Category Archives: South Asia

The Murderers of Saman Abbas Go On Trial

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In April of 2021 a young Pakistani woman named Saman Abbas disappeared in Italy, and was thought to have been “honor-killed” by her parents and male relatives. It wasn’t until a few months ago that her body was found.

Saman’s father and mother fled to Pakistan, but over the course of the last two years several of her male relatives have been arrested in various European countries. Now her relatives have gone on trial in Reggio Emilia. Her parents are being tried in absentia, while two cousins and an uncle were arrested and are present in person.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Corriere di Bologna:

Saman, the opening of the trial of the relatives: The uncle and the cousins in the courtroom. The fiancé and associations are civil parties

by Margherita Grassi

At the Reggio Emilia courthouse, “Not One Less” [Women’s association] for the 18-year-old Pakistani. The father, not yet extradited, will have a separate hearing. The lawyer for the fiancé: “With the compensation, a foundation to help other girls”.

Associations and activists present outside the tribunal of Reggio Emilia from early morning to act as “shield” for the memory of Saman Abbas, murdered at Novellara on the night of April 30-May 1, 2021.

The trial against the relatives of Saman Abbas

The trial of the five relatives of the girl who refused an arranged marriage is beginning in the criminal court. The uncle, Danish Hasnain, the cousins, Ikram Ijaz and Numanhulaq Numanhulaq, the father, Shabbar Abbas, and the mother, Nazia Shaheen, are accused of complicity in murder. The parents are in Pakistan. Abbas is in custody, the mother is still a fugitive, and it is probable that today the defense lawyers will ask for her removal [from the trial]. Outside the courthouse are banners and posters.

Women’s associations outside the Reggio Emilia Tribunal

“Saman in our heart and in the struggles,” reads a banner of “Not One Less”. Others sing chants asking for justice for the young girl, whose body was found in a cottage near their home in the middle of last November. She was sought in vain for a year and a half. Various associations will take part in the trial civilly, among these already established, Penelope (which cares for relatives and friends of missing persons) and Ucoii, Union of Italian Islamic Communities.

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Free to Rape Again

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An Afghan culture-enricher in Germany will not be deported when he finishes serving his prison sentence for the rape of two children. He had previously been deported, but snuck back into the country via a circuitous overland route. When he gets out this time, he won’t be deported, because the Taliban are in power now.

Welcome to Germany! Don’t worry: we have plenty of children for you, in case you have a sexual emergency.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from Report24. The translator’s comments are in square brackets:

“No deportation possible”: Afghan child molester is set free

After the bloody crime in Brokstedt, which was committed by a “stateless Palestinian” and could obviously have been prevented by the authorities, another violent migrant criminal may be unleashed on the population: an Afghan child molester will be released next week after serving his sentence in Germany — there will be no deportation to the Palestinian territories or to Afghanistan.

In March 2018, the then-26-year-old Afghan confessed to the sexual abuse of two neighbor children (6, 8) before the criminal court in Landau in the Palatinate. The refugee, who came to Germany in 2015, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. The mother of the abused children felt the verdict was too mild because tax evaders would be punished more severely, she explained at the time.

In February 2021, when deportations to Afghanistan were still possible, the convict was deported to Kabul after almost three years in prison, and an entry ban was imposed for several years. Nevertheless, he entered Germany again via Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland. After the Afghan was discovered during a police check, he was returned to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence. [Just give ‘em the rope, and there’ll be no sneaking back in.]

In a few days — on February 13th — the child molester will be released “after the sentence has been fully served”, as the public prosecutor’s office in Landau confirmed to FOCUS online . There are no plans to deport the offender again. Deportations to Afghanistan have been suspended since August 11, 2021 due to the uncertain security situation after the Taliban took power. The justification of the then-Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU): “A constitutional state is also responsible for ensuring that deportations do not become a danger to those involved.” However, criminals and dangerous people would be deported back there as soon as the security situation permitted. [Translated — NEVER.]

