playbook, something that Zhongnanhai can certainly appreciate, and China's never ignored or turned its nose up at building closer ties with much smaller countries. But, as I said, I've seen only slightly more than nothing written on the subject.
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Speaker: Colour coding Jonestown, in reply to Simon Grigg,
The Thai military have ties to both the US and Chinese
The Chinese?! Now that does thicken the plot somewhat. China's good at stepping into vaccuums the US and Western powers generally leave. Still, it certainly does seem there's a fair bit of ratcheting up of tension before a coup becomes imminent.
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Me too! Thanks for the greater context - especially the historical aspects. I do have to wonder:
1: What are the chances of a coup?
2: Where does the royal family fit in all of this?
3: You make it seem as if Suthep Thaugsuban is losing some of his popularity. Is he fading into obscurity? Are people getting bored? Or realising that times are moving them in a direction they can't control? Is a new leader emerging, or likely to emerge?
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Capture: Spring Breaks, in reply to Nora Leggs,
branching out to floratography!
Well, I’ve dabbled, and posted one or two less unsuccessful dabblings hereabouts, but considering the season that’s about the only thing flowering up this way right now.
And considering how incongruous a sight this photo is – passed it today, and it still trips me out – I’m not sure how much we’ll see flowering as the weather warms. Explanation: Beijing hasn’t had any precipitation since early November, at least. Well, there was one day earlier this month when we had a few microscopic snowflakes floating about – big enough you could feel them hit your face, but only just, and one or two you could actually see, enough that there was a rather breathless post to Weibo to the effect of “Snowflakes sighted at Chaoyang weather station!!!!!”, and I did see photos of a tiny bit of snow on the ground out in Yanqing, but last week or the week before I saw a headline in the newspaper saying “Zero precipitation for 92 days”. December was completely dry and I don’t recall any kind of rain or snow in November.
ETA: Further explanation. The "snow" in that photo is, so far as I can tell, ice scraped out of the freezers of the supermarket whose end wall you can see in the top of the shot - it fell, yes, but from buckets or basins or tubs, not from clouds.
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Hard News: All John's Friends, in reply to BenWilson,
All excellent points, of course. Still, the fundamental structure of the system doesn't seem to have changed much at all - and one could say the same about many, if not most countries, China and NZ included.
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And in B&W, too.
...and besides, I couldn't leave this thread sitting on 666 responses, could I? That might've led to something devilish appearing.
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My wife got this all ready in a jar with water at the supermarket. She was a bit disappointed when the flowers came out pink, she prefers purple, but she’s been excited to watch the flowers slowly opening.
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Hard News: All John's Friends, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Now, had Michael Joseph Savage managed to squeeze in a game of golf on said holiday, would that be a holiday? ;)
Only if he'd been invited by Stalin.
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Dr Sharples said some of the process of building closer links with Labour had begun, and he believed it was time to consider Labour as an alternative.
