allan michaud

I couldn't say I've ever seen a true monk dress in such a shoddy way as to reveal his gut......... until I saw the above photo.

Phra Issara, or whatever he likes to name himself, is in no way a true monk. I am confused as to who this man actually is, and what his real function is there.

Something very weird about this guy, despite his attempts to negotiate for what seems some kind of equilibrium against violence.

Or is somebody going to tell me that's his hand??

Seriously? It's his forearm. Bored today were you?

8000 Baht, pay peanuts you get monkeys. Ask your wives/gfs what your local hit man works for.

I know life is sometimes cheap here but 8k!!! Barely enough for expenses unless this was a 'labour of love'.

Talking a policeman a while ago he let on that it was possible to hire a hitman for 5k. This is in Kanchanaburi.

I can't help feeling that this wasn't political as surely any self respecting Thai politician would have gone for a better class of gunman? Surely someone desperate enough to kill for 8,000 baht probably has either serious mental problems or is a yaba head and therefore not to be trusted.

I don't get it.

Why would a thai company ever win this deal. They will for sure outsource the production to China, so why not cut out the middleman and ask for bids solely from Chinese producers?

They tried that and look what happened.

More made up figures, will we ever know the truth?

"There are 14 million tonnes of rice in the state's inventory." and yesterday it was 18mill, last week it was 10mill.

Not so fast!

This party just very recently came into being. Let's wait and see, what it stands for and what they will be fightign for,- if any.

And of course a bottom-up created outfit is better than a top-down party a la Taksin's PTP el al.

It's also possible, that this party will be sucked up by PTP if it gains any influence. As mentioned here, even much bigger ones were brought "into the fold". And most parties here are like a business: They serve the boss and the boss only. If in doubt, ask Newin.

Hopefully they will stay true to their word and not side with any of the existing crooks, sorry, politicians. Sadly they have a small chance of survival as the powers on both sides do not want such a party to develop. I hope they get this going as it is what Thailand needs.

This may provide funds for the farmers

A few hundred maybe. Nowhere near the B130 BILLION they need.

You'll really love him when he gets back in power.

Just like the old days of the FBA... Which was him!!! Devekula really really hates foreigners, esp. the ones who live here.

Careful what you wish for guys. http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/02/10/headlines/headlines_30026486.php

Maybe you'll love him more after you've left the country due to their anti foreigner sentiments.

Rubish, i have known him for more than 30 years and worked with him a long time ago and he was always polite and kind.

I have met numerous political figures in my job (cameraman/filmmaker) and the vast majority are very polite, that does not mean they are nice or kind people. Actions speak louder than words. I don't know what Devekula's real opinion of foreigners is so I do not comment on that, but unless he is a close personal friend I suggest you cannot be certain what his personal beliefs are. As a personal rule of thumb I never trust ANY politician ANYWHERE.

Under no circumstance imaginable does the Yingluck administration have the authority to " guarantee " to compensate the mill owners. This is yet another of the game of chairs that Pheu Thai has come up with. But they all come down to one key fact - the administration has no money, and no authority to delegate it - now, or in the future.

Yes and No. The govt of Thailand made a deal with the farmers and agreed to pay them, at some point either this PTP govt or the next administration WILL have to pay up. They have no choice or they are breaking the law, very simple.

However this latest desperate suggestion is just hilarious. Absolutely no way the millers are going to go for this, unless they are insane. Apart from anything else this calls for the farmers to pay the millers back and I think an awful lot of farmers are going to struggle to do that with so many already turning to loan sharks.

The Foreign Trade Department said it would on Wednesday open bidding for 100,360.74 tonnes of white rice for export and 367,261.87 tonnes of rice for the domestic market.

Sorry, the foreign trade department is selling rice on the domestic market?

To mitigate the financial burden on farmers, who have suffered from the delay in payment, the Commerce Ministry encouraged rice millers to volunteer for a project to help provide farmers with loans. Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach said this project was not finalised. The rough idea was that the government would redress all interest on farmers who borrow from the millers, but cap the rate at 9 per cent. The farmers can borrow from millers up to 50 per cent of the value of the paddy they had pledged and use the pledge receipts as collateral.

Hysterical, so the millers, out of the goodness of their hearts are going to volunteer to bail out the farmers. Not if they have any sense.

She insisted on continuing the rice-pledging project as this could help improve farmers' lives and reduce inequality in society.

How about YL and her brother start by giving away some of their billions. It’s like the UK (and the US) where we have millionaire politicians telling us how dreadful financial inequality is in society.

Winai Lamnoo, a leader of the group, said farmers have been waiting for eight months for the overdue payments.

8 months??? So it’s not just the latest crop that has not been paid for.

Why dont the reportera counter her commenta with the facts that this money went unpaid 6 months before house was dissolved. So their explanation is an excuse to place blame elsewhere.