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) still rejects the deportation of convicted criminals. Therefore, in the next week, the man will be let loose on the local population, in whom Faeser is obviously not interested in any way — with carte blanche to commit new crimes. Only supervision of conduct was requested by the authority from the responsible chamber for the execution of sentences. If the application is approved, this could mean conditions such as reporting to the probation officer or the police at certain times, as well as the obligation to start therapy. Whether such measures can protect our children from renewed attacks is more than improbable. [Like asking a poisonous snake not to bite.]

Even immigrants who have committed criminal offenses, who usually only have to reckon with comparatively mild sentences anyway, continue to enjoy their hospitality rights in Germany — of course at the cost and expense of the local population. No change in the situation can be expected from the left-wing Minister of the Interior, who keeps babbling about a “danger from the right” and who is still pushing uncontrolled mass immigration by lowering the requirements for naturalization in Germany…

Afterword from the translator:

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Thailand in Trouble

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Our Bangkok correspondent H. Numan sends his report on the latest news from Thailand.

Thailand in trouble

by H. Numan

There is some news from Thailand, unfortunately not very good news. First, royal news. Not really important for you, but very important in Thailand. Before Christmas, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest daughter of King Rama X, collapsed during a function ‘up country’ due to a sudden heart attack. She was flown to Bangkok for medical treatment, but is still unconscious.

A couple of years ago, we had something similar in The Netherlands: Prince Friso went skiing, caused an avalanche, and had to be rescued. After three hours he was dug up, barely alive and unconscious. He died about three months later, never regaining consciousness.

I fear we’re close to a royal funeral. It’s important in Thailand, not only because she is royalty, but more because she is in the direct line of succession. The king has many children from many wives, but none of them are succession material. Thai succession laws are really complicated; let’s just keep it at that.

Now on to the news. This is so mindbogglingly stupid, that it’s hard to find words for it. Criminally insane is a good description. Thailand is busy reopening its borders for unvaccinated Chinese tourists. It’s not yet certain. Rules don’t change by the day; they change every frigging 10 minutes. At least that’s a sign that not everybody in the government is completely bonkers.

Let’s be clear about one thing: there are a lot of ‘anti-vax’ people here. I don’t agree with them. Please don’t respond with the usual slander, like doing my own research, not being a sheep, that sort of thing. I won’t respond, and it makes you look childish. Of course I’m not a doctor. Neither are you. So let us agree to disagree. What I’m writing about has nothing to do with vaccines, anyway, good or bad. It’s about consequences.

China opened the gates of hell — we call them departure lounges — on 8 January. All of sudden China stopped with their draconian lockdown policy. Why?

Because it was unaffordable. China doesn’t have a working vaccine. They developed Sinovac, which was the least effective vaccine when the pandemic began. Thailand and many other nations used it for want of anything better. It became quickly clear it was not effective, and lost whatever effectiveness it had against later variants. Nobody outside of China uses it today.

The only way China could keep the virus at bay was by instituting draconian — and extremely expensive — lockdowns. It worked, for a while. Lockdowns are expensive in two ways: first you have to test just about everyone twice or three times every week. Let’s say a test kit costs $5 each. That quickly adds up, if you have to test close to a billion people. They simply ran out of money.

The next part is what to do when one tests positive. That’s even worse. Everybody nearby will be put in quarantine. If you live in a large condo, and one occupant tests positive, the whole building goes into quarantine. In China quarantine is like going to prison, with a near certainty you’ll catch something there. If not Covid, something else. The Chinese health care system is rudimentary under the best of circumstances. Right now the circumstances aren’t the best. Quarantine means that entire mega-cities are ‘out of action’; they cost a lot of money and don’t produce anything. Such as Shanghai or Beijing, for example.

There is also the cost in human misery. Something the Chinese government rarely takes into consideration, communist or otherwise. Until they have to, which was at the end of November 2022. The people had had enough, and started to riot. Seriously riot; we’ve seen tanks deployed to counter it. Even so, brute force wasn’t enough. The government caved in. They promised to lessen restrictions and open the borders again.

