Plus

Bottle throwers are a small and annoying minority, and there were reports that it's the same group that just follows him everywhere.

The public opposition to Abhisit is grossly overstated.

Just another load of nonsense from Thitinan.

Last year Anupong thought that Newin can replace Thaksin in Isan and he was not a threat to the country.

Now a year has passed, Anupong might no be so sure of Newin's success anymore and the whole "blue" idea, but there's little he can do now.

Newin, on the other hand is not going to reduce his appetite, to him it doesn't matter if he becomes as big as PPP or just big enough to be a deciding force in forming a coalition. The second scenario gives him more ministerial posts and so he'd rather sit on the fence, creating troubles with Democrats from time to time, so they are not sure he'd stay with them after the elections, and PPP still have hope of attracting him on their side.

Hopefully Abhisit doesn't bite and won't protest if Newin teams up with PPP - that's the kind of incompetent government that will destroy itself in no time, and Democrats will be looking better and better.

One thing Newin still doesn't get - he has to have a good image and he has to deliver on national scale, he doesn't get that relying on old, feudal system is not going to win him public trust and it has no long term future.

PAD are not divided over the temple. Though Chamlong distanced himself from the rally and said there was no PAD resolution for it, later all PAD leaders expressed unified stand on the issue.

They dropped the idea of relocating squatters themselves, but they are very adamant that the govt MUST do something about it.

I haven't checked what's on ASTV these days, but I'm pretty sure they are rallying the followers around this issue, and pretty soon they will demand actions from Abhisit.

The demand is legitimate, and if they stay clear of violence, Abhisit will be forced to respond one way or another. They might even make it into their electoral platform, presenting themselves as strong and resolute and ready to stand up for the nation, comparing to sissy Abhisit who is just not cut for the job of defending the country from Cambodian encroachment.

And now there's new 2.5l Mazda with the same VN turbo, but with a bit lower output.

Abhisit confirmed the issue was raised with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the UN General Assembly in New York last week.

Hun Sen put his foot in his mouth with his order to shoot proclamation.

Fluorescent, energy saving bulbs are great, but I doubt the cost of replacement justifies the savings.

I have to change them as regularly as the old ones, and it's a 100+ baht a bulb.

army generals are also subject to civilian direction like any normal civilised country (or even uncivilised ones like China and Russia).Oh no I forgot he can't do that because he's in their pocket.

Is he in Anupong's pocket, following Anupong's orders?

In this police chief saga?

Yes, just read the same article.

They mentioned something about shorter gear ratio, so it probably won't be flying well over 150.

The next Fortuner will probably get this new technology as well, and for now Toyota is using the same 3l in Landcruiser.

You mean Toyota's new 2.5l engine?

Their carryover 3l is still excellent.

I favour each article change being allowed a seprate vote..

Yes, but it also means that even if one issue gets approved, changes need to be made and elections need to be called. There could be a moment when Abhisit would rather have people vote all of this stuff down in one go and get on with governing. That's what a politician would do - keep everything under control and call all the shots himself.

He says Hun Sen is บ้า (crazy) บ้าๆบอๆ (dotty, mentally unbalanced) and a กุ๊ย (tramp, vagrant). He also says that Hun Sen doesn't want good relations with Thailand and speculates that he is the ขี้ข้า (slave) of Thaksin or he has an evil mind (จิตใจชั่วร้าย). It should be noted he made these statements when he was the shadow Deputy PM

Shame on him for stating the obvious.

As much as you like to talk about PAD domestic ambitions, the situation at the border demands separate attention.

Anupong gave a very diplomatic response, but it's not going to stop Hun Sen, and pretty soon people will demand action, not promises they've been fed for nearly a decade.

It was all fine and dandy, but Hun Sen really upped the ante since the listing and it is obvious that "Joint border commission" is useless as far as conflict resolution is concerned. It's good for passing the buck onto it, but you can do it only so many times.

When Hun Sen issues threats to shoot, you can't reply with wais and smiles. Thailand can't play a generous and friendly neighbor role anymore. Imposing economic sanctions would also achieve very little, as will be stopping any other forms of govt assistance - these things will be needed as carrots and as proof of Thai sincerity.

His military threat must be responded in kind, with sticks, and he must be forced to back off and onto the carrots.

I don't think setting up Charter Drafting Assembly for changing just six articles is justifiable. They will need to pass laws to create it first, spending about three months before it can even start.

