- It is like for the corner of curiosities: Following the dismissal of Srettha Thavisin by the Constitutional Court of Thailand, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a young woman about to turn 38, has become the country’s prime minister ten days ago. As if you had to look only at your femininity and your youth. And no, stop!
The designation of Paetongtarn is the most important step in the political crisis in that country, which by extension is the same as Spain and France per inhabitant. And it would be a little strange if it were the last one.
Very superstitiously, the main protagonists of the crisis would be, on the one hand, the populist movement leading the Shinawatra family, today called Pheu Thai; the red, of color (no excessive political consequences); and the one that during the last two years has held several times the office of Prime Minister, directly (Thaksin [2001-23]; and his sister Yingluck [202014].
A conservative establishment of a yellow color, managed by the military and by the high bureaucracy. After the 2014 military coup led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, until he lost the general election of 2023. Other protagonists are: The Democratic Party... and the powerful King Rama X Vajiralongkorn, better known as “the Reds.”
Everything would be a simple “domestic incident” if it were not because it was annexed to a project that impacted the whole geopolitical region: Construction of a step (canal, railway, highway) to cross the Kra isthmus. It's a very old idea, but it fell asleep until the Shinawatra movement took it by a symbol. And right now, with Paetongtarn's name, which is coming back to the foreground.
The technical and financial problems of the various variants of the project are not as varied as possible, but they seem to be possible if there is sufficient consensus. Here's the bleeding: This Craco step would overturn the Malacca Strait (and, by the way, the resources of Singapore and Malaysia) and Indonesia (Sunda, Lombok, etc.). ). ). Certainly, ASEAN would be a torpedo that would hit the flotation line.
This fact is so clear that the third countries that support the project (China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam), which would be major beneficiaries, have not so far dared to commit essential funding for it. And even less extending the hand for construction. But things change with need, and there's no shortage on that side.
Or will the high Thai policy change the spectrum of the Craco pass before?