This will indeed be an interesting test. I’m sure Thailand doesn’t want to piss off Russia, not when Russian tourists have been boosting their economy recently. However their human rights obligations should trump that.
I think they’re more concerned with keeping Russia happy, especially since
2024 would be the year of cultural and tourism exchanges between Thailand and Russia
But this will piss of western countries. I don’t want to travel to a country, where criticism of Russia can lead to deportation.
At the same time: the old men visiting Thailand for their sex workers are mostly pro-Putin, due to their similarity of interpretation of ‘traditional family values’ and the general value of dominating others by force and money, so at least their sex tourism sector won’t take a deep hit – if thats what Thai people want.
It wasn’t the criticism of Russia that’s leading to this, it’s playing without a licence. It’s somewhat similar to the classic “if you’re going to break the law, only break one at a time”.
You’d have to fuck up severely for that to happen. So many Europeans have a relation with Thailand, most of it above board - i.e vacation homes, shared families, etc.
Besides, this is a very special case that the band can’t bribe themselves away from. But usually police in Thailand are like police in India. Bribes are the norm, so average westerners are used to the idea and know when to push and pull.
But, Russia being what Russia is and the Thailand regime being what it is, it’s not a shocker that they would serve up political dissidents on a silver platter.
