sfbandung

Nothing would surprise me about the Thai psyche. A significant proportion of Thais saw the Reds as heroes - when they rioted in Bkk in 2009 and when they came back a year lager and commandeered downtown for two months with tires and bamboo spikes and bloodshed. That same proportion keeps rallying around T, even though he's proven in dozens of ways what a scoundrel he is. No matter what low down act he does, or denigrating thing he utters, he will forever be a hero to the Reds. Even if he were to not pay taxes on his multi-billions or if he commanded a force which killed nearly a hundred young men in gov't detention, he would still be a hero to die hard Reds.

Oh wait a moment, now that I think about it, .......he already did those things.

So then, it wouldn't surprise you if Thaksin and the Reds turned on each other either.

Me? I'd really like to see that.

It would be a surprise if the Reds turned on him. There are some inklings of that happening, but until it becomes wide-spread and a completed disassociation occurs, they lack the credibility they've always had. I, too, would welcome their removal of support as it would be opportunity to actually do something positive for the rural poor, instead of them being manipulatively used as pawns.

As for Thaksin turning on the Reds, I'd say that's an impossibility. They are his bread and butter and without them, he's finished in the political arena.

.

Absolutely. It has to happen the other way round. Perhaps they'll slowly wake up to the fact that he is manifestly corrupt. I doubt it though.

That said however, Abhisit missed a perfect opportunity to embrace the rural poor. And I don't think it would have been that hard.

I don't think she should step down over the flood crisis. Any move she makes to protect or grant immunity to her brother is an entirely different matter. That issue must remain with the judiciary.

It pays to remember that a so called developed country, Australia, made a complete botch of their very own flood crisis in Brisbane this year. In fact it could be strongly argued that they actually caused it by not letting water out of Wivenhoe dam much earlier.

There were no calls for anyone to step down or resign.

What an idiot. That's all that is worth saying.

And he does have the sort of smug face that you wouldn't tire of punching.

He looks like he'd prefer a slap. He certainly deserves one.

"Bangkok might be contributing almost 41 per cent to the country's GDP ..."

I love how he brushes this off as being almost insignificant. That's nearly half, and more than enough justification for taking drastic measures to protect it.

This seems to be a case of a lot of knowledge being a dangerous thing. He's enagaging in some spectacular mental gymnastics to convince himself that the social and financial capital of the nation shouldn't be given some priority.

OK. Now we really have something to worry about.

Didn't this post just have double entendre written all over it.

Bring it on...

Thank Buddha they published this. I haven't been able to sleep worrying about it.

Seriously, how is this news?

NNT is a branch of the Public Relations Dept of Thailand, If you looked you would see they have a facebook page they update regularly and the PRD website is updated regularly too

http://thailand.prd.go.th/index.php

NNT's Facebook page hasn't been updated (something added to their Wall) since October 15.

http://www.facebook....61657982?v=wall

While the PRD does produce news itself on a sporadic basis (checking their list of articles reveals it is averaging only 1 or 2 articles per day and sometimes none) and has updated since then, the NNT is the actual "meat and potatoes" daily news production department (15-30 articles per day) and it hasn't produced news on it's English-language site since October 31.

This is perplexing, and a concern. I hope it winds up having a logical answer.

This topic is about floodwater spreading in inner Bangkok. It is not about climate change. Further off-topics will be deleted.

Please stay on topic.

Copy that Scott. Message received and understood. My original reply was based on a direct quote from the article though, I didn't mean to fire this up.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

so your still denying climate change despite all the evidence? are you blind? you are now in a very very tiny minority, even the most skeptical have changed their tune in recent years. the only real debate is whether humans are the cause. Bangkok will be underwater permanently, it is just a question of time.

If you read a little further you'd have seen that I accept the climate is changing. It always does. The debate is now about whether it is man made or not. And despite Aries' Tolstoy-like response to my original comment the jury is still very much out.

As an Australian (albeit an absentee one) I'm offended by the fact that the nation must now endure a ridiculous carbon tax because we have a hung parliament and Gillard must pander to "climate change evangilists" (hell, if someone can call me a "climate change skeptic" they deserve a moniker too).

And it's "so you're still denying ...". And start new sentences with a capital letter, please.

Cheers, sf

Reason for edit: correcting typos

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Like they did with this flood? Splendid idea. You seem to be qualified to lead the Irrigation Department. I suggest you move in right away. It's on Sam Sen, next to the river. Just remember to bring rubber boots and a snorkle, just in case

I was offered the head of FROC, it seems I was over qualified.

I get bored with the old "climate change" chestnut being thrown up all the time.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this catastrophe has been incredibly poorly handled.Just look back at all the announcements saying that Inner Bangkok was safe.

