Reuters: Is Bangkok the Worldwide Trade Depression?
By John Batchelor on April 13, 2009 at 7:25 PM in Commerce, G20, Japan, Southeast Asia, Thailand
The failure of the London G20 to reach agreement about protectionism, tariffs, retaliation and the clear cliff-diving of world trade may or may not be related to the civil unrest in Bangkok and throughout Thailand. I spoke to Mary Kissel, Asia Wall Street Journal, on Sunday 12, at Hong Kong, and she told me she had been scheduled to travel to Bangkok for Easter weekend but was turned back by the disorder. Japan’s economy is also falling sharply and there is no unrest in Tokyo. Is there a connection between an organized (red shirts) challenge of a central government over many years standing and the current unemployment, sinking markets, long-term downturn in East Asia? Unknown.
(Release: November 13)
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This bears careful watching. Thanks for the story, John.
I’m sorry John, but this current situation in Bangkok / Thailand has nothing to do with money or trade!
I travel to Bangkok on a regular basis because of on going business deals I’m involved in there. I can tell you this latest round of protests (as with the last one and the one before that) have nothing to do with money!
Thailand is locked in a deep battle over politics/politicians! Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a military coup a few years ago is still very popular in Thailand. Especially with the poor in Thailand. The new PM is liked and backed by the middle class (many of whom reside in Bangkok). He also was basically chosen by the military to run this so called Democracy!
I just returned from Thailand last week and Thaksin (over the past month) has been talking to his supporters there (while in exile) and there have been rallies to return him to power by the “red shirts” (his supporters) things have started to get heated over the last few weeks and finally broke this past weekend… now you have clashes between pro Thaksin groups and pro Abhisit groups. Thaksin people want to over throw this current government and bring back Thaksin. This is what this all boils down to… Thai people are very passionate and will definitely go the extra mile to fight for their cause! So, this is the result… As for the Thai economy … it is lagging like ours but construction still goes on in Bangkok and in the vacation spots of Thailand. However, they are doing themselves a huge mistep with all this political activity because it keeps tourists away and that’s still the biggest industry there. For now these battles are not because of the economy.. it’s strictly political tug of war right now there!