rickirs

An extremely elusive beast Democracy. It's somewhat difficult to both train and also get the beast to please all sides too.

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Also from Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural address, “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression.” The US Constitution provides protections for minority rights that wouls balance any unreasonable suppression by the majority.

Whether the EC is trying or not trying to hold the election in 10 days time doesn't really matter....with only 10 days to go, it seems to be a mission impossible.......40 million voters to get organised???

Can't see it happening with any sort of efficiency!.......another major mess on the way!

Everyone on my families tabian bahn have recieved their election notices from the government allready.I think a few will be voting differently to how they did last time.

That is what elections are about. But infortunately, no matter how badly things might go against the PTP in the elections, nothing will go in favor of the Democrats because Suthep chose not to have the party on the ballot. It might be interesting to see several of the minority parties be able as a result of an election that went largely against the PTP form a coalition to take control of the government. Not having any connection with Thaksin, such a situation would completely marginalize the former Democrat Party out of politics.

The EC is trying as hard as they can to not do it's job. Even trying to stop people from their right to vote.

One must ask "who is in power The Government" or the "Electoral Commission"

[...]

According to Article 214 of the Constitution, whenever there is a conflict of power between the governing bodies, the matter may be settled by the Constitutional Court.

What agency are we talking about here? Is it the EC? Aren't the EC an arm of the government? - Ii is akin to the body of the snake questioning the Snakes Head on the right of the "Head" to make decisions - no wonder we are in such a mess and of course this all plays into the hands of Mr "S" & Mr "T".

Not exactly, the EC is an independent agency of the Thai government.

What does that mean? Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Commission_of_Thailand

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Government_Agencies_of_Thailand

We tend to talk quite loosely about a government, often thinking it is the same as the executive (PM and ministers), but it isn't. The EC is part of the Thai government but it is not under the control of the executive - hence the arguments.

OK, if you take this on its face as being correct, then the EC is empowered to delay the election on it's own volition, right? It doesn't need the caretaker government to agree -- right? As such, the EC is asking the CC for an advisory opinion not an interpretation of the Constitution.

If it was so empowreed, why didn't EC do so almost a month ago when asked by Yingluck to do so? On the face of it, the EC wants no responsibility.

Lots of words no meaning

So "controllable violence" is okay? I guess I would have to credit the grenade throwers as providing controllable violence, otherwise they'd blow themselves up.

Mr Suthep said he would like to question the government’s justification to invoke the Emergency Decree. Well, if the Democrats WERE still in the Parliament, that would be easy to do and force Yingluck to listen. But he wanted to put the Democrats outside of the government so they can protest, but now no one in the Government has any obligation to listen to the insurrectionist. He can't have it both ways.

Here we go with the Cambodian thing again.....

Im not buying this story at all this is back to the old no ones responsible its not Thais hurting Thais ohhh no of course not. Rubbish this is clearly just propaganda again to lay blame.

How is this helping to calm things ? Another Irresponsible idot

Why not? The link between Thaksin and Cambodians has been proven time and time again. Of course, you can always choose to ignore facts and play stupid like many red shirt supporters do. It's a well know fact that Cambodians smuggled considerable number of arms and weapons to North/Northeast of Thailand. Jakrob Pienkar can enlighten more on that one, a red shirt leader.

It is entirely plausible that the guy was actually Cambodian. After CCTV footage, no one came forward. No family? No friends?

Maybe alleged attackers got weapons from Suthep after his protestors occupied police facilities and stole their weapons? Maybe the military coveryl gave weapons to Suthep because they secretly support Suthep? These are all conspiracy theories without a shred of truth to back any of them up but convenient to get people riled up.

Thais on the forum, disguised Thais, Thais trying to direct comments toward certain topics for whatever reaons - who cares? As long as all abide by posting rules, no one can lose with open, frank (and sometimes raw) discussions. Better to have vigorous discussions in the ethernet than in the streets. And I can't help but think that even the most ardent commentor will, despite their own vigously held positions, will become a little moderate by reading others' comments, by devising responses. The three C's (communicate, communicate, communicate) are basic to learning about each other.

Maybe the work of some of Suthep's "southern friends" that he brought to Bangkok. Maybe the Syrian Army, Hamas, Taliban, or Al Qeada? If these grenades had been used in Mynamar, even Buddhist monks might be suspect. The world is flooded with these kinds of mass produced, cheap weapons that a moron can use and obviously do use. The bottom line is that police need to do their job to identify and prosecute the perpetrators and not incite mobs to decide the guilty.

the 4th reich is coming

Never been second and third reichs for good reasons.

A Senior Leader who is either an elected official or government confirmed appointee certainly has the right to oppose the government. But not while working within the government. The option to resign is always available in order to provide support the opposition when government policies can no longer be supported. It is otherwise a betrayal to the people who voted in the leadership and a detriment to ordinary government operations when the chain of command is broken. But how many of these leaders are willing to leave their nicely paid government positions to take a chance on a political tide to put them back in again under opposition leadership?

