WinnieTheKhwai

In order to get the protest dispersed it seems like you would either need to arrest most of them or maim them. Otherwise they'll just pop back up and cause more trouble. My vote is for arresting them, but the police haven't shown the ability to do that yet.

agreed, they should set up the national stadium as a holding place. The leaders either neutralized or taken to unknown places for a couple of days.

So this is instead of democracy? sound to me like it is the south america under right wing generals you wish to have here.

Thaksin getting more press now and call for talks. At last, somebody who can end this crisis!

Thaksin started this crisis with his corrupt and "murderous" regime (Sorry for using Red rhetoric) After this, he must have a death wish if he wants to come back to Thailand.

A deal seems pretty inevitable though. I think it'd be great to see free elections again where Thaksin and Abhisit can lead their respective parties. If Abhisit wins then that's totally fine with me.

A country out of control

A government out of control

All because of an illegal coup in 2006.

Shame on them all, the PAD in 2006, the Army in 2006 and shame on all those who perpetuated the ills of that coup ever since to this day.

And a Thai Visa poster out of control?

Shame on you and your fellow terrorist sympathisers for ignoring the many times that you have been told that it all started with Thaksin trying to set himself up as a dictator by buying votes, killing his rivals in his "war on drugs", stealing money from the taxpayer and changing laws to suit himself. Shame, shame, shame.

Please, no senseless flaming. There's nothing wrong with his opinion, you can make your point without calling him a shameless terrorist sympathizer, that's totally uncalled for.

I respect your opinion too, while mostly disagreeing with it.

> The fan actually blows hotter air on me than in the room? How is that?! Weird!

When the ambient temperature is higher than your body temperature (37 or so), breeze will feel warm, as will surfaces that normally feel cool, including your bed linen, granite surfaces, etc.

Somethings developing.. Looks like it will be brief, but heavy.

Unfortunately it looks like there is "no way out" for Thailand of this political crisis. Either way it will be the yellow or the red shirts taking to the streets, no matter who wins.

it will be over soon, not longer than 2 days from now.

I'm sure the protesters can be dispersed from Rajprasong, but I doubt they will give up. It will simply continue in another part of the city.

I guess it's like with cleaning up anything; you can only clean something up by making something else dirty.

It's a bit puzzling though, it doesn't seem at all like a full assault, and the promised APCs are nowhere to be seen. (Or at least not taking part in cleaning up barricades, etc.) Extended Cowboys & Indians skirmishes it seems. Possibly the main event is at night, with the army just not wanting to go at it during the day, with all the people still around, the BTS running, etc.

If this is true - and lets face it, Arisman wouldn't know the truth if it hit him squarely in the head - should't he and Jatuporn be wearing helmets now?

They probably realize that it was specifically aimed at Seh Daeng in retaliation for the killing of the top army guy on April 10.

I think this is the real problem for all TV contributors ,no one knows if this will escalate & how long will it continue .

In fairness, if that's a problem at all then it's a problem with the universe in general, and the remarkable difficulty that 'accurately predicting the future' still poses. Tough nut to crack, this going forwards in time business.

Then he got shot. Literally, minutes later.

And moments later, Thailand felt a little more safe and for the first time in a long while have hope.

I couldn't agree more.

Don't turn on your TV in that case. Sleep tight.

No problems in Phuket, other than a hand grenade was found on the front door of the ASTV office in Phuket Town the other day. But, I need to go to my Embassy in Bangkok, for an earnings statement to extend my visa for another year. They're closed, due to the red shirt "protest." Hopefully things will calm down soon, but it's not looking very good right now in that area of Bangkok. But the consulate in Chang Mai is open. Just twice as far and over twice the airfare!

Air Asia flies to Chiang Mai now. Should be affordable.

Physical symptoms are general fatigue, no motivation, irritability, headache, slight nausea, laziness and stupid.

Am I the only one suffering????

This describes me, over the last month, to a "T".

Me too, until the hangover finally subsides and I start drinking again.

I could comment, but after the haze debates I don't want to get labelled a Sun-apologist.

Would be a lot of fun if two posters who flame each other on a thread happen to meet in the real life... I wonder how many would have the balls to tell their username!

In my experience (which goes back to meetings of FidoNet, way before Internet went everywhere), the dynamics of meeting in person are completely different. Very often you end up liking someone who you think is the biggest a-hole online, and not having too much to talk about with someone you thought was a nice person online.

^ I'm not positive that the emergency decree is linked to the assassination of Seh Daeng. It seems much more like a mafia style payback for that senior general who got shot on April 10th. It would surprise me if the government had anything to do with it. It's mafia wars, inside the army.

If I'm wrong though then Abhisit would be guilty of committing an extrajudicial killing. That's the path Asia Human Rights Watch seems to be on, but to be honest I doubt that this is what's really going on. All these NGOs seem to assume that elected government is in charge of anything in this country when the shit hits the fan. Abhisit's a passenger.

Now that they got to the GENERAL, I'm ready to join the REDS for the cause !!! REAL DEMOCRACY FOR THAILAND !!!!

