Vince
to a war with the Shan United Revolutionary Army over opium. SURA is closely allied to the KMT the latter are the enemies of the supporters of the 3SA - people such as Ruang Himman Haemind, the somewhat reckless younger member of the most influential family in North Thailand and Wichit, editor of the northern newspaper, Khon Muang. If there is a more sinister reason for the Bangkok Post campaign (and you will recull that the Post told Malcolm McBain that they were taking the line that Praphass wanted them to take) then it may be that it is a reflection of the current feud between
Given Traphase and Dawee who controls the Kim via Supreme Command. the amount of economic assistance that the Thai Government are now giving the KIT this seems more likely than that the Thais should now be attacking the IT because of the vagaries of their foreign policy and the rapprochement with China, It may however be the case that we are now witnessing the traditional Thai Government trick of implementing a particularly difficult policy decided upon by the whole Cabinet under a smokescreen of an attack on that policy by one member of the Cabinet.
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CONFIDENTIAL
LB Smith