Pierrot

The thing is, Pierrot, none of your quotes - domestic or international, shows any sign of pressure on the junta to return to democracy any faster than they did themselves.

HRW report that came out last week was a wee bit too late to make any difference. US military funding was too insignificant to make any difference, and they didn't even cancel annual military exercises, afaik.

Lilawadee, alleged drop in foreign investment is not exactly what Pierrot had in mind. He said the junta returned country to democracy due to international pressure.

Altogether foreign investment rose some 20% year on year, btw. Apparently not everyone viewed the junta as critically unstable, last year of Thaksin was, perhaps, politically more frightening.

PS. Thanks for that HRW quote, Pierrot. It is an strong indictment of sham democracy Thaksin was running to cover his true nature.

First I never believed, or said, that someone put a gun on someone else head to force a change in Thai politic. It doesn't work this way. They have more subtle ways to act, a mix of international pressures to give the people in charge a hint of what is their best interest. Therefore it's much harder to bring hard evidence of such pressures.

Second, it's not specific to Thailand. Think of the pressure and the abuse France had to suffer when they made the "wrong" choice regarding the war in Iraq, the economic choices Taiwan, Japan or Korea have to make to preserve their "special friendship" with their protector. And it's not only the USA, China or Russia don't even bother with "subtle messages" when they want something done.

What the Junta came to understand was there will be consequence if a prompt return to democracy was not quickly organized, just in case they change their mind regarding the election calendar.

What you failed to notice in the BBC report was : "The SANCTIONS were an AUTOMATIC step under a law banning such aid to nations WHERE ELECTED LEADERS HAD BEEN DEPOSED". You can argue that the Junta can have easily ignored such sanctions, agree at least for these ones, but not that there was no pressure, sorry.

From the BBC online : " The US has announced a resumption of military aid to Thailand, hours after a new democratically elected government was sworn in there."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7231922.stm

How much in funding Thailand has lost? I remember it was about 14 million dollars, that's it. Not a leverage against any country, even the poorest ones.

If you're not yet convince, there isn't much I can do …

Admit you were mistaken?

Plus, I must admit that it makes a much better story, that 'western powers' took action which forced the junta to give up power, the fact that there is no evidence & that the military-backed caretaker-government held the elections when they had always promised to, before incidentally the U.S. had even temporarily-cut their piffling aid, would not register.

You can't convince a 'true-believer' with mere facts ! Which doesn't however make them any more correct.

Or any less. ...

I read in an other forum that you don't trust the foreign press, ok, but do you trust the local one?

Ricardo, if you don't trust what you read, where do you find all these informations that makes you so knowledgeable about what's really going on ? Honnestly, I'm really insterested...

We have a medium size piece of land where we just finished building our house. Very unfortunately, we don't live there and we plan to hire a local couple to take care of our land and the house. Basically, it's for security purpose (my wife doesn't feel comfortable leaving her house with nobody watching) Also watering the the few plants we have, maybe in the future taking care of some tree plantation ...For information, we have around 40 rais.

Then we have many questions: Is it a good idea to begin with ? What can we expect from them ? I hired the last few days a couple of local guys to help me do some land cleaning, I'm not impress at all !

How much should we pay them? What about the accomodation? Is there any other important question I should ask ?

Thanks in advance

IN which countries is access to property guaranteed?

Chownah

Law's never been my favorite subject, and it was a long time ago, but I believe it is true in most European countries and USA, but I can be wrong.

Furthermore I remember something about tradition is above the law in rural area, which means if there is a tradition to do something in a specific area, and this tradition is again the general country law (not murder of course, but mostly about land usage), local tradition prevails.

One example is if someone can prove he has developed a parcel of land when the official land owner didn't take care of it, the land belongs to him. That's why I said that as long as people can remember, this parcel of land has always been a path, never been used for any other usage.

I'm not a lawyer. I think you are taking some legal concepts and assuming that they apply worldwide when in fact I think they don't. My memory is not perfect but it seems to me that I have seen gov't land sale advertisements (A State gov't in the US) which notified the prospective bidders that access was not provided.....if my memory is correct then it appears that access is not guaranteed by law.

Chownah

You're partially right Chownah, I am taking some legal concepts from back home but I don't assume nothing, I just HOPE they apply here.

