Osama's back again. This time laughing and makes jokes about Bush's incompetence. I guess the last laugh is on us, huh?

You conflate troubles in teh South (1000 mi from Bangkok) with problems in Thailand and then confuse things with the GMO. There are a more important set of issues here---the violence has been simmering for months, Thai police inflamed the situation by their suffocation of protesters. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has a governing style much like Bush's and it has been making things worse. Thaksin is an ex-officer in the police (which is a sort of cross between the FBI and state police in the US) and has family in the upper echolons, so the police can easily be viewed as instruments of his personal rule. The US and Europe have strategic assets in the form of Shell and Unocal drilling operations a few provinces up from these places.

BTW, Satun province also is majority Muslim. Also, this was an area of sultanates who allied with Thailand against the British, not an independent Kingdom.

There has been violence with varying degrees of political reference points in the since at least the Vietnam era, when the Communist party was active in the far South (and in the ethnic Lao Northeast). This was an era when the Left was in ascendence in Malaya (as Malaysia & Singapore were known--a very violent era). Successions of radical groups have seized on the displeasure of Southerners and have found safe havens and varying degrees of popular support ever since. Some have identified themselves as Islamic fundamentalists, others are probably just criminal gangs. During the 90s, the Malaysian govt worked cooperatively with successive Thai governments to put down the last of these, then rather small rebel groups. Malaysia has a stake in this area because it has a number of choice resort areas close to the Thai boder. This area is relatively far from even the southern Thai resorts of Krabi, Phuket, Samui and the like, which is an important "safety" factor.

BTW, Bangkokians harbor a great deal of suspcion about Southerners ("you can't trust them" is a common sentiment) including the Buddhists. Southern Thai Buddhists have a more cosmopolitan heritage than the rest of the country from trade with India, Portgual, and the Middle East over a period of centuries. A source of resentment for Buddhists and Muslims alike is the relatively well-off ethnic Chinese merchant class which tends to dominate the cities. There's more to the South than this conflict and the South is very different from the rest of the country, although I would not be surprised to see efforts to organize the sizable (but relatively small and moderate) Muslim community in Bangkok.

BTW, skip AP reports and look at the Bangkok Post and the The Nation, the two English language Thai papers for coverage. Both are online and operate as relatively free presses. The Nation tends to be more anti-US and nationalistic.

Thank you for the links to the Nation. Wonderful paper!

From an editorial:

The right-wing idealist with a penchant for cowboy boots and the aggressive projection of American power and “values” is their man.

...has made an apparently clear decision to hitch its future to Bush’s neo-con wagon with little in Congress to provide any checks or balance.

By the time of the election, Bush had only one issue - his war on terror - and even though it could be argued he hasn’t made America or the world any safer, his singular focus seemed to be enough for American voters.

For the rest of us, the next four years are shaping up to be a volatile time, on both the security and economic fronts. With no need to worry about re-election, with control of Congress and with an eye on his legacy, Bush will be free to pursue his religious and ideological goals with few constraints.

...given the terrible losses America has suffered - and caused - in Iraq, the military’s failure to hunt down the terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks and the country’s economic woes,

Bush should consider that point, as well as the fact that more Americans voted against him than against any previous successful candidate.

I am an American, married to a Thai, with business interests in southern Thailand, Koh Samui to be exact. Largely, there has never been a spillover from the Muslim insurrection in the deep south of Thailand that would effect normal tourism, no incidents to speak of. This insurrection has been going on a LONG time before 9/11. It is not an Al-Queda influenced problem, though no doubt they help support it. I would suggest to any American traveling to Malaysia from Thailand, err on the side of caution. Most people don't go that way, mostly backpackers, and their ready for challenges anyway. If you're traveling to Thailand, you'll have the best time of your life. it is by far the most repeated tourist destination in the world. good luck