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Germany Invites India to Come to the EU

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Germany has been reaching out to people in India with posters proclaiming that there is room for them in the EU. There no chance that they can actually have their asylum applications approved, but there is an unstated subtext to the report below: it doesn’t matter, because once they gain entry to the EU, only a tiny percentage of them will ever be deported. The EU is packed to the gills with failed asylum seekers who continue to live there, drawing social benefits and working in the black economy.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from eXXpress:

“We have space”: Posters lure Indians into the EU — but no chance of asylum

They have little chance of a positive decision — but between January and October of this year alone 15,000 Indians applied for asylum in Austria! Explosive: while the Interior Ministry is trying to convince people not to try at all, our German neighbours are using posters to lure people into the EU.

Billboards with the words “We have space” can be found at a crossroads in Mumbai. The campaign of the German federal state of Baden-Würtemberg aims to attract skilled workers. As a government spokesman told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten, the campaign could also be seen in the Indian cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad and London.

Most don’t stand a chance

There are many well-trained specialists in India and the United Kingdom, so the focus has been on these regions. The international campaign has been running since the end of November, and the posters could be seen in Mumbai until December 19, reports “T-Online”. It goes without saying that this gives many Indians hope of coming to Europe. And the campaign “works”, as you can see from the numbers. But the posters don’t say that most of them have no chance of staying legally in Austria or anywhere else in Europe.

Afterword from the translator:

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Has Saman Abbas’ Body Been Found?

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In April of 2021 a young woman named Saman Abbas, of Pakistani origin but living in Italy, disappeared from Novellara and was assumed to have been “honor-killed” by her parents and male relatives. Now, at long last, her body may have been found.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Il Giornale:

Human remains found near Novellara: “Could be Saman”

November 19, 2022

During a new inspection in Novellara, forensic investigators have found human remains a short distance from the place where Saman Abbas lived with her family.

During last night’s new search in Novellara, a municipality in the province of Reggio Emilia, forensic police (RIS) discovered some human remains a short distance from the place where Saman Abbas lived with her family. According to what has emerged so far, the remains of a cadaver were reportedly found, and at this moment, investigations by the Carabinieri are underway to determine if they are the remains of the 18-year-old.

The arranged marriage

The young Pakistani girl, who had refused a marriage arranged by her parents in her country of origin, disappeared on the night of April 30, 2021. She was not heard from after that, and all searches produced negative results. The Prosecutor’s Office believes she was killed for refusing to assent to a marriage with a distant cousin ten years older than herself. Five of Saman’s relatives are under investigation for homicide. In the past few days, the father of the girl, Shabbar Abbas, was arrested in Pakistan. Identification has not yet been confirmed, and it will be necessary to conduct all the analyses and await the results of the autopsy. Only in the coming hours, or perhaps, in the coming days, will it be known with certainty whether a turning point in the mystery has finally been reached, and if the remains discovered are actually the body of the 18-year-old.

The new search and the discovery

The human remains discovered in Novellara were buried inside an abandoned shed, immersed in the fog, located a few hundred meters from the house in which the family of Saman lived. The Carabinieri from the investigative unit of the provincial command of Reggio Emilia, along with those from the Company of Guastalla, and coordinated by the prosecutor’s office led by Calogero Gaetano Paci, conducted a further search yesterday evening. The area has been closed off, and since the early morning hours, the Carabinieri, together with the forensic police (RIS) of Parma, are proceeding with the operation of recovering and finding the remains. The Fire Department of Reggio Emila has also arrived at the scene.

“It is premature to say anything; the activities are in progress: We will evaluate it after recovering the remains discovered. Obviously, we will proceed with all the necessary analyses, and it will take a few days,” the Reggio Emilia prosecutor, Gaetano Paci, stated, responding to AGI. The head of the Reggio-Emilia investigators is proceeding to the scene with the medical examiners.

