wealth

The General found Thaskin's hidden bank accounts going to drain them dry to pay farmers Thaskin will be on Suknspit hooking soon. Any takers?

altogether trillions can be found when counting the past 8 years ...

Thailand coup: Ex-PMs Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck Shinawatra to establish government in exile: lawyer

Ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's lawyer has revealed Thaksin, recently ousted leader Yingluck Shinawatra and other leaders of the sharpening divide in Thailand will establish a government in exile.

Robert Amsterdam says so far there is no identifiable host state but it is believed by pro-government Red Shirts that there are a number of nations set to offer a safe place.

It comes as protests against the military coup continue in the capital Bangkok in defiance of the martial law ruling imposed last week.

Proximity would imply a neighbour state like Cambodia could house the former leaders, but it could invite military retaliation and sanctions from an angry and humiliated Thailand.

It is unclear whether any Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) state would risk breaching the association's bedrock doctrine of non-interference to provide a political safe haven for Thaksin and Ms Yingluck.

It could bring down the political order and harmony of ASEAN, a dull but effective piece of architecture that has assisted socio-economic and political development in the region for decades.

VIDEO: Thailand coup: a look at the Shinawatra family

The exile government decision is being made just a day after a coup overthrew the government and military rulers detained Ms Yingluck.

Ms Yingluck is among more than 100 politicians being held at an army base in Bangkok, and Thailand's military chief said reforms were needed before an election could be held.

A source in Ms Yingluck's Puea Thai party told AFP on Saturday that the former prime minister's exact whereabouts were unknown.

"It is confirmed that she was detained by the military since she reported to the junta yesterday," the source, who was present when Ms Yingluck answered a call to report to the army on Friday, said.

"We are unsure of her whereabouts because the military confiscated her mobile phones and those of her aides."

Australians feel safe despite coup

Australian expatriates in Thailand say they still feel safe, but travellers are being warned to check their insurance policies.

Military officials say Ms Yingluck will not be held for longer than a week and have made assurances that she will be looked after.

"We provide them good facilities, perhaps even better than the facilities that I or everyone here [has] at the moment," a Thai military official said on Saturday. "Please do not worry."

Thai army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha launched his coup on Thursday after rival factions refused to give ground in a struggle for power between the royalist establishment and a populist government that had raised fears of serious violence and damaged the economy.

they're all banned from border runs. How could they eventually create such nonsense?

during the time of arrest nobody really knows what has been said. I guess some middlemen and contacts outside are shaking now. Sure with so many arrests the army gathered more useful info.

The psychologial effect is big.

They will be arrested for not longer than 7 days.

When they're released can they be arrested again for another 7 days?

The 'international community' are concerned for themselves and the potential for instability in a key ally in the region. I do not think the protestations have much to do with an overwhelming desire for democracy.

Added to which I doubt that many countries have a true understanding of what is going on here nor do they care further than how it benefits them.

As for Thailand, how can you have democracy when free speech is so hampered. If you know there is corruption you dare not speak out for fear of reprisal or imprisonment. The lese majeste law is not just used to shield the monarchy, for which there should at least be respect whatever your affiliation, but it is used also as a political tool which does not sit well with democratic principles. Then there is the defamation laws which prevent people exposing pretty much anything whether true or not for fear of criminal court proceedings. That does not promote free speech and is so much more draconian than simply protecting innocent people from public attack.

Thailand is a country surrounded in mystery, not because it is mysterious but because the truth is hidden in every quarter, it is a Thai trait that the truth should never be plainly stated but must be shrouded in a mist, nay fog, of misinformation and disinformation to hide the truth. The reason for this is that the truth does not fit with the image, not nearly, not at all. Huge corruption financially, criminally and throughout business and government is the norm but you are not allowed to expose it in case the apple cart is upset.

This is an imposition by people to protect themselves against the exposure of their deceit and theft of funds belonging to the country or others. It is a selfish, self serving shield that has nothing to do with benefit for the country. Laws should benefit society as a whole.

Given the whole game of smoke a mirrors to hide the reality that Thailand is a country run by factions entirely focussed on self interest and having no regard for the state, given the fact the international community is focussed on stability in the country for their own purposes with complete disregard for what is good for Thailand, perhaps Thailand is best ignoring the advice of others in this specific circumstance since it well understands deceit.

