The Dancer

can you see the puppet strings over their heads with someone up above getting them to perform like puppets on a string

Exactly! Pretty boy Abhisit was a little too nice, well weak-kneed, to be assistant puppetmaster. A thug was needed. So we got Suthep.

surely if it is democratic to protest against the corruption etc of the PTP government, then it must follow that the criminal issue may be questionable, it must make PTP's case weaker, they could charge individuals for crimes committed during the protests but not for protesting! So they may not have a case against Suthep, he himself wasn't violent. He may have said things that were questionable, but then PTP are as guilty of that with the various threats and innuendo towards the opposition. IMO

"they could charge individuals for crimes committed during the protests but not for protesting!"

Well, of course. As a poster above pointed out your right to protest doesn't extend to curbing my rights as a citizen.

"have said things that were questionable". You've got to be kidding. He was inciting insurrection. That's an offense against the constitution (easy, because it begs subversion of the constitution) but the CC thinks otherwise.

So now you tell me what all this says about the constitution, the CC, PTP, PDRC, Dems et al? Take your time.

Comparing Suthep to Mandela? That's a joke Thais may laugh at but will probably get you lined up against a wall and shot in SA. They revere Mandela there. Anyway, seriously, man was always a thug and now a failed thug.

Re judicial coup I doubt the kangaroo courts will try mischief this time because they need the generals covering their backs or they are dead men they know, and the brass has been pretty quiet recently. I don't think they particularly relish the prospect of refereeing a civil war.

I doubt it. Neither party has said anything about targeting postal services. I just got a package from the US mailed well after Jan. 13. In any case, for peace of mind it would make sense to use a service which you can track.

It has to be said that Thai people receive a lot of flak on TV from many posters and in many forums.

It should be recognised just how brave the people have been to go out and vote in the face of harassment, intimidation and violence. Especially the voters of Bangkok.

Putting aside the politicians for the moment, this has been a massive victory for democracy and the people.

They have shown they can defeat the crazy Amnesty bill. They have refused to back down to Suthep's fascist thugs. Now they need leaders to emerge from the ranks of the ordinary people.

That picture of the elderly woman holding aloft the chains broken from the polling station in Din Daeng can become a symbol for the breaking of chains in a wider context. We can hope that real reform will now take place and if politicians wish to know where to start then they should begin by trusting the people.

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I'll second that.

All credit to her. She's faced down Suthep and his thugs well. 80% of the country voted and probably overwhelmingly in PTP's favor. Thailand has chosen. Not oligarchy but democracy. That's a huge step forward.

actually no-one knows what they have chosen ......as there is no result....

Well, unless the courts getting into this, the result is pretty certain.

And interesting is the dog that didn't bark. The army hasn't been heard from the last few days. A good sign which means a judicial coup by one of the kangaroo courts is unlikely as they wouldn't try mischief unless sure the generals have their back.

The PTP has played this well. I didn't expect they would be able to pull the election off. 80% successful is good given the ass Suthep has plenty of backing from high up. Thailand has a winner now.

Jeez, spinning an uprising of thugs is hard. But I'll give Kiat credit for trying.

I'm afraid Brad Adams thinks too much from a Western World perspective. He would do better to start talking about all democratic principles and not only on ballots and votes.

When regional political families 'control' 'their' voters those votes start to loose their democratic value. When a rice farming village doesn't (dare to) vote against their landlords or 'knows' what to expect in return from who they vote for as some poster wrote the democratic principles are totally distorted.

Under such conditions brought to the open by the undemocratic actions of the now caretaker government, an election just for the fun of it seems a futile exercise costing 3.7 billion Baht. Better spent of a reform forum.

That's your opinion, sweetheart. Likewise farmers and reds think that the protesters are goons controled by elite interests.

Differences of opinion should be settled by vote. You seriously diminish the East by saying this is a Western perspective. No, it's about human rights and equality, east/west/south/north.

If this is true, why are the farmers joining the protest against the corrupt government. They turned over the product of their hard work to the government, than the government did not pay the farmers.

Excellent point. So the farmers are turning against the government? And other people too maybe because of their corrupt policies? So why not settle the issue by a headcount instead of speculating. Just go vote and may the best man win.

Didn't seem much of a mob at Asok this evening. And the number at VM seems to have dwindled considerably. The bombs, sad though they were, will keep the pretty people away - the ones with painted faces, colorful clothes, who drive to the mob, sit away from the sun and steal off occasionally for a cappuccino - and hasten the departure of the southern rented crowd.

Anyone knows what the numbers were like today? Guessing Wednesday latest will see Suthep drunk and naked in the tender arms of two of Poseidon's best. Man has now got money to burn.

