Patrick Winn's Notebook:

Zapping Bloodsuckers in Bangkok

Rain fell here for the first time in months yesterday, signaling a transition from Thailand's heavenly, cool dry season to a potentially hellish hot season. Through July, the forecast calls for sporadic showers, oppressive heat and drained sweat glands.

For me and my fellow mammals, this is kind of a bummer. But for our two-winged, blood-sucking, puddle-dwelling nemeses — the mosquitoes — life is looking up.

Even before yesterday's rain, I noticed their increased presence. I've seen more black specks zipping around overhead lights and more bite marks dotting my legs. I've heard that familiar sonic whine — seemingly inside my head —  startling me awake as I've tried to drift off to sleep.

But Thailand does not take the surge laying down. With this weapon, it takes the fight right to the enemy.

This is a rechargeable mosquito racket, found in practically every Thai home. Press a button on the handle and electricity surges through that metallic netting. If a mosquito nears, and your swing finds its mark, your airborne aggressor will fry and crackle in rapid bursts of blue light. And the air will smell of death.

Words cannot describe the satisfaction. Clearly, some inventor was cheated out of a Nobel prize.

When I first discovered this device, and brought one home, I treated it like a plutonium warhead. I was sure I would shock myself into a coma or at least set the curtains on fire. But after five minutes, I realized the current was only strong enough to kill insects — and that I could freely poke the netting to produce painless little sparks. Now, if I'm in bed and feel the slightest tingle on my arm hairs — a possible moquito attack — I will rub this thing on my skin like a cheese grater.

I leave you with a display of the mosquito racket in action. This racket is wielded by Tiew, a 15-year-old who lives in a small fishing village in Chantaburi province. Tiew works in a relative's guesthouse overlooking a swampy bay — lots of mosquitoes.

As part of his daily chores, he enters each room with his racket zapper and massacres untold numbers of mosquitoes. If this whole reporting gig falls apart, I'm going after his job.

Cobra Gold: Deleted scenes

I've just returned from Cobra Gold, a massive U.S.-Thai war games exercise.

You will soon be able to go to GlobalPost's main Thailand page to find my dispatch on a joint forces beach assault — designed to rescue hostages, evacuate stranded civilians or simply deliver tons of supplies under hostile circumstances. 

The mock invasion gives insight into how America could have forced aid into Burma during last year's nightmarish Cyclone Nargis. It's a proposition, however radical, that both militaries are at least prepared for. (But consider also that the U.S. military is prepared for a Star Wars-style confrontation with China and other equally far-fetched scenarios.)

Covering Cobra Gold offered rare access to places few will ever see — an open-air squad bay where I bunked with Marines before the assault, the confluence of hobnobbing Thai and U.S. generals and more. So here's a behind-the-scenes look at what I couldn't squeeze into my main dispatch.

Inside an amphibious vehicle: Do you hate elevators? Don't join the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. You might end up inside an amphibious assault vehicle, a heavily-armed, Transformers-esque machine that can skid across seawater and then mount the beach on tank treads. They can roll out of ship bellies into the sea and race across the surf at surprisingly fast speeds. The ride, however, is sickening. It's dark in there and the vehicle bounces hard on the waves. The cabin fills with diesel fumes and the floor fills with sea water. A photographer for the Thai-language Combat Magazine rode along with Thai Marines and later confided that some of them puked. Apparently, this happens a lot.

The Generals' tent: As marines invaded the beach below, high-ranking U.S. and Thai officers watched from far above on a craggy hill top. This included three U.S. generals and their staffs. The Thai military had set up tents, folding chairs and even speakers broadcasting military anthems.Marine snipers were brought in to show off their gear, including .50-caliber rifles. That's one of them above, playing show-and-tell with a Thai sailor.

At the cliff's edge, they all watched the hour-long spectacle as Thai sailors served Cokes and Fantas from plastic trays. And when the show was over, they all retreated to their respective vehicles: rented minivans for the U.S. senior officers, new-model Mercedes for their Thai counterparts.

