virtualtraveller

Election at all costs. Peua Thai's single suggestion to end this crisis is an election that the others will boycott if there isn't any agreement on reform before hand. Now he wants to the army to enforce it. Come on, come up with something more constructive.

Leaves no doubt who's NOT in control of the country. Thaksin would have stood his ground though, wouldn't he.

I think he sounded quite reasonable and clear, better than normal. You can't disagree. Frankly, if you're staying indefinitely then sign up for a Thai course, may as well learn, it works out cheaper than 12 visa runs. Shorter visits then get a tourist visa.

Economist has always been pro Business Thaksin, never mind the rest of his indiscretions, it doesn't matter, as long as money is being made.

Let's stick to the facts here, someone responsible for wasting billions on a failed subsidy scheme is being punished, setting an example for the future, the rest is just partisan noise.

So, every time any rich and popular person dislikes a ruling they can engineer 20000 signatures to get the judges kicked out.

Face it, which is acceptable 1) replacing top level civil servants with ones you trust 2) putting your own family members into key positions, merit aside. The case is linked to both you can't morally say one is fine but not the other.

But the bigger pic is that PTP abused their governing privileges and nothing could stop them doing that, except of course a court abusing their judicial interpretations.

Any old nutter can stand up and announce an appointed govt, best you can do is find this humorous, of course the Reds will cease on it as a coup attempt. Btw, the outgoing govt was appointed by a similar fashion in Dubai, and somehow it became legal.

She was controversially the clone Prime Minister at the centre of a short-lived and interesting political experiment by Puea Thai, whereby you have a puppet prime minister and the real person in charge is someone 'the people' did not vote for, and is ineligible for an official political role because he's a fugitive from justice. Of course, you cannot have a democracy where the person making the decisions is never accountable. You cannot have a man in Dubai telling the Thai govt to gamble 400 billion baht on a rice scheme, then shrug it off when it doesn't work out. You cannot call that democracy. The courts were right to take her down because someone has to accept responsibility for absurd policies directed from illegitimate leader. Peua Thai can't have it both ways, if they want elections then they need to let themselves be lead by the PM and team who were elected.

Deny, deny, deny, it all sounds so hollow, knowing that it opened the door, quite miraculously for Thaksin's brother in law, not the first time he's been linked to a nepotistic appointment. So she can remain as caretaker prime minister until the next election but not allowed to conduct any duties, that will be interesting.

This writer has just landed from Mars! The boycott of the election was the least of the problems, let's remind ourselves that the previous elections produced an autocratic leadership dominating parliament for selfish gains leading to massive discontent on the streets. Any elections without fixing that is a waste of time. And considering how much money is involved the Dems are wasting their time competing with an incumbent that has squirrelled away 100 billion plus in rice money, just waiting for an election.

Abhisit might be part of the problem, but a smaller part, and as one of the antagonists he's at least making a sincere effort to address the underlying problem, the other side is just in denial.

To be clear, the problem IS NOT about elections, it's about a deeply flawed society resulting in a dysfunctional democracy that has been perverted by money politics, corruption, lack of accountability and this notion of 'blank cheque' governance to the winners.

The nation should have rejected this article, it's laughably naive!

It's sad when someone dies relatively young, and I admire her for trying to pursue accountability and taking it international, but I have to disagree with her on 'seeking justice'. Listening to her, seems that she became emotionally involved after the death of her brother and fell in line with all the red propaganda that Abhisit 'ordered' the 'murder' of her brother. It was a complicated situation with plenty of different people complicit to varying degrees of intention or duty. There will never be 'justice' for these people because their idea of 'justice' is built on misinformation, false ideology and deceptive agendas.

Suthep has lost his marbles, but he's absolutely spot on about Thaksin, so it's good we have someone playing this role. He will become increasingly isolated.

Whatever it is, it's unsurprisingly being managed in an unplanned chaotic manner, with no uniformity and obviously no guidance from MoE. Should have made it compulsory for Unis then schools follow later. Biggest problem is it creates a 6 month shortfall in revenue to pay school fees. Well, this a private sector concern, but a summer camp situation might not be a bad idea focusing on new teaching skills, take the time to upgrade all the teaching methodology.

There is no neutral group left, save for the king. He is the only one with authority and respect to make all sides step back and find common ground towards a solution. This crisis has been steadily drifting towards this solution except that it needed to first become deadlocked. Whether the proposal is from Thaksin, Prem or whoever is irrelevant, it is a attempt at mediated solution. The king has deliberately stayed out of it in order to remain impartial, I'm sure we can rely on his judgment to accept or modify a proposal, should he choose to, that would be fair. If its not acceptable to any particular party then perhaps it's because that party is angling for some unfair advantage or to preserve an unbalanced status quo that suits them.

After they get a few MPs, I'm sure Thaksin will make them a generous offer to abdicate to his latest party. Thaksin had only one accurate political insight, that most Thai politicians are bought cheaply and easily.

Aye, that be the truth, I couldn't have put it more succinctly myself. That is why Prompong showed up with some flowers, wishing them well.

And reading between the lines someone distributed these to try drag the US into the conflict more. John Kerry fell for it hook line and sinker.

Best thing the courts can do is grant them their 15 sick leave. Locking them up ahead of the bigger ruling will only fuel the fire of the UDD rallies, leaving them be allows the courts more evidence as to their violations during the coming two weeks.