And I don't think that CDA should be given a broader scope, effectively scrapping parliamentary committee's work and starting from the scratch. It

would certainly look good from public participation point of view, but, the truth is, the constitution is not a problem, the problem is politicians not following it.

Some 90% of people didn't bother to read the current Constitution when they voted, it just doesn't matter that much.

Let them form another committee to write down the wording for the six issues, take them to a referendum, and then change the constitution according to the results, issue by issue. That would be a lot faster.

Or dems might group all the articles together, if they are sure they will be defeated, then the constitution will remain unchanged and they won't need to call new elections.

Cambodia can't treat this land as its own. One way or another, PAD or not, but they have to be convinced that unilaterally taking ownership is not going to work.

The settlement is against the diplomatic accord they signed with Thailand in 2000, so if anyone wants diplomacy to work - they have to find the way for Cambodia to follow their own promises.

But then again, I don't hold much hope for Hun Sen becoming reasonable in the near future.

demanding the Thai military to forcefully evict the Cambodian villagers out of the disputed land is not a reasonable demand

You can't let them stay either, because doing nothing would only give Hun Sen and excuse to really occupy the area. They have enough homeless Cambodians for that purpose.

And PAD was correct last year - the listing has lead to Thailand de facto losing its claims over the disputed territories, as it has provided Hun Sen to make bolder moves.

Actually, a tough response from Thailand would be - ok, we'll start shooting anyone who shows up in that area, too, and let the squatters clear out themselves. Thailand can even pay for the relocation.

It should be made into a no go zone before both countries agree on mutual and cooperative use. Nothing will improve until Hun Sen changes his attitude. If Thai can manage to convince him diplomatically, fine, but I won't hold my breath waiting.

Just because there's no hard proof of connection between Thaksin's business interests in Cambodia and his stance on the temple issue, doesn't mean that there isn't one.

It's not just a rumor that he promised them lots of development for that island just when Noppadon was reversing Thai strategy.

The PAD seems to switch positions over the temple as is convenient for them. Last year it was over the whole temple (Prachatai has the translation of a key speech by Sondhi Lim over the issue, asking the military to go to war against Cambodia), this year they "only" protest over the disputed areas.

Maybe you can sit tight and wait it out until the drop the issue altogether.

On the other hand they'd give you a wider range of issues to attack them for. If this year their demands are reasonable, you can always attack them for the last year, or for right wing fascism or whatever.

It seems you can't have a rational argument over PAD - you always take a directly opposite position regardless of logic, history, or common sense. Right now you appear to support that maniac Hun Sen approach to the issue just because he is on anti-PAD side just as you are.

Ok, thanks, you clarified what the diametrically opposing opinion to PAD is, can we now move on to discuss the issue without prejudice? PAD is just one interest group in this issue. There are governments, historians, there's ICJ, Unesco, govt current opposition, Noppadon and his defense, local villagers, soldiers, and nationalism, each comes with their own interests, perspective, and history.

Can you transcend your anti-PAD singlemindedness?

Its clearly that all 60 million thais wont have a say, so next question is "Who will select the people?".

Anyone who is eligible to vote can participate in a referendum. Should be about 44 million.

Read the thread, Brahmburgers, the protest is not about the temple, it's about surrounding area that has been encroached on by Cambodians, and now Hun Sen threatens to shoot any Thai who goes there.

I repeat again - it's not about the temple itself.

86% of people want a referendum.

Time wasting little gnats, aren't they?

As opposed to a referendum why not an election to really show that they mean business and are confident that the current policies are acceptable to all the voting public.

What is wrong with asking people directly what they think of this particular issue instead? Why do we need new elections to start the process to hold another new elections ASAP and according to new and improved constitution?

I could be wrong.

Yes, you are.

Electoral fraud here goes far beyond simple "vote buying" and there are degrees of cheating, and some of it is still legal, so it's wrong to present the issue in absolute terms - these guys buy votes and those don't.

Also "red faction" is not a political party and it's goal is not to win elections. Two other, non-red parties were dissolved in the latest case, in Dec last year.

Nationalism stands here against nationalism.

There are deeper disagreements here. Nationalism is just a temporary symptom, an overreaction.

If you type static.thaivisa.com in the address field, the openDNS would send you to "oldie" server outside of Thailand, because that's how it resolves the name.

When you access Thaivisa itself, from Thailand, the forum software sniffs out your IP and directs you to the local server instead, and I guess that's what caused problems in my browser - conflicting addresses coming from the forum and from DNS server, and they are stored in cache (which you cleared).

That was two weeks ago, before the attempt at "major upgrade".