The Wild Boars is the name of the soccer team trapped hiking in Tham Luang Cave, Thailand. To ad another example to the six degrees of separation hypothesis, my wife is from a village near Mae Sai, the nearest subdistrict of government. Her sister teaches the Chinese language at her high school were she graduated years before. She has been put on alert as others have to be on call for translation services if needed. Now unlikely she will be needed. It happens the Wild Boar scheduled for the ill-fated hike did not join his comrades because he was called to work; he is a student at her high school.
We do not nor is it at all likely we shall have any information of interest that is not already reported or will be. I'm working on a piece which will be controversial for a US audience on the different cultural discussion of this saga, a military junta regime with some of the most corrupt police forces in the world, responds, in comparison to our drama with separation and then attempted uniting of children by our most advanced country in the world renowned for attracting immigrants—especially those seeking asylum from repressive governments. (Of course at best that might be acceptable on the Market Politics thread and background radiation distance from topic here.)
But a snippet.
As part of this effort I've been doing some research and uncovered signs of Thai superiority in reporting and another which on the face of it has some earth shaking news which may be based solely on rumor or symptomatic of government intervention in controlling the Thai press.
As one would expect my wife has her iPhone tuned to You Tube channels of TV from her native country while I watch and read what we have to offer here in the English language. Overall, the picture is the same. CNN may have stolen graphics from the Bangkok Post; the diagram of the way they guys are swum through the water, for example, are very similar as one might suspect.
A positive from Thailand was a TV a reporter interviewing a foreign journalist covering the saga. He was from Germany or the Netherlands and spoke fluent English with but a bit of accent. It was not British. The Thai reporter asked him how things were playing in his country, why this was of interest to his viewers, etc. I was very impressed with his fluent use of our language. Then she summarized what he said in English, or elaborated on something, in the staccato pace of a sports reporter in equally impeccable English with no perceptible accent! Then she continued in Thai for her local audience.
Now the earthquake news from the Bangkok Post elaborating on the first four rescued: "That fourth person taken to hospital was the boys' football coach, Ekapol Chantawong, 25. He was said to be in one of the worst conditions because he had given the boys his share of the group’s meagre food supply before they were found.”
There's always confusion in reporting. This may have been based on solid reporting or it might be another effort at cover-up when later in the article, the four boys rescued are referenced and not the first rescue of the coach. I could understand the government's interest in suppressing this. There is an overwhelming need to arrange the release of the boys with care for the feelings of the families and friends. I've heard reference to the families refusing to budge from the scene until all are released because they are in solidarity with each other and do not even know if their son was released until all are. I haven't the foggiest whether this is true, a sign of Buddhist patience in the face of tragedy, or just messaging by the Thai government. Further casting doubt on this reporting is a letter published in many western sources about the affected families pulling for the coach and stating he is blameless.
Narongsak Osottanakorn, recently removed as Governor of Chiang Rai Province, is directing the operation overall and doing a great job. Announced before this drama, social media in Thailand credited his removal to refusing to authorize unneeded projects like building an elephant statue in the middle of a river. (Apparently 70 percent of the cost was for graft.) Sounds like a typical bureaucratic ploy—put someone in charge of a likely-to-fail operation so he gets the blame. Apparently Thai media caught Narongsak chewing out some police executive for turning away volunteers of food, supplies, etc., without first extracting a license from him! The locals love Narongsak.
Source from Bangkok Post:
First 'Wild Boars' emerge from nightmare cave ordeal. View our policies at Bangkok Post: Terms and conditions of use and Bangkok Post: Republishing policy. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.
We do not nor is it at all likely we shall have any information of interest that is not already reported or will be. I'm working on a piece which will be controversial for a US audience on the different cultural discussion of this saga, a military junta regime with some of the most corrupt police forces in the world, responds, in comparison to our drama with separation and then attempted uniting of children by our most advanced country in the world renowned for attracting immigrants—especially those seeking asylum from repressive governments. (Of course at best that might be acceptable on the Market Politics thread and background radiation distance from topic here.)
But a snippet.
As part of this effort I've been doing some research and uncovered signs of Thai superiority in reporting and another which on the face of it has some earth shaking news which may be based solely on rumor or symptomatic of government intervention in controlling the Thai press.
As one would expect my wife has her iPhone tuned to You Tube channels of TV from her native country while I watch and read what we have to offer here in the English language. Overall, the picture is the same. CNN may have stolen graphics from the Bangkok Post; the diagram of the way they guys are swum through the water, for example, are very similar as one might suspect.
A positive from Thailand was a TV a reporter interviewing a foreign journalist covering the saga. He was from Germany or the Netherlands and spoke fluent English with but a bit of accent. It was not British. The Thai reporter asked him how things were playing in his country, why this was of interest to his viewers, etc. I was very impressed with his fluent use of our language. Then she summarized what he said in English, or elaborated on something, in the staccato pace of a sports reporter in equally impeccable English with no perceptible accent! Then she continued in Thai for her local audience.
Now the earthquake news from the Bangkok Post elaborating on the first four rescued: "That fourth person taken to hospital was the boys' football coach, Ekapol Chantawong, 25. He was said to be in one of the worst conditions because he had given the boys his share of the group’s meagre food supply before they were found.”
There's always confusion in reporting. This may have been based on solid reporting or it might be another effort at cover-up when later in the article, the four boys rescued are referenced and not the first rescue of the coach. I could understand the government's interest in suppressing this. There is an overwhelming need to arrange the release of the boys with care for the feelings of the families and friends. I've heard reference to the families refusing to budge from the scene until all are released because they are in solidarity with each other and do not even know if their son was released until all are. I haven't the foggiest whether this is true, a sign of Buddhist patience in the face of tragedy, or just messaging by the Thai government. Further casting doubt on this reporting is a letter published in many western sources about the affected families pulling for the coach and stating he is blameless.
Narongsak Osottanakorn, recently removed as Governor of Chiang Rai Province, is directing the operation overall and doing a great job. Announced before this drama, social media in Thailand credited his removal to refusing to authorize unneeded projects like building an elephant statue in the middle of a river. (Apparently 70 percent of the cost was for graft.) Sounds like a typical bureaucratic ploy—put someone in charge of a likely-to-fail operation so he gets the blame. Apparently Thai media caught Narongsak chewing out some police executive for turning away volunteers of food, supplies, etc., without first extracting a license from him! The locals love Narongsak.
Source from Bangkok Post:
First 'Wild Boars' emerge from nightmare cave ordeal. View our policies at Bangkok Post: Terms and conditions of use and Bangkok Post: Republishing policy. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.