SureNDT

Shows you how naïve I am, I thought all the tourism problems were going to be solved by new tourists from Brunei, the 175th most populous country in the world.

Or the worlds 5th highest GDP per capita I suppose.

but it still looks poor except for the palaces etc, even the airport looks 3rd world. I will say though it is one of the safest countries in the world I've been to and the people amongst the nicest, sharia law is for natives and you see Malaysian women walking around in shorts and vests.

The airport is in the middle of major renovation, I was there last week.

The Thai elite have been killing their own people for years and getting away with it, why on Earth did folks think it was going to be any different this time around?

There has to be some sort of accountability from politicians and military for the deaths, regardless of the circumstances at the time. In any civilised society this is a bare minimum. In ruling they have no jurisdiction they are preventing the truth from being known.

No doubt they will attempt to yet again foist this objectionable upper class twit who's father supported the odious dictator Suchinda upon the poor Thai populace. It runs in the Vejjajiva family.

Dark days ahead indeed as we have seen the rural Thais still haven't forgotten Democrat bitter medicine policies from the late 90's, and the cycle looks to continually repeat itself in the future, as they will never accept a government they haven't chosen, hence the attempts to cheat the system by the junta.

Can you please explain why the Democrats ran that policy? AFAIR it was because Thailand was close to bakruptcy and was bailed out by the World Bank and the IMF and the loans had to be repaid.

The government that was responsible for those debts was the one under Chavalt Yongchaiyudh and Banharn Silpa Archa. Oddly enough Thaksin Shinawatra was a minister in those governments too.

Banharn and Chavalit have been ministers in Thaksins governments as well. Isn't it nice to have firnds that you can rely on?

Of course if you don't believe me you can also Google it.

Edited for spelling.

A better question would be why the Democrats targeted the poorest rural areas to pay back the debts that the rich Thai elite had incurred by allowing the economy to cave in on itself, triggering a regional crisis?

An even better question would be why those families in power then continued to be unaffected and amass even greater wealth during that period.

And again, an even better question to ask would be why those families continually opposed Thaksin's populist policies towards improving the lives of the most affected during that time?

The answers are obvious, but people still keep on believing there's some sort of monster out in Dubai while the real one is very much ensconced under the bed.

People seem to have conveniently forgotten the military was using live ammo on protesters very early on when we were being lied to by Abhisit and co. saying there was no live ammo being used and they were firing blanks.

At this time there were no 'men-in-black' nor red shirts armed with firearms.

You could clearly see M16's being fired by soldiers without suppressors attached. The fact that it is impossible to fire blank rounds without one seemed not to be of concern to those feeding mushrooms at the time.

Someone should be responsible for those orders and actions, should it be Abhisit? He was leader of the country at the time.

His lineage seems to be full of little dark secrets, his father being in Suchinda's cabinet for example.

The same old tired excuses and blame-shifting onto the mysterious men-in-black and red shirts.

Let's get some transparency from the politicians and the military for a change instead of letting political ideology and obsession with one man cloud our objectives.

They can reward appoint who they like, the ultimate failure still won't be avoided.

No old folks please I mean the old faces or self centered guys, find educated/action driven guys and let them start and refresh the system with Country and people first agenda! No more talk show but Action to build healthy nation..... thanks

That will be the exact opposite of what the military will do and has always done.

Thailand is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, no one will deny that.

It's broke into the top ten in 2013. This year it won't be anywhere close.

The Thai elite have been killing their own people for years and getting away with it, why on Earth did folks think it was going to be any different this time around?

There has to be some sort of accountability from politicians and military for the deaths, regardless of the circumstances at the time. In any civilised society this is a bare minimum. In ruling they have no jurisdiction they are preventing the truth from being known.

No doubt they will attempt to yet again foist this objectionable upper class twit who's father supported the odious dictator Suchinda upon the poor Thai populace. It runs in the Vejjajiva family.

Dark days ahead indeed as we have seen the rural Thais still haven't forgotten Democrat bitter medicine policies from the late 90's, and the cycle looks to continually repeat itself in the future, as they will never accept a government they haven't chosen, hence the attempts to cheat the system by the junta.

I'd you don't like it you can always leave because it appears no one cares what you say

Careful, your bar-stool is wobbling a bit there.

The Thai elite have been killing their own people for years and getting away with it, why on Earth did folks think it was going to be any different this time around?

There has to be some sort of accountability from politicians and military for the deaths, regardless of the circumstances at the time. In any civilised society this is a bare minimum. In ruling they have no jurisdiction they are preventing the truth from being known.

No doubt they will attempt to yet again foist this objectionable upper class twit who's father supported the odious dictator Suchinda upon the poor Thai populace. It runs in the Vejjajiva family.

Dark days ahead indeed as we have seen the rural Thais still haven't forgotten Democrat bitter medicine policies from the late 90's, and the cycle looks to continually repeat itself in the future, as they will never accept a government they haven't chosen, hence the attempts to cheat the system by the junta.

In 2010 Thaksin told his red shirts to fight the army and that he was very near to Thailand and would come back to help them if the army would open fire on them. Remember those famous words?

Red shirt leader Jatuporn, natthawut etc have also told their supporters numerous times to fight the army. Even told them to burn down the city.

You don't mention them in your propaganda piece. Why not?

You conveniently miss the point about accountability in your Thaksin-obsessed rant.

Doesn't matter what was said, people died, and there's been no accountability or transparency to date.

That lack of transparency is deliberate IMO to stop the facts from becoming public.

