F B I Terrorism Ranking ' A Misunderstanding'

[Nisa]

To be fair, the situation IS unique. After all, how many of us not living in the South are actually affected by the insurgency there? The closest we get to it is reading it in the news. No crazy Muslim separatist has tried killing us in Bangkok yet.

You have a short memory mate, what about that Muslim dik that blew his own legs off that was meant as an attack just lucky be blew himself up instead

Your memory seems a bit off as that had absolutely nothing to do with fighting in the south nor did it have to do with religion but was Iranians trying to get back at Israel. They planned to put bombs on Israeli diplomat cars as revenge for Israel killing Iranian scientists in the same way... though I suspect many believe only one of these groups is acting in a terrorist fashion as for which it depends on what side you're on.

How exactly, please, is that not Islamic terrorism? How, exactly does that not put innocents at risk?

Absolutely nothing to do with Islamic terrorism and especially unrest / terrorism in the south.

[NeverSure]

You have a short memory mate, what about that Muslim dik that blew his own legs off that was meant as an attack just lucky be blew himself up instead

Your memory seems a bit off as that had absolutely nothing to do with fighting in the south nor did it have to do with religion but was Iranians trying to get back at Israel. They planned to put bombs on Israeli diplomat cars as revenge for Israel killing Iranian scientists in the same way... though I suspect many believe only one of these groups is acting in a terrorist fashion as for which it depends on what side you're on.

How exactly, please, is that not Islamic terrorism? How, exactly does that not put innocents at risk?

Absolutely nothing to do with Islamic terrorism and especially unrest / terrorism in the south.

If you think that Iranian terrorism isn't Islamic terrorism no matter who it's aimed at, you need to go back to school. And yes, a terrorist act is relevant to the South if the implication is that it can spread north.

[Nisa]

<snip - possibly against forum rules> let's do a wee count on who the World's most numerous terrorists are. Anybody care to take a wild guess.

It would depend on whose doing the labeling. Just because somebody is called a freedom fighter by one side doesn't mean they aren't terrorists on the other. I don't think it really matters to the victims and their families if the terrorists are in uniform or part of an army dropping bombs on cities full of civilians, commercial building and infrastructure because those doing the bombing say they felt threatened even though any threat is completely baseless or based on lies. Also not sure it matters to people being kidnapped, tortured and held against their will without charges if it matters if the people who are doing it are part of a currently recognized government or not. It seems many people and history simply define terrorism to be those who are on the other side or the losers in a war. If the American Revolution had failed they would have been labeled terrorist as would the French Resistance fighters during WWII if Germany had one the war.

Labeling a group as Terrorists does little more than try to make the population see them as evil comic book villains whose only motivation is to cause harm and destruction. Calling people terrorists makes people not question why they would be so motivated to give up their own life. Not at all condoning such actions by any side but it is just ignorant to say those who gave up their life on 9/11 while killing 3000 people are cowards who simply hated freedom and then call the folks who killed over 100,000 civilians (mainly by bombing them from a safe distance) heroes and freedom fighters makes little sense in my mind.

You cannot reward terrorism but to close your eyes as to the real reasons these people (on either side) feel the need to take such horrific actions is to ensure it will not only continue but will get worse. Most people are simply content to believe the reason for terrorist attacks are because there are terrorists and this is what terrorist do ... kind of like a villain in a comic book.

So, if someone keeps pizzing me off, he can expect that I will strap a bomb to myself and set it off in a crowded bus of innocents and that his fault?

If I don't like the government, I can set out IED's which will kill whoever is unlucky enough to step on it or drive over it?

We should just understand these people? It's someone else's fault? Someone made them do it?

I think we should round up every one of them, lock them up long enough that we can waterboard them into telling us who their cohorts are, and then string every one of them up in the public square.

They claim to have a religious reason for wanting all "infidels" dead. They claim to have a right to live in a country but disobey that country's laws and live by their own laws. Look at England and the demands for their own courts.

They are nothing but common criminals who have attacked virtually every country including their own, caring nothing about innocents.

And BTW, you like to rant about "others," but you never explain why they have killed more than 5,000 people and severely wounded more than another 11,000 since 2004 in Thailand.

You like to go off topic and talk about "other" countries and their actions with your spiteful bitterness, but let's keep it about Thailand and why they would do it to Thais.

If they will do it to Thais, they will do it to you.

The situation is no different in the south than it is in most places. It is about power, land and oppression. The rest of your post I can't or choose not to respond as it is just ranting about things I didn't say and your lack of understanding of my post.

[NeverSure]

<snip - possibly against forum rules> let's do a wee count on who the World's most numerous terrorists are. Anybody care to take a wild guess.

It would depend on whose doing the labeling. Just because somebody is called a freedom fighter by one side doesn't mean they aren't terrorists on the other. I don't think it really matters to the victims and their families if the terrorists are in uniform or part of an army dropping bombs on cities full of civilians, commercial building and infrastructure because those doing the bombing say they felt threatened even though any threat is completely baseless or based on lies. Also not sure it matters to people being kidnapped, tortured and held against their will without charges if it matters if the people who are doing it are part of a currently recognized government or not. It seems many people and history simply define terrorism to be those who are on the other side or the losers in a war. If the American Revolution had failed they would have been labeled terrorist as would the French Resistance fighters during WWII if Germany had one the war.

Labeling a group as Terrorists does little more than try to make the population see them as evil comic book villains whose only motivation is to cause harm and destruction. Calling people terrorists makes people not question why they would be so motivated to give up their own life. Not at all condoning such actions by any side but it is just ignorant to say those who gave up their life on 9/11 while killing 3000 people are cowards who simply hated freedom and then call the folks who killed over 100,000 civilians (mainly by bombing them from a safe distance) heroes and freedom fighters makes little sense in my mind.

You cannot reward terrorism but to close your eyes as to the real reasons these people (on either side) feel the need to take such horrific actions is to ensure it will not only continue but will get worse. Most people are simply content to believe the reason for terrorist attacks are because there are terrorists and this is what terrorist do ... kind of like a villain in a comic book.

So, if someone keeps pizzing me off, he can expect that I will strap a bomb to myself and set it off in a crowded bus of innocents and that his fault?

If I don't like the government, I can set out IED's which will kill whoever is unlucky enough to step on it or drive over it?

We should just understand these people? It's someone else's fault? Someone made them do it?

I think we should round up every one of them, lock them up long enough that we can waterboard them into telling us who their cohorts are, and then string every one of them up in the public square.

They claim to have a religious reason for wanting all "infidels" dead. They claim to have a right to live in a country but disobey that country's laws and live by their own laws. Look at England and the demands for their own courts.

They are nothing but common criminals who have attacked virtually every country including their own, caring nothing about innocents.

And BTW, you like to rant about "others," but you never explain why they have killed more than 5,000 people and severely wounded more than another 11,000 since 2004 in Thailand.

You like to go off topic and talk about "other" countries and their actions with your spiteful bitterness, but let's keep it about Thailand and why they would do it to Thais.

If they will do it to Thais, they will do it to you.

The situation is no different in the south than it is in most places. It is about power, land and oppression. The rest of your post I can't or choose not to respond as it is just ranting about things I didn't say and your lack of understanding of my post.

Ignore list is good. Bye.

[Locationthailand]

The threat remains - the ranking is negotiable.

[Badbanker]

What about Hussein Atris in January of last year? What was he gong to do with 4,500 kilo of explosive material? Was he going to make fireworks to sell at loy kratong?

No, it was going to be in Bangkok and yes lot of innocent Thai people were going to hurt!

Protect the tourist industry at all costs until we have a major terrorist attack.

You have no idea of the number of terrorist attacks that have been stopped in Bangkok and not reported in the press!

[NeverSure]

What about Hussein Atris in January of last year? What was he gong to do with 4,500 kilo of explosive material? Was he going to make fireworks to sell at loy kratong?

No, it was going to be in Bangkok and yes lot of innocent Thai people were going to hurt!

Protect the tourist industry at all costs until we have a major terrorist attack.

You have no idea of the number of terrorist attacks that have been stopped in Bangkok and not reported in the press!

He was just an ordinary nice guy who had been wronged by the US Thailand and was doing what he should rightfully do when wronged. Everybody does it, don't you know? </sarcasm>

I predict that these terrorist will bring their havoc north. Their real anger is directed at the Thai government and they'll do what they do.

[lovetotravel]

Misunderstanding? Tell that to the soldier who was killed Wednesday night and the 19 who were injured. It's almost a daily event down south.

I think the total is around 5,000 now, with 11,000 injuries.

These guys rank Thailand #8 in the world:

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/globalterrorismindex/#/2011/OVER/

[Publicus]

From the revised and extended update to the OP's original brief article:

"AMLO TO RELEASE LIST OF SUSPECTS

"Meanwhile, the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) announced yesterday that after the Songkran holiday break it would make public a list of 300 people suspected of links to, or of giving logistical or financial support to terrorists.

"The announcement is in compliance with an international standard based on United Nations regulations, said AMLO secretary-general Seehanart Prayoonrat, adding that most of the names on the list are linked to the southern insurgency.

"Also, an ad-hoc civilian-supervised operation centre for counter-terrorism measures would be soon set up, said Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung. He gave no further details about the centre."

Well, announced yesterday - how's about them apples? And "no further details" from Chalerm the proud father. So I see after all the commotion, apologies and more commotion, the U.S. government got its pound of flesh out of the self-righteous and indignant Thai government. That so many Thais have been bombed or shot in the South seems to the Thai government to be a non-statistic, absent of any meaning to the nation, irrelevant and without respect of their Thai nationality and without any consequence to Thailand..

The terrorism in the South doesn't come north, to Bangkok especially, because it is local minded and because, if they did come "north," the Thai government would welcome with open arms the U.S. response to terrorists skulking around Silom and Sukhumvit etc wearing overcoats in 33 degree temperatures to hide their bomb vests while making a bee line towards their intended target. The southern Thailand terrorists are simultaneously too small and local minded to expand their terrorism to Bangkok and, by sheer happenstance, smart enough not even to think about it. Bringing their terrorism to Bangkok would introduce an entirely new dimension to their deadly serious terrorism and would be truly suicidal sans the effects of their suicide attacks.

I guess it's still the middle of the night in Dubai, which might be why we haven't heard from Thailand's most famous peacemaker in its oft-called "restive" South.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Publicus

[Ricardo]

Terribly sorry, an administrative (typing) error, an honest mistake, a SNAFU as we military men like to call this. Also somehow the message got out without proper and prior approval of the local expert Dept. PM Pol. Captain Chalerm.

Please rest assured that all is well and can only improve more

"Can only improve more", definitely within 90 days, or he'll promise something won't be done about it !

Not that there's any problem, anywhere within Thailand, of course not, just ask the teachers & civil-servants & RTA in the South, then pass the ear-medicine.

[aguy30]

The FBI didn't understand that Thailand says terrorism only happens in other countries, not in Thailand, because Thailand says so.

[Radar501]

<snip - possibly against forum rules> let's do a wee count on who the World's most numerous terrorists are. Anybody care to take a wild guess.

And BTW, you like to rant about "others," but you never explain why they have killed more than 5,000 people and severely wounded more than another 11,000 since 2004 in Thailand.

You like to go off topic and talk about "other" countries and their actions with your spiteful bitterness, but let's keep it about Thailand and why they would do it to Thais.

If they will do it to Thais, they will do it to you.

When I saw the topic of this thread, I opened it expecting to find several of your contributions.

I certainly agree that the Southern terrorists are despicable. I was in Yala in August 2006 when I was showered with glass from one of 22 banks which were bombed simultaneously. These thugs have little regard to anyone, including innocent Muslims going about their daily lives.

The worst incident that I can recall reported on the news was the murder in Yala of a man who owned a motorcycle with a refrigerated side car selling ice creams. He was found decapitated beside his motorcycle. &lt;deleted&gt;! They made an example out of a poor fella who sold ice creams to kids!

BUT to say that the insurgency is about Thais killing Thais is maybe not 100 per cent correct.

The unrest commenced well over a century ago when Thailand (then Siam) annexed Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat from Malaysia. The whole area is culturally, linguistically and religiously very different from the other parts of the nation. The central BKK government has forever neglected these three southern provinces, and reneged on promises to consider demands for semi-autonomy.

So, right or wrong, they call themselves separatists who have never considered themselves as citizens of Thailand.

[OzMick]

You have a short memory mate, what about that Muslim dik that blew his own legs off that was meant as an attack just lucky be blew himself up instead

Your memory seems a bit off as that had absolutely nothing to do with fighting in the south nor did it have to do with religion but was Iranians trying to get back at Israel. They planned to put bombs on Israeli diplomat cars as revenge for Israel killing Iranian scientists in the same way... though I suspect many believe only one of these groups is acting in a terrorist fashion as for which it depends on what side you're on.

How exactly, please, is that not Islamic terrorism? How, exactly does that not put innocents at risk?

Absolutely nothing to do with Islamic terrorism and especially unrest / terrorism in the south.

So an Act of War then?

[kblaze]

Read "the other paper" and you can see that this whole "misunderstanding" thing is just coming from Prayuth. The FBI hasn't released any statement apologizing. He is covering his/Thailand's ass as always. Of course Thailand would be ranked high because of the South. There is no misunderstanding. The report looks at the likelihood of terrorist attacks, big and small. Thailand has a lot of them, they just happen to be mostly concentrated in one place. But that doesn't mean Thailand shouldn't be on the list. Prayuth is an idiot.

[Yme]

I'm all for the forum rules against [too much] religion & nationality bashing, but let's do a wee count on who the World's most numerous terrorists are. Anybody care to take a wild guess.

The Americans?

[canman]

To be fair, the situation IS unique. After all, how many of us not living in the South are actually affected by the insurgency there? The closest we get to it is reading it in the news. No crazy Muslim separatist has tried killing us in Bangkok yet.

Didn't a couple Iranian morons manage to blow themselves up in BKK last year?

[Publicus]

Obviously I don't know, but I doubt very seriously that the US would get involved much in Bangkok or elsewhere beyond what they do now. Now they supply arms and some training.

The people of the US are war weary. I think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than 8,000 US lives Link and about $1.5 trillion dollars Link and of course there have been many other huge expenses such as patrolling the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf. There are also patrols to protect ships near Somalia, there was the attack on Libya, the current massive buildup of assets in the Asian waters and in Guam and The Philippines... There is China vs The Philippines and others, and N. Korea and...

The US military budget is $700 bil a year, about half of the world's total military spending. A lot of people are questioning it, wondering why.

I think the US would ramp up support in intelligence and supplies and maybe some special ops people, but another war to stop terrorism wouldn't go over well IMHO.

I certainly agree with everything you say concerning the people of the United States and another war (excepting N Korea should the North attack one or more of our treaty allies, such as Japan or S Korea). So you can understand I'm not talking about tens of thousands of U.S. troops into Thailand's South, or U.S. troops doing Baghdad again in Bangkok.

I speak instead of the assistance Washington would provide to Bangkok in respect to counter terrorism training and equipment, not large numbers of boots on the ground. Thailand is a non-Nato ally of the U.S. so we'd be obliged - more importantly, willing - to assist the Thai government to counter southern terrorism in the "north" of Thailand should the southern terrorists come north, which I'm highly confident they would not do. We recently concluded a successful effort of this nature in the Philippines, another formally allied country, using only some special forces in jungle counter terrorism warfare in conjunction with Filipino troops we helped to train.

No war in Thailand, simply assistance to a formal ally of the United States.

Thailand later lost the provinces it annexed from the former Sultanate or some such of Pattani, which extended well south of the present province's geography. So the Thais were pleased to get them back as a gift from Japan during WW2 for the Thai's good behavior while occupied. Now the people there want the border line moved yet again, but are going about it in the entirely dead wrong ways, i.e., terrorism. Either way, borderlines moved a lot during the past 200 years due to the colonial presence of the European powers. In present times, however, border lines are more difficult to move than the lines at KFC.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Publicus

[NeverSure]

<snip - possibly against forum rules> let's do a wee count on who the World's most numerous terrorists are. Anybody care to take a wild guess.

And BTW, you like to rant about "others," but you never explain why they have killed more than 5,000 people and severely wounded more than another 11,000 since 2004 in Thailand.

You like to go off topic and talk about "other" countries and their actions with your spiteful bitterness, but let's keep it about Thailand and why they would do it to Thais.

If they will do it to Thais, they will do it to you.

When I saw the topic of this thread, I opened it expecting to find several of your contributions.

I certainly agree that the Southern terrorists are despicable. I was in Yala in August 2006 when I was showered with glass from one of 22 banks which were bombed simultaneously. These thugs have little regard to anyone, including innocent Muslims going about their daily lives.

The worst incident that I can recall reported on the news was the murder in Yala of a man who owned a motorcycle with a refrigerated side car selling ice creams. He was found decapitated beside his motorcycle. &lt;deleted&gt;! They made an example out of a poor fella who sold ice creams to kids!

BUT to say that the insurgency is about Thais killing Thais is maybe not 100 per cent correct.