There are two possibilities that would constitute success for the anti-democracy movement of Suthep: civil disorder and violence that leads to an outright military coup by the military under the guise of saving the nation or the appointment of a non-elected government under the threat of a military coup. Statements by generals about their unwillingness to act directly strain credulity. One has only to recall Sondhi's similar disclaimer before he went right ahead and personally led the 2006 coup. It would be naive to take the generals' expressions at face value.

The reason that the PTP government, which was legitimately elected, has prevented the police from responding forcefully to the provocations of the protesters is the threat of a response by the military. Prayuth went so far as to say that he was stationing troops around the city to protect the protesters. He never claimed to be protecting the elected government.

At the same time another there is a judicial movement to deligitimise the PTP party by pressing impeachment charges against more than 300 legislators for the attempt to amend the constitution to enable a fully-elected senate. A success judicial coup to disable the PTP under the implied threat of a military coup could also meet the organizers' goal of transferring political power from the elected government to a hand-picked group from among the powerful elite.

Since tt seems unlikely that that the coup scenario can work without violence I would expect the current festive air of the protest to change.

Well said. A military or judicial coup is what Suthep desperately wants. However, I may be wrong but neither seems likely to me.

A military coup instantly gets the army into the kind of quagmire they detest, not to mention that the lower ranks are filled with reds (the tangmos) who would mutiny rather than slaughter their own. The brass have been (cleverly) left alone by the PTP Govt. So, why risk getting their current fairly comfortable situation upended in order to stroke Suthep?

A judicial coup means that the judges who deliver it are dead men. They will be assassinated and their families targeted without doubt. The reds are not going to roll over and play dead while a dozen yellow-shirts in robes try to screw them over.

So, I am going to stick my head out and say the protests go nowhere. The elections may be postponed to give Suthep a face-saving way out but that's about it.

Give the thug Suthep an inch and he'll want a yard. And he refuses to sit and talk. And the Dems don't want to participate in the elections because they'll lose. So what exactly is the point of postponing? Postpone a couple of months and Suthep will keep on flinging his feces for that long which means disruption, incendiary speeches, whistles and a few more deaths.

PTP is calculating right. The protests are going nowhere and once the elections are done and dusted they'll mean nothing either.

Nor will the election. Because at this rate PhuaThai have no hope of getting the required 20% of voters in each constituents to win.

Therefore 3.8 billion baht wasted and another election to be done with ANOTHER 3.8 billion baht spent.. that is also a consideration of the EC as the Ombudsman has warned them that if that happens they could be held accountable. They ARE trying to do their jobs.

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If what you say were in the remotest realm of possibility then the PTP would be the ones backpedalling. And the patently pro-Dem EC would be raring for Feb. 2.

Nope, it's the other way around. The Dems/elites only hope is for the EC to save their backsides by somehow scuttling the polls. It'll be an interesting few days now.

Suthep certainly has his faults. But if you seriously think he doesn't REALLY want to get rid of Thaksin and Co. and instead is just engaging in a money-making scheme, I think you need to take a longer look at Thai politics.

Perhaps he thinks he can make MORE money if all the Thaksin lackies are gone and he and/or his allies are back in power. But I don't doubt for a second his seriousness about wanting to rid them from Thai government and politics.

Oh, I am sure Suthep's serious but if you think that's owing to patriotism then there's this island I own off Phuket ... And neither is he in it to make money though I wouldn't put it past him to filch a few baht from the PDRC pot.

My take on this guy (and the other Democrats) is that it's really personal between them and Thaksin. To say they hate the guy is like saying the Pope is Catholic. There's more to it. These old guys had been in politics for decades when this brash billionaire blows in and blows them away. Unforgivable loss of face that.

In any case, the Economist had a rather chilling assessment of Suthep's prospects in a recent article. They said if he wins he will be assassinated, if he loses he will hang.

saw yingluck on the news earlier,she looked tired and fed up.Suthep however is enjoying his i wont call it 15 minutes of fame,but his period in the sun,i think he is now addicted to it and like any addict cannot stop,now he want's to kidnapp and hold hostage the elected prime minister,this is an act of revolution,as i understand from the news the numbers holding the capitol to ransom are in a few thousands,i think now is the time to put a stop to this,nothing can be achieved,the only thing that can happen now is escalating madness from the student wing,division of the country and yes a possible civil war if the army splits along political lines,step back now,look at syria,once you jump over that cliff,it's a long climb back up.

Yep, Abhisit was too nice a guy. The elite's needed a thug to carry their water. And the thug's enjoying his spot in the sun. The hi-so mob near my area are starting to sound tired themselves though. I give them a couple more days before they drive off in their BMWs to holiday homes in HH to recover. Subverting democracy is hard on the skin.