Sidenote: I was impressed by Army Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, the Cobra Gold commander, who sought out snipers and thanked them for their Iraq tours. Then he whipped out a few Leatherman-style hand tools and asked, "Got any use for one of these?" before handing a few to the guys. And, no, he didn't know a reporter was watching.

China Can Watch But Can't Play: Thai and U.S. troops are Cobra Gold's stars, followed by Singaporean troops and a few Indonesians and Japanese. But pretty much every other Asian nation outside of North Korea is allowed to at least send top brass to watch the spectacle. Naturally, this includes China. And it's no secret that America wants the Chinese to watch Cobra Gold — a shuddering display of military might in a region where China is extending its sway. Knowing Cobra Gold might be my only chance to catch a Chinese general for a few (likely awkward) questions, I scanned the crowd on the aforementioned VIP hilltop. No luck. Maybe next year.

The Elusive Skoal: Smokeless tobacco, affectionately called "dip" in my home state of North Carolina, does not exist in Thailand ... or so I thought. There are entire message board threads full of expats who crave this unhealthy substance and all of them end up frustrated. (Don't worry about why I know this. I just do.) However, once a year, if you're authorized to enter a U.S. Marine Corps travelling exchange store, you just might just find Skoal sold in bulk quantities. And at very reasonable prices.

Special thanks to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's public affairs team, who offered great access for me and Global Post photographer Pailin Wedel. As a former military beat reporter with Gannett, I can say there are easy-going public affairs officers and those who block reporters at every turn — but this team was particularly capable and smart.

Coming soon: Thai booze with gross-out labelling

That says, "Tobacco smoke can kill people."

And if you've ever bought smokes in Thailand, you know it's one of the least disturbing images printed on cigarette packs here.

Under Thai law, cigarette labels must bear one of several gruesome images: a cancer-blackened lung, a hospitalized man fitted with tubes and wires, stained teeth in a mustache-lined mouth. (I actually kind of like the above image. Very Black Sabbath. Here are the others in case you're curious.)

The images, designed by the state-run Thailand Health Promotion Institute,  are meant to warn would-be smokers. Canada, Singapore and other countries force tobacco companies to include similar pictures on their labels.

Now the government is readying a new line-up of gross-out images — this time for containters of alcohol. Though they haven't been released yet, the Bangkok Post reports that the "pictures under consideration include patients suffering from liver cancer, road accidents and other crimes caused by alcohol."

This is part of a wider campaign against booze that seems to be intensifying.

In October, the public health ministry announced that vendors selling alcohol in gift baskets — forcing consumers to buy intoxicants, the ministry says — could face six months in prison. 

The ministry has also publicly considered banning alcohol sales on public holidays — perhaps in time for the week-long Songkran festival, in which it becomes socially acceptable to drink publicly and douse total strangers with buckets of water.

Restrictions on advertising also result in awkward beer ads, which are forbidden from showing beer or the drinking of said beer. One spot by Chang Beer — which produces a popular lager of above-average potency — depicts a guy en route to a party who casually thwarts a mugger, returns a lost wallet and flirts with an attractive girl. When he arrives to the shindig, all of his buddies are drinking water. (This is not at all intended to be funny.)

Empirical evidence suggests that these tough regulations haven't deterred the people of Bangkok from enjoying their Chang — often from three-liter chilled towers in neighborhood beer gardens.

I'm guessing they won't let a revolting label stop them either.

The Economist: Punish Thailand by Cancelling War Games

The largest U.S. war games in Asia kicked off today in Thailand.

Called Cobra Gold, it's a big deal to the U.S. military and Thailand, among America's oldest allies in the Pacific region.

Thailand and America are old pals, having forged an anti-communist alliance in the Vietnam War days. Even after the war ended, the CIA helped train Thai commandos to chase down communists camped out in dense jungles. These days, during Cobra Gold, U.S. troops get a chance to train in Southeast Asian terrain while the Thais get access to America's latest gear and equipment.

Now, with scandal again plaguing Thailand's military, British weekly The Economist has editorialized that Obama should temporarily withdraw the war games.

