Fascist nonsense
Re: "Politics of language", (PostBag, Oct 26) & "Harris calls Trump a 'fascist' at town hall", (World, Oct 25).
Given the overwhelming lack of integrity of the corporate media these days it is incumbent upon the consumer to exercise a hefty dose of logic and intelligence, especially where politics is concerned. Samanea Saman has failed to meet the mark.
Fascism is a populist political philosophy characterised by severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition. There was no evidence of this during Trump's last term.
On the contrary, Harris has clearly said she wants to fix prices for food, while Trump has faced numerous assassination attempts and countless spurious lawfare actions hoping to force him into prison.
Furthermore, wouldn't a fascist want to surround himself with other fascists? Are Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, J D Vance, and Robert F Kennedy Jr. secretly fascists too?
The primary sources of this political smear, former Gen Milley, known for "eroding military culture and readiness" (Military Times) and former chief of staff John Kelly are disgruntled because they were exposed for their incompetence under the Trump administration.
In this case I suggest following the cocaine, not the money. Trying to paint Trump with the "Hitler" brush is nonsense, and many of those holding the brush are wealthy beltway insiders terrified of finding themselves exposed on the Epstein and Diddy playlists.
Re: "Bot, government may have wrong inflation data", (Opinion, Oct 17) & "A strong baht", (PostBag, Oct 11).
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has calculated that inflation has been less than 1% this year in Thailand, and the Bot strives to keep inflation at this figure, or at least less than 3 %.
Inflation seems to be at historically low levels now in the kingdom, at least if we are to believe what the letter writer says. Then why is it that the prices of almost everything seem to keep going up around here?
The answer according to columnist/economist Chartchai Parasuk is the government has heavily subsidised energy resources. Take away the subsidies, and the rate of inflation goes right up.
As a matter of fact, when the Bot measured the prices of essential goods such as pork and chicken meats or even fuels, it found that on average, the prices of such goods has gone up by well over 4% over a 5-year period.
What's more, the average price of houses has gone up over 9% yearly, but this is not reflected in the actual rate of inflation, as housing prices are not included in the official calculations.
So to make a long story short, inflation is high right now in Thailand, despite what the mandarins in the government are telling the public.
Re: "Rights on trial", (PostBag, Oct 26) & "Behind Thailand's winning UNHRC bid", (Opinion, Oct 22).
I echo the comment in PostBag by Sad Optimist.
Thailand getting a slot on the UNHRC has no meaning on its merit but is simply the result of lobbying by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Thailand has not met expectations to safeguard human rights in the country.
There are so many domestic political cases in which the accused are denied due process and put behind bars without bail. The recent case of the Tak Bai massacre 20 years ago in which the government let the case lapse without justice being brought to the culprits is but one recent example.
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