Reference: Human shadows haunt the seas, Bangkok Post, March 25, 2008

The article says that carbon dioxide from human activity involving the use of fossil fuels is absorbed into the ocean where it forms carbonic acid and causes environmental devastation. This view is inconsistent with the data. More than 99% of the planet's carbon dioxide exists as carbonic acid in the ocean and only a minute portion is found in the atmosphere. The idea that human activity has introduced carbonic acid into the ocean is a kind of sensational environmentalism that causes more harm than good and yet these people pass themselves off as the good guys and after the harm caused by their activism becomes apparent they simply melt away into their own ecosystem never to be heard from again. There ought to be a way to hold them accountable perhaps with class action lawsuits. It was environmental sensationalism that caused the world to ban DDT and R12 refrigerant. Both of these actions were wrong and they have caused immense amounts of suffering and losses for no good reason.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Keep politics out of Games, Bangkok Post, March 24, 2008

The Olympic games is a contest among nations and it is redolent with national flags, national anthems, and national pride. Throughout the Games, the world's attention is focussed on a nation by nation medal count. Individual athletes and their personal accomplishments are buried under national identity. It is a political event from start to finish. It is for this reason that the Games has always served as a venue to place everyone's political agenda out there for the world to see. If we really want to keep politics out of the Games let us begin by getting rid of the national identities of the athletes, let us ban national flags and national anthems from the event, and let us celebrate the athletic achievements of individuals and teams whatever their national origin. Until we do that it will continue to be a political event by definition and keeping politics out of the Games will be no easier than keeping water out of the oceans.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: A turning point for China, Bangkok Post, March 23, 2008

The article says that the majority of the Han Chinese "understand that the Tibetan struggle against tyranny is the same as theirs". This statement is false. Those outside of China may rightly be outraged by China's occupation of Tibet and by the suppression of human rights therein, but the notion that the Han Chinese are on their side in this struggle is a delusion. Almost to the man, the Han believe that Tibet "belongs" to them, that Taiwan "belongs" to them, and even that Mongolia, a sovereign country, "belongs" to them. They also believe in their heart of hearts that the Tibetans are better off under Chinese rule and that all expressions of ethnic and cultural freedom be it in Tibet or Xinjiang are best explained in terms external anti-China conspiracies.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Respecting the majority vote not only in Bangkok, Bangkok Post, March 20, 2008

The column starts with a confusing headline and gets more and more confusing. If this person has something to say he should just come out and say it in plain English and if he is unable he should seek help in mastering English composition. Also, I am curious to know if there is a photograph of the columnist in which he is not falling asleep.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Why China cannot let go of Tibet, Bangkok Post, March 20, 2008

Britain can't let go of Gibraltar, India can't let go of Assam, Indonesia can't let go of Western Papua, Turkey can't let go of Kurdistan, Russia can't let go of the Kurile Islands, Thailand can't let go of its Malay South, Pakistan couldn't let go of Bangladesh, and so on and so forth. Territorial ambition is an evil that is common to all nation states. It is not unique to China as implied in the article "Why China cannot let go of Tibet", Bangkok Post, March 20, 2008.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Thick oldest ice is melting, Bangkok Post, March 20, 2008

Arctic ice is melting because of a natural and cyclical phenomenon called the Arctic Oscillation that causes changes in ocean currents. It has occurred numerous times in earth's history long before the arrival of man. It is not man made. It has nothing whatsoever to do with our use of fossil fuels or with carbon dioxide emissions therefrom.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: ADB revises its strategic priorities, Bangkok Post, March 11, 2008

The draft framework for reform of the Asian Development Bank says in so many words that the organization has lost its focus on its primary objective of eradicating poverty and its reform would re-establish that priority in a meeting to be held far away from Asia in Madrid, Spain. (ADB revises its strategic priorities, Bangkok Post, March 11, 2008). Meanwhile, back at the ranch, led by rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia, India, and China, Asians are doing what they were not supposed to do. They are getting rich. Yes, there are still basket cases like Nepal and Bangladesh but eradicating poverty in Asia at the state level is getting harder and harder to do because there is less and less of it. This reality is missing from the draft framework. Poverty eradication vessels such as the ADB and the World Bank that find themselves blooming into giant self-preserving and self-serving bureaucracies need an overarching framework to eradicate themselves should they actually succeed in eradicating poverty.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Political parties in Iraq

The formation of political parties in Iraq strictly along communal lines does not bode well for the future of that country. Political parties that represent religious or ethnic groups are recipes for the failure of the nation-state they are supposed to form and for its ultimate dissolution. The Muslim League of India was a political party that wanted to form the government of India but ended up breaking up the country in order to carve out a homeland for the Muslims to be called Pakistan. In turn, the country called Bangladesh was carved out of Pakistan as a homeland for the Bengalis, who were represented by a political party called the Awami League. I would like to propose that the overarching charter of a democracy include mechanisms to ensure that political parties remain purely political.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Money isn't everything, Bangkok Post, March 6, 2008

Just as democracy is the worst political system, so capitalism is the worst economic system; until you consider the alternatives. What Churchill knew is that there is no ideal social system out there. They are all bad. We must choose the least bad and having chosen, it serves no purpose to point out that it is bad (Money isn't everything, Bangkok Post, March 6, 2008). It is a given that it is bad, it's just that the others are worse. As for greed, it is not clear that it is a bad thing for greed is the engine of capitalism. If not for the greedy among us there would be no capital in risky investments and no wealth generated and we would all be poor. Poverty is worse than capitalism. Deng knew that. Mao did not.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Modernisation isn't Westernisation, Bangkok Post, March 2,2008

Everything from running water to the Internet including such social institutions as democracy and the rule of law are Western innovations. The attempt by other cultures to deny that they live in a Western dominated age is a form of delusion bordering on mental illness. That imaginary line between "modernisation" and "Westernisation" (Modernisation isn't Westernisation, Bangkok Post, March 2,2008) may help to soothe and assuage the tortured mind of Asians trying to find a relevance for their culture in a Western world but it serves no other purpose. It would be better not to feel tortured in the first place.


Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Defamation lawsuit insurance

In light of recent events in Thailand it may be an opportune time for insurance companies to offer an insurance policy to cover criminal defamation lawsuits with up to one billion baht in claims. There should be a lot of takers and they may include those in the media who believe in the freedom of the press. The insurance premium may turn out to be high but one may think of it as the price of freedom and be willing to pay to be free to speak.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Study of Muslim beliefs provides lesson for policy-makers, Bangkok Post, February 29, 2008

The article says that a survey of 50,000 Muslims across the world shows that most of them are not extremists (Study of Muslim beliefs provides lesson for policy-makers, Bangkok Post, February 29, 2008). There may or may not be a lesson here for policy-makers but the lesson for garbage-in-garbage-out research-makers is that extremists by definition do not form the majority of any group. A similar study on crime may show that there is no crime in the world because most people are not criminals. The question is whether even a sliver of an extremist minority with sufficient critical mass can become a significant social problem. Statistical averages of a broad random sample do not address this question.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand