Thai Political Crisis

The Thai political crisis continues to worsen as protesters try to bring things to a head in Bangkok, shutting down both the new Suwanaphum airport and the old Don Muang airport, effectively closing the country off to much of the world. The protesters demand the resignation of the government and the government says no, but refuses to do anything other than riot police containing the crowds. The news is constantly changing here so if you want latest, I would recommend looking at the website for the Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com) or the International Herald Tribune (www.iht.com). The Bangkok Post will have more up to date information although the IHT will have a more readable summary of the events and the context of the current crisis.

Our family lives two hours north of Bangkok, and thus plenty far away from any of the disturbances. Everything seems to be confined to Bangkok right now. However, after I preach in Ayuthaya this Sunday, we'll head down to OMF's Mission Home in Bangkok, which is not far from the Don Muang airport, one of the sites of mass protests and some violence. We will drive in to the mission home the back way, using the outer ring road and Expressway from the north, so we won't have to

drive past the airport. We wouldn't plan on going to Bangkok at this time except that our visas expire this coming week and need to be renewed before December 3rd. The immigration office, as far as I know, is not near any of the hot spots but we will be watching the news for any changes. Pray that we would get accurate updated info to avoid any trouble spots and wisdom to know whether to change any of our plans. Hopefully the tensions will decrease instead of increase although that seems somewhat unlikely right now.

I include below a news video of the Thai situation that I found on YouTube. Hopefully, you can view it more easily than I can, with our miserable excuse for a DSL connection (really, sometimes our DSL is no faster or more reliable than dial-up). If you search on YouTube or the news sites (Reuters, Associated Press, etc), you can probably find some more videos. As you watch the video, make note that the yellow shirts are the anti-government people and, although they don't show up in this particular video, the red shirts are the pro-government people.

Just now I got an SMS news flash from the Bangkok Post saying that the Prime Minister announced on TV that he is going to send in the police to take care of the protesters and has warned the mob to stop holding the country hostage. This will be very interesting to say the least and potentially violent. May God bring peace to the nation and turn the hearts of many to Him as Christ is the only one who can bring true peace and reconciliation between God and man, and between people. May the LORD tear down the dividing wall of hostility.