Look back at the unusually low release of water from the dams March to July. It was only before March that it was at normal level and only from August that it was higher than normal release, when it was a little too late and guranteed to cause flooding.

Without excusing anything that has gone on here, a similar thing happened in Brisbane. They let Wivenhoe dam get higher and higher and decided way too late that they needed to let some water out. And Wivenhoe was built specifically for flood mitigation. The so called experts then let it get so full it actually exacerbated the problem.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Or how about actually understanding the science and accepting the fact that it's not scare mongering but reality. Even some of the more vocal climate change skeptics, UC Berkeley professor Richard Muller, are now accepting that climate change is actually happening. In a report funded by some of the more diehard skeptics, the Koch brothers, he found that the data that proves climate change is correct. For more on this: http://news.discover...nce-111024.html and the study it self here http://www.berkeleye...g/resources.php

This probably isn't the forum but my main point was that it isn't relevant now and tossing it up is a furphy.

The climate is changing, it always does. It's been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years. Al Gore and his mates propose that it is man-made. That's the debate and it's a long way from over.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Like they did with this flood? Splendid idea. You seem to be qualified to lead the Irrigation Department. I suggest you move in right away. It's on Sam Sen, next to the river. Just remember to bring rubber boots and a snorkle, just in case

I was offered the head of FROC, it seems I was over qualified.

I get bored with the old "climate change" chestnut being thrown up all the time.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this catastrophe has been incredibly poorly handled.Just look back at all the announcements saying that Inner Bangkok was safe.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Including the weekend market or not?

I am suppose to pick up some items this weekend there.

Weekend Chatuchak Shopping list:

1) Green Mamba Anti-venom

2) Crocodile Net, Heavy Duty

3) Chest-high Wading Boots

4) Portable Toilet

5) Water Purification Equipment

6) 10 Cu Mtr/sec Water Pump (diesel)

7) Flotation Device for Automobile

8) Jet Ski

9) Wind-up Emergency TV

10) Scuba Outfit

11) Boat Big Enough for All of the Above (except the Jet Ski)

Funny Max, funny. A little humour is definitely called for.

BTW, are green mambas water snakes? And I think crocodile nets only come in the "heavy duty" variety.

"Chest-High wading boots" reminds me of a bloke whose cellar was flooded and the water was higher than his gum boots. "I had to send the missus down", he said. "Why?". "Well she's shorter than me so the boots come up higher on her".

Crimes of passion I can almost relate to.

But breaking her legs and stuffing her in a suitcase and dumping her? Who does that?

I reckon he's bonkers and where he should be.

This is HILARIOUS!

"Airlines operating out of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport are reporting full bookings through to the end of this year"

Wow,really?

Not true. I read it and panicked as we hadn't booked through to Udon Thani in mid December. Plenty of availibility on Air Asia and Thai. So BKK UDT isn't a problem. Perhaps they meant "to the end of this week"? Or they just made it up.

"More than 30 THA members last week offered special rates to help Thai flood victims of Bt600, Bt900 and Bt1,200 per night until November 5. All these rooms were sold within days of the campaign launch."

No talk of government subsidised rooms? Probably open to flagrant abuse I suppose. Has the government set up shelters in Pattaya, Hua Hin etc for the 90% of people for whom a hotel room is a dream?

This doesn't sound like something to go charging into. There is going to be enough infrastructure damage as it is without deliberately destroying roads based on a "maybe" scenario. Unless it's minimal damage to roads that are pretty well unusable as it is now.

A Grand Coalition?

A terrific concept that won't happen.

Bangkok is about to suffer enormously over the next few weeks and the pollies putting aside their differences and combining their experience would truly be "Miracle Thailand".

Despite all the surrounding politics she seems genuinely upset to me.

This is looking like being a disastrous weekend for Bangkokians and it would be nice to see politics put aside for a while.

I can't believe the science minister missed the opportunity to have the aircraft carriers spinning their propellors in the river.

The flood crisis would be over!

Did that silly thousand boat thing ever happen BTW?

I wonder what percentage of all replies to all threads relate to Red/Yellow Pro/Anti Thaksin rather than the actual subject of the OP?

I may have misread it, but it reads like an article about proposed changes that could/will result in a less free-speaking press.

Which is apalling and should be opposed, regardless of what colour shirt you're wearing.

Now, back to the floods... Mobile phones are definitely still working well, my wife has been on the phone to her BKK sisters and brothers ALL DAY.

Chin up Bangkokians. It's going to be a rough weekend by the looks of things.

Not that it helps, but those of us who don't live there are thinking of you.

They don't deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt?

At least persecute them after they've done the wrong thing. Not before.