backtonormal

Its a Nation piece, come on

The fact that the military was targeting journalists - western or eastern (like japanese) has never been much in doubt - except to the facade repair, and window dressing experts at ...... The Nation.

The Dems/army/amaat, take your pick all the same, tried to surpress independent international press coverage of what was occurring. Even to the extent of firing a grenade into the hotel to keep all the journalists in the cellar before the public slaughter took place. What Government allows/orders its forces to target journalists.

Its not as if any Thai people read this forum for suggestions. They know how the system works and have no interest in changing it. I can see PTP wanting to split up this little quorum of the teaching fraternity as plenty of them, working and retired, believe they have to protect the flag and the monarchy so turn out at anti Thaksin rallys.

I remember , just before the coup, Thaksin wanting to grade teachers individually and link to payment. Divide and conquer. There as been many education stories just recently...maybe a sign of the PTP direction

So if most of the employees have got fake qualifications (even those with worthless degree papers earned from being at uni for 4 years) then I dont see a problem with foreigners having dodgy papers

Do we have to have 3 - 4 rice stories a week. Somebody tell the rice exporters the games over, take your billions and be extremely grateful they had such a good run at keeping the country in the dark ages while they got fabulously wealthy. Oh by the way..shut the door on the way out

Thailand is and will be 2-3 world country as long as the army is allowed to do what they do. Only fools believe that Thaksin is the most corrupt man in Thailand.

Yeah, it's pay-back time for the PT big-wigs. This whole airport thing was blown out of proportion in order to - successfully - blame the Yellow Shirts for creating havoc.

If my memory serves me right (and it usually does!), the CEO of the Suvannaphumi airport ordered the airput shut at 21:00 hours on the day the Yellowistas came to greet Somchai, the then PM of Thailand upon his return from overseas. This shut-down order was bringing everything to a stop and created the whole mess, that came out of it.

This is not to condone the action of the Yellow Shirts, BUT as is known protests at airports happen in Europe again and again, most times due to labour conflicts. But there nobody would bring the whole operation to a screeching halt over such a tussle.

If the Airport authority would have told the Yellow Shirts to protest in one corner of the departure hall or on the parking deck across the approach road, the operation of the airport would have gone on without much interference. But the airport boss, being a known Taksin friend, wanted to use this chance to beat the Yellow Shirts.

How 'dangerous" the Yellow Shirts were can be seen from the fact, that they went on patrol with the airport security staff during the time they stayed at the airport.

And let's not forget, while they stayed at the government house they were attacked on a nearly regular basis with grenades, resulting in several deaths, somthing that was not possible at Suvannaphumi.

Sam Munich

Now Ive stopped chuckling let me say How you can compare 10,000+ facists stopping an airport to an industrial dispute in another country is beyond the realms of anybodys imagination. The airport was closed down, and rightly so because of the dangers to the travelling public and incoming flights(yes your friends forced their way into the control tower). Surrounded by plain clothes army guys with arms amounts to terrorism.

Please sit down in the corner and protest and they would have. Did you miss the 30m stage out front. We are all entitled to opinions but it might be an idea to keep yours to yourself

The RTA has a rap sheet as long as an orang utangs arm. In the last decade their has been 2nd hand subs which they were told were no good for the Gulf of Thjailand, 2nd Hand Chinese tanks that were too heavy for the terrain, war planes that ended on the runaway in bits to keep the other flying. They increased ther own budget by at least 30,000,000 baht just before handing over to a civilian government.

It makes me wince when people keep cackling on about Thaksin. The army has been doing this for half a century with the the permission of the amaat (but if we need a coup you come and sort it out.) Why does any country need 2000 generals when they dont fight anybody. As the man Sae Daeng said my fellow officers are golfers and business men. It time to trim 1,970 generals from the books, and the same % reductions of officers below them, remove all military influence from the senate and politics, stop conscription unless you teach the boys a trade when they are in the army...and on and on. The army needs to be downsized by at least 75%

Have PTP got the stones to do it... After their next election win we may see some of the above

PS. Forgot...it also shoots its own unarmed civilians and foreign press personnel

Mr Nattawut commented that it was time for an amnesty law to be considered and debated publicly; if most MPs reject the bill, he will respect their judgement.

The ONLY thing he can control is the number of MPs becuase of the majority the coalition has...

Yes it is a coalition but only to buffer the PTP majority from their MP,s getting offer they cant refuse from people we cant mention. Work out from that what you want

The saddest part of this idiocy was when the generals put up the well known and respected Dr. Pornthip to defend this piece of crap when the shit started to fly and serious face was being lost. Or should I now say formerly respected...

