LevelHead

Ask yourself this.

Who controls the borders ?

Who lets all the drugs and human traffic come in ?

Who got upset by Thaksin's war on drugs as it severely cut down on the incoming flow of drugs and thus the money made allowing it coming through the borders ?

You all know who controls the inflow of drugs, human traffic et al from the borders............... who controls the borders ?

The same people who control the borders are the same people who kicked out the government in 2006 and the same people who are behind the present government and the same people who were shooting innocent civilians on the Bangkok streets lately. The same people whose top men on their "meagre" salaries but all seems to be multi millionaires.

How do the top brass all end up being multi-millionaires ?

In fact, its much the same in China, where the Chinese PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) controls all drug shipments in the country. They even have an area on the border with Burma which the Chinese claim is Burmese and the Burmese claim is Chinese and so neither country bears responsibility to stop the massive drug production going on there.

China, Burma, Thailand and others all have "extremely" wealthy army top brass, and big drug and human trafficking problems.

The money generated from the illicit trades means that in each country the military and its backers yield disproportionate power, and in each country there is NO DEMOCRACY.

There is only one single reform needed in each of these countries to stop corruption and make them democratic.

That single reform is reform of the military and removal of all links of the military to business and politics.

Will Abhisit do it ? No chance, he is appointed by them.

Therefore all this talk of reform and reconciliation is pure nonsense. Thailand has a massive problem with human trafficking, and until the military is reformed it will continue unabated.

BP ? Why is anyone talking about BP.

American owned rig was only contracted by BP.

So we have an American owned rig, operated by American crew, drilling hole in American waters, no BP staff on site, all American 100% and when it screws up suddenly its BP's problems..........

Behind the scenes agreement, BP agreed to be the "dog" to be kicked, in return they will get in future lots of nice new licenses to drill to "payback" their help in making this US disaster caused by US companies and US workers appear to be a non-US problem.

When you need a break from weaving conspiracy theories, you can read some truth here. Seems pretty clear that BP's decision to rush a difficult well by substituting light salt water for the usual heavy mud used in these kinds of wells probably caused the disaster. They were also advised not to do this by the American workers.

BTW, by legal agreement BP had full responsibility and control of all safety issues. It was their show.

Anadarko blasts BP for 'reckless decisions' - Jun. 18, 2010

American companies were responsible for casing cement, and lots of American involvement in the well.

My oh my, isn't Andarko a small percentage owner of the well ??? Not surprising therefore to try to see them run away from potential damages.

All the US companies are in hiding and denial.

When this goes to the courts you wait and see what comes out. It would be suicide for BP to try to point out the truth with the well still leaking.

The time is right for the boot to go on to the other foot when the leak is stopped, so please, just wait for the oil to stop and then watch what happens, that will be the fun time as all the US responsibilities and companies will be launched into the spotlight.

This is typical of Thaksin and his ilk and their mindset.

Power at any price and corruption to feather their own fouled nest even further under the pretence of democracy.

None of those puppets that were (mis) leading the Red Shirt demonstrators supporters etc had nor do have any interest in true democracy.

It is all about Thaksin and his malovent desire for revenge upon Thailand and its peoples.Thaksins ego is the cancer that could if allowed to destroy this country.

Thaksin and his allies many of whom are not Thai have been invited to feast upon the carcass of Thailand under Thaksins dream.

These people must be stopped before Thailand becomes a vassal state of a Sino Thai kleptomaniac.

Thats where you are wrong totally.

The problem of Thailand is a small Elite who devour everything and leave the majority of the county with nothing.

Thaksin has no desire for anything but good for the people of Thailand.

However I suspect he has revenge on his mind when it comes to the small band of old corrupt elite who stage managed his fall from power and who have through lies and manipulation dragged his name through the mud.

This is why the people like Thaksin, as he was willing to take on those corrupt old men, and even though he failed he has given them hope that some day soon those corrupt old men who run in privileged circles might finally get removed.