How many times in the history of the modern post-1900's world do we hear that "to save democracy, we must destroy democracy?" Because if a minority tried to work within the framework of democracy, it cannot easily achieve by itself dominance over or alter the government policies or laws. This is especially difficult when the minority is unwilling to balance any of its dogma with the majority to gain support outside of its own party; when the minority refuses any negotiation except on its own terms and those terms begin with the complete capitulation of the majority-led government. As a result the minority must resort to radical actions outside the law such as the physical removal of government leaders, shutdown of the government services, and paralyze the freedoms of the majority's supporters to force unilateral concessions to the minorty This is led by the war cry of tryanny and insurrection. The propangda becomes, "Trust us, your loss of a democractic system, loss of your loss of vote, loss of your voice is a worthwhile price for the minority to change government in the way it sees fit." This approach has been the method used by dictatorships, neo-communists, and military coups. I hope for Thailand that its people choose to work within the democratic system to peacely bring resolution between conflicting philosophies of government; otherwise anything less will forever mar Thailand's civil and political history.

Obama after reading the letter - "But Thaksin is not the Prime Minister nor even in Thailand. What's the matter with these protesters? And they want to replace an elected government with a communist-type committee and call it democracy?"

If you go with her to the rallys, she may feel encouraged to raise the stakes with your participation and ask you to blow whistles, wear anti-government buttons, clothing, wave the Thai flag, etc. I think it best to tell her that your mere presence in these protests not only may make the protesters targets for violence, but also yourself.

RT@tulsathit: RT @joey_kanis: Looked like a grenade attack. #ThaiPBS pic.twitter.com/WDwJaLUk0r

Definitely not a grenade in any military context. Grenades are used for shrapnel effect; bombs are use for concussion effect.

Here we go again, hasn't Suthep had enough of murdering his own people for some cheap publicity?

Dumb quote of the day award to you.

Is it really so dumb? read this

Why does Suthep insist on his own armed guards? Oh, he doesn't trust the police but demands they investigation such attacks. He really sets up these kinds of violent confrontations. If it the police who were on the street to assure the public's safety, I doubt this attack would have happened.

Based on the current police investigation, this "grenade" attack appears to be a self-inflicted attack with intention to blame PTP membership. So on the one hand while Suthep demands a quick police investigation, his supporters insured a crime scene so disrupted and secured from police investigation that no blame can be legally laid by the police. But that doesn't stop Suthep to desparately claim being attacked by PTP so that the EC/military will suspend the elections.

RT @ChadapornLin: Suthep vowed on stage yesterday he will continue his march around Bkk at 10am today despite bombing yesterday

I don't like him and I don't like what he is doing, but he does have balls. Someone threw a bomb at him yesterday.

The injuries and death are very sad and wrong. But consider if Suthep had chosen to engage in the election contest and not encouraged insurrection, kidnappings, and violence against government workers and officials, there would have been a more peaceful outcome. Yet he shows no apology for his actions, no responsibility for resulting violence; it's always someone else.

And they call this a non-violence protest. Threading people and unlawful entry. Anti-government protester motto is "Do as I say not as I do"

Will Suthep be held accountable for these unlawful acts as leader of the insurrection? And more importantly will anyone such as police even attempt to make any arrests or in the future protect the civil servants from doing their jobs? Seems no one is willing to protect this fragile democracy and more inclined to let street mobs rule the country.

For the EC to consider adding days to the election scheduled Feb 2nd is exactly within its authority to order (vs. "recommend") and truly about time it propose something workable and reasonable within its mandate of responsibility. Maybe Yingluck has worn the EC down to get off its "high horse" just advising and playing it safe from failing its duty to becoming part of the solution for a success election.

POOF! There goes your support base. Keep it up. Numbskulls alt=w00t.gif pagespeed_url_hash=1451809591 width=18 height=20

With the Democrats out of the elections, the farmer protests will hardly matter. If the Democrats hadn't opted out, focused on getting farmer support by using the failrure of the rice payments and other economic issues, they might, just might have gained enough support to win the majority of the House. Suthep is not the super politician he portrays himself to be.

This is not red shirts/white shirts, this is citizens of Bangkok who are sick and tired of the southern thugs destroying their city and economy.

You must be that sick citizen in Bangkok!

Bunny you love to quote me. Why? You can't stand the truth being told. alt=licklips.gif pagespeed_url_hash=2507030023 width=25 height=25>

"Truth" requires a modicum of evidence, not just a say so.

By what legal authority can Blue Sky security guards go outside corporate grounds into public property to accost the public and confiscate property? And if someone resists, are the guards allowed to use force? The police need to come down hard on Blue Sky and its guards for this lawless behavior, and every vendor who is subjected to this tryanny should bring a class action lawsuit against Blue Sky.

My guess is they were on an operation to ambush attackers of the various protest sights that have been taking place in recent days, most likely requested by Suthep and deployed by the military without police or government knowing as it is very likely they cannot trust either with such covert deployment information

I believe the nightly armed assaults have ceased

Yes, so covertly that a "in-plain-sight" police checkpoint they get caught with all their weapons. They did themselves a favor by being caught, otherwise they might have hurt themselves.

The military seems incapable of controlling their country and Thai citizens' security. That signals a failed state. Everyone is living in a state of fear. The protesters are essentially anarchists. The government and the military is letting them call the shots and run the deal.

"Everyone is living in a state of fear?" No. These anti-government demonstrations are more boring than watching paint dry. Kudos thus far to Suthep but he really needs fear to get more support. So he wins and he loses.