GungaDin

It's only for a couple days

The rose-tinted Polyannaism of some of the expats in Thailand is a never-ending source of amusement. Do you seriously believe that this mess will be resolved in a couple of days?

Try going out earlier and coming home and going to bed at 9pm.

Yes, lovely. Exactly how I planned to spend my hard-earned holiday. Not.

OK It was my own injudicious decision to come to this country. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. Made my bed and I'll lie in it till I can get the hel_l out to somewhere which is not in a state of semi-perpetual siege (tomorrow, if Buddha wills it). However, the suggestion that everything in Chiang Mai is fine is absolutely laughable.

Hi Rumpole.

When did you make the decision to leave, before or after the Redshit's invasion of BKK?

Just curious as you've been here longer than most of us.

Here's one for the Pussy.

Shoppers attacked by a Red mob as they try to leave........ Fill in the dots.

Ahh, such brave & peaceful Red Shirts.

There were shoppers at Central World yesterday? You're joking, right?

The army declared the area a "Live Firing Zone". What were they doing "shopping"?

Since Central World was closed for more than a month due to the protests, they were most likely looters. Surely not shoppers.

Ok, I have deleted the ref to CWP.

Now what?

Here's one for the Pussy.

Shoppers attacked by a Red mob as they try to leave Central World Plaza yesterday.

Ahh, such brave & peaceful Red Shirts.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LE13Ae01.html worth reading

Thanks for that link davidcc.

Thai power grows from the barrel of a gun

By William Barnes

Quote:

Fog of war

The government has said it aims to separate ''terrorists'' from the ordinary protesters, while some red shirts have thanked the anonymous black-clad assailants for coming to their defense against state security forces. Therdpoum, a former member of parliament under Thaksin's original Thai Rak Thai party, says there has been obfuscation and propaganda on both sides of the conflict.

"The people who are the real planners, not the people up on stage making protest speeches, these people probably keep a very low profile, but they must calculate that aggression is vital," he said. "Aggression paralyses and divides opponents. This is what we were taught, this is how a smaller force can defeat overwhelming power. The message was: divide and conquer."

Whether the UDD's shadowy armed wing consists of mafia thugs, unemployed irregulars or disaffected regular soldiers, they must be capable of ruthless and focused violence, he said.

Therdpoum, born in humble circumstances in northeastern Thailand, was a hotel union organizer who fled to the communist underground in 1975 to oppose a brutal right wing government. Many hundreds of the country's most energetic students and intellectuals did the same. Most, like Therdpoum, later renounced the ideology.

His five-year odyssey with the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) included a three-month period in Hanoi in the heady period following the unification of Vietnam under communist rule. There, Therdpoum and a handful of hand-picked Thai activists, like prominent student leader Seksan Prasertkun, as well as current UDD leaders Weng Tochirakan and Jaran Dittapichai, were drilled in Maoist revolutionary theory.

The five tactics they learned for unseating a government included: divide your enemies; form a united front; use provocative violence; secure the loyalty of people inside the ruling regime; and, finally, win over the army.

"That is what we have seen. The government people have been quarrelling about what to do. Some senior figures have a divided loyalty. The army and the police cannot move. Provocative violence has been very successful," said Therdpoum, referring to the UDD's campaign to topple Abhisit's government.

"The tactic is to keep saying that you are a peace-loving people. The many factions folded into the united front [uDD] organization are not told what the real strategy is because they might not agree and they might not act their part convincingly," he added.

A generation ago, the eager young communists in Thailand's underground movement, many of whom now play major roles on Thailand's political stage, were told that propaganda should be blunt, simple and repeated incessantly to be effective. The UDD has similarly shunned hard policy debates in favor of simple credos of justice denied and the hypocrisy of elites.

"The red shirt people have been told over and over that greedy people in authority have denied them justice and their fair share. They have been pumped full of toy-town leftism and told to hate every institution that has held this country together. I worry that the bitterness and hatred produced by this propaganda now runs so deep it will cause tension and problems for a long time," Therdpoum said.