Given the complete disconnect between the foreign embassies and what is happening on the ground, even if the international community did gave Thailand's interest at heart, they have no clear understanding of what the reality is, partly because those in power don't want anyone to know how evil and corrupt they really are and partly because of the complete ambivalence of the foreign missions masquerading as embassies here.

Thailand is strangled by corruption, none more than was inflicted on it by the last government. It is strangled by idiocy of those in power who really have NO capability nor desire to run the country save to dream up ways to steal the country's finances by schemes that can be promoted as benefitting the poor (who are too uneducated to see the reality through the propaganda smokescreen), yet in reality benefit the people in government and their cronies.

Those in opposition are little better either, but social media is beginning to shine a tiny light into the black hole of Thailand's corruption. Scary to the politicians is that! Now Thais speak in terms of what colour shirt you wear and the hate speeches from the PTP and Suthep's gang have set people against each other. Why! For the benefit of Thailand? I think not, more to keep the gravy train of corruption Alive for the winners.

Driving the country toward civil war for personal gain is beyond evil, neither side prepared to back down in true Puu Yai style that epitomizes Thailand's social disorder. As bad as the coup appears through the fog to those foreigners who are blessed with an understanding of democracy, yet ignorance of the facts here, it is better than civil war and really the time had come for some rationale and action to stop further deterioration.

The hope now is that some sense can prevail and both sides start on the road to compromise and a government focussed on driving Thailand forward rather than driving the state funds into the private bank accounts of the politicians and their followers. Someone had to try to resolve the deadlock and it is sad that the leaders of either side were so greedy in taking all and their egos prevented democracy from finding a solution.

Maybe the Army can arrange a boot camp at the Army Club to teach the leaders and would be leaders the principles of democracy and good governance. That would be money wisely spent.

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a very good observation and conclusion in overall. I feel like that this Army General is keen for thourough reforms. He even takes on both sides which is a good sign.

I can only confirm about the corruptrion issues.

Not too long ago I was discussing about this with a rather infuential Thai (yellow) about this.

I told him how to reduce corruption in a relatively simple way. Flat out he told me, "yes, but nobody wants that really".

... at least a start into the right direction. Reforms will be massive ...

How do you know they are heading into the right direction??

by my sponsoring thought which is guided by unconditional love and not fear as so many others display now.

The sponsoring thought is the main thought thus creating the circumstances for ourselves. In other words the sub-sub concience, which is the most powerful and creating faculty in our life and universe.

It's obvious that reforms are needed.

I recommend to go into stillness to find out which part your(everyone's) sponsoring thoughts are based on.

Western style democracies are running on fear based sponsoring thoughts, thus creating conditions through fear mongering. Thaksin is a groomed copy of that style. This is the number one destructive force. You find far more individuals in the East who are based with (unconditional)love sponsored thoughts.

These are the main reasons to be confident in reforms that benefits all.

election..... isn't that a dirty word to the Royal-Elitist ?..... how could the common Thai-people know what is good for them AND the county!

... because everyone knows it was S-elections by aliens if you will. The rest is easy to manipulate, - like yourself?

Maybe they'll all be just as effective implementing change in Thailand as they've been in Ukraine, Syria, Nigeria, …….

... the Shin era is history, that basically was it ... R Amsterdam and Carlyle Group are trembling - among others

BTW, is there an arrest warrant for Amsterdam for his speech on the red stage recently?

the West need reforms as much as they need it for Thailand.

Putin knows that too ...

blur memories of a guy in Dubai.

the trick won't work this time.

... at least a start into the right direction. Reforms will be massive ...

North Korea. It's not too dissimilar. Don't let the people speak the truth. Feed them propaganda. Bend all the laws to suit a select few. Put all your opponents in jail or severely intimidate them. How's that for starters!

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Congratulations, you finally realised what this government has been doing for the past 3 years.

