Srikcir

Contrary to the spirit of Transparency and Public Knowledge, the NLA will no doubt do its review "in camera."

I thought that teaching students Prayut's 12 Values is all they needed.

Prayut would have been upset hearing tourists were throwing bread into the sea.

He would have insisted on Thai rice.

On the positive side, to be fair, NGV is one of the very few positive things I have seen developing in Thailand in the last decade.

I am wondering why NGV vehicles are not developing that fast in Europe.

But when I see that a bid is done in May for 489 vehicles - I am sure in total transparency, awarded in June and that the 489 vehicles will be ready within 90 days, I can only suspect another fishy tender process. Is that how the good General conduct business and fight corruption?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/789521-bangkoks-new-bus-fleet-saga-why-scania-volvo-opt-out/

Besides the good idea (NGV buses), I am sure that the execution will be - as usual - disappointing. Probably very low quality buses that will work only a short period of time, no maintenance, no plan.

According to NGVA Europe, in 2014 the EU had about 1.1 million vehicles, buses and trucks being served by over 3,000 CNG stations. Now that Russia is using its gas supply as a political weapon against the EU I expect a slowdown in manufacturing more such transportation.

"Cho Thavee Dollasien Plc has won the bid to supply a first fleet of buses to BMTA at the price of 3.5 million baht per bus.
She said the offered price is about one million baht lower than a median price set by BMTA."

But according to BMTA Acting Director Pranee Sukrasorn on 2015-03-31:

"The medium price for each vehicle is set at 3.65 million baht"

This is lower by Bt150,000 per bus.

If the role of the police and the military is to fight floods, then they will not be involved in preventing floods.

The Junta cancelled all the previous government's planned water infrastructure projects when it came to power. To date it has taken little action to fund projects.

"Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of markets and economic research at Kasikornbank's capital markets business division, said the lack of water-infrastructure projects to prevent another flood disaster like the one in 2011 was an underlying reason for the dismal export performance of the past few years....He noted that there had been little progress on the projects included in the previous elected government's Bt350-billion water-management project." - The Nation 2015-04-28

But the good news is that the Junta will be funding the renovation of the Chao Phraya riverfront as a tourist attraction. Better bring your life jacket just in case.

"The latest example is that we've agreed to the US request to use Phuket as a base for helping migrants stranded at sea,"

The Junta ALLOWING the USA to give humantarian aide to the migrants is hardly a diplomatic balancing act. Aide that Thailand is relunctant to provide as Prayut deems the safety of the migrants as someone else's problem. Since many of the migrants are allegedly stateless, the USA gets no political advantage through its aid.

So the Junta gives the USA something it doesn't need. Very crafty indeed.

Unfortunately the Junta can't give what the USA does want from the Junta - a democratic nation.

The fact that Thailand has to boirrow a measly $320 million from the Japanese government screams to me that Thailand has no money. That is a tiny amount of money in the scheme of things unless of course you are flat broke.

The Thai people need to be worried about their future economy, if the government can not come up with an amount of cash that is comparable to 0.1% of its GDP to finance a much needed infrastructural project for their country.

I think you will find that's its normal for countries to take out loans for infrastructure projects.

But then you may well be a world class economist experienced in international finance, if so then I would certainly defer to your superior knowledge.

Possibly its not so surprising they would use loan finance considering the annual repayment of the principal and interest of the loans taken out to finance the Yingluck rice pledging scheme since its inception are 64 billion baht per year.

If $320 is measly and a tiny amount to you perhaps you would like to help out with a small gift of say $100 million.

The issue isn't that the government borrowed the money but that it keeps borrowing from foreign governments. Acquisition of capital through foreign debt depresses the GDP growth rate. The simplest way for a nation to borrow funds and still increase GDP growth rate is to SELF-FINANCE by selling treasury bonds.

It's good business for foreign lenders as they will boost their own GDP growth rate over the 20+-year life of the loans. Plus, they will typically get "deal boosters" in the form of special tax exemptions and land development priviledges in exchange for low interest rates. I believe that Prayut wants to reserve the Thai treasury for domestic cash subsidies that he can use immediately to "reward" certain political behaviors.

If the 2007 Constitution were still in effect, Prayut would be prevented by the Election Commission from borrowing funds from foreign governments as a caretaker government. Fortunately for him, someone abolished the 2007 Constitution so the Junta can take whatever fiscal action it wants without accountability.

"most farmers have given good cooperation, with only a few ignoring the call,"

Only a few ignored the ban?

"Since the Thai government has banned rice farmers in 26 provinces from planting their off-season or second rice due to drought, farmers’ income per household has reduced by 70,000 baht, resulting in an estimated 25.6 billion baht less household spending." 2015-05-09

This is outrageous. Those guns are fully automatic "machine gun" assault weapons which can hold either 20 or 30 rounds depending on magazine. It's quick and easy to put in a fresh magazine. With the standard NATO 62 grain 5.56 cartridge they will fire around 700 - 800 rounds per minute. The guns were probably made by Colt in the USA to very high standards. This whole thing is sickening.

There is no excuse to ever, for any reason, lose track of those guns. End of.

there is a lot of missing information in this report

Where are the guns now ?

Why did these four men remove so many weapons ?

What were they being used for ?

were they selling them ? if so to who ?

Let's add another question:

Why are civilian volunteers even allowed weapon armories much less able to remove weapons without military authority?

Whatever the practical reason for Cobra Gold and allowing US military into Thailand for aiding human trafficking victims, one thing is made clear. Prayut can be made by the USA to react to US policies in a predictable manner. This is diplomatic power that is greater than any military power.

"Diplomacy is the art of saying nice doggie until you can find a rock." - Will Rogers

The firearm was a disassembled handgun in a passenger's checked-in luggage. The gun parts were wrapped in cloth which is not x-ray proof. Nothing covert or surreptitious.

How does this become a case of "smuggling" a firearm OUT OF Pakistan?

One might better make the case of smuggling into Thailand but the firearm never left Pakistan.

In fact Pakistan is famous for its open weapon bazzars. Pakistan customs and culture of honor promote the ownership of guns. As such it has a home-grown gunsmith tradition. For Pakistanis, a gun is a social necessity as much as an umbrella is to a Brit.

So possession of the subject firearm in Pakistan is likely NOT a crime. In fact Pakistan permits the ownership of Pakistan-made heavy weaponry including the personal use of rocket-propelled grenades, short, medium, and long-range rockets, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, etc. in tribal areas!

Rather the failure to register the subject firearm with an international air carrier probably violated international civil aviation RULES. This mean a CIVIL violation probably occured subject to a fine.

Under Article 44 of the Interim Charter General Prayut can make any order he wants with the force of law. Clearly he is now at a decision point about the draft 2015 constitution. Some of his options:

- allow limited amendments on a case-by-case basis that don't defeat the NCPO's agenda

- restart the whole draft process by new appointments to the NRA and CDC

- delay the draft process until the public is more compliant to accept with no amendments

- bypass any referendum and draft amendments to have the constitution endorsed and enacted into law

The last option was used with the Junta-drafted 1997 Constitution that held up until the 2006 military coup that abolished it. Which option Prayut will exercise in 2015 will be determined by the extent that he believes the majority of the Thai people will protect their sovereignty and the extent that the minority will protect their control over the majority .

The military has followed history in all its coups and retention of its dominance over the Thai majority. As such I expect General Prayut will concede some minor alterations to the draft and proceed with endorsement without a referendum. The NLA will approve the 2015 endorsed constitution by 95%.

Prayut's Roadmap to Democracy - End of a Fair Tale

“FOCUS should be placed on empowering citizens under the new constitution”

Then how do Thirayuth and Bantoon justify a CDC writing any constitution when its members were APPOINTED by a military coup leadership that overthrew an elected government and abolished a constitution approved by empowered citizens? Where is citizen empowerment in the CDC?

Both men are simply two faces of the same coin – HYPOCRITES

Over 100 amendments proposed to the draft 2015 constitution.

There is something fundamentally wrong in NRC's approach. The United Kingdom as one of the oldest constitutional monarchies has no constitution while the USA has one of the most notable democratic constitutions with only 33 amendments since its adoption in 1789.

"Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Yuthavong revealed that the government cannot abolish the ONESQA"

The NCPO can directly abolish any organization or law it wants under Article 44 of the Interim Charter. After all the NCPO abolished the entire 2007 Constitution. The NCPO can also get its clone organization the NLA to repeal and pass laws.

So Yongyuth's revelation is nonesense.

It looks like the democratic soldier Prayut may be without a democracy.

General Prayut forgot that the highest rank in the land is not General but PRIVATE - private citizen that is.

Less than $3,000 as a campaign contribution to talk directly to quite possibly the next and first woman POTUS is cheap.

In a country where the minimum wage is upwards to $15 per hour it is affordable to most average Americans.

Most of last year's mass exodus affected the fishing fleets that lost more than 20% of their workforce.

A repeat of that this year during an even worsening economy will crash the annual GDP below 2.5%.

Government note to self: If you can't improve a flawed process, LEAVE IT ALONE.

Signapore, Japan, France, Italy, China, Canada ....

Prayut has made Thailand into the 7/11 for infrastructure investment.

But unlike 7/11's Thailand won't see an economic benefit from BORROWING from other nations for 20+ years while it pays off the debt service.

Thailand could self-finance its debt but that would cut down the available cash for important government functions like the MILITARY.

Why is the government using "security officers" and "paramilitary" to detect and apprehend suspected insurgents? Is the military short of soldiers that it has to use essentially contractors?

It has been the paramilitary and security officers that have repeatedly committed atrocities against innocent Malay-Thais that has helped fuel the conflict.

"The Greek government has to be, I think, a little bit more realistic,"

That's not how Tsipras came to power and that's not how he will stay in power.

Economic SOUND BITES.

Just downgrade the waste power plant to 9.95MW.

No EIS required.