I had some sympathy for the redshirts before the hatred, violence and firestorm that they initiated in Bangkok. However, they have proved that the Prime Minister is right. Many of the leaders are acting like terrorists.

They need to stop the threats and do things legally and peacefully. After Bangkok, the government is justified in whatever measures it takes to stop them from ruining the country. They are cutting their own throats with their recalcitrance.

From what I remember of your posts you are pro-Yellow and very anti-Red.

Its funny how many Yellow supporters all claim to "......have had some sympathies with reds but not anymore......."

Are they attempting to portray a move of support away from Reds ?

I think you will find that Red strength is growing even more stronger - even those who were neutral have been disgusted by the governments lies and propaganda and now are not so neutral anymore.

Looks at this "Red School" nonsense by the Nation - pure fantasy pumping the government propaganda - pathetic. !!!

Some posters are ignoring or haven't understood that the PM is not talking about the last year but about a trend over the last 18 years… Perhaps that speaks more about the posters themselves than about the content of the article discussed or its author

Many westerners make the mistake to think that "All prime ministers are corrupt so it doesn't matter", "it doesn't matter which party, there is and has been corruption under all of them so they are all the same". Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is of course true that there is corruption under all parties and prime ministers, it will be at least a generation before corruption goes down to "European levels", the point is that it really matters if a party or a prime minister in power tries to reinforce the corruption system, or go with it, or perhaps even tries to tackle it. It really does matter for the country economically.

Corruption increased under Banharn and Chawalit, it went down under Chuan Leek Pai (but he wasn't very good at stimulating the economy), it went up sharply under Thaksin (pretty good at stimulating the economy though). Overall, corruption going down is good for a country, corruption going up is very bad for a country

What does the prime minister try to achieve with the article, what's his message?

You should get your facts right.

Corruption was rampant during the last Democrat government.

The people elected the the TRT and Thaksin to stamp out the massive drug scale in Thailand and the massive corruption of the Democrats and Elite.

During TRT corruption fell drastically.

Now it is rising again back under the control of the Democrats and Elite.

Since 2006 massive military spending (and its associated corruption) has happened.

The pigs have their snouts back in the trough, for the first time since pre-TRT, and they are happily eating.

The trouble Abhisit has is he is only the puppet and not the one pulling the strings, he is as guilty as the people he beds with for his position.

BP ? Why is anyone talking about BP.

American owned rig was only contracted by BP.

So we have an American owned rig, operated by American crew, drilling hole in American waters, no BP staff on site, all American 100% and when it screws up suddenly its BP's problems..........

Behind the scenes agreement, BP agreed to be the "dog" to be kicked, in return they will get in future lots of nice new licenses to drill to "payback" their help in making this US disaster caused by US companies and US workers appear to be a non-US problem.

To put this into context.

Obama spent 600m US$ on his election campaign.

Those who gave it to him expect it back plus interest.

All politicians all over the world are "bought". This is politics. Why does anyone pretend to be surprised ?

Some people "bought" the coup in 2006. People buy support from army generals. People buy support from police to look the other way. People buy judges to get others guilty and themselves innocent. People buy others to create false evidence and to throw real evidence away.

The Thai people elected Thaksin as he was super rich already, their reasoning was that he would be corrupt a bit but not as corrupt as the others. In that they were correct, during TRT times corruption fell (ignore the propaganda).

If they had the chance to vote for him directly tomorrow in an election, Thaksin would win again.

Ask yourself this.

Who controls the borders ?

Who lets all the drugs and human traffic come in ?

Who got upset by Thaksin's war on drugs as it severely cut down on the incoming flow of drugs and thus the money made allowing it coming through the borders ?

You all know who controls the inflow of drugs, human traffic et al from the borders............... who controls the borders ?

The same people who control the borders are the same people who kicked out the government in 2006 and the same people who are behind the present government and the same people who were shooting innocent civilians on the Bangkok streets lately. The same people whose top men on their "meagre" salaries but all seems to be multi millionaires.

How do the top brass all end up being multi-millionaires ?

LOL

Typical "Nation / ASTV" Yellow shirt nonsense !!!!!!!!!!