This is very very common in Thailand. Land w/o access is referred to as "blind land". It is critical that your lawyers research this before purchasing the land.

Glad to hear that you made an "arrangement" it is always something to keep in mind when buying land. You can easily be the proud owner of land that you are not allowed to go to.

That's what we did, but there is something not very clear. There is a pond at the begining of the "soy", and a path next to it. What the other party claims is the access that belongs to us go through the pond, the path is part of its property and we need to pay if we want to use it. We said we won't pay, and if insisted and if he were right, we will fill the pond to make our own entrance. As he needs the water, he backed off and the problem is solved for the time being

IN which countries is access to property guaranteed?

Chownah

Law's never been my favorite subject, and it was a long time ago, but I believe it is true in most European countries and USA, but I can be wrong.

Furthermore I remember something about tradition is above the law in rural area, which means if there is a tradition to do something in a specific area, and this tradition is again the general country law (not murder of course, but mostly about land usage), local tradition prevails.

One example is if someone can prove he has developed a parcel of land when the official land owner didn't take care of it, the land belongs to him. That's why I said that as long as people can remember, this parcel of land has always been a path, never been used for any other usage.

We bought a piece of land a while ago, everything was fine until one of our neighbour came and told us that the path from the main road to our land belongs to him, goes through his property. It seems he has papers to prove it but as far a people rembember, this path has always been there. As always, what he wanted was money for us to still be able to use this path. Fortunately, he also needed water from our pond so we were able to find an arrangement.

My question is : does someone has the right to block the way to our property ? In other countries, the right to access one's property is always garanteed, even if one needs to go through other people properties. Furthermore, if it can be established that a path has been used for some period of time, the owner lose the right to block it.

I'm afraid that our neighbour will come again next time he needs money, and I would like to find a definitive answer to this problem.

In other forums I argued that the Junta was pressurized by western governments to return the power to a "democratic" government.

Comments from someone : "It makes a good material for endless conspiracy theories but has no legs on its own."

Then I post the following links :

www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b....php?id=125620

www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=125621

Reply : "So no, I don't think there is anything at all in this article, to support your claims. Sorry."

Today will be my final post regarding this subject.

From the BBC online : " The US has announced a resumption of military aid to Thailand, hours after a new democratically elected government was sworn in there."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7231922.stm

If you're not yet convince, there isn't much I can do …

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=125620

"It's now easy for autocrats to get away with mounting a sham democracy," said Kenneth Roth, the group's executive director. "That's because too many Western governments insist on elections and leave it at that."

What a timing , I think it makes my point, don't you think ???

But before the usual Thaksin/PPP bashing starts, please remember the election this report refers to is the one organized by the Junta with the support of the democrats

Are you sure it's about recent elections? That Bangkok Post page is not dated.

It has this passage:

"States that claim the mantle of democracy, include Kenya and Pakistan, while others like Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria, Russia and Thailand have taken on the belief that elections are equal to democracy, the New York-based rights group said in an annual report."

That couldn't be about December Elections. They rather talk about the usual Thaksin supporters claim that since he was elected, he was democratic. We've seen this argument countless times on Thaivisa, from the days of PAD - they should take their protests to ballot boxes, because 'in democracy only elections matter'. In the quote above, Human Rights Watch is very critical of this attitude. Rather opposite of how you used the quote.

My post was a reply to your (and Ricardo’s) comments to my previous posts “It makes a good material for endless conspiracy theories but has no legs on its own.”

As I posted in different forums, here is a summary :

The Junta was pressurized by western governments to return the power to a “democratic” government.

Any government will do as long as the process looks democratic

Junta accepted because they thought they could control the outcome of the election.

The plan backfired, PPP won the election but the Junta was limited in its option by its promise of a “democratic” election

Samak is elected, the army returns to its barracks.

This theory is supported by the views of well regarded international institutions, including the one mentioned in my previous post.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=125620

To answer your comments “Are you sure it's about recent elections? … They rather talk about the usual Thaksin supporters … Rather opposite of how you used the quote.”, you should have a look at the following link :

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=125621

As a strong suporter of Mr Thaksin, I want here to thanks The Nation for its help. I can't remember one day in the past year where Thaksin name didn't appear in the front page. They really made sure we didn't forget the man. And their Thaksin bashing trademark was so obvious that it became soon ridiculous.