The unrest commenced well over a century ago when Thailand (then Siam) annexed Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat from Malaysia. The whole area is culturally, linguistically and religiously very different from the other parts of the nation. The central BKK government has forever neglected these three southern provinces, and reneged on promises to consider demands for semi-autonomy.

So, right or wrong, they call themselves separatists who have never considered themselves as citizens of Thailand.

No where did I say or think that it was Thais doing it to Thais. What I think is that at the least there are some insurgents coming over the border, but I can't prove that.

Now, since you want to start your posts in an inflammatory way, misquote me, and basically pick a fight, I happily also put you on ignore. I'm tired of the belligerent one who just want to fight.

[alfalfa19]

Methinks there is no shortage of misunderstandings in Thailand.

[Radar501]

Again, I AGREE with you. Some of the insurgents probably are coming from across the border. I don't have the stats in front of me, but I'm sure that nearly all the suspected terrorists killed or arrested have not been foreigners.

Hardly being inflammatory. Not picking a fight. Try not to be so sensitive.

[tragickingdom]

Amazing that the FBI says it is a misunderstanding only to please their allies. Of course Thailand is the only real ally in South East Asia what means that Thailand is treated differently than Indonesia or other countries. But if in Indonesia there were as many attacks by terrorists as in Thailand and if in Indonesia also 7500 people were murdered by Muslim terrorists and another 100.000 bombed and maimed Australia, the US and Europe were the first to be outraged. In Thailand the army is even allowed to murder refugees without the West even blinking with their eye. But the person within the FBI who was not politically correct is spot on. The wait is for a large scale bombing in one of the Souther Resort towns or even in Bangkok.

[Chao Lao Beach]

Does this meant that they don't count the south as part of Thailand and hence offering independence?

Definition time, Country - Noun

Noun

1. A nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.
2. The people of a nation.

[grantbkk]

Amazing that the FBI says it is a misunderstanding only to please their allies. Of course Thailand is the only real ally in South East Asia what means that Thailand is treated differently than Indonesia or other countries. But if in Indonesia there were as many attacks by terrorists as in Thailand and if in Indonesia also 7500 people were murdered by Muslim terrorists and another 100.000 bombed and maimed Australia, the US and Europe were the first to be outraged. In Thailand the army is even allowed to murder refugees without the West even blinking with their eye. But the person within the FBI who was not politically correct is spot on. The wait is for a large scale bombing in one of the Souther Resort towns or even in Bangkok.

There was no misunderstanding. The Thai officials with mouth diarrhea started spewing their thoughts publicly in an effort to raise the stature of their operations to secure additional resources, read money. You do not need to have an epiphany or an ear infection to realize there is a large amount of "terrorism" hence terrorists in Thailand. Much to the disappointment of these government officials the events in the South cannot be covered up. That said, the US government put out the story about a "misunderstanding" regarding the mention of terrorists in Thailand and the various lists referred to by Thai officials. This was simply a way for the US to tell us the information being spewed was false and to offer some degree face saving for the slow-whited Thai officials.

[Cardiff1963]

this is rich, years of bombing and vast losses of life, but those don't count.

Civil war? what civil war?

Civil war?

[Cardiff1963]

<snip - possibly against forum rules> let's do a wee count on who the World's most numerous terrorists are. Anybody care to take a wild guess.

It would depend on whose doing the labeling. Just because somebody is called a freedom fighter by one side doesn't mean they aren't terrorists on the other. I don't think it really matters to the victims and their families if the terrorists are in uniform or part of an army dropping bombs on cities full of civilians, commercial building and infrastructure because those doing the bombing say they felt threatened even though any threat is completely baseless or based on lies. Also not sure it matters to people being kidnapped, tortured and held against their will without charges if it matters if the people who are doing it are part of a currently recognized government or not. It seems many people and history simply define terrorism to be those who are on the other side or the losers in a war. If the American Revolution had failed they would have been labeled terrorist as would the French Resistance fighters during WWII if Germany had one the war.

Labeling a group as Terrorists does little more than try to make the population see them as evil comic book villains whose only motivation is to cause harm and destruction. Calling people terrorists makes people not question why they would be so motivated to give up their own life. Not at all condoning such actions by any side but it is just ignorant to say those who gave up their life on 9/11 while killing 3000 people are cowards who simply hated freedom and then call the folks who killed over 100,000 civilians (mainly by bombing them from a safe distance) heroes and freedom fighters makes little sense in my mind.

