SamMunich

if the army is really here to protect the country then they need to step in and remove Suthep immediately. he is only interested in anarchy and starting a civil war. if he is allowed to continue then i see no way for this to be decided peacefully. we are approaching sad sad times for Thai people. My wife and I are contemplating our departure from her home for our safety.

Oh my, if you are really so scared, maybe you better watch from the outside.

OTOH this is not an unusual situation, what we have here now,- only the latest and lasting longer than normal.

I wonder how many of the TV red shirts are married and living in north and northeast Thailand, vrs the TV Yellow shirts living in central and southern Thailand.

We should conduct a survey.

Actually i think the correlation and causation is more in IQ and education. With the red shirts on the lower part of the IQ tree. With a few exceptions of course.

That is pure guesswork.

While I think, that the red shirt supporterrs don't see, where their own advantage lies I have to point out, that IQ has no correlation to the location of the pople within a certain radius and within basically the same culture. You might make a difference between Thais and people, who live some totally other place, but that's not the point here.

Problem with the red shirts (at least here at TV) is, that they perfer to believe a power-hungry (in Thai: bah amnart) criminal more than their own past education, which once taught them, that substance comes before looks/packaging and to think analytical and not stick to Thai style rote learning...

People like Dab Daeng are a totally different thing.

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SamMunich:

Unbelievable, but true: We found a point of common thinking. Actually the issue of educational and social development is overdue since a loooong time. My believe is, that this would have gone different, if there hadn't been the bloody coup in 1976. People and polticians were in a different mood or attitude before 1976. Afterwards nobody dared to mention anything like that for fear of being branded a communist. Those in power at that time enjoyed it, that there was no criticism and no social movement. And that kept going like this ever after, under Pa Prem, Chatchai, Suchinda and whoever was in charge. Sure, the dumber the people, the better they can be controlled and directed.

School only provides very little value for the pupils and then kids of poor people can't even afford to attend school.

Eventually nowadays we run into BIG problems, because the population is not educated enough to provide, what modern manufacturing needs. Starting from 2015 we will see lots of foreign workers coming into Thailand, on both ends, the cheap labour as well as the educated workforce... from abroad. What a pity!

And that is criticism ALL politicians have to share.

And without a major reduction of corruption and a new accountability for the use of taxpayers money, we will not get anywhere...! And with Taksin at the steering wheel, there is no chance of any change.

Good night!

Folks I read here all the time the question, what Suthep wants to change?

How about using our own brain cells and figure out, what is wrong?

* Do we want corruption?

* Do we want nepotism?

* Do we want squandering of public money aka taxes?

* Do we want politicians, that are lying and cheating?

* Do we want a better education for all?
* Do we want a more even income distribution instead of the boss takes nearly all?

* Do we want all Thais having the feeling, that life in Thailand is worthwhile?

This is just a 5-seconds brainstormign result, but I'm sure there are much more things we want to change and which we can agree on.

To support a person like Taksin is certainly nothing to go for. He has already more money than he can spend in the rest of his live.

So why help him to get even more? We also know, how money can be spent...

The government does really not have anything to discuss with the facist-movement.

No, they only need to talk to themselves... and Dab Daeng!

Sounds to me like a good business idea,- at least in Chiang Mai:

Post information, that a known ant-red-shirt artist will show and then let the red-shirts, that will come like moths to the light, start eating and drinking and you make a lot of money from those red-shirts, that are not poor farmers but the "I-got-rich-as-a-red-shirt" kind.

Commerce Ministry is confident it would sell 1 million tons of rice monthly... and tomorrow is christmas eve, right?

They came up with this "headline" for months now, but they are maybe just too dumb to actually sell the rice, business people, that these civil servants are.
It might work like that in their office, but to simply declare rice to be sold, when you haven't found a buyer nor fixed a price (and not talking about cashing in the cheque!) is major BS. Offering to auction is not already sold!

In fact everybody would be glad, if - after two years or so - they managed to sell off a chunk of what they have in store. This way they would not need to use taxpayers money to pay the farmers (30%) and the millers, storage owners etc (70% of the budget)...

Costas2008:

"she said in a shaken voice, “Won’t they allow even a space for me to stand?"

NO.

I woul say YES,- as long as that space is in Dubai or Montenegro or...

IANF wrote:

to leave would be to admit to be forced out by a small band of nasty thugs by using fear and intimidation , and the overthrow of democracy by Sutheps terrorists

May I suggest that you spend a day with the protestors in Bangkok. And then tell me, are these sons and daughters of Thailand's soil really terrorists? Also tell me, where on earth did you get this idea from? You know it's utter and complete nonsense. I know you only have 250 posts so you are a newbie here. But surely, before making such definitive statements you should do some research. That would tell you that you have reached the wrong conclusion. Or perhaps someone asked you to post this misinformation?

(incidentally "Sutheps terrorists" need an apostrophe, otherwise it is a bit meaningless.)

Not to object to your post, but the number of posts is a very vague indicator of how long somebody is in Thailand. In the end the content counts, not the number.

bloody hell i wish i never bought the minimum wage into it...anyway getting back to yingluck..

This minimum wage hike was a truly bungled thing!

Workers can (and do!) earn much more than the 300 Baht, if their productivity is high enough. Unfortunately the average Thai productivity is among the lowest in the region. Most workers think they get paid fo the time being on the job, not for the work they are supposed to do. And I'm not making this up, that is my experience in several Thai companies over several years.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not only siding with the protesters, I'm also all for people getting enough money to make their living (and then some more), but the way in which this minimum wage has been implemented has been the worst possible kind.

