The Toronto Star. May 18:

For days, Thailand’s army has been sniping at civilian democracy activists who have barricaded themselves in the heart of Bangkok demanding new elections. Dozens have died in the past few days. It is an appalling spectacle.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s ultimatum to some 5,000 largely unarmed men, women and children to give up and disperse has left many fearing an imminent Tiananmen-style bloodbath.

That would be a brutally futile denouement to a confrontation that should never have reached this sorry pass.

Just weeks ago Abhisit offered to dissolve parliament and hold an election on Nov. 14. The “Red Shirt” protesters, meanwhile, pushed for a vote around Sept. 1. The 10-week gap should have been bridgeable. But both sides have retrenched, amid escalating violence.

Abhisit has rejected United Nations mediation, but has been unable to broker the deal that seemed so close, and that his country so urgently needs. His military has now encircled the loosely organized and led protesters, calling them terrorists, and is threatening to clear them out. Already more than 65 people have been killed and 1,600 wounded. And there’s a state of emergency across a quarter of the country of 67 million.

There’s no doubt that the military can suppress the protests. But that will only further delegitimize Abhisit’s regime and destabilize the country. Millions of Thais, understandably, would view a violent outcome as the work of an illegitimate coalition of royalists, military officers and the urban elite crudely clinging to power and indifferent to the urban and rural poor who want genuine democracy and a fairer economic shake. …

Given Thailand’s political impasse, credible elections are the only way forward. And more Thais shouldn’t have to die to get them.

Online: http://www.thestar.com