lannarebirth

The Thaksin Anguish Network comes up trumps again.

They should stick to the vacuous airheads promoting one of their friends range of coffees. 4 days after the murders at Phan Fah, TAN were airing a political debate which a normal person (and I don't even mean me) would expect to be current. But it was from a week before!!!

Pattaya TV creams them. The advert for Crazy Dave's is a Documentary par excellance compared to anything TAN have come up with. Dave still alive Bob... Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah

You can bypass TAN and read the original editorial if you're so inclined:

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_d...0041501109.html

[ I would add sympathizing with the red cause and supporting Thaksin are two completely different things

If only anyone who was a red shirt actually agreed with you CMF, it might add just an ounce of credibility to your statement.

Unfortunately, your position is not the position of the red shirts. Supporting the red shirts and supporting Thaksin ARE the same thing.

Please show me a single group of red shirt supporters who will vocally denounce Thaksin, and I will grant you some veracity to your statement. Heck, I might even support them. Until then, your statement is a position of fantasy.

Support the poor, rural Thais, yes. Support the reds, and by extension Thaksin? Absolutely not.

Edit: Just reread your statement. Maybe I was too quick to jump to conclusions. "sympathizing" may not actually be the same thing as supporting. I suppose I can sympathize with a terrorist without actually approving of him. I won't retract my earlier statement, but I will temper it that perhaps it could be misconstrued. I will never approve of or support the reds, but I can sympathize with the way some of their members have been misled.

Thank you - sympathise and empathise are the correct reflection of my views - although many on here have called me a 'Thaksin apologist' and worse

But at this juncture the Red shirts are about Thaksin and only Thaksin. I look forward to the day when that isn't the case.

It cannot have escaped your notice Chavalit and Somchai (PTP) petitioning the government today and seeking an audience with HM. Or Chalerm (PTP) backing out of constitutional reform on a Thaksin phone call. How about the UDD leadership withdrawing from negotiations with the government upon receiving an SMS text message. I'm sure you noted the UDD camped out at Thaksin's hotel. You couldn't have missed the PTP MP's marching to get the UDD propaganda station back on air.

It's all the same thing. Each is a part of the other, which is Thaksin.

So I'm reading about "Oil "plunging" on volcano and Goldman jitters". Here's my takeaway. A plunge sure ain't what it used to be and news is for suckers.

Sit down guys. Could be the break through we are looking for.

Che Guevarra was as evil and despotic a man as ever there was and people wearing his image are obviously very badly informed, if at all. And that is... wait for it, Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, Commies, Capitalists, Students, anybody!!! A Che T-Shirt is a badge of ignorance!!

He banned music in a Taliban style reign of terror and a great irony was pointed out to Carlos Santana a few months ago. He turned up in a Che T-shirt and had it pointed out to him by some cuban exiles that the real Che had actually had people killed for listening to Carlos Santana Music.

How long we will be in agreement for is not sure!

Common ground. Che was an idealistic young man who transformed into a butcher.

Really? Let's go to the instant replay:

Please attach photos of dead Thai protesters. Thank you.

Abhitist did not go on shooting rampage. No one knows what orders he gave and what orders were passed on down the line-No one, especially us, foreigners on TV

So you mean Thaksin did go on shooting rampage. Everyone knows what orders he (Thaksin) gave and what orders were passed on down the line-everyone, especially us, foreigners on TV

"You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

GS is in deep <deleted>. A name change is probably already in the works.

Well if you look at emerging markets you will often see that people bet on the best connected, most corrupt companies. Personally I have never really liked this strategy because while these companies might be good at creating value at any moment in time, it rarely accrues to minority investors.

Occasionally I am sure this blows up in your face like when Suharto went down.

To me making a call against GS is pretty bloody brave on the basis they are certainly smarter than you and (in all likelihood) more corrupt than you. And really, if you think about it, GS will be shorting their own stock well before the average investor knows when to do it.

Surely Abrak you cannot compare the damage to the reputation of GS as the largest capital-market player on the US scene

to betting on emerging markets where at least you would expect in advance that corruption plays a big part in business ?

I think " deep <deleted> " is an undertstatement..................

" We expect that there are a lot more charges coming and they will impact GS and many other firms. And we will soon see state attorneys general piling on. The plaintiff law firms are already preparing class-action suits. Germany and the U.K. are launching their own investigations. These types of allegations are not going to be confined to SEC vs. GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. and FABRICE TOURRE. The allegations will not be limited to a single security series known as Abacus 2007

It could quickly become a criminal action. One lawyer said "just wait until we hear from Andrew Cuomo."

The point is "who cares?". These people take their money on the front end.

GS is in deep <deleted>. A name change is probably already in the works.

Well if you look at emerging markets you will often see that people bet on the best connected, most corrupt companies. Personally I have never really liked this strategy because while these companies might be good at creating value at any moment in time, it rarely accrues to minority investors.

Occasionally I am sure this blows up in your face like when Suharto went down.

To me making a call against GS is pretty bloody brave on the basis they are certainly smarter than you and (in all likelihood) more corrupt than you. And really, if you think about it, GS will be shorting their own stock well before the average investor knows when to do it.

Any enterprise that drains substantial amounts of cash out of the business to non principals might make one cautious of an ongoing scam. Goldman fits most of the criteria and its possible there may be a plan afoot to dump every financial ill in the Goldman basket. But like a Hydra it is a many headed beast and would only regenerate in some other or many other forms.

If there is no underlying debt instrument or encumbrence, wouldn't you be applying for "1st" mortgage?

Abhisit must go, the sooner the better. He has not only the higher education comparable to George Bush, but the same political instincts as George Bush to go with it. No other PM has been as destructive to Thailand

Really? Let's go to the instant replay:

I agree - the three most 'yellow' on these threads come across as 'very' Republican and right wing - I consider myself more left than right (not 'Maoist' ok before you kick-off) - but I would add sympathizing with the red cause and supporting Thaksin are two completely different things

Correct you are, of course the root of the problem is NOT the BKK Elite as so many tourists and non residents like to believe when throwing their two cents into the debate but rather the built in corruption all the way from the Village elders in these small towns up the food chain odd how it seems in every one of these so called dirt poor villages there seems to be a few people that have the nice big western style house and the German cars in the driveway and their kids go abroad for schooling.... guess they must be the BKK elite huh???? So silly that so many of the REDS don't even know who their "REAL" enemy is..

Did the "Bangkok Elite" conspire with local Chao Por to deforest much of Isaan and the rest of Thailand? Do they build or hold interest in , along with the local Chao Por, massively polluting factories that have killed rivers and dozens of fish species? Have they rendered 100,000's of rai of Isaan paddy field useless in their salt recovery schemes? The answer is yes to all of these. The thing is this was all done with the aid of the politicians they keep electing and the Thai Police that are their "allies".

These "Bangkok Elite" make up less tha 1/10 of 1% of the population of Bangkok however, so why are they trying to bring the city of Bangkok, most of whose population is poor, to its knees?

Excellent post OP. Might make a good Letter To The Editor. (hint)

That might be fair as the Lao (later Isaanites) dug the canals for Bangkok. Here's the thing though. While it seems like a good idea to build canals to the Mekong for water for that area, most Thai agriculture academics say it won't work because of the salt deposits. Local puyai of course favor it because it's a big budget to skim. Maybe research it a little more.

Here's a good starting point:

http://books.google.com/books?id=16W9WQUaq...aan&f=false

Right -- pipeline the stuff then!

The way the water gets there isn't the issue, the issue is the quality of the soil that is farmed. here's an idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Isan

[quote name='humfurry' post='3514790' date='2010-04-17 20:14:47'W

you have a line of hills (roughly Kalasin -Sakon NakHon) and you can notice South of this line it is slightly more green. I have seen possibility to get 2 crops a year in Roi-Et. But North of this line, it is more dryer. The hills "blocks" a little the clouds and the weather.

On contrary during the Hurricanes periods, Nakhon Phanom get all the "tails" and weather can be quite serious. You have also more lightning in Nakhon Phanom than in average during the rainy season. Micro climate.

One crop a year in Issan is the norm as I'm told by by my wife who is from Issan. Sometimes they get lucky and get two. But I did like your idea of a canal off the Mekong... And the Mekong River Commision recently just agreed to insure that the water levels in the downstream areas would be raised. But you would call that a drop in the bucket?

Suggestion: For jailing the terrorists from Suvarnabhumi insurrection ,they should be digging the canal from Mekong. No needs guards, the population will keep an eye on those yellowish, will save money to new government

That might be fair as the Lao (later Isaanites) dug the canals for Bangkok. Here's the thing though. While it seems like a good idea to build canals to the Mekong for water for that area, most Thai agriculture academics say it won't work because of the salt deposits. Local puyai of course favor it because it's a big budget to skim. Maybe research it a little more.

Here's a good starting point:

http://books.google.com/books?id=16W9WQUaq...aan&f=false

[

Frickin' hilarious! A coward in hiding and stroking the flames of unrest, while continually claiming the courts are biased and are basically worthless. Yet, he has no problem wanting to use that which he now despises and detests. This "man" is a total nutcase.

Frodo, you offer nothing constructive or substantive. You don't know PM Thaksin yet you call him a "coward" and a "total nutcase". How is that helpful in a constructive dialogue? Who are you? What have you done with your life that redeems you and compels you to disparage PM Thaksin?

I think its more what Thaksin has done Have you seen his recent videos? Nutcase. He tells old men, women and children to come to Bangkok, sleep in the streets and put their lives at risk, all so he can come back and get his money and run a republic, while he and his family live the life of luxury hiding out. Coward.

Does he tell them he's going to shoot the occasional supporter in the back of their skull for "the cause"?

Just when things started to look better, eight more US Banks failed this week-

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

they weren't looking better if you were looking ahead....

Great comments on GS everyone

- I'd say that Lanna could be spot on with this but just supposing this lets the genie out of the bottle and apathetic middle America finally gets a tiny bit annoyed about having the micky taken all the time by Wall St ?? Maybe not....

Yeah, well there are some things that work all the time, its just that they don't happen very often. A 98% weekly stochastic on the $SPX is gonna pay off for short sellers and it did the very next day. Likewise a 35% Bull/Bear spread on the AAII Investors sentiment poll. Didn't quite get there on the latter one, so only 1/2 position. Funny these announcements only come in extremely overbought conditions.

supernova....

i am very sorry that i have to massively disagree with you in ref to pm apisit....

the current pm, apisit, is not a failure at all.... as you attibuted him to be....

on the contrary, he is a complete gentleman, thoroughly.... inside and outside....

perhaps, because of his gentleness and full of compassion and mercy toward others.... even the opposing redshirts themselves....

he was willing to settle the issues with the 3 redshirt core leaders on a conference table.... which was televised nationwide, not once but twice....

he even was willing to do it for the third time.... but the redshirt leaders were the one who refused his gracious gesture....

the current pm is morally upright, smart, gentle, fair and full of compassion for all.... whether they are southerners, northerners, westerners, easterners or bangkokians themselves....

in my estimation, and i totally agreed with asiacheese.... he is several notches above..... the convicted escapee tuksin, somchai and samark....

and i'll be saying the same thing as i stated above to the ex pm--mr chuan.... tomorrow morning, sunday the 18th....

I understand your point of view and even agree with a lot of it, but I wasn't questioning his abilities or moral values. I'm sure Abhisit is a nice guy, but that's beside the point. My point is he's been heavily influenced by a group of individuals who, I may add, are ruthless in their own right. These aristocrats will do anything to crush the opposition and maintain the status quo.

As a result, it has destroyed him (Abhisit) and is tearing the country apart. The sad thing is, there's nothing Abhisit can do about it, but walk the path that has already been laid out for him.

I think you'll find, when and if a true record of this chapter of Thai history is written, that Abhisit will have spent more of his time fighting "elites" on behalf of the poor, than he will have been fighting the poor on behalf of elites. The reason he is embattled right now is he is fighting those elitist elements, not because he is fighting "Red Shirts".

It's called a precedent and it was set when the yellows besieged Government House and the Airport without punishment to date.

Precedents shouldn't be used as excuses for commiting the same act, especially when you claim to be fighting against the precedent.

Hmmm, you know, that makes sense.

"Arrest attempt against UDD leaders at SC Park Hotel on Friday was not considered failure: Metropolitan Police Bureau "

What? I'm baffled as to what would be classified as a failure then. If you don't know what success is how can you expect to achieve it?

If the goal was to show that the Red Shirt leaders are enjoying a diffent level of "sacrifice than the followers, then you could call the raid successful. If the goal was to show the Red Shirts deep ties to Thaksin Shinawatra and how he's emplying his "assets", then I guess you could call the raid successful. If the goal was to show the PTP's deep afilliation with both Thaksin and the UDD leadership, than I guess you could call the raid successful. If the goal was to show that the Police Dept is in collusion with Thaksin, the UDD and the PTP, well then I guess you'd have to call the raid successful. If the goal was to remove the ineffectual Suthep, then I guess you'd have to call the raid succesful. For my part, I can't believe anyone with two brain cells to rub together didn't already know all that, so it reeks of failure to me.

Jerry, Thai labor is already overpriced internationally relative to what they offer and the cheapness of the competition. If it gets much more expensive, more international firms will just skidoo. Nothing personal, just business. A red "peoples" revolution will not translate into low skill factory workers making 500 baht an hour, that you can bank on mate.

you do not want to understand... instead to buy Strategic balloons, GT 200, submarines (when the sea depth is ridiculous for their utilisation) and to make grandiose hyper highways.... in Bangkok....

Just revise the Budget , implementing a correct infrastructure (Railways), decentralising some industries, supporting the income of farmers until the rationalisation of agriculture is done.

(Europe and USA ARE subsidising their farmers, why you, Farangs, you are opposed to the same thing in Thailand?)

It's a shame no one wants to give Abhisit time to implement those kinds of policies which are among his intentions. Instead, these rallies try to obfuscate his national agenda and paint him as the architect of the people's suffering. Who stands to gain from that aside from upcountry puyai? Those who have crippled the minds of these people and put shackles on their lives are the same people who pay their busfare to Bangkok and their per diem. It's a bloody shame.

Here's a quote from an article in Reuters regarding recent debt relief for farmers.

"Under the scheme, debts owed by farmers will be halved. They will also get 15 years to pay off the remaining 50 percent of their original debt, said Vichit Chantachaeng, an acting director of the state Farmers' Reconstuction and Development Fund.

The plan affects about 510,000 debtors who owed a total of about 80 billion baht ($2.5 billion) in non-performing loans."

Makes you wonder who's holding that paper that just took a 50% haircut. Farmers generally borrow locally, and not at attractive terms either. I think the local puyai just hate the fact this government wants to help the farmer get their necks out from under the local chao por's boot.

Jerry, Thai labor is already overpriced internationally relative to what they offer and the cheapness of the competition. If it gets much more expensive, more international firms will just skidoo. Nothing personal, just business. A red "peoples" revolution will not translate into low skill factory workers making 500 baht an hour, that you can bank on mate.

you do not want to understand... instead to buy Strategic balloons, GT 200, submarines (when the sea depth is ridiculous for their utilisation) and to make grandiose hyper highways.... in Bangkok....

Just revise the Budget , implementing a correct infrastructure (Railways), decentralising some industries, supporting the income of farmers until the rationalisation of agriculture is done.

(Europe and USA ARE subsidising their farmers, why you, Farangs, you are opposed to the same thing in Thailand?)

It's a shame no one wants to give Abhisit time to implement those kinds of policies which are among his intentions. Instead, these rallies try to obfuscate his national agenda and paint him as the architect of the people's suffering. Who stands to gain from that aside from upcountry puyai? Those who have crippled the minds of these people and put shackles on their lives are the same people who pay their busfare to Bangkok and their per diem. It's a bloody shame.

STILL the same same story behind the current event.

There are LOTs of crocodiles in Thailand to go around. Some BIGGER than others. The news for the next 100 years? Just look at the last 80! These guys can do the time, others can do the crime.

Until someone comes up with a Plan for draining the swamp that includes all of the factors and elements of The Joseph Solution, today's news will be tommorow's news for anon.

When all of the pigs see that the trough is getting smaller from all of the damage to the economy, the dons might call a truce and divide up the corruption amongst themselves. Gang land treaty!

Maybe they can use the movie "The Godfather" as template for their criminal control. I'm talking reds AND yellows! and others!

Unless you're prepared to post a link describing your "Joseph Solution", you might as well substitute the words "green eggs and ham".

FRAUD!!!

It is about time isn't it

Goldman Sachs charged with fraud by SEC

what will the result look like?

Here's my guess. Later evidence will suggest that a former Goldman employee working at the SEC colluded wih Goldman to bring these charges. Goldman traders will have got the word to "get long volatility" and buy ST out of the money Goldman puts. Goldman has another record quarter leading to record bonus disbursements.

I must say that today's episode of the red-shirt soap opera about the non-arrest of red-shirt leaders was beautifully scripted, directed and performed. I would have improved only one thing: I would have made Arisman climb down the rope, not just get him lowered down with somebody at the top feeding out the rope. Also, I would have included a scene with the red-shirt leaders showing their appreciation to the "kidnapped" high-ranking officers of the uniformed team for their rescue from the claws of the covert team of policemen, for example a wai or a pat on the back or envelopes changing hands.

It would have been funnier if the clown Arisman had split his pants or something as he clambered over the balcony. Now that's comedy!

I wouldn't care if they closed down ALL Thai TV. Being fed a load of codswallop about rich, spoilt, hi-so's who all drive Mercedes, change into fresh clothes every ten minutes, offer violence to women, live in big posh houses and incessantly quarrel must have a deleterious effect. Maybe banning all soaps until the invaders go home would be beneficial?

Banning all soaps is the best act any Thai government could do.

And shoot all the producers in the public square, so they can't start up again.

This genre has done more damage to Thai minds

than all the demagogues that ever spoke on stage genre.

People ooften castigate the poor as being "uneducated" which to my way of thinkng may in many case be true, but not very relevant. The poor certainly have as much intelligence and wisdom as any other class of Thai society that I have seen. What almost all Thais suffer from, and perhaps the poor more s,o is what Pira Sudham referred to as a "crippled mind". Their institutions have let them down badly, perhaps by design. Their sangha, far from freeing their minds has filled it with superstion, magic and bogey men that keeps then dependant on animabuddhabhramashamanistic monks to live their shackleed lives. Thai culture, often delivered through the education system lets everyone know where their place in society is and gives comfort in knowing many are lower than themselves. When you see two Thai strangers meet, it is not inlike the meeting of two strange dogs. They sniff around each others ass till a hierarchy is established.

The irony is, that it was THIS administration and THIS administration only that was about to move Thailand and Thai society forward through a total outside revamping of the education system, welfare ste taxation and dispersement schemes, land reform, and a move towards discussions of the role of the monarchy in Thai society. We know the latter initiative comes with the highest endorsement. We wonder who thinks they stand to lose with all the other reforms in the hopper and why the urgency now?

I agree, drunk and boistrus farangs are the worst influence ever on Songkran, which is a festival I look forward to every year. That said, I'd say nearly all groups I encountered this year have upped their game to a more aggressive level. Maybe it has something to do with the undercurrent of emotions running throughout the country, don't know.