It was announced a full two years before it was actually enforced (well, relatively) and the first thing that happened? The prices of everyday goods like food etc. were soaring up some 40% or 50%, even before the higher wages were introduced. Reason: "You get a new, higher salary/wage, so we must raise the prices" was, what you could hear everywhere. So not only was there no gain for the workers because the cost of living jumped up to the same level as their new minimum wage. Even worse, the prices were up long before the people could pay the new prices.

So in fact, the Yingluck government totally screwed up this minimum wage raise. But on her level of income you don't know about these things... And one thing to keep it this way is the condition, that anybody standing for parliament has to have a university degree, so you all stay among yourself. And screw the poor!

HGMA wrote:

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There is a common understanding among basically ALL Thais not to give away a single square meter of the country, so I wonder who in his right mind can propose to cut up the country into two. Could only be Taksin & Co. who try to salvage at least a little bit of their loot. And this idea has been floated by Northern/Isarn red shirts. Most likely this is to provoke the military into action, as they will not allow the splitting up of the country.

What makes me always wonder is, how so many people can be fooled into following those, that actually exploit them.

Of the whole shebang, that sofar has been paid out for the rice pledging, only 30% has reached the people, who were supposed to get 100% of it. The 70% were skimmed off by rice millers, middlemen and other gangsters. No wonder these people, who made a fortune of the pledging scheme, are all in favour of the government, which feeds them so nicely. But these are 5 to 10% of the red shirts, the local leaders, the other 90-95% are cheated upon and still they don't want to believe it, if told, that they are cheated.

And now these 90% or more are told to go to Bangkok to slug it out for their bigwigs, who themself will stay back. I mean, how brain-dead msut one be to listen and follow such scum like Chalerm, Jatuporn or Nuttawuth etc??? No wonder even after 6 years of Taksin rule, education didn't make a nano-movement towards progress.

This tactic of throwing grenades reminds me of the time, when teh yellow shirts occupied the the office of the government a couple of years ago. At least once a week some coward would lob a M-79 grenade at the demonstrators sitting there.

Seems this is the same kind of action now again. And this is especially true, if you got no real reason to support your oppinion. Sorry to say, but this seems to be a typical thing in Thailand: If you don't know how to save your face, become violent.

Red shirt, white shirt yellow shirt or any other color, the real question is:

Whether Thailand should be governed by a guy living permanently outside Thailand,

not being elected to any poltical position,

being sentenced (final) to 24 months in prison and

being on the run from the law.

Another question is, if normal Thais are allowed to hold dual or multiple nationalities. And if so, if they are still allowed to play politics, provided they are in Thailand and out of prison etc.

I know of at least 3 other former PMs, who were ousted in a coup and who resigned themselves to wash their hands off poltics in Thailand.

whybother:

an injection of a 'Middle Way' is in dire need - if this movement can bring peace and new ideas I'm all for it

"This movement" ... you mean the red shirts that have changed to white shirts?

No, they just used the wrong washing powder, now all the red color is washed out...

And that "middle way" always reminds me of the "only a little bit pregnant" joke. It is either Taksins way or the other way, there is no other way in between, else we'll have the same situation in no time again.

Kikoman thinks:

So if she were a man instead of a woman, attacking her status as a dummy of her elder brother would be o.k. then? C'mon, her being a woman is not an achievement nor a fault, it's a folly of nature, if you want. But that doesn't mean she is not to be critizised. There are enough "strong" women around nowadays to refute the claim, that women are the weaker gender.

And stop talking about Suthep being a fascist, you are only ridiculing yourself. And boring others.

If you can get a JetAir flight, that is a much better alternative to AirAsia. For one you got more leg room and aren't so squeezed in as on AA. Food/drinks are double the price of AA though, but that's a flight of less than 2 hours.

The other day I flew down to SIN on JetAir and it was way better at basically the same price as AA.

Just1Voice complained:

How many more of the laughable "threats" by CMPO and Chalerm the Charming do we have to listen to before someone finally grows, or finds, a pair and they actually do something? What's so hard about 1 site at a time, bring in water canons, rubber bullets and tear gas. Clear that one, move on to the next.

You reddies just don't get it!

You attack one of the sites with force and the next thing is you have a few thousand more people coming out of nowhere to support the demonstrators. Ever heard of "social media" and mobile phone alert lines?

And number two: Obviously the military will stay out of the fray, until some side uses serious force, like gassing people or shooting live rubber bullets. Tell you that hurts too! And in fact people have been fatally wounded by rubber bullets. Now guess on which side the military woul enter?

Methinks, we should pay attention to a little distinction:

We are all for the farmers to get the money they are owned by the government, but at the same time we can not see, that above the already depleted government budget we are to pay AGAIN, only this time in the form of guarantees of some obscure kind for banks.

As if the 2007 ff. banking crisis had not happened, we should trust banks???

If the government had done, what it promised, that is to sell the rice, they would have money to pay the farmers. Now as the gov't obviously is too stupid to sell the rice, the tax payers etc. are called upon to be milked again...

And that is about all that is to be said about this.

Else we should start talking about the entrepreneural failure of Mr. Squarehead...

Not "read my lips" but "read my tagline" (see below)