As I keep saying over and over, I expect this to get more violent. You might remember that during one of my live streams of a recent Hong Kong protest that I actually was keeping an eye out for potential bombs -- which in reality is a near impossible job in an unfamiliar place during protest chaos.
I have been in a lot of bombings with a lot of fatalities. Up close and personal. None of this is theoretical to me. Been there, done that, and expect I will be there again during some big bombing. I hope it's not tomorrow in Hong Kong.
Bombings or other attacks can come from many sides:
1) Madman (or group)
2) Violent protestors from various sides (more than two sides here, as per normal)
3) False flag
4) Other
I have no idea when it will start, but I sense this will fade into more serious bloodshed. It just has that feel, and my long term readers know the when my web twitches, and I am actually confident enough to predict something in writing, I'm seldom wrong.
The tell is when I actually put it in writing as I have done here, and as I have done with the Korea-Japan issue for the past five years. If you look back on my predictions of Korea-Japan relations, my predictions are so accurate that even I am surprised. Massive homework makes you seem smart.
It's just got that feel to it. More violence is coming. That I just flew here again today says a lot about what I am sensing.
Al Johnson is probably the leading expert on explosive-terrorism in Asia. He is a close friend and we communicate daily.
Al invited me to a counterterrorism conference in Jakarta. Present at the conference was a terrorist who had been released. He was one of the leaders at Jemaah Islamiyah who made a massive bombing in Bali that killed about 200 people, including killing my friend Beata Pawlak, a famous Polish dissident and journalist. He was standing there talking with me. I cannot tell you what was going through my mind. Facebook will block me. The terrorist told me they hatched the plot in Thailand in a hotel.