Insight

Found it interesting when speaking to my brother the other day how he referred to the lovely, innocent red shirt protesters as "rioters" when asking if Bangkok was now safe to visit. Given he only has a rudimentary understanding of what's happening in Thailand, it seems as if Amsterdam needs to raise his PR game a few notches.

That besides, if the gameplan here is to lay some (baseless) charges against Abhisit for his role in clearing out a militant force conducting an armed siege of the Bangkok downtown business district - a task most military forces would be drafted into a few days after the siege was underway - in the hope that an amnesty can then be used to drop charges against both him and Thaksin, I personally highly doubt Abhisit would accept such an amnesty.

Given the blatantly trumped-up nature of whatever charges that will be thrown against him, it would give Abhisit the opportunity to play a *real* Nelson Mandela/Aung San Suu Kyi role, further highlighting the flaws of the square headed coward that fled to Dubai and sponsored a war within his own country.

The size of the backfire should Chalerm attempt to proceed with this trumped-up-charge followed by amnesty will dwarf the botched pardon attempt. Mark my words.

They promised a minimum wage.

They said nothing about the existence of jobs (or complete lack thereof) to receive it

What a thoroughly odious cove this Thaksin character appears to be.

He's a saint, compared against some of his less-misguided cheerleaders.

Meanwhile, today, from brother number two:

Deputy PM Chalerm goes forward with amnesty bill' date=' no need for referendum, confident Pracha can debate on it, asks Opp dont pull in 3rd hand[/quote']

Typical Thaksin doublespeak; say he's got no interest in returning on one hand, start pushing for a very divisive bill which will undoubtedly benefit him while causing chaos in the country on the other.

Don't worry - Arisman will be there on there on the front line if a few months (or weeks) time

According to the Bangkok Post Chalerm is saying that he won't be back before the New Year, but they'll find another way to bring him back next year.

Seems like they're going to use the consequences of the military-led attempt to take back the RED SHIRT ARMED OCCUPATION OF THE BANGKOK CPD as a bargaining chip.

This is all getting pretty ridiculous now.

True, it's been ridiculous for years, but these are not the actions of a government that has any form of long-term stability or reconciliation in mind.

Sad.

The handling of the flood along with the timing of these pardon shenanigans have provided the enemies of Phua Thai & Thaksin with plenty of ammunition. This is on top of the disappointment with various unions about the delays in the minimum wage policy.

I really can't see this letter helping them at all. As others have pointed out, it might appease their current fan base, but will hardly win over others.

I am guessing that PAD could not raise a significant number of people to attend anyway as there are more pressing things on the minds of the citizens of Bangkok at the moment.

PAD is just exercising the not-to-well understood concept here of "principles"...

I do know a number of people that did want to go along to the PAD rally and others. It would of been interesting for them to go ahead just to see the numbers, but canceling them is the right move.

However, owing to the behaviour of self-serving, inept clowns over the past few months who bribed their way into power, am sure another opportunity for an anti-govt gathering will prevail sooner or later. The number of disappointments through broken election promises and poor management are only set to increase further.

Without a doubt this protest move will have been preempted by the Thaksin's red mob. It's how they choose to deal with it which should really concern people, far more than any action the yellow's choose to take themselves.

Here it is. Comments at the bottom are interesting.

Doesn't really matter what conspiracies you believe.

Judging by this performance, she's going to need all the support she can get.

(edit - first sentence not a reference to FOODLOVER )

Cabinet Secretary-General Ampon Kitti-ampon was supposed to keep it all confidential about the amnesty royal decree draft raised in the "secret session" of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. And he did a great job at answering all the questions from reporters without revealing anything.

Q: Was the amnesty decree draft discussed in the secret Cabinet meeting?

Ampon: I don't know.

Q: Is it a custom to announce amnesty for prisoners every Dec 5?

Ampon: Probably.

Q: Was it just a discussion or was there an approval of the proposed decree?

Ampon: I don't know.

Q: Will there be a press conference to explain the issue?

Ampon: I don't know.

Q: Shouldn't this matter be made public?

Ampon: I don't know.

Of course' date=' he did know the answers to all the questions. He should probably have said: "I know but I can't talk."

But he insisted he didn't know.

[/quote']

http://suthichaiyoon.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-cabinet-secretary-general-answers.html

"Anger erupts", really, where? Apart from the TV forum, I have not really seen any anger erupting. It may just be me then I guess.

What really amuses me when I read threads like this is that, all the huffing and puffing by TV members is in no way going to change the fact that Taksin will be back.

He is coming back and as many coups you throw into the country, he and his people with take the following democratic election (by lying, paying off the people or whatever excuse that is normally used). Unfortunately do not see an end to this cycle.

Try here:

http://www.facebook.com/events/177436405680294/

Nearly about to hit 100,000 and that's just in 24hrs.

Like I said before, the (overwhelming) majority of these folk are not "rich elite" people on here try to tar them with, just people who have finished school.

