thai 'face' may be more important than survival, but even against the current political backdrop cant see anything likely to provoke a repeat of '97...the real test for the country will be when the unthinkable happens, which el bladder says won't be long now, the clue being that it becomes safer to poke the lion with impunity under certain conditions, and at that time the intl community will be frantically shovelling cash into the void as a soothing sweetener.