sorry, new year's eve has been canceled
bangkok has just experienced its first terrorist attacks since i've lived here (and that's more than 25 years). while it's not clear who is responsible (the two main suspects are the maniac islamic terrorists in the deep south and the last government's die-hard knuckleheads--ie morons of one sort or another), there are some reports that the bombs were loaded with shrapnel intended to kill and maim and it appears right now that two people were indeed killed. the placement of the bombs also seem to be aimed at causing the most causalities--bangkok's major transportation hub (victory monument) and various popular shopping malls and markets. this wasn't a simple act of political mischief, it was pre-meditated murder.the government has done the wise thing and basically canceled the major new year's eve celebrations ("countdowns" as they call them here) around bangkok. i do hope they catch the bastards responsible for this and deal with them accordingly (i wonder if they should bring back executions by beheading) but it seems we've lost some of our "innocence" and nothing will get it back--i actually went out and checked the garbage cans in front of our house.
...and this used to be such a peaceful place.
update: a couple more bombs have just gone off near one of the major "countdown" sites this time injuring some foreign tourists. no idea why they were still there. it seems maybe the messages were delivered in Thai.
posted by Paul Hastings @ 10:25 AM
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