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Father of Saman Abbas Arrested in Pakistan

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In April of last year a young Pakistani woman named Saman Abbas disappeared in Italy, and was thought to have been “honor-killed” by her parents and male relatives. Now her father has been arrested on an Interpol warrant in Pakistan.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Il Tempo:

Pakistan: Shabbar Abbas arrested for murder of his daughter, Saman

November 16, 2022

Shabbar Abbas, the father of Saman, was arrested yesterday in Pakistan. Tomorrow in a court hearing in Islamabad the man will likely be served with a notification of an international arrest warrant for the murder of his 18-year-old daughter, who disappeared from Novellara (Reggio Emilio) on 30 April 2021 after refusing an arranged marriage.

After a very long evaluation due to a complicated case without precedent, local authorities have reportedly decided, as far as can be learned, to apply the “red notice”, that is, the international arrest request, already in the Interpol system, delegating the authority to the police of Punjab, the region where Saman’s family comes from. In the case of arrest, negotiations for extradition, already requested by our country, could be opened. So the arrest yesterday is reportedly for the charge of homicide and not for fraud against a co-national, as had initially transpired.

Previous posts about the honor killing of Saman Abbas:

2021   Jun   5   Honor Killing in Novellara
        14   The Honor Killing of Saman Abbas
        17   “She Must Die”
    Sep   30   Another Arrest in the Saman Abbas Case
    Dec   31   A Bone Fragment From Saman Abbas?
2022   Feb   14   Another Cousin of Saman Abbas Arrested
    Mar   26   Saman Abbas’ Cousin Clams Up
    Apr   5   Has Saman Abbas’ Skull Been Found?
    Sep   26   A Mother’s Role in an Honor Killing
        29   The Trail Leads to Pakistan
 

He’s Back!

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Our Bangkok correspondent H. Numan sends this follow-up to his previous report about recent political shenanigans in Thailand, plus other news from the Land of Smiles.

He’s back!

by H. Numan

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the prime minister of Thailand being ousted. The opposition found the perfect stick to beat the hopefully dead horse with: Under the new constitution, a prime minister cannot serve longer than eight years continuously. Prayuth Chan-ocha executed his coupe in 2014. So, time’s up! He did the crime, did the time, and now it’s time to go. Which he duly did. While I wrote that I thought: great, for as long as it lasts.

That long lasted a whole fourteen days, in which time the Constitutional Court deliberated about his future. Thailand is a democracy, but not quite the same as in western countries. For example, we have an National Anti-Corruption Committee. That’s like Marlboro being in charge of an anti-smoking campaign. To a lesser degree, the same goes for the Constitutional Court. Compare it with McDonald’s being in charge of the Weight Watchers.

However, in this case I cannot disagree with their ruling. The court ruled that time served in office only counts after the new constitution was approved, and after being elected in office. Both of which exclude time served as a junta member. Prayuth didn’t fight his ousting; he knew his political banishment wasn’t going to last long.

So, Prayuth is back in office again. The vice premier took great care to show he didn’t have any ambitions whatsoever to replace him. Perhaps a bit over the top, he intentionally didn’t take the seat of the PM during meetings, ‘as he was only temporarily taking care of the job.’ I think that was overdoing it, but that’s me being a cynical falang (foreigner). In Asia, Thailand in particular, great emphasis is placed on seniority and appearance. It might very well have had consequences if khun Prawit had acted any differently.

Did anything change? Of course not! As we say: same old, same old. What I did notice before and during his absence is that the number of arrests for lèse-majesté has gone through the roof. As you may or may not know, Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws are the strictest not of the planet, but of the entire solar system. It’s extremely easy to get indicted for it; the accused has to prove he didn’t do it. Not exactly, but it comes pretty darn close. Compare it with rape accusations in the West. The maximum sentence is fifteen years. Per offense! There was a man who ‘liked’ six insulting pictures of the king on Facebook, and he got 6×15=90 years in jail. He confessed, and got 50% reduction. Now he only has to serve 45 years…

Nothing unusual going on. Thaksin’s preferred method of getting rid of his opponents was the same: accuse them of lèse-majesté. Until the late king Rama IX yanked his trousers down in public, by saying that the government can accuse someone of lèse-majesté, he as the king would immediately pardon such offenders. After that, Thaksin had to find other ways to get rid of his opponents. Don’t feel too sorry for Thaksin. He was quite creative, and found plenty of other ways. And to be honest, those pardons didn’t come immediately, and certainly not automatically. Each case was examined at length to determine whether a royal pardon was warranted.