The saddest part of this idiocy was that the army believed that evidence from a 'khun Ying' would not be doubted by the Thai people

Perhaps they feel that those who created the void that Thaksin conveniently stepped into, carry an equal part of the blame for ' the mess the country is in today'

A corrupt businessman who used his ill-gotten gains to buy equally corrupt politicians - stepped into a void. And helped himself.

And to answer a relevant question Mick, rather than using my post to have yet another tiresome pop at Thaksin......WHO created the void? that you admit existed and Thaksin stepped into

What 'void'...? Thailand was doing nicely in difficult circumstances when the credit crunch had decimated most economies until Thaksin put his oar in.

And the only void I can think of is that one the MiB disappeared into.........

Doing nicely. Would the 30 million people living below the poverty line agree with you. The same families were doing nicely. Democrats masters of there own ignorance. Go to the village at election time and say "vote for us it will be different next time" with no options the villages did vote for them. Guess what it was still the same.

Along comes Thaksin "vote for me and you will get 30 baht healthcare" they voted and they got it.

As if it really matters who is at the helm at the not so Democrat party. Did any of the former leaders ever win a election? The answer is no, the not so democrat party only takes power when shady figures tell the army to take power. The democrat party should rename itself to the Putsch party,

PTP did not win an election. The country is governed by a coalition, or haven't you noticed?

Is that a misprint. PTP gained enough seats on their own. They formed a coalition after to fend off their majority dropping if some members defected (given an offer they coundn't refuse from a name that cant be mentioned). It really does not matter who leads the Dem party its still viewed as a pig in the voters eyes. So making it a pig with lipstick will still make it a pig. Unelectable for the next decade

PTP flouting electoral law yet again - SOP. The only reason PTP wasn't disbanded for flagrant breeches during the national election was the fear of more violence from their supporters.

One has to wonder, when electoral law is breached so regularly, if it is not an intentional effort to incite conflict.

"He said"... is not proof but then against you facist supporters dont need much to get you squealing

I have read reports in the other media, that they plan to cut power to provinces that supported yellow and will keep the power on to red provinces.

Ho Hum.

Did you read that in the beano comic

It amazes me that no one wants to mention the Paiboon company at the centre of this scandal. Since Thaksin came to power in 2000 this company has been awarded nearly 2.5 billion dollars of government contracts. So it would be fair to guess that, what with being near Chiang Mai, Thaksin got the company in the game. Also on this forum I see that the owner was a friend of Newin Chidchob, who until the infamous telephone conversation with Thaksin prior to deserting and forming a coalition with the DEms "its all over boss" was a great friend of Thaksins.

It would appear that somewhere in this that Paoboon kept friendly with Chidchob and betrayed Thaksin because he kept securing gov contracts under the Dems. Its notwise to betray Mr Thaksin, or finance coup againsthim, because as demonstrated recently he will get his pound of flesh. Keep your eyes peeled for more legal action against certain individuals but try to look behind the story. Thaksins on the attack and I for one am glad I did not betray him

Back to normal we try to avoid wild speculations even if it fits with ideas some people have.

BTW just reading a NewYorkTimes article from yesterday and found a similar attitude, about preconceived conclusions that is:

"Party strategists have advised Republican members to aggressively blame the president for the creation of the automatic cuts and the failure to stop them."

Lets call wild thought provoking and different from the security forces apologists who haunt these threads in a hope to bring back a little credibility to their chosen political allegiance. The Titantic is sinking...good idea you jump now

It amazes me how many of the victims were head shot. Another sad victim topped whilst troops were in the area and conveniently batons etc., were found near the body. But yes, it is inconclusive but acceptable as collateral damage.

It should not surprise you that most were head shots that what snipers can do. Also 2250 sniper rounds were not returned to the armoury. I wonder why

Wasn't it early 2012 that the DSI decided to concentrate on the easy cases first? 'easy' as in possibly clear which side fired and maybe clear which person actually fired.

This doesn't bode well for the next cases

Got to let the odd case go so people dont start squealing about a witch hunt. High velocity bullets = snipers (I am no expert) but people need to be reminded that the only soldiers killed during this time were in April when somebody tossed a grenade in. Mr A had sufficient time before being voted out to put a case together against someone but failed to do it. The only evidence suggest another army personnel throw one in to up the anti and justify the massacre. Reds shirts armed to the teeth and not one soldier even suspiciously, remotely came any where near a bullet. So either the red shirts or men in black either were bad shots or most of the stories are just another fabrication to justify what took place. In my book there is only one party guilty buts let discuss who gave the orders

They can start by teaching something more in schools than just Buddhism and one important man. Many Thais don't even know where Singapore is, who is Hirohito was or even that the Vietnam war even existed. Those last 2 affected Thailand greatly.

