JFL - YES!!!!

Hobby, I hope you're not proposing trade & travel sanctions by foreign governments. I don't think they've done the slightest bit of good in Burma, nor do they seem to have had any effect in Cuba - except that they have created a lot of misery for ordinary people who have a struggle to live without the extra pressures created by sanctions. Anyway, it's most unlikely that anyone really cares enough to do anything. Thailand's not of strategic importance & there's not enough oil or natural gas here for anyone to be bothered.

Unfortunately, it seems that both trade & travel are going down anyway at the moment, as a result of the economic slump. Travel will probably diminish further due to all the bad press Thailand is getting re. human rights issues & the criminality of 'law enforcers' (murders by policemen, police & govt official-operated stand-over rackets targetting tourists, etc.), as well as the illogicality & peculiarity of the operation of the justice system (Santika, the Phai/Canadian murder trial, the ways governments change, etc.)

The perception that Thailand is 'unsafe' is growing. This is understandable. If Thailand wanted to do well in the world, it would be putting a lot of energy into fixing this stuff up, not wasting it on idiotic crap like gaoling people for saying silly things & refusing to stand up for the Royal Anthem.