Happy Warrior

IF you read the paper, you’ll notice that there are a handful of places that attract the attention of everybody who matters-the U.N., EU, IAEA, NGOs, the full alphabet soup. You’ll further notice that, for the fellows pressing ahead with Iran’s nuclear program or mopping up the few remaining opportunities for mass murder in Darfur, attracting the attention of the planet’s A-listers seems to make not a jot of difference. The bigshot acronyms hold meetings, and the crises they’re holding the meetings over trundle along pretty much on schedule.

What then of those problems that don’t even catch the jet set’s eye? It was about three years ago that I began following events in southern Thailand-the old Sultanate of Pattani, to us Mad Dogs and Englishmen. It was the numbers at first: Muslim “insurgents” were murdering over a hundred people a month, which seemed rather on the high side. Then I started looking for the bloody details behind the statistics: the two Laotian-immigrant farm workers beheaded for . . . well, for what? The Thai government isn’t occupying Palestine or invading Iraq or stationing troops in Saudi Arabia. And for a while I took to citing the country’s southern provinces as a bit of list filler to demonstrate the splendidly ecumenical nature of the jihad: Muslims vs. Jews in the West Bank, Muslims vs. Christians in Nigeria, Muslims vs. Hindus in Kashmir, Muslims vs. Buddhists in Thailand.

About the Author

Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn is an international bestselling author, a Top 41 recording artist, and a leading Canadian human-rights activist.

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IF you read the paper, you’ll notice that there are a handful of places that attract the attention of everybody who matters-the U.N., EU, IAEA, NGOs, the full alphabet soup. You’ll further notice that, for the fellows pressing ahead with Iran’s nuclear program or mopping up the few remaining opportunities for mass murder in Darfur, attracting the attention of the planet’s A-listers seems to make not a jot of difference. The bigshot acronyms hold meetings, and the crises they’re holding the meetings over trundle along pretty much on schedule.

What then of those problems that don’t even catch the jet set’s eye? It was about three years ago that I began following events in southern Thailand-the old Sultanate of Pattani, to us Mad Dogs and Englishmen. It was the numbers at first: Muslim “insurgents” were murdering over a hundred people a month, which seemed rather on the high side. Then I started looking for the bloody details behind the statistics: the two Laotian-immigrant farm workers beheaded for . . . well, for what? The Thai government isn’t occupying Palestine or invading Iraq or stationing troops in Saudi Arabia. And for a while I took to citing the country’s southern provinces as a bit of list filler to demonstrate the splendidly ecumenical nature of the jihad: Muslims vs. Jews in the West Bank, Muslims vs. Christians in Nigeria, Muslims vs. Hindus in Kashmir, Muslims vs. Buddhists in Thailand.