At the same time, can anybody tell me what is the platform of the "democrat", what they stand for? Beside being against Thaksin of course? Me neither.

There is two projects that summarize why I welcome the return of Mr Thaksin :the new airport and the Hopeless project leading to Don Muang. Thaksin get things done, and that's more than enough for me.

Unfortunately, too many people that supported the PPP were, like yourself, clueless about what the other parties were saying. Certainly, the PPP knew this and now make comments (concerning capital controls) such as: ''We did say in our campaign platform we want to scrap this policy but now we are in the government. We have to be careful about what we say or do,'' Dr Surapong said.

In other words, tell them what they want to hear and then once elected we can do differently. Since they didn't think things out it is no wonder that Samak refused to debate the issues.

Yes, many of us can tell you what the Democrats policies were as they were the first to issue them and put it on their website. At least those that cared to know the issues, instead of blindly electing a group who readily admits they now need to think things out. To give you an example, for capital controls, the PPP said abolish them (but are now reneging) , the Demo's said abolish them and the Chart Thai said they wanted to review them. For the Rural Economy, the PPP said give, give, give (deficit spending), while the Demo's said increase farmer's incomes by increases in productivity and the Chart Thai said focus on debt and land problems for farmers. There are certainly more, and I am sure if you are really interested you can find them.

Thank you for answering my question ... and making my point.

"I am sure if you are really interested you can find them (Democrats policies)". I don't really care about american election but I know what every candidate stand for. Because that's what election are about, to let people know what you stand for. But "democrats" were not interested in campaigning, they failed miserably the couple of last time they tried.

Then you talked about "capital control", the "Rural Economy" (with capital letter ???). Definitely you're a "democrat" (other countries spell it "technocrat"). Real people care about local economy, healthcare, education ...Thaksin answer these questions, "democrats" don't even understand them.

But the worst is "democrats" think they are smarters than everybody else, and they loudly let it know. Then they expect that people they overtly despised will vote them in office.

"democrats" should now do the honorable thing : political suicide. If they still remember what honour means.

I try to be nice to people on these forums. However, you don't know me and I don't know you so don't feel free to tell me what I am and I won't do the same for you. Got that?

Without question I support the Democrats and without question they could have done better in the northeast. However, they picked up millions of votes and won 165 seats, the second most of any party running. In a democracy you have to have more than one party. You can't expect parties receiving less votes to simply dissolve themselves or we would be back to the dictatorship we just left.

Didn't want to waste to much time about that, but since I'm here ...

<snip>

I accept that the USA & EU had an opinion, what I find laughable is the idea, that it was some action by un-named western powers, that 'didn't allow them to stay longer'. Where is the evidence for this ?

The west has done very little about Burma or Zimbabwe, which are much more serious situations, except spout sympathetic words. In Thailand they had a military-nominated caretaker-government, which was steadily & peacefully moving along a pre-announced path to return to democracy, so all the 'western powers' had to do, was let them get on with it. As I would suggest they indeed did.

I don't think the 'western powers' could have done much here, I asked for any evidence that they had, to support

Pierrot's assertion that they did, and thus far have only the joke-suggestion that Switzerland were behind it all and the obvious statement that the USA/EU disapproved in theory of the coup.

There is a long way between mild-disapproval, and un-named 'western powers' taking firm actions, which 'didn't allow them to stay longer'. So far - I see no evidence that the West did anything to force the junta's hand, nor that they ever felt the need to try.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=125620

"It's now easy for autocrats to get away with mounting a sham democracy," said Kenneth Roth, the group's executive director. "That's because too many Western governments insist on elections and leave it at that."

What a timing , I think it makes my point, don't you think ???

But before the usual Thaksin/PPP bashing starts, please remember the election this report refers to is the one organized by the Junta with the support of the democrats

In fact, I am sure they are glad to be out of the hot seat after their miserable performance in government.

Agreed, who wouldn't be glad, to get out from under, they clearly weren't at-ease in-power ? And I share your oft-stated hope that we won't be seeing them back again. If Thailand can manage more-fair elections in future.

But who were the 'western powers' who forced them out ? Any ideas ??

