Painiting itself into a Corner

[shygye]

I don't know about the last time' date=' but NRT has been closed by rice farmer protests.[/quote']

How many years ago was that? well over 20, as most people don't remember, I don't and I was flying in/out of Japan monthly back in those days.

 

How would you classify the closure of Athens airport? A protest against the government?

 

On the one hand, we have Shygye dismissing its as pure nonsense without any substance or cites backing up his flippant dismissal. On the other hand, we have the former managing partner of one to the UK's top law firms saying the opposite.

 

Substance? There is not a single case of an airline suing a country due to an airport closing by strikes or protests. I did a Google search of the ICSID website and there is no case in the past 40 years of its existence!

 

Just give one example and you will prove me wrong.

[Gadfly]

Like I said earlier: "I honestly don't know, but I find it a fascinating issue. It hadn't occurred to me until I read Khun Wirot's article. It certainly merits serious thought."

 

That's really the point here. You have a Foreign Minister who applauds PAD's closure of the airports as innovative civil disturbance, and you have treaty obligations which, according to Khun Wirot, say that Thailand had an obligation to prevent closure of the airport.

 

Consider what happended here. At the Thai airport, the authorities simply melted away and let a middle group of PAD protestors occupied it for more than a week. It's a rather unique situation. Rather different than the other other examples provided.

 

I am not the only that one that thinks this is bizzare. The Bankok Post pointedly observed: "Mr Kasit (the new Foreign Minister") hailed the shutdown of the capital's city's international airport, which left over 200,000 passengers stranded, as a 'new innovation for public protests'".

 

In its editorial of yesterday, the Bangkok Post questioned whether Kasit should serve in light of his support of the airport closure. Wirot says its a clear violation of treaty violations.

 

I wish Khun Abbhsit the best, but you don't think the appointment Kasit should raise a few eyebrows? Employing a bit of commonsense, the foreigners who lost millions should and can will make an issue out of this.

 

Will they spend money to sue the Thai government and recover? That wasn't my point and I even went so far as to express skepticism about it myself. (Your turning this into something else.) My point was painting the Thai government painting itself in a corner. That's the topic.

[shygye]

Well, I emailed Wirot and asked for a reference of an airline suing a country for airport closure due to strikes or protest. He responded that he has no citation or example.

 

Thailand has enough problems without manufacturing fantasy problems.

[Gadfly]

I'd love to see your email to Khun Wirot. His article raised some very interesting issues on several fronts, and I don't see this as manufacturing fantasy issues. For example:

 

First, what is a country's obligation to keep its international airports open? Khun Wirot's article is the first I have seen addressing the issue. I haven't seen anybody post any cites to anything suggesting he is wrong in his reading of the Chicago Convention. If you have a cite, again, please post it.

 

Second, I know plenty of businesses were outraged that Thailand's security forces stood by and let PAD shut down the country. Doing this in the middle of an international financial crisis was particularly foolhardy.

 

Third, what does it say when you appoint as Foreign Minister a guy who applauded the airport closure? This is going to be an on-going problem for the new government. I like Khun Abbhisit and wish him the best, but this particular appointment seems like a major blunder. And I am not the only one who thinks that - see virtually any issue of the Bangkok Post for the past week.

[shygye]

Here is my email:

I found your article in the Bangkok Post interesting. Do you happen to have an example (citation) of an airline suing a country due to strikes or protests closing the airport? Can airlines sue Greece for the recent closure of the Athens airport?

 

I have not read of any attorney agreeing with his interpretation. The Chicago Convention certainly does not authorize or encourage the use of force to keep an airport open. In fact, one could argue that using force, in this instance, would have caused significant damage and caused a much longer delay in reopening the airport!

 

Secondly, the PPP coalition was in power at the time of the airport protest. Did the PPP want the airport closed?

 

What message is sent when you have a dominant political party named TRT?