I don't think it's the time. For too many people right now it's not about democracy anymore. If it was, then Abhisit's very reasonable offer would have been accepted last week. I think I'll wait for a new and more genuine effort, that may very well include people from what is currently perceived as the Yellow side.

I think the lines will be redrawn in the not too distant future. Everything will change.

Yup, I think the mood has seriously turned sour. Note that there aren't any Thaivisa parties/gatherings anymore. Those would most likely turn ugly these days.

But yes, I often think the same when I see a gathering of crusty smelly expats wearing singlets and shorts.. Those are the keyboard warriors spending half their time on this forum being experts.

hmm member since 2008 over 3k post an avg of more than 5 per day. does that qualify as a key board warrior?

LOL, right. Fortunately though, and especially in less tense times, most of those are posts on where to buy gardening supplies in Chiang Mai, transportation options around the country, education issues for kids and so on. Takes about half an hour to do those five posts, and I think it's worth it to provide insight and help others. And on occasion I get information back when needed. That's what makes this such a good forum.

I'll admit to sometimes get entagled with the nasties though, especially when attempting to expose radical viewpoints by writing equally radical viewpoints of the opposing side and expect people to realize what they're writing. I shouldn't do that. Firstly because it doesn't work, secondly because it alienates more neutral readers, and thirdly because it's a great way to get suspended, even though it's verbatim the same text that others write day in day out about the politicians and ex politician(s) that they hate so much..

If your wife won't allow you to visit, eat your heart out.

Wife enjoys Pattaya too. And I know Pattaya well enough to know which roads/sois to avoid, so her image of Pattaya is pretty much exactly what TAT pretends it to be.

It's really quite easy, you stay in a nice hotel on Jomtien, North Pattaya or Naklua, and you use Third Road and the back sois a lot. THAT's what that flyover at the end of Third Road is for by the way, to take the Mrs. to Bali Hai pier for the ferry to Ko Larn, without having to mill through endless bar scenes.

The only problem is having to listen to some Farangs rant about it. On a forum it's just a bit sad but no big deal. In real life I just move away from the crazies and haters.

I like Phuket. I like Pattaya. I like almost everywhere else in Thailand with a possible exception for Bangkok.

I do bring family to both Phuket and Pattaya. If you know where (not) to go you can have a very enjoyable couple of days there.

Yup, I think the mood has seriously turned sour. Note that there aren't any Thaivisa parties/gatherings anymore. Those would most likely turn ugly these days.

But yes, I often think the same when I see a gathering of crusty smelly expats wearing singlets and shorts.. Those are the keyboard warriors spending half their time on this forum being experts.

My guess would be that this is directly related to the death of Colonel Romklao as much or more than anything else.

Exactly. Mafia style retaliation assassination. This could go on for a while. May even expose the army for what it is..

Maybe each has an Armed Forces Base? I am still curious what the SOE actually means.

Roadblocks?

Pubs closing early?

No large gatherings?

Curfews?

None of those things. If anything it's a bigger / longer party because police will have less influence. Remember the coup? Same day and the next couple days it was party all night; no police around to close the bars!

One could argue that he was kinda brain-dead all along. Good riddance!

This is inflammatory talk...totally stupid for farangs in this dangerous time to get enmeshed-albeit verbally- in SOMEONE ELSE'S WAR!!!!

In the era of twitter and various forms of instant communication imagine if it leaks out that farang kii nok are rubbishing the reds...

Moderator...are you at the controls???

They are, but topics like this move way too fast to do anything about. It'd be nice if someone went through it quietly in the morning and handed out holidays, but that's unlikely. The usual suspects who seem to have made a career out of spreading hatred will be back in force and at it again tomorrow.

I wouldn't reconsider based on this. However, you probably already weighed the size of the investment against the risk of any investment in a country that's not very stable. Keep in mind that major weather is in the horizon no matter what.

EDIT: Sorry, I thought you were buying. If this is just a short stay then no worries. Like someone else said, it was major party time during the coup. And to be completely honest, many expat's lifestyles kind of depend on Thailand remaining a basket case. Imagine if Thailand got its act together and turned into South Korea.. All the cheap thrills would not be as affordable.

Not sure what will be the result of the shooting of Seh Daeng -- but in most western countries -- this action that was taken would be illegal (whether he deserved it or not). He was a citizen of the country, he was not holding hostages, there was no imminent danger, he was not pointing a weapon at police, and was taken out by a sniper. Simply, this was an extra-judicial assassination.

At least we won't have to hear again from the usual suspects on how only Thaksin was responsible for extra judicial killings. They seem quite happy with the concept now.

what would be the consequences while Seh Daeng been shot :

1) reds will get more unorganised and will go home ?

2) reds will get more aggressive and will turn mad ?

anyone ?

Could be both. Seh Daeng's assasination may not have been a calculated government plot, but rather just a mafia style counter execution after that high ranking general was killed on April 10th. Those types of mafia wars (basically what the Thai army and police force are anyway) can get quite protracted.