"Many of them are now absolutely convinced that Thaksin was the best leader in Thai history, that he was a kind and generous man who holds the solution to all their problems. They don't need a program - they just need a new Thai state with Thaksin in charge. It has become very emotional - as it was designed to be," he added.

More here

Now we're talking. Contrary to corruption charges, a lot of countries have the legal framework to arrest and extradite people wanted on terrorism charges. Thaksin can at least say bye bye to any first-world country for the foreseeable future - and maybe with a bit of luck see the inside of a jail cell very soon.

how can an illegal government be taken serious of charging anyone with any law breaking ..big joke!!! where the judges themselves are corrupt ...appearing white from outside like white sepulcres but inside they are full of deadman bones...

Partially agree, but they are the best of a bad bunch.

Have you got a better bunch?

Giles Ji Ungpakorn just went on my ignore list.

Along with about 10 others now.

=============

Thousands of jobs went up in flames last night and today, & not just in Bangkok,

How are these folk suppose to support themselves & their families???

There is no Dole in Thailand or welfare.

If you are a foreigner, watch your back from now on.

Thailand will never be the same again after yesterday.

Thank you to all the redshit supporters on this forum & elsewhere.

Has there been any mention of bringing in hundreds of parliamentary observers for the next election, whenever that might be?

If not, corruption, intimidation & vote buying will be the norm, yet again.

NO BAIL & NO EXCEPTIONS

Thaksin Mugabe ...... rolls off the tongue quite easily, dunnit?

'Black smoke at asok fire....police inactive

A perfect two-word characterisation of Bangkok's so-called police force ever since I can remember. Never mind constitutional or political reform in the wake of all this, the most important thing this country needs (has needed IMO ever since I first came here in 1995) is the professionalisation of the police force.

They should take lessons from how the London Met' were professionalised in the 1970s and onwards after large scale public outrage at their not dissimilar practices to the Thai police.

Agree 100%, I was in London in the 70's and what a change!

The best cops I ever met were Bobbies, even when I was arrested, they couldn't do enough for me, in fact, they told me they were embarrassed.

It all turned out good in the end and I had a few new friends.

Is it true that you have to have a degree to get into the Met now?

Fewer police and pay them well and you will get the rule of law in Thailand, instead of extortionists & thugs, in brown uniforms.

Gov't now reporting on TV that Red Leader(s?) have fled and have given phone number out to report sightings of them.

What's the phone number?

edit: Found it...... CRES Hot Tip line

Call now ! 02 55 11 51 5

I have no idea why the Oz flag is next to the BKK number

Those who take children into this are worse than the terrorists themselves. Have they no conscience ?

"They" have to have a brain to have a conscience, or at least half of one. Morons.

Thaksin is asking for a refund.

I got screwed around trying to book a flt to UT, in the end, I gave up on the website and booked by phone.

Which Aus bank issues a debit card with such a long life?

I wish my Oz debit card had such a long shelf life GungaDin.

Its my Thai Bank of Ayudhya card that has the crazy exp date.

Had it for at least 5 years already and still 14 to go So maybe a 20 yr card !!!!

Going to the bank today and will try to change it for something a little more realistic.

I wish I could send my PPort with you too,

it would save me $1200.00 Bloody ridiculous! No where to stay except crappy motels at $120.00 a night..... Grrrr.

Rant over..

I got screwed around trying to book a flt to UT, in the end, I gave up on the website and booked by phone.

Which Aus bank issues a debit card with such a long life?

The yellow shirts and especially their leaders committed acts of terrorism, by leading their followers to take over a government building and hold it hostage for nearly a year,

It is nearly a year now that the yellows did these things? Wow. The further away an event is, the further distorted is the truth...

It's where it all started. So it is relevant.