Exactly, it sounds like the Thaksin remote controlled government and his commie red-shirt thugs.

there's a saying - "some seasoned communists become the strongest capitalists" (and only for themselves)

3-7 days

not long enough

it says at least 3-7 days

these kids just try to grab attention, nothing with content from them ... it's dangerous for them ... and nothing constructive will come out of this ...

Credit must be given where credit is due. She showed up, which is something her brother could learn a thing or two about.

Good for her.

Others had to be detained at the "arranged" meeting. Puts her in a very high profile position with the world watching. Be interesting to see how this unfolds.

the first ever attandance in her life? Seems like authoritarian voice works for her.

Not to recall Thaksin from last time when he offered 500B/day for eveyone to join. It's on youtube and you can search it if you want.

Urban legend. It never happened. Thaksin said if people supported him they would not have to line up for the 500 baht social welfare payment that the Democrats made them line up for. Political rhetoric. You should check it out. You should actually, really check it out, I'm serious.

Why not tell actual corruption stories? It's not like there are none. Drop the urban legends in the rubbish where they belong. Tell real corruption stories. Tell how Thaksin got into business, one of the great kickback tales in Asian history. Tell how Thaksin totally back-stabbed and cheated that man, and can't ever go back to Hawaii because of it. Tell how Thaksin paid off cronies with laws and regulations when in power. Those are all real, actual events. Sorry if it takes you 20 minutes to find them and learn them but they are TRUE. Stop reading 3-line internet nonsense. Get a book. It's not a secret, it's just a secret from you.

It's totally ridiculous to use lies and myths when there is massive, fantastic corruption every time you look. Thaksin is one of the biggest crooks ever. Suthep is a BIGGER crook than Thaksin. The army is the biggest corporate crook in Thailand. And so on. Whoever is your villain, he (always "he") actually is a real, honest (haha) to goodness villain, cheat and corrupted person.

(Consider this if you bother considering what I said. How much money by how many people was made shorting shares at the Stock Exchange of Thailand in the two days of sham "martial law" this week - markets went up - to the real coup - when markets went down Friday morning. If you don't think those two days of martial law weren't corruption in the hundreds of millions of baht, you don't even want to know about corruption, you just want to continue your petty, spiteful gotcha politics.)

But you and others like you spread these really ... sorry, but these are STUPID stories about paying mob participants and the sorry, old, horrid Thaksin 500 baht story that simply isn't true. What you are actually doing is supporting the actual corruption of the big boys and massively disrespecting really decent citizens whose only sin is they care so much they go and join a dopey mob. Without pay.

But stop with these dopey, untrue... well, lies. It makes YOU look bad, not Thaksin/Suthep/army/whoever is today's villain for you.

you're most probably not the best observer. I've been there too, only once at the stadium.

You could be right about me, of course. But I am *an* observer. You're not an observer at all, just like the man who first wrote this lie in this thread about the the Utthayan (Aksa) protest site is/was not an observer. Both of you say you were not even there, so you have no dog in the "observer" fight. Right now, I'm the *only* observer posting. I do hope others will post who observed, their reports would be worth having for sure.

As I said. There is... well, there was no way to register people at the BM Sai 3 entrance to Utthayan Road, which was the only public entrance. It was impossible. There was no place, no desk, no person, no clipboards, no area, no paper, no pens, no signs, no welcomers.... Since it was impossible to register, it was certainly impossible to be paid FOR registering. The original post is bogus and a lie. Period. What the poster said happened simply didn't happen, for the simple reason it physically couldn't happen. It is false.

And, as you state as an observer exactly as I state as an observer - the same was true for the yellow shirts. The Suthep people could not register "at the entrance" and therefore they could not be paid when they registered at the entrance. Also a lie.

.

here's your urban legend ...

the plan probably was ...

political unrest

followed by social unrest (very close to it already) to a final

... civil war ...

It's time to wake up to reality ... the army knows that and acted accordingly.

Yes, there's hope now to avert the worst to happen ...

When Amsterdam was talking on the redshirt stage recently, one out of many educated reds told me he's from Holland. Oh my ... Good to know what's going on.

BTW, people who joined the red shirts had to register at the entrance, got the sticker and someone after the entrance gave 1000 Baht.

What I have seen myself was that people got also 1000 outside the venue, somewhere in and around Bangkok to keep them warm.