"Red Schools" - let me guess they are in Afghanistan and Pakistan and next door to Taliban schools as well

I think we can put this down to Thai Military playing same media spin game based on US War on Terror

Nothing like feeding the propaganda out to justify the lack of human rights under the Emergency Decree.

This is the problem that Abhisit/Korn and Suthep and the Democrats are going to have in the coming weeks, months and years.

In the heat of the moment their propaganda in the media overcome real news and real truth, as was portrayed on AJ/BBC/CNN and many other real news outlets.

As the real truth is now uncovered and unleashed and eyewitnesses gather the strength and courage to speak up and not be afraid of being thrown into prison without any charges or bail and labelled as terrorists under the Emergency Decree just because the government wants to label them so the pressure is going to mount on this puppet government who have done the dirty work of the old men who have seized power in Thailand.

Photo's, VCD's and new names for old banned web sites are ensuring the Thai people are now having access to the reality of the events that happened. They can compare real video footage and photo's against what the propaganda machine has put out and they can see that someone has been telling many lies.

The truth will come out, and even if its in 1 year, or 5 years or 10 years, all those involved in the CRES, those behind the military and everyone responsible for what has gone on since 2006 hopefully will one day be taken away and have justice served on them for all they have done.

For the cynics - The Thai Junta could likely today send a message of support to the Burmese Junta saying "Suu Kyi is a terrorist and a potential red shirt backer as she said the Thai government was illegimate" - and could likely ask she be charged with terrorism offences as it seems to be working well in Thailand.

rabo, they simply pay hundreds of millions of baht into the bank accounts of certain top army generals.

He (or she) who controls the top generals controls the power. The army does what the top dogs say. Foot soldiers follow orders.

Do some research into it, but do it outside of Thailand where there is freedom of the media.

Levelhead, my intended point was that no illegal funding is required for a military coup. A coup can happen for many reasons including a legitimate belief that the country has a real problem. Your suggestion that illicit money could be involved is also possible. As always one must build a logically sound argument and then back it with supporting evidence. However, I would not necessarily believe information because it was banned. If it were simply a matter of money, Thaksin at the height of his power and corruption, would not have faced expulsion. So, in my opinion, it was not a "purchased coup".

You base your argument on the basis of the CNS propaganda that Thaksin was "too corrupt".

He actually was a lot less corrupt than many others in Thailand, and many in the present control group today.

That does not make him good, but also he was not that bad. He has been subjected to a mass psychology warfare by the CNS and the coup backers. They have deliberately controlled news and pumped out propaganda to drag his name through the mud to disgrace him.

Lets not forget the issue that caused the coup was a bunch of old men who got worried that Thaksin might end up being more powerful as a politician than they are being "elite" within privileged circles.

They used their privileged position to gain support for a coup to oust Thaksin, based on the lies and tales they spun to worry others into agreeing to their plan.

They have since that day systematically abused their privileged positions within the elite groups to attempt to control who was in government.

This is the more interesting thing now, their lies and deceit are becoming more and more obvious to ordinary people and their positions are weakened, they now have to rely more and more on the military to openly back them and keep their lies and deceit alive and keep their puppet government in power.

The use of the military in more overt operations gives the game away more and more, and probably was part of the plan of the red shirt leaders, to force these corrupt old men to start losing their marbles and to start having to resort to overt military operations against the people on the streets of Bangkok.

Ask yourself this, if you believe the government propaganda and so many Thais love the Democrats and hate the Reds, then why is there no election ?

Surely Abhisit would want to have a quick election to win easily ? But there is not.

Whilst most people may only read government propaganda anyone out and about in Thailand will tell you clearly that the Democrats and those "corrupt old men" and treated with more and more universal hatred. People hated them but did not speak of them, now they openly speak of their hate of them.

This is a major change and will likely lead to more and more changes ahead, which is why the puppet government is stalling and trying to buy time while they figure out how to ensure they can win the next election, if they fail to win then another coup or another judicial coup to evict PTP might be one too far and force the country into real trouble with the eyes of the world clearly now watching.