Switzerland jumps to mind ...

More seriously, read the international press. The EU and USA always made their opinion clear, they have enough trouble to get rid of the junta in Myanmar, they do not need a second military dictature. Thailand has always been the poster child for democracy in S E Asia and they strongly expect it will stay this way . And what the US strongly expect, they usually get ...

I think it's a groundless theory.

Nor the coupmakers nor any particular party high up there had anything to gain from the coup, and, in the end, they haven't gained anything at all.

The main reason was the inevitable confrontation between the government and anti-Thaksin movement, the confrontation that could have been very bloody indeed. That needed to be avoided at any cost, in coup makers view.

Ok, there was no immediate violence yet, but there was no "democratic" solution in sight either.

Respectfully disagree, the junta hasn't gained MUCH because I still believe until proved wrong that western powers didn't allow them to stay longer. But they still managed to negotiate future spending for the army that will allow them to gain substantial commission. Also a couple of position in the board of some of the most important companies. It isn't much but far from negligible.

Stage a coup to get a job???

And the parlament can cut military budget at will, 300 bil over ten years is only on paper so far.

That's not a kind of payback for staging the coup. Certainly not for the "high up" parties allegedly involved.

Junta's ulterior motives hasn't materisalised, I think because there weren't any to begin with.

>>>>

Thai at heart - there's nothing to catch at all. Presidential system is not a substitute for monarchy, presidents come and go, every five years.

The money is not in politics, and neither is the real power. The real power comes from people, from getting millions of people to back you up and having very few enemies.

Thaksin, hated by half the country, never had a shot at it, and never will.

Please read my post. I was not saying that the coup was justified by money (not directly) but that the junta didn't gained much from the coup because they weren't given enough time for that.

The coup was about the end of an era. Nothing to do about monarchy, England or Spain have a well loved Queen / King but are still a vibrant democracy. It's the end of an outdated system based on the power of a minority that didn't work (I didn't do it on purpose but I really like this one, didn't work ... very good, apply to both the system and the minority ). As you said "The real power comes from people, from getting millions of people to back you up", but for the part of "having very few enemies", I'm not so sure.

I think it's a groundless theory.

Nor the coupmakers nor any particular party high up there had anything to gain from the coup, and, in the end, they haven't gained anything at all.

The main reason was the inevitable confrontation between the government and anti-Thaksin movement, the confrontation that could have been very bloody indeed. That needed to be avoided at any cost, in coup makers view.

Ok, there was no immediate violence yet, but there was no "democratic" solution in sight either.

Respectfully disagree, the junta hasn't gained MUCH because I still believe until proved wrong that western powers didn't allow them to stay longer. But they still managed to negotiate future spending for the army that will allow them to gain substantial commission. Also a couple of position in the board of some of the most important companies. It isn't much but far from negligible.

As a strong suporter of Mr Thaksin, I want here to thanks The Nation for its help. I can't remember one day in the past year where Thaksin name didn't appear in the front page. They really made sure we didn't forget the man. And their Thaksin bashing trademark was so obvious that it became soon ridiculous.

At the same time, can anybody tell me what is the platform of the "democrat", what they stand for? Beside being against Thaksin of course? Me neither.

There is two projects that summarize why I welcome the return of Mr Thaksin :the new airport and the Hopeless project leading to Don Muang. Thaksin get things done, and that's more than enough for me.

Unfortunately, too many people that supported the PPP were, like yourself, clueless about what the other parties were saying. Certainly, the PPP knew this and now make comments (concerning capital controls) such as: ''We did say in our campaign platform we want to scrap this policy but now we are in the government. We have to be careful about what we say or do,'' Dr Surapong said.

In other words, tell them what they want to hear and then once elected we can do differently. Since they didn't think things out it is no wonder that Samak refused to debate the issues.

Yes, many of us can tell you what the Democrats policies were as they were the first to issue them and put it on their website. At least those that cared to know the issues, instead of blindly electing a group who readily admits they now need to think things out. To give you an example, for capital controls, the PPP said abolish them (but are now reneging) , the Demo's said abolish them and the Chart Thai said they wanted to review them. For the Rural Economy, the PPP said give, give, give (deficit spending), while the Demo's said increase farmer's incomes by increases in productivity and the Chart Thai said focus on debt and land problems for farmers. There are certainly more, and I am sure if you are really interested you can find them.