Long live democracy ...

I'm going to call you on this lie. I know personally it's a lie because I was at this rally three times and I know myself it's a lie. And I know you weren't there and didn't see such a thing, because if you were there, you would report that there was no way to register at the entrance or near it. There was no registration facility, no one registering, no desk, no clipboards, no personnel. There was nothing even possible for registration for at least one kilometre inside, too. Your "report" is a flat, full-out lie. I'm not positive someone controlled you to make it, of course.

For those with opposite ill intentions, the same was true at the "yellow" mob, in all locations. I went to that one a lot more than three times. There was no place to register for this mythical, non-existent payment to attend and clap. Any suggestion yellow people registered at the entrance to get this mythical attendance fee is a total, complete lie.

I'd like to think people posting this totally false information have good intentions. I'd like to think you're naive, mixed-up ignorant people who can't tell the difference between paying a bribe and paying a vendor for work done, which all rallies at all sites definitely do.

But I can't. Every post I've read on this is obviously unethical and uninformed. Almost all are like the post above, just lies and nothing but lies.

.

you're most probably not the best observer. I've been there too, only once at the stadium.

Remember they had many times a "stop and go" situation after that. And sure in one or more instances they had to put a lot of money to make the cattle go again. They did give out IDs. You're right, most of the time it wasn't required to get an ID, but only when things were running already. Still lots of money changed hand away from the venues to organize vans and keep those warm who couldn't attend.

Seen people going around giving away 1000 Baht notes with no explanation. Of course a hide and seek thingy, no?

According to you, guns and bombs not proceeded and made at the venues have nothing to do with it?

The Suthep camp acted quite different. People went there on their own or sometimes a rich "influential friend" called up and asked to join. Free food and very often special entertainment after a demo.

Not to recall Thaksin from last time when he offered 500B/day for eveyone to join. It's on youtube and you can search it if you want.

This time Thaksin bragged they he is loved so much that Thais sent him thirty billion Baht. Strange that around the same time the rice scheme was created. It's also on youtube.

the problem lies much deeper as it seems and this why they arrest leaders of both camps. This coup is so much different from all I have experienced before. The main reason's still the same. - CORRUPTION!!!

Will we experience a real change? The hopes are high.

Until now, goverment positions were handeled as "SWITCHBOARD OF CORRUPTIONS". Only this time, the manipulators even abused more than ever before. In fact the anti goverment movement wasn't really to bring corruption to a halt but to get ontu the SWITCHBOARD again in one way or another.

Will corruption be tackled now? Technically it's possible.

Perhaps in response Gen Prayuth can now finally revoke Thaksin's passport and get an international 'red warrant' for Thaksin's arrest issued so that interpol will act, track him down and arrest him.

That will the biggest headline in the world if it will happen

When Amsterdam was talking on the redshirt stage recently, one out of many educated reds told me he's from Holland. Oh my ... Good to know what's going on.

BTW, people who joined the red shirts had to register at the entrance, got the sticker and someone after the entrance gave 1000 Baht.

What I have seen myself was that people got also 1000 outside the venue, somewhere in and around Bangkok to keep them warm.

Long live democracy ...

new brand, Fermented Rice! The Chinese will buy it ...

violence is planned in a desperate move to cover the crimes(just one out of many) committed by govt officials big and small. This is the tip of the iceberg only

Read how 60 billion Baht were siphoned out and that Thaksin tried to open a bank in Hongkong - "Dhanai-Thaksin Bank" which went sour due to much publicity in Hongkong News.

follow this link and get shocked

she cancelled all foreign visits, but is strolling around in the North. What kind of emergency caretaker PM is that?

BTW, no police around in a radious of probably 2 km or more. Only 2 army checkpoints which looked pretty professional.

I drove through Rajadamnoen and the "hotel California estate" - tents of the protesters without any problem. I was expecting that one lane would be free to drive through, but it wasn't so. We had to use side sois right through their camps. Nobody ever made any problems. A few guards who looked alerted, but not aggressive opened two barrier for us without any questions asked. We passed hundreds of tents and there was nothing to be afraid of.

I think they know for whom and what to look out, no? Unlike like the red mob