Presently they are trying the "divide and conquer" method. Hit out at all opposition backers, supporters, throw them in prison, seize their assets, try to put pressure on them to join BJT or the Democrats. They are now trying to systematically take down the opposition party piece by piece in order to leave it "neutered" ahead of an election.

Again, these kind of things are far worse than anything Thaksin did, its is Junta type behavior trying to ensure democracy is not democratic. The present "corruptos" will try to ensure that the next election is like an election in China, everyone has a vote but all votes will be only for the one party (through various names). At the next election it might be worth simply changing he name of the smaller parties to "Democrat via other name 1" and "Democrat via other name 2" etc....

rabo, they simply pay hundreds of millions of baht into the bank accounts of certain top army generals.

Where's the proof?

I find it quite hilarious that there are demands of "proof" when the same people happily accuse lots of people of funding red shirts when there is no "proof". They accuse people of being "terrorists" when there is no PROOF.

Proof means proof.

It does not mean just saying money was taken out of accounts, you have to "PROVE" where it went with "EVIDENCE".

So show me the evidence that all the accused actually did what they are accused of, not just implication or accusation or opinion.

And for those talking about the coup I suggest you read this, written in 2006, and see how well the plans laid out by the Military for "long term control of politics" has come to fruition.

http://thailand.ahrchk.net/docs/AHRC_Thailand_Coup_2006.pdf

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Wow - make a prediction that in the historic "high season" of December (6 months from now) that things will be better than now (June - low season).

Wonderful prediction.

Lets have lots of statistics to show that in December that visitor numbers are higher than June, that will really prove lots of things.

Thailand is a mess, its has no freedom of the media, it has a repressive decree in power limiting the rights of all people, its army and government are alleged to have been killing many civilians, it slams the foreign media as liars as they report the truth and not the propaganda and of course everyone is supposed to forget this ?

Thailand is not cheap now.

Its a place full of scams and rip off's,

Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia are all far better value in terms of service and value for money.

Burma should start advertising itself as a great place for tourists perhaps with the headline "We have the same freedoms as Thailand, so come here and forget the overpriced bahtland (and our people are more friendly and will not rip you off) "

rabo, they simply pay hundreds of millions of baht into the bank accounts of certain top army generals.

He (or she) who controls the top generals controls the power. The army does what the top dogs say. Foot soldiers follow orders.

Do some research into it, but do it outside of Thailand where there is freedom of the media.

Are you kidding me?? Not to many people are basing there vacation to Thailand on old crimes. Most people do not even know of these incidents. The image of Thailand has been tarnished more by the recent conflict. Do I want to visit a country that just killed over 80 of it's own People? A country that is repressive in free speech and actually will go so far as to try and buy a satellite to restrict anti-government venues. I am not a red shirt supporter by the way before you blast into me. This tourism article is misplaced and I think it is trying to shift the lack of visitors to Thailand away from ' Reality"

Too true.

Thailand now has an Emergency Decree in place to arrest anyone they want to and place them in prison without charges against them and no bail.

There is no freedom of the media. Government propaganda blasts out unabated.

The foreign media is lambasted as "biased" simply as it reports the truth.

Hundreds of thousands of websites are blocked by the government.

Terrorists in the south bomb, kill and behead civilians and yet are not called terrorists.

Protestors demanding new elections are called terrorists.

Thailand is a disgrace now and its no surprise the tourists are not visiting. Probably Burma is more "democratic" and "free and just" than Thailand now.

Has anyone noticed with Emergency Rule in place there is very little happening on the protest scene

Who is it that want it removed

and for what reason

I have not met or spoken to any on ein the last month that says it is affecting there life style

To me it seems the only people whio are hurting under Emergency Rule are those who want to cause trouble

My 5 baht worth

Mostly true, I'm not effected by the E.R. either. Still it's a matter of principle I guess. The E.R. should no longer be necessary.

Such blindness.

Well, I am not effected by "war on drugs" and shooting of nasty people - so that must have been good.