No Pussy, it started with a convicted fraudster, pocketing millions of dollars & the deaths of hundreds of innocents with his so-called 'war on drugs'.

He's a very naughty boy.

Try harder, you are still incompetent & know nothing.

i showed u to be wrong but im the incompetent one?

oh i see, another gungadin post from the pub...

Wrong again, you lose again, so, I guess you're a loser.

I do wish I was in a pub, but the nearest, pleasant bar is 35km away.

Not going to bother checking out your link but I bet it is safe to say it says nothing about a sniper (as you claimed) doing this. But please do us all a favor and get out there on the street and off your keyboard and gather some more first hand info.

Horrible father, decides to run a military checkpoint, which his son in the car, and gets his son shot. Father of the year candidate? Maybe in the Red Camp...

Jeeeezus, not another one.....

Driver drunk, alone, unrelated to woman & boy, who were in the background when troops opened fire on his tires when he refused to stop duh!

10 year old boy was warned many times by soldiers to leave the area & he refused. I hope his parents ***.

Pig.

Do a little research on the circumstances of the boy's death.

It won't hurt you to do a little fact finding, or are you totally incompetent?

Do you know how to use the 'search' button?

you may rest assured that all my comments are researched, often in person. in this case, here is my source:

"a boy approximately 10 years of age took a bullet to the stomach that ruptured his intestines."

http://www.bangkokrecorder.com/translated-...-old-kid-that-g

anything else i can do for you?

Yes.

Try harder, you are still incompetent & know nothing.

Good luck with your future research.

Pssst... the search buttons are at the header and footer of every page.

Each searches in a different way.

OMG, don't let me hear anyone talk about 'government crimes' after seeing this disgusting picture.

What was the parent of this child hoping for in doing this criminally insane act? It only takes one red guard to spot a media sensation in the making.

Those of you still supporting the reds, do you want a country that is led by people who would do something as irresponsible as this? What do you think they will care for you, if this is all they care for their own children?

I pray for whoever with a bit of reason and to go and beat the parents of this kid....And I mean beat the sh*t out of them......

The mentality is no different to the father and 4 family members (children) on a scooter without helmets on a busy, 8 lane highway, is it?

You see it every day in Thailand.

But I also know that 10 year old died because Thaksin wants to teach a lesson to those that threw him out.

actually, that boy, like the pregnant woman, died because a sniper's bullet pierced their abdomens causing massive blood loss.

the rest is just talk.

and im no supporter of thaksin.

Pig.

Do a little research on the circumstances of the boy's death.

It won't hurt you to do a little fact finding, or are you totally incompetent?

Do you know how to use the 'search' button?

bkkjohn

Please learn how to use the quote feature.

Your posts are a "dog's dinner"

Anyone like to take a look and listen (in English) to what this Thai lady has to say about Thaksin

1:13

Well...

Well at least it is from the heart. No fence sitting there.

She had better hope that the red's don't prevail and Thaksin is back though.

Not always good thing to wear your heart on your sleeve like that.

I hope to god it doesn't turn out to be the daughter of someone in the public eye coz if that goes up on stage at the red rally, it might just raise the tension a bit.

A brave lass, I think that she is studying at the Australian School of Diplomacy, Canberra.

CONCISE AND INFORMED. From Today's Independent:

Background to the current Thai protest

[info] earlywarm wrote:

The Independent (London) Saturday, 15 May 2010 at 12:41 am (UTC)

I suspect that much of the confusion in the reports on the situation in

Thailand is coming from commentators who cannot speak or understand the

Thai language. So much of their analysis is simply a list of cliches

copied from others. <snip>

Thanks for posting that.

It looks like the writer got his info from the ANU discussion about 10 days ago........ nothing wrong with that, as few people would have heard it.

I wish I could find the link to the ANU podcast.

i wonder if "londonthai" is the same that idiot bbc interviewed helping the reds yesterday

I know LT, (not well) I'd be very surprised if he did.

What makes you say that?

cheers