Why? The Thai military is accused of detaining sea-faring Burmese refugees and pushing them back into the ocean with dismantled ships. (Here's my story on the fiasco.) And threatening to canceling Cobra Gold, The Economist says, will injure Thai generals' pride and push the military to behave.

But I seriously doubt this will happen.

Cobra Gold is a well-entrenched event for both militaries. The games legitimize Thailand's military — and reaffirm a Thai-U.S. bond that's even more crucial as neighboring China grows militarily stronger. (Thailand, historically savvy at playing sides, has held exercises with China as well.)

The kingdom's 2006 military coup forced the U.S. — by law — to briefly withdraw $24 million in military aid to Thailand. But the coup didn't kill Cobra Gold. The exercise went on as usual.

All that valuable training aside, Cobra Gold is huge diplomatically. I recently visited a Thai army compound where a team of U.S. military personnel works year-round to coordinate Cobra Gold and other exercises. The room was buzzing with high-ranking U.S. officers — in polo shirts instead of uniforms, per guidelines — and a few uniformed Thai officers hunched over a laptops and pecking changes into spreadsheets.

Cobra Gold is one of the strongest pillars supporting U.S.-Thai relations. The refugee scandal may produce strongly worded letters from the United Nations and U.S. diplomats.

But it'll take much more than that knock out Cobra Gold.

Thai foreign minister will "find no peace in his life"

It only makes sense that Thailand's new premier, when appointing a foreign minister,  would choose a career diplomat who once served as U.S. ambassador.

But Kasit Piromya, the PM's pick for foreign minister, also supported the "yellow shirt" protesters who paralyzed parts of Bangkok late last year. He even spoke at their rallies inside a government compund blockaded by protesters.

And here comes the backlash.

After Thailand's yellow-clad "People's Alliance for Democracy" protest faction seized both of Bangkok's airports and the prime minister's compound last year, the group left a lot of bitterness in its wake. Their street campaign helped dismantle a rival political party, whose members are now banned from politics for corruption charges.

And, after helping rid Thai politics of this popular party,  the protest group also indirectly helped Thailand's recently appointed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva — who belongs to Thailand's Democrat party — ascend to leadership.

This has provided valuable ammunition to Abhisit's rivals, a.k.a. the remnants of the politicians whose extinction is owed to yellow-shirt protesters.

Fortunately for those who casually follow Thai politics, these rivals are color-coded in red.  (As a fellow foreign correspondent told me a while back, color-coded movements sure beat acronymns.) This red-shirt faction actually does go by an acronym, but it's in Thai. Their chosen name in English is the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship.

For the next two weeks, this group promises to rally hard to shame the yellow-friendly foreign minister into leaving.

He is, in a sense, helping coalesce rural Thais disaffected by the current urban-centric government. If you despised the airport takeover — which knocked the bottom out of Thailand's now-struggling tourism economy — come march against one of its well-heeled supporters. (Or so the pitch goes.)

I caught up with Jakrapob Penkair, a co-leader of the "red shirts," at the rally that kicked off the protests against the foreign minister. (We tried to find some quiet in a nearby van, but you can hear the lively protests outside.)

Jakrapob is a popular television figure and former spokesman for the previous prime minister (the one ousted on corruption charges). Like the new premier, he's foreign-educated, articulate in English and rather debonair. But they operate on opposite ends of Thailand's political chasm.

I was mostly interested in the red shirt faction's new satellite TV station, the subject of a forthcoming GlobalPost dispatch. But Jakrapob was also eager to talk about their ongoing rallies. And I couldn't resist sharing.

If Kasit, the foreign minister, doesn't resign, he will find "no peace in his life," Jakrapob says:

And here's his opinion of Thailand's new prime minister, Abhisit, who Jakrapob derides as an actor scripted by his political party:

CORRECTION: This post previously stated that Thailand's foreign minister spoke at Bangkok's airport after it was seized by protesters. He actually spoke at the seized prime minister's compound.

Patrick's Links:

Global Blogs:

• Latest

More Dispatches:

• Latest

Sponsored Links

Prom Dresses
Brokers Online Health Insurance
Casino News
drug addiction treatment
P90X
Credit Card