Why the sudden mass arrests of “anti-royalists” happened, no real idea. Republicanism in Thailand is less popular than monarchism in America. King Rama IX was really beloved, his successor much less so. Students were demonstrating and rioting a year back, but those riots were squelched. However, the police are known (usually on orders from very high) to investigate with a microscope to find all perpetrators and have them severely punished. The students were also vocal in their dislike for Prayuth government; that might be main reason.

The day the court announced its verdict, the Constitutional Court and the police headquarters were completely sealed off by riot police, expecting and preparing for the worst. Nothing happened.

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The Dream of Greater Turkey

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Lucine Kasbarian has published an article at WND News Center about Pan-Turkism. Some excerpts are below:

Pan-Turkism’s Aggressive Dreams of Empire — Yesterday and Today

by Lucine Kasbarian

Turkey’s imperial ambition of creating a Pan-Turkic empire, ruled from Ankara, is on display in today’s Caucasus and elsewhere.

This racist ideology envisions an empire that would include any country or region speaking a Turkic-type language regardless of how distant that language is from the language spoken in Turkey and regardless of whether the people in those regions approve of such an empire. This doctrine was and continues to be a key element of Turkish foreign policy.

A country standing in the way, Christian Armenia, is considered the Cradle of Civilization. In Biblical tradition, Noah’s Ark rested upon the peaks of Mt. Ararat — the historic symbol of Armenia. The Armenian language is considered to be one of the mothers (if not the mother) of all Indo-European languages.) Armenia is decidedly non-Turkic.

Read the rest at WND News Center.

The Day Women Burn Their Uniforms en Masse, Islam Collapses

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Many thanks to LN for translating this op-ed from Snaphanen:

How Islam is broken down

by Lars Hedegaard

Alleged feminists agitate for female cover-up as a right for women. Just as slaves have the right to wear shackles.

Unrest continues in Iran, where residents fed up with clerical rule are defying the regime’s bullets, tear gas and arrests. The demand is for the Islamic Republic to end.

The regime has responded by intensifying violent repression. Dozens of protesters have been killed and the government has shut down the internet to prevent the protests from spreading. But they have spread to dozens of cities, including the capital Tehran.

In the town of Osvanieh in Iran’s north-west, gun battles have broken out between the mainly Kurdish population and the regime’s repressive apparatus, and many women have taken the opportunity to burn their hijabs, the Islamic headgear that the clerical regime forces all women to wear.

In the West it can be difficult to understand why Islamic rulers place such importance on women’s attire. In this country [Denmark], there are even left-wing opinion leaders and alleged feminists who advocate female headgear as a right for women. Just as slaves have the right to wear chains.

Where does Islam’s sick preoccupation with women’s clothing come from? To understand this, we need to go back to the origins of Islamic ideology and society, which arose in Arab tribal societies of 1,400 years ago.

That is why Muslim women in the West are not allowed to meet infidel men

Such a society is characterised by constant fighting between tribes or clans over land, camels and other resources. Weak clans fall to strong clans, and the clan that cannot gather enough warriors is doomed. Therefore, it is important for the clan leader to control the women so that they are not conquered by hostile neighbouring tribes and do not enrich them with their male offspring — i.e. more warriors.