You cannot reward terrorism but to close your eyes as to the real reasons these people (on either side) feel the need to take such horrific actions is to ensure it will not only continue but will get worse. Most people are simply content to believe the reason for terrorist attacks are because there are terrorists and this is what terrorist do ... kind of like a villain in a comic book.

Nice argument. But I'm sure the French resistance did not target civilians.

[ggold]

Did it ever occur to any of you that, this is in fact a smoke screen created by this Thai official, to hide the fact that in the eyes of the FBI, it is the current addministartion that are the real terrorists! Where else is a country ruled by a person who is a fugitive of the law, and responsible for the burning of the capital city of a country he claims to love?

Sent from my GT-P6200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bender92]

To be fair, the situation IS unique. After all, how many of us not living in the South are actually affected by the insurgency there? The closest we get to it is reading it in the news. No crazy Muslim separatist has tried killing us in Bangkok yet.

Well, they did remove a lot of the trash cans around Bangkok and in malls.

[Rorri]

Wasn't there something about terrorists in Bangkok, last year, and a horde of explosives, or don't they count the ones they like to forget.

[Bobobirdiebuddy]

I saw this on the front page of the Bangkok Post. I turned to page 3 and I saw a soldier on a stretcher and another receiving treatment from a nurse. Below this photo was the headline "Bus blast kills soldier, injures 19". This goes on every day and it's often buried in the paper somewhere. Truth clearly has no place in Thailand.

[simple1]

Obviously I don't know, but I doubt very seriously that the US would get involved much in Bangkok or elsewhere beyond what they do now. Now they supply arms and some training.

The people of the US are war weary. I think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than 8,000 US lives Link and about $1.5 trillion dollars Link and of course there have been many other huge expenses such as patrolling the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf. There are also patrols to protect ships near Somalia, there was the attack on Libya, the current massive buildup of assets in the Asian waters and in Guam and The Philippines... There is China vs The Philippines and others, and N. Korea and...

The US military budget is $700 bil a year, about half of the world's total military spending. A lot of people are questioning it, wondering why.

I think the US would ramp up support in intelligence and supplies and maybe some special ops people, but another war to stop terrorism wouldn't go over well IMHO.

I certainly agree with everything you say concerning the people of the United States and another war (excepting N Korea should the North attack one or more of our treaty allies, such as Japan or S Korea). So you can understand I'm not talking about tens of thousands of U.S. troops into Thailand's South, or U.S. troops doing Baghdad again in Bangkok.

I speak instead of the assistance Washington would provide to Bangkok in respect to counter terrorism training and equipment, not large numbers of boots on the ground. Thailand is a non-Nato ally of the U.S. so we'd be obliged - more importantly, willing - to assist the Thai government to counter southern terrorism in the "north" of Thailand should the southern terrorists come north, which I'm highly confident they would not do. We recently concluded a successful effort of this nature in the Philippines, another formally allied country, using only some special forces in jungle counter terrorism warfare in conjunction with Filipino troops we helped to train.

No war in Thailand, simply assistance to a formal ally of the United States.

Thailand later lost the provinces it annexed from the former Sultanate or some such of Pattani, which extended well south of the present province's geography. So the Thais were pleased to get them back as a gift from Japan during WW2 for the Thai's good behavior while occupied. Now the people there want the border line moved yet again, but are going about it in the entirely dead wrong ways, i.e., terrorism. Either way, borderlines moved a lot during the past 200 years due to the colonial presence of the European powers. In present times, however, border lines are more difficult to move than the lines at KFC.

Maybe the US Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines contributed to the current cessation of hostilities in Mindanao. However what strikes me is after 30+ years of insurgency warfare and an estimated 120,000+ deaths, the insurgents have obtained a framework agreement for an autonomous province, planned to be finalised by 2015, exactly what they wanted all those years ago.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/12/peace-plan-philippines?zid=306&ah=1b164dbd43b0cb27ba0d4c3b12a5e227

Hopefully their will not be a repeat of previously autonomy agreements being broken, by both sides. One was over ruled by the Supreme Court of the Philippines (2000?) that lead to resurgence of conflict.

I guess it boils down what lessons can be learned by all sides of the conflict in the deep South, a faster turn around time for achieving a mutually agreeable peace process and it will not take 15 years of on & off negotiations as happened in the Philippines.

Edited April 5, 2013 by simple1