[QUOTE=MysticCat;1329387]Well, I hope if the Crusades and the Salem Witch trials are going to be taken into account in critiquing organized religion, charitable works, hospitals, care of the poor, the establishment of educational institutions and the role of organized religion in social movements like the abolitionist and civil rights movements, just to name a few contributions of organized religion, will also get some consideration[/B]
I agree with this. Organized religion has done much good for the world.. but it has also done much bad throughout history.
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You keep saying this, but so far I haven't read a single thing anywhere other than your own posts to back this assertion up. Most articles I have read and most reports I have heard about the coup barely mention the insurgency if they mention it at all, giving much higher priority to a list of other grievances against Thaksin. While I agree that Sonthi was named to head the army in the hopes that he could do better than Thaksin in dealing with the insurgency, I think if you look at the reasons for protests against Thaksin in the last few years, you'll see quite a few things on the "grievance list" ahead of his handling of the insurgency.
(And of course, to treat it as a "Muslim" insurgency may be quite misleading, as it may be as much an ethnic Malay vs. Thai dispute, much how the Catholic-Protestant distinction in Ireland is as much or more about native Irish vs. British as it is about religion).
So what is your source for saying "Thaksin Shinawatra was thrown out of power last week mainly because of the way he dealt with those Muslim uprisings"?
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You have a very good point regarding the problem of ethnic vs. Thai. I'm sure that is part of the problem as well.
There are many mentions in conventional newspapers about the way Thaksin dealth with unrest in the South and how it was a big factor in the coup, as well as corruption and other factors which spurred the military takeover.
Interestingly, it seems the Muslim voice directly blames Thakskin and the way he was trying to deal with the violence in the Muslim community in the south. Here is a link to a Muslim site for an OpEd on the subject:
From alt.muslim
http://www.altmuslim.com/perm.php?id=1791_0_24_0_M
"While Muslims account for only 4.6% of Thailand's total population, their presence in the country (a relic of a 1909 deal with the British that left three Muslim-majority Malay states in Thai hands) has been a major factor in the coup in Thailand last week that ousted democratically-elected PM Thaksin Shinawatra, a businessman who was so widely accused of corruption that even the US did not call for his restoration"
This from The Australian:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...1-1702,00.html
"More than 1400 people have died in the conflict in Thailand's far south since early 2004. The violence has been blamed on Malay separatism, religious extremism and organised crime in the border region.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the former premier ousted in last week's coup, has been accused of inflaming tensions there with heavy-handed tactics. There have been hopes the Muslim army chief who led the coup, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, may be able to ease the unrest. "
And this, from the Christian Science Monitor:
"The dormant conflict awoke in 2001, when the newly elected Thaksin dismantled a security network in the South that provided Bangkok with a link to local Muslim leaders. The move was designed to shut down what the government regarded as an opposition-run organization. The conflict then exploded in January 2004, when a coordinated attack on a weapons arsenal by more than 30 militants unleashed a wave of carnage that has claimed more than 1,700 lives over the past 21 months.
Thaksin's administration had fought the insurgency with an iron fist, allowing security forces to tap phones, ban meetings, detain suspects without charge and impose curfews. This approach raised the ire of human rights groups, who accused the government of extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, and torture.
Moreover, Thaksin's aggressive strategy was failing; by nearly all measures, the violence was escalating. "The heavy-handed policies could not solve the problem," said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, a lecturer of political science at the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani. "The military can't do this alone; we also need a political solution."
And this, from the NY Times:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/21/news/south.php
"The general who led the coup, Sonthi Boonyaratglin, is himself a Muslim and had clashed with Thaksin over the government's southern policy. Only days before the coup, Sonthi proposed negotiations with the insurgents, only to be brushed off by Thaksin."