mfd101

Lessons there for Thailand ...

So MFP will have a successor party by another name ...

So the choice begins to look like this: EITHER PTP for PM & leads a new government but without MFP participation OR Prawit sleeps his way thru the muddle (woops, middle). Meantime, MFP/Pita now playing the long game - thru to May next year & whenever the next election is (probably long before the scheduled 4 years mark).

They could always cross their fingers behind their back.

Not much point in the E-Saaners loving him if they don't hop on the buses in their hundreds of thousands to occupy central BKK for the next few months!

He was elected speaker of the lower house 3 or 4 weeks ago by the combined forces of the MFP & PTP 8-party coalition! Now doing his job as best he can in very difficult circumstances. Please don't rabbit on about things of which clearly you haven't bothered to inform yourself.

I'm guessing he knows and finds it all too believable. But isn't telling us.

And where do most of the RTA's recruits & conscripts come from? From Isaan, which has consistently voted PTP for many years, and in May split with MFP. (Why from Isaan? Because they're not rich enough or educated enough to pull the right strings to evade conscription. Suits the RTA just fine.) And are these Isaan lads aware of which side is up? Oh yes. As I have recounted in the past, my partner was a young conscript back around 2010. He tells me that the officers told them all to vote Yellow at the relevant election. But the lads all voted red. Which is suggestive of a course of action in the present circumstances ...

As I understand it, all transactions are via the US$. So - if your 'home' currency is not the US$ - you still need to be aware (eg using XE.com just for information) of the US$/฿ rates. My home currency is AUD and when I'm gearing up for a Wise/BKKBk transfer I always check the 3 relevant currencies - US, AUD, ฿. What I often (NOT invariably) notice is that in the morning ICT (when the - I guess - only relevant systems open are Sydney, Singapore & BKK) the AUD/฿ rates tend to be poor. Mid-afternoon ICT when London opens, the AUD tends to rise a bit. And in the evenings ICT when New York opens, the AUD/฿ reaches its peak for the day. (Mostly. There are no guarantees.) Which - in the broad - means you're mostly going to be best off doing your AUD/฿ transactions sitting at your desk in the evenings.

Nothing short of a million people out on the streets of BKK - and prepared to stay there for as long as it takes - will have any effect.

Most of the peasants where I live hadn't heard of MFP till a few days before election day but they knew it was FF/Thanathorn's party. So 50% of them in Isaan voted for MFP, the other 50% for PTP.

Perhaps the bill collector mentioned in the Op has an idea how it happened ...

The PTP is in process of becoming the MBP.

And what's more he was unable to offload the shares because (1) the company being defunct noone would buy them, and (2) the company shell is in longterm litigation against a government organ and the litigation is frozen, without resolution.

Capacity to manoeuvre between contending forces and, often, between equally valid but incompatible principles or policies [eg what The People want - lower taxes + more government expenditure on pet projects - vs what is actually doable or what the elected government judges is appropriate or the most urgent].

Good sign.

Yeah right, he would know.

Yes, keep at it. Don't give ground to the dinosaurs.

I saw someone discussing this when it first happened 3 or 4 weeks ago. The reason was because I have ad-blocker switched on. When it happens I simply open up AN a second time and everything works as normal. Till next time ...

Good symbolism. More needed.

Clear as mud!

Well, he's a wealthy man ... But then so was Thanathorn and (rather less) Pita. Not too many unwealthy people in Thai politics!

Hope you're right. We'll know soon enough.

So far The People appear relatively quiet. If they're not out in force by, say, next Sunday, then I guess we can say farewell to The People defending their democratic vote.

Hope you're right. But PTP's own past is not exactly pure as the driven snow ... In any case from now through to May next year is going to be very interesting to watch. In May the Senate's time is up, at least as currently constituted. It is - at least to me - entirely unclear what happens after that.