Even basic jobs here are advertised with the criteria of uni degrees which just shows you how bad the mainstream education must be if employers are insisting on degrees just to work in shops.

Yet again another status busting, look good announcement by the ever funny Thai politicians.

I was not aware that all they teach in school here in Thailand is Buddhism.

I know there is Muslim schools that only teach Islam.

Are you telling me all those people working in 7/11 have a university degree.

Are you sure you have to have a university degree to sweep the street or pump out the drains on it.

I think you are a little bit short on geography your self. You are obviously not talking about Thailand.

Rintein has a grasp of the problem but added to his first sentence should have been remove thainess. Remove it because its a myth, did we have Siamess pre 30's. Its only just falls short of indoctrination, its about knowing your place in society and not questioning those you perceive to be higher up the thainess ladder than yourself. They start at an early age, only last week I saw certigficates handed out for the most beautiful wai performed by students. We all know we are supposed to wai higher to those higher in status than ourselves. Wai and prostrating yourself should not be necessary just a simple handshake or a bow for the selected few. Also discourage the use of mai pen rai as a response if you want the system to move forward. Allow people to air their greivances in the public arena. The first small step in the right direction was allowing the students to decide the length of their own hair.. Give them individuality, stop making them conform to outdated principals and ideals that only eventually allow the amaat here to carry on raping this country of its wealth as they have done for decades.

Could it be the Army/Yellows were behind these things and pinned the blame on Thaksin in their campaign to smear him?

I repeat the yellows/army/dems cannot, do not and never have done anything wrong in the eyes of the YUB.

You just have to look at a trhead on here about Chuwit exposing something which could potentially be linked to corruption in the Democrat party. Instead of taciturn approval that yes perhaps the Dems could also be involved in corruption, about 70% of the posts are choosing to blame Chuwit for being in the RUB instead!

Surely you have seen an animal die, it tends to lash out at everything

Thanks again Mr Thaksin. Having a government that the world recognises and accepts as democratically elected sures helps swing these deals. It was on the cards LMFAO...not until Thaksin was back in charge

Of course they could just let the domestic sugar price float to the global price. it's capped here.

In essence no one is going to be allowed to screw with thai namthip(coke), singha, and the sugar industry in Thailand. They are tooooo powerful.

Are powerful now but for how much longer. Wait til Thaksin allows in foreign beers by the boatload and makes them competively priced based on having the same alcohol content. Brick by brick hes bringing the house down

Of course they could just let the domestic sugar price float to the global price. it's capped here.

In essence no one is going to be allowed to screw with thai namthip(coke), singha, and the sugar industry in Thailand. They are tooooo powerful.

Are powerful now but for how much longer. Wait til Thaksin allows in foreign beers by the boatload and makes them competively priced based on having the same alcohol content. Brick by brick hes bringing the houe down

Wanna bet the sugar tycoons are against this too

Wanna bet that this is an attack on the sugar Thaicoons. $th richet man in Thailand is a sugar man and its a fair bet he donates to the PAD. I feel just like rice exporters, Thaksin is finding a legal way to bring down them all. The other day it was sweeping changes to the curriculum, another tool used primarily to indoctrinated children with nonsense (thainess). I would watch the transport, media and construction industries. OOPs after thought, is the chappie Paiboon who won the contract to construct a zillion police stations another amart face. Keep it up Thaksin

As at the time of his death he was telling the world that he had talked to Thaksin who had said he could no longer trust the red leaders and therefore had put him, Seh Daeng, in charge of the red shirts there is an extremely strong possibility that he was shot on the orders of the red shirt leaders.

If that is in fact the case then she is right it would be murder.

Not a shred of evidence to support this lie.He was shot by army snipers (in my opinion a regrettable but probably necessary step).

If the Red Shirts had the weapons to take out a man in the dark from potentially hundreds of metres away, why is it nobody but the 6 soldiers killed, by a grenade(tosed by another army regiment). With the infamous black shirts running around why not just sniper your enemy. More Bs

Can the Thaksin haters provide any independant journalism that shows this rice scheme is a scam..if not pipe down