I am not effected by the death penalty in the USA, so that is good and it should be everywhere.

I am not effected by the Burmese Junta, so they must be good then.

Hey, Thaksin never effected me, so he was good too.

Emergency rule allows Thais and Foreigners to be arrested and thrown into prison with no charges being made against them and held there for 30 days. It is a political tool by dictators.

To say its fine just because "it does not effect me" is quite disgusting in my view.

The simplest reform.

Reform the army.

The army has always allowed the corrupt elite in Bangkok rule the country by hook or by crook (and recently again by using live bullets).

The army must be totally reformed and moved out of Bangkok and surrounding area's.

It must never again be a political tool, to hold coups or support illegitimate governments by using force.

Until the army is reformed corruption will never stop in Thailand, the army are totally corrupt and supported by the most corrupt elites - it is total corruption.

PTP should run on their election campaign on total army reform, of course, they never could (even though most Thai people would happily vote for army reform) as they would be sniper shot or even if they won there would be a coup.

I would like to see an investigation into the people who sponsored the 2006 coup.

The 2006 coup was a treason offense under the 1997 constitution, and they threw that "Peoples Constitution" into the bin. Who sponsered the coup ? Who paid the money to make it happen ?

Why has this never been investigated ?

The coup was funded, obviously, from military and probably some other government budgets, except for the purchase of large amounts of flowers and ribbons.

There is the possibility that the purchase of so many flowers and ribbons may have come from some secret funds, that perhaps deserves investigation.

"Sonthi Secretly Funds Flowers For Coup"

I think a national committee needs to be established to investigate this flower purchase!

The coup was part funded by the leaders of the Yellow shirts, the ones who paid for the coup in 2006, the ones who paid for the protests in 2006 and in 2008, the ones who allowed the terrorists to shut down the international airport.

The real leaders of the Yellow shirts are never seen, they remain hidden from the media as the media is not allowed to comment on who they are.

There is plenty of detail in the media of who paid for the 2006 coup, its all banned in Thailand of course, but outside Thailand its very easy to know who paid for what.

A question.......the government are freezing your accounts trying to sieze your assets.......do you leave it in there......or spread a back up amount around among your trusted family, friends, and companies? May have nothing to do with the demonstration

Just a thought

Exactly, in a normal country without the army/elite running it through a puppet government you are "innocent until proven guilty".

Its your money, what you do with it is up to you, it is up to the accusers to "prove" and not just make accusations and imply opinions.

However, Thailand is now a country that has had its constitution thrown into the bin by the army and then the army imposed their own constitution. It is a country where the Democrat political party has LOST every election for over a decade and has no support from the people and yet they are in power by means of a coup, army and judicial.

It is a country where innocent civilians have been shot dead by soldiers.

It is a county where people in the south (Democrat heartland) can murder teachers, behead people, set off bombs and never be called terrorists, BUT also a country where many red shirts are called terrorists with NO PROOF against them, held with no formal charges against them and without bail.

There has been no focus on who paid for the coup, lots of baht was gifted to pay for support, but never an inquest into who paid it.

There has never been a focus on the PAD/Yellow shirts and who paid for all their rallies, everybody knows who paid but never an inquest.

The questions now should not be about who paid what, the questions should be about why a party that is detested by the people, who have lost election after election for over a decade is now put into power by the abuses of the military and the courts.

The Thai government has in place an emergency decree where they can lock up any Thai or Foreigner without charge and hold them for 30 days.

The Thai government has cut off access to many web sites, radio stations and other media and has in effect cut off freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

The Thai government is accused of using the army to kill innocents.

The Thai government is accused of being illegitimate by coming to power via a judicial coup and against the will of the people.

The Thai media has slammed CNN, BBC and others and has effectively called all foreigners liars as they will not accept the official propaganda of events.

With all that going on they then say "come here, we want your money"............

Is it any wonder that many hotels have their lowest occupancies in memory and people are not visiting.

Some people do have a conscience and they will not support visiting places where basic civil rights are abused and abusive propaganda has been and is in place, and where the people of the country have had their democracy stolen from them and have died trying to get it back.