And I'll bet the weekend's beer money on it materialising into real crowds sooner rather than later. And I'm sure this is all anticipated by Thaksin's red army

What is noticeable on the street is that there is no strong feeling about this issue. I cant even find it among people who used to attend PAD demos back in the day. People seem to have a lot of other priorities and to be sick of the whole issue from what I see. Mr. Fuller seems to be refering to anger in certain elite, certain bureaucratic, certain media and certain political circles. From what I see most people dont seem to care whether Thaksin comes back or not. I would also say there are more who want him back than dont. However, obviously it is the job of those who want him back to increase their support and it is the job of those who despise him to create anger and resistance. Default of people who dont care is go with letting him back as it ends the whole saga. That reality needs changing by making them worry about impending armageddon

Of course resolving the Thaksin question is necessary for reconcilliation of a majority of people and that will mean compromise. However, compromise means he does return and unfettered of the decided charge. The rest of the charges and whether he will ever again indulge directly in politics are likely to be the areas of negotiation. The alternative: an increasingly unstable divided country with the old guard losing more and more ability to control things as time goes on

It is all rather sad really and in retrospect it seems many would have done nearly everything differently. Its like one of those shakespeare tragedies

Me and you live on completely different streets, clearly. If PT continue you to pursue this amnesty/pardon/whatever resistance from normal people will soon become very visible again, and not just in certain social and print media circles. From what I can see (and have seen all along) is that the majority of people who have been to school see Thaksin for the charlatan that he is, and while these people are arguably the minority in Thailand right now, this is unlikely to last forever.

The time bomb resulting from the general election result that many have been fearing looks like it's in the process of being lit. Even from a politically neutral point of view it's a terrible state of affairs for the country as it's unlikely to see any reasonable stability any time soon.

I personally hope by this time next year I'm observing the situation (or whatever remains of it) from afar.

Wow this is unbelievable. Millions still affected by the flood and now we see where this government's priorities lie. The country can be in shambles but they don't care as long as they can bring their beloved leader back. Shameful!

what's shameful is the man who did more positive things for thailand than anyone in recent history was couped out of office and forced into exile.

EXACTLY!! Finally a voice of reason on here.

Everyone seems to forget how things were ticking along nicely a few years ago. Look where we are now and how things have gone since 2006/2007..!!

You're forgetting how much money has been spent by somebody ensuring things don't go smoothly. Some people done very well out of those red rallies - specifically the leaders.

We expect the shortage of our beer products at major retail outlets will last a month.

The Nation - the Newspaper of the Year Award must only be another incite insightful article such as this away....................Hello anyone? And people use this rag for "facts".............?

Better than reading some of the baseless rhetoric perpetuated on some so-called political blogs authored by the likes of Andrew Spooner....

It makes no sense to let Abhisit, or an previous PMs, off the hook and to lay any blame solely on the current one.

Again, I ask: where are the flood plans of any of the previous PMs?

It is the duty of government to plan for such natural events.

One simply can't plan for or respond to such a situation when it is happening. It needs, well.....a plan.

You seem to have a major vendetta against Abhisit. Take a look at a very recent Bangkok Post breaking news headline as to what leading members in Phua Thai think of Abhisit's recent conduct.

Yeah, it might be a bit of a PR stunt to make PT look a bit more reasonable given this latest huge debacle, but I don't think they would hand out such praise undeservedly.

Truth be told, even if the Shinawatra govt completely blew it with flood recovery, all the high and dry Isarn folk would still vote for them, while all the Bangkok tax payers who got soaked and are disgusted have just enough numbers to re-elect their own governor.

Don't be too sure about that, there is already dissent in the ranks up here. Even the rice farmers of Isaan are getting fed up with empty promises ( and pockets ). And before the last election, it wasn't the Democrats who came up here with fists full of baht to buy votes

Am also hearing lots of rumblings from various areas in Thailand.

However being the cynic I am, I think whatever problems which manifest politically for the government over the next few months will be dealt with - successfully, as always - with several truckloads (or boatloads) of baht.

It really would be utterly fantastic for the voting majority to see the light in choosing somebody with absolutely zero political experience and the sister of somebody who is unable to come back to face the crimes of theft he is clearly unable to defend himself against. But here, for most, immediate-term gains even take precedence over very near-term gains.

Full of the joys of Spring, me.

Yingluck was not elected by a landslide by the Thai electorate, They where elected by the biggest con in the last decade of Thailand history

These are the words of my Thai wife not mine so don't pull the old ex-pat farang routine

What she does say is that this government was not the choice of hers or any of her Thai university friends as they under Thai culture are not allowed to speak again their parents wishes

But she smiles and says soon our time will come

Pheu Thai will be added to the history books with the truth written beside their name.

As much as me (and Mrs Insight) would like the last sentence to happen, unfortunately we're both not that optimistic about it happening anytime soon. Whether it was the propaganda or money being thrown around during the last election, it worked back then and IMO will probably work again.

The one thing this flood is doing is completely reseting any of the negative reputation the red shirts brought on the army last year, through their prolonged armed occupation and propaganda campaign. This reverse of fortunes for the army is being caused, ironically enough, by the red shirts/Phua Thai's own greed and shortsightedness.

PT are sure to feel the love for this.

Will that even cover the costs for a new front door?

Here's a link to a Thai article which states an order from the current Phua Thai government to keep the water in the damns.

Regardless of this, and the decisions previous governments have made before it, there is very little reason for crediting the current government on the way they've handled this crisis. I seriously do wonder if we'd actually be better off completely without them.

On Ch.3 before there were reports of bureaucratic stupidity at FROC which lead to the suffering of her mother and her kids - apparently they refused to deliver the milk she said her kids required.

It's just had a mention on the Bangkok Post website as a Latest News article.

Words fail me. Maybe I should borrow some from FROC.

Did the Bangkok Gov get the much-needed pumps in the end?

"stopped short at throwing rocks at her" haha love it, this is what you deal with on this forum...fantasy and delusions.

... along with online identities recycled on a quarterly basis.

if you're referring to me, then you're barking (or whatever that blue thing in your av does) up the wrong tree mate...

i'm not a double agent internet poster, sorry.

Never said you were.

Seems like you don't dispute the statement in question though.