If these important questions were asked then YL could not hide behind the lies. I think the SOE with its censoring of news making it easy for YL to keep the public thinking it is every one elses fault except hers

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Sorry but 6 months is a gross exaggeration. These rice purchases took place in October (just over 4 months ago) and the House was dissolved a few weeks later. It is still their fault as they knew before October that they were expecting to buy from the farmers so they have no excuse for not having the money in place. But exaggerated claims like this are just silly. I understand they tried to issue bonds to get half the money in November but that was heavily under subscribed and only gave them 50billion to pay to the farmers. As for Thai journos questioning ANYTHING, well, TIT. These people are either too scared to ask probing questions or too stupid to know bull$#!% when they hear it. Clearly none of the journos knows how to use a calculator as the figures routinely given out by govt officials are clearly incorrect. i.e Mr White lies stating recently that they bought 50million tons of rice for 701billion Baht. A very quick calculation would have shown that this meant the average price paid was only 14,000 per ton, when in fact it clearly must be well over 750billion just for 50 tons of White rice. If they bought some Hom Mali at 20,000 per ton then the figure should be much higher, in all probability over 800billion. And why do these idiot journos not ask about the costs they are incurring for storage (2 baht per sack per month), admin etc.

Clearly we do not have reliable figures to work with but, if as was suggested by the rice millers, the govt has 18million tons in storage (at 2baht per 50kg bag per month) that's Baht 8,640,000,000 per year just for storage.

Yada Yada Yada. They will do NOTHING as usual.

Let's face it the country would be much better off if they launched Khun Thaksin, Suthep etc into space. Now that would be a worthwhile investment IMO.

Tomorrow's headline:-

"800m compensation from failed One Tablet project to be used to pay rice farmers".

Problem solved!

That compensation will probably take years, if it ever arrives and 800million is a drop in the ocean compared to the 130billion they owe the farmers.

Very soon now he will be detained for many years without trial or bail for missing his date with the judges.

So you are advocating an unlawful imrisonment? To be held 'for many years without trial or bail' sounds very North Korea like to me... certainly in violation of Human Rights, but then again, thats not something the Shinawatra's shy away from

To be held 'for many years without trial or bail' sounds very Guantanamo Bay to me USA! USA! USA!

More bullshit numbers being spewed.

Two days ago they were going to auction 500,000 tons, yesterday it was 1 million, today it's 400,000.

A couple of weeks ago they only had 10 million tons of the 2011-2013 seasons rice remaining, having bought 50mill, today the indications are it's actually 20million.

Various PTP cronies have told us they paid 701billion so far for 50mill tons, excluding the latest season. But that is clearly rubbish as that gives an average price of 14,000 per tone when it should be over 16,000 average price for the mix of white rice and Hom Mali.

They have also stated on several occasions they have only made back 180billion from sales. So either they sold 30mill tons at Baht 6,000 per ton or 40mill tons at Baht 4,500 per ton. Either way, the prices they appear to be selling at are shockingly low as they should be getting a minimum of Baht 9,000 per ton.

The government has been trying to pay the farmers for weeks. The Constitutional Court and the EC have blocked every move the government has made to solve this. The Elite of Bangkok are using theses poor people as pawns.

How do you explain my father in law and the guy who owns the paddy next to our house waiting for payment since October?

Well put.

Not even the rice farmers are blaming the EC, the banks, the protesters or the PDRC over this non payment..... they are blaming the government and these are simple folk, but obviously have more between the ears than the Thaksin loving farangs on here.

The govt tried to issue a bond for 10's of billions in Nov and it was apparently only 75% filled. They knew what their obligations were before October and should have had the funds in place already. They have no excuse for the situation they are in, PTP are 100% to blame. However.

Right now I see it as the EC/Suthep and Co are just trying to exacerbate the situation to ensure PTP will lose popularity. I feel very strongly that the farmers should be paid NOW, by whatever means necessary. The fact is the govt of Thailand entered into an agreement with the farmers and even if the PTP are thrown out or there is a coup, the next legal govt, no matter who it is, will still have to pay up.

Destroying 10's of thousands of peoples lives (possibly millions if this drags on much longer) out of what looks like petty revenge to me, is simply not acceptable.

Who will pay the bill for these heinous crimes?

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I don't think anybody is blaming Thaksin for this utter horlicks his rice scam has been. He was not to know that Cambodia,Burma,Vietnam,India, and other rice producing nations would not also with-hold their entire countries production to help out his Phua Thai in their scam. Even if other countries had helped he would still have had to stop potato farmers worldwide to cease production as well as pasta and noodle manufacturers, to stop a substitute for rice being available. In fact, anybody that earned a fortune form insider knowledge and corrupt activities should be excused for having no knowledge whatsoever about supply/demand and economic principles. It is not Thaksin's fault, any other criminal could have made the same mistake.

I also seem to remember him mentioning something about his fortune teller predicting another major environmental event like 2008, when global food prices went up. He said that he expected such an event to happen and that Thailand would be able to make a killing by selling to desperate countries (I am paraphrasing). But he failed to think that everyone one else would also stockpile too.

The man is a complete moron.

While I feel he was stupid for doing it as everyone was warned, the fact remains numerous farangs joined the 2010 protests and even spoke on various stages. I don't remember them all being deported.

That's either a small croc or a very very large tree trunk.

Not up there with 'sweetheart' caught in the Northern Territory of Australia.