Thank you for answering my question ... and making my point.

"I am sure if you are really interested you can find them (Democrats policies)". I don't really care about american election but I know what every candidate stand for. Because that's what election are about, to let people know what you stand for. But "democrats" were not interested in campaigning, they failed miserably the couple of last time they tried.

Then you talked about "capital control", the "Rural Economy" (with capital letter ???). Definitely you're a "democrat" (other countries spell it "technocrat"). Real people care about local economy, healthcare, education ...Thaksin answer these questions, "democrats" don't even understand them.

But the worst is "democrats" think they are smarters than everybody else, and they loudly let it know. Then they expect that people they overtly despised will vote them in office.

"democrats" should now do the honorable thing : political suicide. If they still remember what honour means.

100% agree with the last posts. Thailand is a great country that doesn't deserve the reputation it has abroad.

Thailand has much more to offer than cheap drugs and prostitutes. People who look for trouble and find it shoudn't deserve some much attention.

You left out human trafficking, child prostitution, slavery, corruption at every level, rescue teams shooting at each other, dangerous roads and drivers, intellectual property, etc.

Rescue teams shooting at each other is definitely, like Pad Thai, specific to Thailand, I have to agree with that. But on the other subjects, I don't think Thailand is worse than any other country in the word.

Beside the obvious Singapor, can you give the name of an othe country in Asia that is safer for foreigner than Thailand?

For the record heres a list of coups since 1932. Note the number of military PM's also.

A lot of people bleating about democracy seem to have no understanding of the role of the military, the monarchy or political development in Thailand and only try to compare the current situation with their western experience. Thailand has been buffeted by western reaction to western developed communism, fascism and the cold war. A lot of Thailands political woes are the direct result of western influence and interference and how it has been grafted onto a hermetic feudal culture.

Read & learn a bit more whilst you still have internet access!

What do you mean by "A lot of Thailands political woes are the direct result of western influence" ?

"Read & learn a bit more whilst you still have internet access!" Paranoia seems to be contagious in this forum !

As a strong suporter of Mr Thaksin, I want here to thanks The Nation for its help. I can't remember one day in the past year where Thaksin name didn't appear in the front page. They really made sure we didn't forget the man. And their Thaksin bashing trademark was so obvious that it became soon ridiculous.

At the same time, can anybody tell me what is the platform of the "democrat", what they stand for? Beside being against Thaksin of course? Me neither.

There is two projects that summarize why I welcome the return of Mr Thaksin :the new airport and the Hopeless project leading to Don Muang. Thaksin get things done, and that's more than enough for me.

As per my not to long ago post the police have stop watching politics and will focus on us now. I have it from a very reliable source that the police have restarted drug tests at clubs and bars. Nana Plaza was on the list last night with at least 1 bar submitting to police drug tests.

I think this is significant in that the last time I can recall this type of activity was before July 2006. It reflects that they feel there is closure in the political issues. I guess the party is over and we can expect crackdowns all over again. So yes I guess they will be in checking the bars for smokers.

Pls clarify what you mean by "us"

'Us' being anyone who is not the police or a politician.

I heard you can cure a number of illness. Apparently paranoia is not one of them.

Get real, Thailand is very fair place for foreigner and I don't see it changing overnight. And if they can clear the place from some foreign trouble makers, life can only get better for all of "us".

I don't know about you but I see the police like little kids on an Easter egg hunt with this one. Easy money, just find an ashtray.

Everywhere the same.

A couple of years ago in Hong Kong, there were this new law, $5,000 fine for loitering. I was smoking in the street when I noticed a cop following me around. I can tell you, he was so disapointed when I finally found an ashtray where to get rid of my cigarette butt.

An other time, same story in China, only this time I didn't see them on time. I was not the only one smoking but the only foreigner ... and the only one who got fined.

Tourist = easy money. The equation is true all over the world.

By the way, for people who want to stop smoking, I strongly recommend a small book from Alan Carr "The Easy Way To Stop Smoking". It really works, all the people who read it stopped smoking. I was smoking since I was 16, 1 - 2 packs a day. I read it four years ago, never touch a cigarette since.