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The Trail Leads to Pakistan

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In April of 2021 a young Pakistani woman named Saman Abbas disappeared in Italy, and was presumed to have been “honor-killed” by her parents and male relatives. Below is another new report with information on the case.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Corriere della Sera:

Saman Abbas: In Pakistan, the federal police on the trail of the father to arrest him

by Alessandro Fulloni and Andrea Pasqualetto

New impetus for the investigation. The girl’s brother: “ I looked for the body in the greenhouses.” Three months before she disappeared, she had written her black list with five names: all under investigation. The interviews: How it went that night.

The searches

A risk that seems to have been averted last year by a sort of protection on the part of the local police in Punjab, where the Abbas’ reside. But which now could turn through the federal police of Pakistan, which depends on the army. This, at least, is the news that comes back from Islamabad. Last year, everything had been grounded on the part of the Pakistan national cabinet chaired by the prime minister. The Pakistani magistrate had to respond to the Italian letters rogatory, proceeding to the examination of the documentation from Reggio Emilia through Rome, in order to then proceed to arrest. “But no response, of any kind, ever arrived,” the Foreign Ministry explains. But now there is this new impetus.

I looked for her in the greenhouses

Returning to the dramatic evening, the brother understood everything, and it was confirmed to him by the uncle, Danish, accused of being the material perpetrator of the crime: “I killed her; don’t say anything to the Carabinieri.” The boy, who had seen the uncle take Saman away while putting a hand over her mouth, gasped. He asked where his sister was. “I wanted to hug her for the last time, but he answered that he couldn’t tell me.” Given the circumstances and the times, he thought that Danish had killed her in a greenhouse on the farm, perhaps strangling her, imagining also that he might have cut her into pieces and buried her or thrown her into the Po river. “In Pakistan, that’s how they do it.” They do this with women who betray or refuse an arranged marriage, Saman’s sin. With this frightening idea that evening, the brother of Saman, therefore, went to close the greenhouses.” First, I walked around inside looking for my sister’s body, but I didn’t find it.”

Saman was not afraid

He had his heart in his throat and a sense of infinite guilt. It was he who showed the photo of the kiss with a boyfriend disliked by the family. And it was always he who kept them up to date on her relationships, naturally, without imagining the tragic consequences. “My sister had already escaped two times, once in Belgium and one time from the community, and in our religion, that’s a big mistake…” the boy said on May 15, 2021, noting that he had always feared his uncle a lot: “She, on the other hand, had no fear of him and talked back to him, and this he didn’t like.” It was always like that. And in that period, the situation had further worsened.

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The Philadelphia Address

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Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan sends a European take on the notorious speech given by our Dear Leader in Philadelphia on September 1.

The Philadelphia address

by H. Numan

Normally I don’t write about American politics, but in this case I feel I have to. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Emperor Palpatine Biden deliver his speech. It’s definitely one for the history books. Not for its eloquence; that would be the Gettysburg Address. Not for its brevity. That honor goes to Roosevelt with his declaration of war on Japan. Certainly not for its literary qualities. Churchill holds that honor. No, it was the most divisive speech by any US president in history. An open invitation to please revolt, so we can finally arrest you all. A weird address full of contradictions.

What’s a semi-fascist? Someone who is almost a fascist? Or more like a semi-truck, a kind of super fascist? You tell me. Biden is rambling about the dangers of MAGA Republicans, but seconds later about their dwindling numbers. It can’t be both at the same time. On and on he rambled.

Then the backstage. This was not sleepy Joe going off teleprompter. It was carefully planned, organized and executed. Who was the director? Leni Riefenstahl? Nope, she is dead. Steven Spielberg? George Lucas? I doubt if those two would want to destroy their reputations for that. The chap who directed it was definitely a Star Wars fan. Only two things were missing: Lord Darth Biden didn’t wear a black cape with a hoodie, and the Imperial March wasn’t played.

Riefenstahl would certainly have liked the blood-red backdrop and the two security unit members supplied by the US Marine Corps. Security unit translates to Schutzstaffel in German. That was, I think, a first in US history. A president delivers an address with two marines prominently visible in the background. I have great respect for the USMC, but they should have declined or at least complained. They didn’t. That really hurts their reputation. I’m definitely not the only who finds this… ‘a bit unusual’.

