Not many may be aware of what's happening in the Thailand south, but it had been a hotbed of terrorism and Jihadism of massive scale, between the muslims, christians, buddists in that Buddhist nation.

The true cause unfortunately, had either been ignored or largely dismiss in the belief that massive firepower will end terrorism. Truth is - bullets cannot kill idealogies, only better and truer idealogies can conquer hatred and manipulation. The causes are:-

1. Greed - Follow the money trail.

The Thai southern lands holds a great economic value to landholders there. Unfortunately, many of them are the rich, while the rest are mere subsitance farmers, owing banks for seeds and modernisation to fund their farms. As a result, bankers and the elites see a way to own those lands enmass - through chaos.

Once the farmers are out of the picture, the elites will convert arable land into condos and shopping malls to tap the great economic value that border province promises, due to tourism and exchange of culture inhibitations and restrictions.

The elites initially thought they could make use of extremism to bring about chaos. Jihadists do not exists out of vacuums. They need funds to plan, organise and execute. Bombing techniques do not grow out of thin air, more so on the ill educated farming population. The greedy elites had been funding them. Figure out the money trail, and one will be able to cut out the source.

2. Jihadism.

While radical extremist clerics may see funds as a way to expand their control the minds of the simple farmers, they knew ultimate control will lay with clerics themselves. Accepting funds is but only a means to an end - the policy of animals. WIth funds, the clerics would be able to later blackmail the elites into serving their radical ends instead.

Solution.

a. End the funding, follow the money trail and end it.

b. There are reportedly a massive 3000 Jihadist foot soldiers in southern thailand. The thai army may think that using massive force will overpower these terrorist, but it is only a fools errand. 3 to 1 ratio had always been the army's thinking, but that is ONLY for conventional warfare. Terrorism is guerilla warfare and the ratio will be far higher, too far for a Buddhist state to provide.

The answer lays in sending TRUE Islamic scholars to turn the tide. Islam is a religion of peace, and had NEVER contenance the murder of innocents such as today. No TRUE Islamic scholar will ever preach violence against innocents as a solution to anything. Instead of sending 9000 troops into thailand south, all it need is 3000 Islamic scholars to spend time with the farming and merchant community to convert them to the true path, give up on violence and inform on those who seek for violence.

Thailand is and had always been the land of smiles. There is no greater and peaceful people on Earth than the Thais. It is sad that the scourge of mankind exterminators had sought to bring shame and death to innocents there. The innocent dead screams for justice every night.

May the US State Dept helping Thailand in its fight against terrorism be wise. Financial bounties alone may not be enough to buy over radical loyalty. It takes a far more enlightened belief to change mindsets, if not for their own sakes, it will be their innocent next generations.

I would like to thank you for bringing this topic up. S&F.

I have been keenly following insurrectionary events in Thailand and the Phillippines (Islamist and non-Islamist both) for some time and I think everything that happens in this part of the world is very important for global security.

It is a shame that more people don't pay attention to this, but what can you do. The topic on the transgendered Canadian beauty queen already has six pages, I doubt this important topic will make it that far. Oh well.