Corruption has always been the problem with the Democrats.

Its why the Thai people embraced the TRT and Thaksin, to end the continuous corruption scandals of the Democrats.

The Democrats have not won an election since.....well, its over a decade now since they won an election.

Which is why there there has been a coup and a judicial coup in the meantime to get them back into power.

The "people" do not vote for the Democrats, nobody likes them apart from the Bangkok middle class who live on the back of corruption, turning a blind eye to it provided they get a little treat now and then.

Its no surprise that "corruption" is rising with the Democrats in power, I mean, this is the party that has two times escaped being disbanded, how nobody knows.

And they have yet another court case coming up for alleged illegal donations, again.

I have to LOL @ Abhisit....... he should know full well why corruption is rising.

He will also soon be banned should his party fail to talk their way out of the illegal donations scandal.

I would like to see an investigation into the people who sponsored the 2006 coup.

The 2006 coup was a treason offense under the 1997 constitution, and they threw that "Peoples Constitution" into the bin. Who sponsered the coup ? Who paid the money to make it happen ?

Why has this never been investigated ?

The main leader of the coup who is on record as saying he never wanted to be in politics or government (and of course he is now in the coalition with Abhisit) should have been investigated and now that he has benefited from the coup being in government its just disgusting in my view.

There needs to be a serious investigation into who funded the coup, and also who funded the Yellow shirts.

Along with this an investigation into the funding of the red shirts.

Then full public release of all details of who funded the coup, who funded the Yellow shirts and who funded the Red shirts. Full fair and proper, not one section singled out and no double standards.

The You Tube video showing army soldiers shooting into the temple from the BTS tracks (lower track) is clearly May 19th due to the fires and smoke. How could Suthep claim this must have been May 20th as no soldiers were on the tracks on the 19th.

I hope after the next elections the new government clearly invokes a UN independent investigation into April and May 2010. Lets all hope and pray PTP win the election and then FULL investigations are carried out into what will then be these past events.

Have you noticed.

If you set off a motorbike bomb in the south of Thailand you are a "naughty boy".

If you set off a car bomb in the south of Thailand you are a "naughty boy"

If you use a big knife and cut someone's head off in the south you are a "naughty boy".

If you use a gun and shoot someone in the south you are a "naughty boy"

As the South is Yellow heartland Democrat country it seems everyone is just naughty and there are no terrorists.

And yet it if wear a red shirt in the North and North East you are a terrorist or a terrorist supporter.

The double standards of Abhisit and this government and the people that back them is quite disgusting.

The protests should have been put down by the police, using tear gas and batons, as was the case against the PAD when the PPP government were in power. Things were done correctly using the Police.

The present government has made clear errors, by not using the police.

The next error was calling the army.

The next error was allowing the army to use lethal force.

Why did they not use the police ? They should never have called in the army.

If the government has no control over the police then it should have stood down and had elections and allowed a new government in that had the power.

I am afraid the "double standards" are going to get worse and worse.

Has the Bangkok governor been moved to an inactive post as Bangkok burnt ? NO

So why has the governors of Isaan provinces been moved to inactive posts because there were fires in their provinces ?

Has any Bangkok police chiefs been moved for failing to control the crowds ? for failing to follow orders ? NO

So why have police chiefs in Isaan been moved to inactive posts due to the fires ?

It is clear that horrendous double standards are still ongoing. If the government did not use the police then

Why ?

And if the answer is not obeying orders then.... why has no Bangkok police been moved to inactive posts ?

It seems there are strange double standards going on, very strange.

You are so red. Even your avatar is 100% red.

Poorest response of the day......some of the questions above seem quite valid.....but you give no answer

Its these kind of questions that quickly illustrate the "double standards" and so its these kind of questions that generally never get answered, the only answers generally, if any, will be to call me "red" or "stupid" or start talking about Thaksin.

When the questions are too difficult or awkward to be answered they are generally ignored or the old "Thaksin" diversion will be used.