While the following quote from another thread doesn't necessarily apply to all with tatoos, it is curiously applicable to this thread:

Psychologists on Tattoos

......

When facts like this are taken into consideration, ....

I was really impressed by the logic. I was about to reply something about Socrat and his cat but I like this one better :

Fact 1 : The Japanese eat very little fat, and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans, British or Australians;

Fact 2 : The French eat lots of fat, and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans, British or Australians;

Fact 3 : The Japanese drink very little red wine, and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans, British or Australians;

Fact 4 : The French drink excessive amounts of red wine, and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans, British or Australians.

Conclusion: Eat and drink whatever you like, and in any quantities; it’s speaking English that kills you.

¿Habla Español anybody ?

100% agree with the last posts. Thailand is a great country that doesn't deserve the reputation it has abroad.

Thailand has much more to offer than cheap drugs and prostitutes. People who look for trouble and find it shoudn't deserve some much attention.

As per my not to long ago post the police have stop watching politics and will focus on us now. I have it from a very reliable source that the police have restarted drug tests at clubs and bars. Nana Plaza was on the list last night with at least 1 bar submitting to police drug tests.

I think this is significant in that the last time I can recall this type of activity was before July 2006. It reflects that they feel there is closure in the political issues. I guess the party is over and we can expect crackdowns all over again. So yes I guess they will be in checking the bars for smokers.

Pls clarify what you mean by "us"

'Us' being anyone who is not the police or a politician.

I heard you can cure a number of illness. Apparently paranoia is not one of them.

Get real, Thailand is very fair place for foreigner and I don't see it changing overnight. And if they can clear the place from some foreign trouble makers, life can only get better for all of "us".

As per my not to long ago post the police have stop watching politics and will focus on us now. I have it from a very reliable source that the police have restarted drug tests at clubs and bars. Nana Plaza was on the list last night with at least 1 bar submitting to police drug tests.

I think this is significant in that the last time I can recall this type of activity was before July 2006. It reflects that they feel there is closure in the political issues. I guess the party is over and we can expect crackdowns all over again. So yes I guess they will be in checking the bars for smokers.

Pls clarify what you mean by "us"

I heard it's better to water the lawn in the late evening, because if you do it in the morning the sun will evaporate it before it has time to reach the ground and you're just wasting water. It kind of makes sense especially in Thailand, but is that true ? My land doesn't have much water, I will dig a new pond for the next rainy season but in the mean time I don't want to waste the little water I have.

Is there any ratio for the water needed in Isaan, based on the land size ? For information, we have around 2 rais garden (lawn) and 8 rais wher we want to grow trees, but not yet decide which ones.

On the same subject, does anybody has the address of good shop selling pump and irrigation system in the Korat (south) area? Ideally an honest merchant (!?) who can also provide advises to an amateur gardener

Most of this thread makes interesting reading but there is some serious obstacles ahead for Thailand and in the worse case scenario: he we don't mention, could pass away thrusting Thailand into a greater political storm.

I think the recent events have the advantage to have clarified the situation.

Put it simply, Western nation do not want an other Burma in Asia. Thailand does not have the option to turn to China if relation with USA and Europe turn sour. The deal is clear, Thailand must return to a democratically elected government and the army should go back to its barracks. Some future lucrative contracts may have help to sweenten the deal, an explanation for the future spending the army has negotiated before the election.

The junta and the old guard agreed, thinking they could direct the electors the "right" way with the help of the "democrats". The election didn't turn the way they expected but they were tied by the deal : "democratic" election ...

The old guard, when they realized the battle was lost, tried to negociate some kind amnesty for themself (more specially regarding the future of Prem) before allowing the minor party to join the PPP and some "face saving" operation will probably happend in the near future. But it's now clear that the "moderns" have won against the old guard, especially for the army, who have less to lose from a PPP victory and more to win from a return to "normal" international relation and may even have negociated some lucrative deal against PPP victory. So I don't believe they will have any interest to leave their barracks anytime soon.

And if the "democrats" eventually learn what democracy means, we may even have one day real democratic election.

A simple way to "reality check" my theory is to look at the number of major military deals in the past two years. If they are close to nothing, I'm probably right.