Normally when Biden goes off-prompter, the White House hastens to rectify the damage. Not this time. Highly unusual, it was Biden himself who — sort of — retracted his words a bit, a couple of days later. No, he didn’t mean all Republicans. There are some good Republicans too. For him, that’ll be RINO or dead republicans, of course he didn’t say it out loud. When asked ‘what exactly is a semi-fascist’ his reply was: ‘you know’. Really weird, the White House supporting the president’s words while the president carefully backpedals.

Which brings me to the question: what exactly is Biden up to? Not much good, that’s for sure.

I’ve witnessed several coups here in Thailand. Twice much too close for comfort, to be honest. Those coups didn’t come from thin air. No general (or activist leader) ever got up, heard the birds chirping, and thought: what a great day for a coup! Far from it. It’s dangerous, can easily backfire and you never know for certain you have won. Until you have, of course.

Biden has a deadline to meet: 4 November. Vilifying 50% of the population mere weeks before the election isn’t going to help him. This kind of sowing discord needs to be spread for much longer to have any effect. It might be an act of desperation, but I really doubt that. It’s too carefully planned and orchestrated. I worry about what comes next.

So let’s focus first on what is going to happen after 4 November, as most people think it might. Biden’s party loses by a landslide. The House and Senate become Republican, with a substantial majority. Biden will be impeached as soon as the new members are sworn in. Together with him, most of his cabinet. Certainly the top of the FBI and the DOJ. Hunter Biden will almost certainly be arrested, unless he flees the country. Very likely the Clintons and a certain Mr. Hussein will have to explain a lot.

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Thai Premier Placed on Non-Active

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The political situation in Thailand has once again become very entertaining. H. Numan sends this report on the latest goings-on.

Thai premier placed on non-active

by H. Numan

Thai politics is something to behold. The unassailable leader of today can suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke. He may be a police lieutenant-colonel, a general or dumbocratically elected. It doesn’t matter. Nothing lasts forever. Not even ‘retired’ general prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. His demise was sudden. He has been taken away by… no, not the Grim Reaper. By the Constitutional Court.

Thailand has a coup-o-cracy. The preferred way to change governments is not by means of elections, but by a coup d’état. Thailand became ‘democratic’ in 1932. Before that, it was an absolute monarchy. Funnily enough, the king of that time, Rama VII, was reforming slowly towards a more democratic form of government. But not fast enough for his nephews. Like young progressives today, they wanted it all, right now! A coup was organized, and the kingdom became a ‘constitutional’ monarchy. The king no longer ruled, but reigned. His nephews did the ruling, and kicked out their uncles.

The king went to England for medical treatment, and wrote a letter back home to the government. “You know what you can do with your kingdom? Yup, and use some lubricant with that!” He remained in England until he died in 1941.

I’ve calculated that Thailand has had about the same number of coups from 1932 onward as The Netherlands has had elections. Roughly, one every four years. Some governments lasted longer, most lasted more briefly. Just about everybody has a go at it. The police (which in Thailand is a branch of the armed forces anyway), the army, the navy and the air force. Even civilians played the game of Junta once in a while.

I’ve been in Thailand for 25 years, and witnessed at least four coups and many more attempted coups. That’s excluding all the coup-by-court attempts that usually weren’t successful. Sometimes they are, and the result can be hilarious.

After a period of calm when Thaksin Sinawatra was democratically elected and coup-o-cratically removed from office, we had a bunch of somewhat democratic governments. One of them was led by Samak Sundaravej. His tenure was six months in 2008. His position seemed unassailable. He was utterly corrupt — a prerequisite in Thai politics — slippery as an eel, had the full support of the Democratic Party (they share the name, corruption and cronyism with your Democratic Party) and the army.