Hope they go ahead full steam with this. Much more control is needed over consumption and sales of alcohol among the local populace.

If it drives away another batch of farangs, well that's just collateral damage folks.

What Thailand is saying is quite simple, come to Thailand and enjoy yourself sure, but don't meddle in internal affairs. Foreigners are only tolerated up to a point, when they over step their mark, then the authorities will make a very clear statement, as they have in the past with others.

Thailand is still very much a developing country, and most are aware of their teething problems, which will be addressed, but by Thais of course !

Apologist nonsense.

Other countries that purchase Thai products have every right to transparency on how these products are produced.

Well done to Andy Hall in exposing their criminal and unethical business practices.

Thaksin believes that Thailand can not and will not change and that the Gen will fail. He believes that he will swoop in and reestablish control and patron government, top heavy with corruption. He believes that someday he will install his son as PM. Only time will tell.

I don't know if the General will fail, certainly he will fail in some endeavors, but, when has anyone really tried to solve some of the many problems. He seems an honest man and I trust him, he will do battle with Thai culture and the myriad corrupt bosses big and small. His success will depend on whether the middle level fish join him in remaking Thailand into a country where there is real opportunity for the middle and lower classes, not just the corrupt who bow at Thaksin's feet with tribute in hand.

Thaksin has never had the vision to see that building the base, the lower classes, causes much more profit to flow up that by just stealing money from the country. Ripping off the nation is not sustainable and eventually the family will fall off its pedestal.

I salute you, General, for taking the chance and making an effort to turn the nation around. No one else ever has, certainly not Thaksin.

The General has one objective and we all know what that is. Until this has been fulfilled he will remain in power regardless of whether he is perceived as being successful or not in running the country.

Great, and I hope he is successful and rids the country of the affliction that has plagued this country for the past few years and cleans up the deeply entrenched corruption and the crap that goes along with it.

A lot of things will change in Thailand over the next few years. Corruption won't be one of them though, you can rest assured of that.

Mr T is home sick.

He will do anything that would allow him to return a free man, and he probably will do one day, but by then politics in Thailand will be something very different from the past and he and the rest of the corrupt politicians will have no place in politics, I can see a pardon for most indited politicians who did not have a direct involvement in the violence but they will have no political future.

Corruption will always have a place in Thai politics, it is embedded in the Thai psyche and pervades every walk of life.

We saw it before with Suchinda in 1991/92. Using a purge against corruption and vice to further a fascist agenda. Dictatorships love it. All very obvious nowadays of course, but the ignorant masses still seem to lap it up.

Thaksin is giving orders again? He is not in a position to tell anyone what to do.

Exactly, he is yesterday's news.

Whatever you may think about Thaksin, I've no doubt that history will look rather favourably on him, and less so on the military, whatever transpires in the future.

They can ban the books and censor whatever they like, but times have changed, and the old ways will always be replaced with the new. The truth always comes to the surface.

No stopping the tide of change, and there's no cheating the grim reaper.

A Thai friend informed me that Yingluck explained the reason behind their faux support of the military.

They are betting that the economy will be gutted by the military and will enhance their future political prospects.

Thaksin is a clever politician. Probably the cleverest one out there in terms of playing the game.

If you look at all the junta spending thus far; increase of military budget, continuing with the majority of PTP mega-projects etc. It's a good bet that they are right on the money.

Thaksin's popularity (and conversely the Democrat Party's unpopularity) stemmed from the bitter medicine policies of the Democrat Chuan government of the late 90's (you remember the one that Suthep brought down because of his corruption scandals). It seems the current junta are set for a repeat of those failed and divisive fiscal policies and by design, in the medium to long term, it shouldn't affect the popularity of the PTP machine, indeed it could be the rejuvenation they need to sort Thailand's problematic military out once and for all.

The Junta's bosses have all the jewels, of course it isn't going to improve relations!

Not so. ALL companies must be majority Saudi owned if not managed (gawd help the multimationals)

This is a US company owned vessel registered in Panama going on contract to Saudi.

If my country were run by a bunch of extremely corrupt and extremely ineffectual bunch of nasty buffoons, I'd support a coup there too.

A coup to install more extremely corrupt and ineffectual bunch of nasty buffoons that are not accountable to anyone and have no mandate from the people they rule over?

Do expats that post here really have absolutely no clue about Thai history and the corruption of previous military governments?

apparently not

So what does that prove ??? same again in your eyes--give a dog a bad name eh! but we had Thaksin regime a couple of history lessons there .

#253 + #255 learn a bit, save your bitterness.

So by that rationale you will accept a Thaksin led government in the future.

Water under the bridge after all.

Let's keep the relationship as low as possible. Who wants a bunch of arrogant Saudis in this country, not to mention 9/11? As far as Thai labour is concerned they should consider themselves lucky not to be employed by what must be the most abusive employers on the fact of this earth. Seen it with my own eyes when I worked there. Yep I took their money for 12 years which is about all they're good for.

Problem is the majority don't work for Saudis they work for multinationals and can't go where the jobs are.

sad, sad, and sad. A military coup, that appointed its own cabinet, and now "elects" the PM. So this situation and this PM is better than a legally elected PM such as Thaksin? Coup upoin coup upon coup. It really is amazing to see such a thing in these so-called modern times, especially with mass communication and information.

Amazing that many on here have been duped into supporting it. Some appearing to waken up now. More will when the tourists are gone, the fun is gone and the lunatic crack-downs start to affect a wider scope of the expat populus.

So many are clearly so obsessed with Thaksin that any rational discussion falls on deaf ears.