jope

One who is so puffed-up with himself that he believes that he can rule without the consent of the populace.

Simply repeating untruths over and over again does not turn them into truths. The valid mandate of the current government has been explained in suitably simple terms on many occasions.

However, your description does ring a bell. Someone so puffed up with himself he believed he could rule without the consent of the populace, or at least who believed that it was so obvious he should rule that he perverted all the checks and balances of democratic institutions to ensure he could continue to rule.

Valid?..what makes that mandate valid? Abhisit's government is illegitimate because it came to power under military pressure through a parliamentary vote after disputed court rulings ousted two elected pro-Thaksin governments. At the very least, this is undemocratic and this is indeed unacceptable by not just one or two natives of Thailand, but thousands.

Couldn't agree more!!! This is purely about democracy and democratic rights. I am always surprised how much support and 'understanding' dictators (I still dare to call them so) have.

If I was a Redshirt and I read some of the hate posts by certain individuals here, I'd think very lowly of Farangs in Thailand.

And indeed, the majority of Thais that I know would be shocked at the blind support of many posters on this forum for the intimidation and violence that has been meeted out by the reds over the last month and more. Many Thais beleive Westerners come from civilised countries where people don't lay siege to the heart of the capital, fire grenades at commuters, bomb banks in the middle of the night, lay explosive charges under electricity pylons, poor their own blood on the private residences of politicians that they disagree with, kidnap EC officials, stab soldiers with bamboo poles in order to break into an installation guarded by the security forces...the list is longer, but I hope I've made my point.

I guess that's the price dictators have to pay! Free elections will stop that immediately!!

Right, so, quite aside from your overlooking the fact that 'dictatorship' doesn't apply to a government that is committed to holding elections within the time frame stipulated by the constitution as this one is...

...lets assume we're talking about a real dictatorship - N.Korea, Burma, Mugabe - your view is that firing grenades at commuters is an acceptable way to protest, is it?

Interesting that you emphasize the violence and not the solution (free elections; although I can under respective circumstances as in N.Korea or Birma agree to 'no violence is no solution).

If I was a Redshirt and I read some of the hate posts by certain individuals here, I'd think very lowly of Farangs in Thailand.

And indeed, the majority of Thais that I know would be shocked at the blind support of many posters on this forum for the intimidation and violence that has been meeted out by the reds over the last month and more. Many Thais beleive Westerners come from civilised countries where people don't lay siege to the heart of the capital, fire grenades at commuters, bomb banks in the middle of the night, lay explosive charges under electricity pylons, poor their own blood on the private residences of politicians that they disagree with, kidnap EC officials, stab soldiers with bamboo poles in order to break into an installation guarded by the security forces...the list is longer, but I hope I've made my point.

I guess that's the price dictators have to pay! Free elections will stop that immediately!!

I look forward to the day, when some has the balls, to take the immigration department to the International Court in the Hague,

Good idea, but it would not work. Only UN member states and no individuals can appeal to the International Court in The Hague