Who could think badly of Thailand? The people are lovely, the beaches divine and the green chicken curry outstanding. The country's apparently troubled political history of serial coups and quick-vanishing constitutions, say its many admirers, is not as bad as it appears. It masks an odd kind of stability that has made Thailand a favoured destination for foreign investment and foreign vacations alike. True, there is poverty and great disparity of wealth. Where in south-east Asia isn't there? But the people appear pretty content with their lot, and at least no one is starving. Even the current prime minister, the Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva, seems like a thoroughly decent chap, and terribly dishy to boot.
Now take a cold shower. No one would begrudge the goodwill that many people have for the Land of Smiles. But warm and fuzzy sentiments towards Thailand are increasingly at odds with reality. How else to explain the relative equanimity with which the world has just witnessed Mr Abhisit's government crush those calling for elections (of all things), shooting dead more than 60 civilians?
There has been little of the international condemnation that followed last year's crackdowns against pro-democracy demonstrators in Iran, let alone those in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Imagine the outcry if, in Greece, the rowdy anti-austerity demonstrators had been mown down with sub-machine guns.