China acting out of order
Re: "Middle Kingdom and 'boomerang effect'", (Opinion, Oct 25).
The article by former Foreign Affairs Minister, Kasit Piromya, is most educational and well balanced on the mighty role of China and her treatment of weaker nations in the Indo-Pacific region. Though one can accept China's development of military might as a hedge against the West, the use of her might against weaker nations can be viewed as somewhat uncivilised and lacking in fair play. It is good of the minister to remind us of the Middle Kingdom in ancient times as the centre of civilisation. It would have been good for China now to promote diplomacy and dialogue as suggested to solve disputes with those weaker nations instead of them having to rely on the might of America to block China's threat.
Stop conning the public, now!
Re: "Seawall plan raises ire", (BP, Oct 2).
Octogenarian Plodprasop Suraswadi, former Pheu Thai MP and former permanent secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, was charged with abuse of power in 2018 and sentenced to two years by the Supreme Court.
He is now serving as the chairman of Pheu Thai's environment policy committee and is promoting what is being hailed as the government's largest megaproject ever. Nine artificial islands connected by seawalls stretching from Bangkok to Chon Buri are supposedly purposed towards relieving flooding in Bangkok and the Central Plains (although the real purpose of course is Pheu Thai's main raison d'etre: wealth transfer).
Environmental activist Petch Manopawitr said, "land reclamation projects go against the growing trend of using nature-based solutions to limit the impact of climate change". This comment, though true enough, does not address the real problem of perennial flooding in the Chao Phraya delta, nor does the government's new megaproject represent one iota of common sense.
Flooding in the capital is not the result of sea level rises in the 21st century. No real-world data supports this conclusion. If one wants to plan such a huge undertaking there must be accurate data from local and regional tidal gauges which show an urgent need stemming from observed sea level rising and a design which will address it. The "Pearls" project does neither and there is no such data. In fact, it will only make matters much worse for everyone except the developers partnering with Pheu Thai.
Bangkok floods because the Chao Phraya River cannot carry sufficient water to the deeper parts of the Gulf of Thailand with an adequate flow rate. The solution (apart from better dam retention management) is regularly dredging to deepen (and widen where possible) the river's course from Ayutthaya for a long distance out into the Gulf. The silt can be reclaimed, sold for fill, and will pay for much of this endeavour.
The fraudulent premise of sea level rising seems to think the Gulf of Thailand is already overflowing. On Aug 27, UN Secretary General Antonio Guiterrez announced, "The ocean is overflowing. Coastal megacities are threatened by our swelling ocean. Water expands as it gets hotter. And glaciers and ice sheets are melting into the sea -- adding to its volume. In other words -- more water is taking up more space".
This is nonsense. Citizens need to put a stop to efforts by their government and the UN to con the public and demand the government serve those who elected them.
Don't mess with Russia
Re: "Putin as host is showing he is far from isolated", (Opinion, Oct 24).
I extend my congratulations to Brics for a successful conference in Kazan. The land of Chekov and its allies are putting in place the building blocks for an emerging multi-polar world order.
As their champion, Russia has also inflicted a strategic defeat on Nato in the Ukraine, and, according to the IMF, has leap-frogged Japan and Germany to become the world's fourth largest economy. All this while under Western sanctions and boycotts. A stunning performance! Unfortunately, the West in its hubris seems incapable of ever learning the lessons of history: don't mess with the Russian bear.
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