The opposition tried anything they could to get him ousted, in vain. It looked like he glued himself to his seat. However, Khun Samak had one weakness. He really liked cooking. That was his passion. A TV station invited him to do a cooking show on TV, and he accepted. The station paid him Bt. 2500 for it. That’s almost nothing, not even $70. However, it was a payment. The constitution (the 23rd, I think it was) clearly forbade government ministers to accepts any kind of monetary rewards outside his salary. Hey, said a backbencher. He’s accepting money. That’s illegal! The next day after the cooking show he was indicted and quickly forced to resign from politics. A prime minister forced to resign over cab fare to a cooking show!

Now we see something almost as hilarious. The current prime minister is Prayuth Chan-o-Cha. He couped his way into office in 2014. It was the usual same old, same old. A democratic government was too corrupt and hugely unpopular. The army had to move in to replace it. No other choice was possible. It was the first coup that got the support of the general population!

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It’s Legal Now!

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Our Bangkok correspondent H. Numan sends this report with important news from Thailand.

It’s legal now!

by H. Numan

The biggest news of the year in Thailand: Marijuana has been legalized. Sort of, that is. And sort of surprising, certainly coming from a military junta clad in civvies. First the (back then) military government allowed marijuana to be grown for medical purposes. Officially, that’s still the policy.

There is a big difference between what the government allows and what the law allows. Strictly speaking, if you want to grow hemp as a cash crop, you have to jump through thousands of hoops to get a permit. But individuals are now allowed to buy hemp plants legally. Provided… the THC contents is less than 0.2%. I’m quite certain no reader has ever touched the stuff, so let me explain. THC stands for Tetrahydrocannabinol and is the stuff that makes you happy. The higher the THC content, the higher you get. Like the alcohol content in a drink. A THC level of 0.2% is what you normally find in rope. Cynical as I am, I encourage the government to allow home brewing and distilling (both are illegal here), provided the final product doesn’t contain any alcohol.

Having said that, the common folks don’t really care much for the growing itself or buying a piece of rope. Marijuana sellers pop up everywhere. What they sell is the good stuff. So far, without any problems. The police do not interfere. The current rate is about Bt. 700 ($20) per gram. I expect those prices to drop over the coming months, due to competition.

What makes it hilariously funny is the reaction of the media. Most media are pretty conservative here. They really are in panic mode. The craziest stories appear that demonize weed. It’s Reefer Madness version 2.0. A paper reported a woman had to be hospitalized for a severe allergic reaction to a few leaves of weed in her bowl of soup. That kind of stuff. Woo the weed! Shame, shame!

The funniest story was about a man who went berserk with a knife after smoking weed and taking Tramadol. Really? Once I had severe stomach pain, and my doctor proscribed tramadol for it. It’s a very strong painkiller. Even in Thailand, you can’t get it without prescription. One of the side effects is that it makes you drowsy. And if you happen to be allergic to it, as I am, you fall asleep. Knocked out cold. I slept for +24 hours. Normally when I wake up, I’m wide awake. Not this time.

I was barely able to drag myself to the hospital, where I fell asleep on the floor. The nurses were kind of surprised, but they picked me up from the floor and laid me on a bed. The doctor showed up, and told me: I see what the problem is. You’re allergic to tramadol. I’ll give you something else. He didn’t even have to examine me.

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Geert Wilders Speaks Out in Support of Nupur Sharma

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Nupur Sharma is an Indian politician who had been a prominent spokeswoman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party until she was expelled from it on June 5.

What was Ms. Sharma’s offense? Back in May she publicly stated that Mohammed married his wife Aisha when the latter was six years old, and consummated the marriage when she was nine.

The controversy over her remarks boiled over when prominent Muslims outside of India began to condemn her vigorously. Eventually the BJP — which is said to be a Hindu nationalist party — felt compelled to throw her under the bus.

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) in the Netherlands, was one of the few prominent Western politicians who dared to speak out in support of Nupur Sharma. Not surprisingly, he has received a rash of new death threats for his temerity.

The following clip is an excerpt from an Indian TV news show on which Mr. Wilders appeared:

For background on the Nupur Sharma Controversy, see the following recent articles from Struggle for Hindu Existence: