heybruce

Right. Biden could have saved China and the US a lot of trouble by revealing classified the way Trump did.

The Democratic Party, the party that took Covid seriously, encouraged its voters to vote by mail and be careful when filling out the ballots. The Republican Party, led by Trump, told voters to go to the polls on election day. The results were predictable and predicted. How is that evidence of election fraud?

Russia?

Any campaigning against the military's constitution was forbidden and effectively prevented.I already refuted that claim using a credible source. Prove me wrong, using a credible source. The "Nord and Nordeast"? What? Do you mean the north and northeast, where the majority of the population lives? The regions that would and should have been decisive in the election? Careful about using the d-word. The post-coup censorship rules still apply. However Prayuth held onto power as long as he could, and if he finds a way to stay in power he will.

No, the military did not go back to democracy. It stacked the deck in its favor in both the constitution and the election, as has been explained to you. There was nothing evil about the Yingluck government, certainly not by Thai standards. It was incompetent, a problem that could and should have been dealt with through elections. Have you forgotten how much support Yingluck had lost by 2013? An election might have ended the Shinawatra's influence democratically, as it should have been done. But it would not have resulted in a government the elite's wanted, so the military didn't allow it. Whether Prayuth was "evil" is irrelevant, but I consider him to be thin-skinned, petty, and evil though constrained by timidity. Have you forgotten the censorship? The rule by decree (Article 44)? Have you forgotten that being seen in public holding the book "1984" was banned, along with the Hunger Games three finger salute, assemblies of more than five people, and eating a sandwich in public "for political purposes"? Have you forgotten how Prayuth promised to clean up the RTP and insisted that the military had nothing to do with the massive people smuggling going on in the south? Then the RTP produced the goods showing LtGen Manos was in the smuggling neck deep. In other words, the RTP showed that it could and would bring the military down with it if there were a serious attempt to clean it up. Prayuth backed off on his promises to clean up the RTP immediately after. However it wouldn't matter if Prayuth had been fantastically clean and competent. The Thai people want and deserve the right to choose their own leaders. Prayuth and company denied them that.

A good, accurate summary of events.

That's why I didn't click on the link. Just knowing it's from FB discredits it, and I refuse to feed FB's rabbit-hole algorithm.

Your news source is Facebook? Wow! That explains a lot.

Really? Please do share with us these news sources that allow you to live in a reality very different from the rest of us. Why don't you support your posts with references to these sources?

Biden won't be President much longer? Another QAnon promise/prediction? How many times does QAnon have to be wrong before people realize it is a nonsensical scam?

The truth is that Trump lost, regardless of what QAnon tells you. You are free to present credible evidence to the contrary, but nobody expects that to happen.

Your examples are both of revolutions against monarchy and are both over 200 years old. Is that the best you've got? Do you have any examples of "good" revolutions that replace a democracy with an autocracy? Regarding the protests, they were coordinated with the military in order to justify a coup: "In his remarks, Suthep made it clear that as leader of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee, he closely cooperated with the coup leaders well before they launched their May 22 putsch. "Before martial law was declared, Gen Prayuth told me 'Khun Suthep and your masses of PDRC supporters are too exhausted. It's now the duty of the army to take over the task,' " Suthep was quoted by the Post as saying." https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/06/23/324905416/thai-protest-leader-says-he-advised-army-chief-prior-to-coup What was left of Suthep's protests at the time of the coup were a fraction of its earlier size and was no longer seriously impeding affairs: "On the evening of 28 February, Suthep announced the closure of the rally sites at Prathum Wan, Ratchaprasong, Silom, and Asoke on 2 March 2014, and apologised to those people inconvenienced by the Bangkok occupation. The PDRC relocated to Lumphini Park, marking the end of the "Bangkok Shutdown", where the PDRC rally stage was established." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013–2014_Thai_political_crisis It's worth remembering that Suthep was the Deputy PM who ordered the bloody crackdown on the 2010 protests demanding an election. Suthep's 2013/2014 protest prevented elections, and no crackdown was ordered. I take it you are ok with bloody repression of pro-democracy protests, but think pro-autocracy protests are legitimate and a good thing. BTW: Try defending your post with credible references. Your recollection of events is not great.

Thailand. I was in Thailand during all that. The military made a big deal about inviting inputs but wrote the constitution that suited the military and you-know-who. Prayuth was asked on TV? The same Prayuth that promised there would be no coup? I don't recall any commitment to return to the previous constitution, also written at the military's direction, however I double-checked to make sure: "Last August they tried again. This time they made sure their amended draft would pass, by imposing a strict ban on any campaigning, so the public understood very little about it, and by warning that the only alternative was extended military rule." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39499485 Also, this "approved" constitution was amended in unknown ways almost immediately to accommodate---you know. Unfortunately that can not be discussed here. Yes, the US Constitution written by delegates appointed under the elected government operating under the Articles of Confederation, and then was approved by referendum in all 13 states. The constitution has been in use for over 200 years, without any coups to change it.

Yes, technically he's a criminal. No doubt he hopes to become a pardoned criminal, just like the traitors who stage coups and pardon themselves. Do you have any opinions on them? Hitler and his Nazi party never won a majority. The Nazis formed a coalition with German conservatives in order to eliminate the communists, then solidified their power and eliminated both the conservatives and future elections. Lukashenko wasn't elected, he obviously faked the election results. Erdogan was elected, and may be kicked out of office in the next election in a few months. That's how democracy works, the people get to remove unpopular leaders, not the military. I don't care if Thaksin returns to Thailand. I don't care if another Shinawatra ever gets elected again. I care that Thailand has been denied democracy for far too long, and that so many on this forum are ok with that.

For those who may not know: RichardColeman is a fact-free poster. He never provides sources for his claims because he can't. He just paraphrases the idiotic things the talking heads on television tell him.

The truth has come out many times, supported by overwhelming evidence: Trump lost! You look really foolish when you deny such an obvious truth.

Try reading the news. That lets you go back and support your claims with referenced quotes.

Good reasons to vote Yingluck out in an election. That might have happened if people had been given the chance.

Really? Are you that blind? The military wrote the constitution, did not allow any discussion of alternatives or criticism of their constitution, presented it to the people with the choice of voting for the constitution or never voting again, modified the "approved" constitution to accommodate he-who-must-not-be-named, then had to fiddle with the rules to keep Prayuth in power after the election. The result was not democracy, it was a continuation of the coup.

Perfect candidates were not available. The people considered the options and voted for the person who would use government resources to help the underprivileged majority instead of the privileged majority.

"they were legally ousted from power.....as the winner writes the book of history and in this case they wrote that into the constitution." If you think that's acceptable there is no hope for you. "But beside that: Thailand was on the brink of a civil war.." No, it was not. The protests were dying of apathy.

Really? You don't see any difference between the Myanmar generals rejecting an election, seizing power and waging war on the people of Myanmar, and the Philippines accepting election results?

You hope Thailand stays under military rule forever. You've made that clear.

You think agricultural schemes that benefit farmers at taxpayer expense invalidate democracy? By that standard, how many democracies are there?

Of course you present no evidence to support any of your claims. All we know for sure is that there is no democracy under military rule.