Thailand's War on Terror

In the news:

Sunday, December 5, 2004 at 16:50 JST
BANGKOK — Military aircraft on Sunday began airdropping more than 120 million paper birds in the three southernmost Muslim-dominant provinces in a bid to promote peace in the restive region.

Some 100 Thai air force planes are being used to airdrop the origami cranes over 33 districts of the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where violence has surged since early this year, according to Somkuan Sangpatranatra, spokesman for the Southern Border Province Peacekeeping Command." - from Japan Today

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A massive airdrop of paper birds to promote peace failed to halt violence in Thailand's restive south, with a spate of new attacks targeting soldiers and local officials erupting on Monday.

The bombings, shootings and arson attacks came hours after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the airdrop Sunday of nearly 100 million Japanese-style origami cranes over the predominantly Muslim region had achieved an "enormous, positive psychological effect'' toward peace. -- AP Dispatch in the Malaysia Star

At the very least this is an example of unfortunate circumstances creating some very bad press. Even Jimmy Carter realizes that you have to talk to the guys with the guns in order to make any progress.

I wonder if this is an example of the difference between the West and the East, an older clash of cultures, pre-dating the current Western/Muslim one? It may be that I don't understand the Far East, but by the time people start making bombs, burning things down, and murdering people with guns, it seems to me you have passed the point where "a positive psychological effect" produced by millions of oragami birds fluttering down out of the sky from a fleet of military aircraft is going to help much.

And I also wonder where someone would get 120 million oragami birds. ...Or, if they got them, how they would know they have 120 million of them?