If wild (highly unlikely imo) it should be a freshwater croc, so if they are right about it's age it's probably at most 2m, however if it's a released one from a croc farm it's probably a hybrid, freshie/saltie as they have the best skins for selling and could be a tad bigger. As wild siamese crocs are like the proverbial rocking horse poo, I have to assume it's been planted there by someone. It won't be living in the forest either, it will be at a water source like an ox bow lake. Having watched and filmed several in the wild I know how nervous they are, so if they are taking tourists down to see them, as some TV posters are suggesting, I am utterly convinced its a farmed croc.

Chalerm is doing all right....did he accumulate this money from when he was a policeman?

What money? He owes 110 million, according to the report.

Symeoud go back and read it again please, Chalerm has no debt and 170million in assets. USD 5,000,000 savings seems pretty damn good for a policeman!

Bt10 bn for 1 million tonnes

Still about Bt 3k per tonne more than the market price.

Yeah, selling 1mil tonnes at 10,000 baht per tonne doesn't make 10 billion if you pledged to pay the farmers 15,000 per tonne. You would have lost 5 billion not made 10.

But it does generate some desperately-needed cashflow, to pass to the BAAC, to use to help repay the governments debt to the anxious farmers.

The sales were always going to be loss-making, under this scheme, but the current default is more of a cashflow-problem, where loans & budget-for-losses have been insufficient to generate the funds to honour the government's immediate-debts.

Only yesterday this guy was quoted as saying they were selling 500,000 tons for 10 billion!

" illegally crossed the border to find jobs and cut down trees in Thailand." illegally being the key word.

So it's fine to kill people for this. <deleted>. The Thais have slaughtered dozens of Khmer's over the past 2-3 years, while I do not sympathise with the loggers that does not give the Thai's the right to shoot on sight. Having seen first hand the abuse of ordinary Khmer's by the military and the border guards when legally coming through the Trat border crossing, I have no doubt the Thai's are just doing this for fun. They very clearly take great pleasure in being able to hit the poor Khmer day workers, make them sit for hours in the sun or just hurl abuse at them or spit on them. It is sickening to witness.

The first is to demand for rice payment, and the second is to oust the caretaker prime minister, he added.

One way to oust the caretaker prime minister is not to vote for her. But what do you do? Most of the rice farmers continue to vote for her.

Memo for rice farmers: your threat is empty when you continue to vote this way....but you know this already.

I think the majority of the unpaid farmers have not voted or cast a 'no vote'. The only rice farmers who would have voted for PTP this time are the ones who are already paid, and we all know what areas were paid first.

Strange how the vote has followed the same route as the money.

Wonder how they will feel when they realise that their little earner is now collapsed and this time next year will be in the same boat as those on their way to BKK today.

Sorry but I have to pick some holes in this. I can assure you 'we' do not all know who has already been paid. However is doesn't seem to have been done by Province, as all the reports over the past few weeks clearly indicated that some farmers in every province had received some money. So it's not a regional thing as you seem to suggest. However I would not be surprised if leading Red Shirt supporters were the ones who got paid.

Also when you say the vote followed the money, please elaborate, because as far as I am aware no results have been released.

... "pressure by anti-government protesters, he said."...

Yup, the protesters are to blame for the lack of money to pay the farmers. Who else?

Including the 130 BILLION that is needed to pay the farmers for the rice they already sold in total the loss after two years of rice scam is 700 BILLION BAHT.

And then all will be alright if Thai voters allow the bad guy in Dubai and his puppet regime to borrow TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED BILLION BAHT extra. Or a lot more as unforseen costs. Becauseeeeeeeeeeee with that high speed train to China heavens will open and all will end well.

So far the loss is 700 -130 billion = 570 billion. Please, please, pleaseeeeeeeeee send people to prison for that scam. Else there will be no end to large scale theft in Thailand. And here's a secret: It really are not Suthep and co that cost the country hundreds of billions.

Oh yes. Don't forget to revoke the passport of the big bad guy. And do ask Interpol to pick him up and send him home. After all, Thailand is where he wants to be. Thailand is what he is messing with. Thailand is whom he'll have to pay. Save Thailand from bankrupcy.

Mr White lies gave us figuers of 50mill tons bought for 701billion baht over the first 3 years of the scam, this did not include the latest batch of 10million tons which is going to cost something like 180billion, of which they have already paid 50billion. Clearly 50mill tons must have cost more than that as they would have been paying an average price of only 14,000 baht per ton, when the white rice is supposed to be 15,00 and Hom Mali at 20,000 at ton. The real figure must be closer to 830billion and that is without the added costs for admin and storage. To make matters worse he stated they only had 10million tons left to sell, having only made 180billion back in sales. If they only have 10mill tons left and that is sold at a similar price, for about 45billion, they will have lost in excess of 600billion baht in just 3 years. If we then assume this latest crop (10mill tons) is paid for and then sold at the same rates, that will add an additional loss of around 140billion. We are talking total loss in 3.5 years of a whopping Baht740billion or USD22billion at current exchange rates (excluding admin and storage cost). What is shocking is that the govt seems to have sold the rice at an average of just 4,500 baht per ton.