Oberkommando

That smells like the previous Thaksin strategy to kill the small airlines to have all on Thai Asia at which he is involved.

Did he not sell his stake in Thai Air Asia some while ago?

Have you try taking a cab in Singapore....

Many times, it's fantastic as the drivers are safer and all know where they are going. The taxis are all regulated too, so far less problems.

Of course it is more expensive, but Singapore is a more expensive place overall.

"The country will be able to tackle its problems if it has a strong leader who is fiercely honest and sacrifices personal and vested interests or those of families for the benefit of the people,''

They had one and the opposition staged a terrorist attack against him. They even sank so low as to invade a hospital.

Thailand has never had one.

Maybe you can travel by air-con bus but a lot can't.....not everyone can and does live a short walk from a major road. I'd wager more don't than do...hence my original statement....

Bus routes in Bangkok are very extensive, and tens of thousands of buses service the city, air-con or otherwise.

Given the vast majority of Bangkokians use buses over any other methods of public transport, I'd take that wager.

Thaksin must be fuming at how his Pheu Thai people are (and appear) so stupid. They can't even lie convincingly.

I doubt it is a major concern, the opposition are just as incompetent and unelectable so it matters not a jot.

food has increased at least 20% in the last year alone in CM. only 5% in 2012 would be welcomed.

Indeed. Interesting to note that occurred under a Democrat government (much like under previous Democrat governments who are renowned for their harsh fiscal policies).

Typical of noppadan, makes press statements about insignificant points ('but he's not actually using it')and ignores the real thrust, the laws, the morals etc., of the situation.

It's typically Thai, to be fair.

Why would he use the Thai passport? The Montenegrin one is far more useful for travel.

Dear Santa Claus:

I have only one wish for Christmas. Please please please let this story be true, and that will be the end of Chalerm.

It will take a lot more than this being exposed (if true) to get rid of Chalerm.

Bit like GW Bush shaking Bin Ladens and ans saying "He's okay" Just weird to watch on TV

The Bushes and the Bin Laden families are friends.

will not affect the public too much as they have other modes of public transportation they can switch to such as the air-conditioned bus.

I'll believe that when they have air-conditioned buses running down my soi and every other soi in Bangkok...don't politicians ever think before opening their mouths.....

To be fair, there are air-con buses that run on most major roads and routes in Bangkok. I can go anywhere I want in Bangkok on an air-con bus coupled with a short walk.

If I have the choice, I will bus it over taxi mostly every time; I find them generally safer, less hassle, cheaper and sometimes even quicker than taking a taxi.

Let's hope relations don't improve further, they might start shelling Thai villagers again, as a further 'gesture of goodwill' !

Let's hope the Thais don't start using banned cluster munitions again.

You really can't trust anything the Thai military says with their record of lies over munitions procurements, the GT-200 bomb scanners and the deployment of cluster munitions in the recent border skirmishes with Cambodia.

They'll just have to be content with murdering Chinese sailors on the Mekong or killing Cambodian loggers along the border, unless some more Rohignyas come along for them to torture.

Looking to travel from Bangkok to Sihanoukville tomorrow via the Hat Lek - Krong Koh Kong border crossing. As I have no idea if this is the same as the checkpoint at Ban Had Lek mentioned in article (id imagine so with the similarity in name) I'd be grateful if some kind soul could please confirm absoultely that i should have no difficulty crossing the border at this location and do not need to change my plans.

You'll have no problems whatsoever. Enjoy Sihanoukville. It's a fantastic place.

Perhaps the news that their has been a change in government hasn't reached the border yet, and the Cambodians are still kicking off destabilizing border incidents as a favour to their little friend.

Nice of Surapong to take time off from brown-nosing Thaksin to give the trigger happy Cambodians a big "Mai pen rai!"

The Thai military could be accused of being trigger happy also with all their killings of Cambodian loggers of late.

Most of the former Khmer Rouge cadres that make up the Cambodian forces in that area will have spent time in Thailand and be quite sympathetic to the Thai military, having been allies in the 80's when the Thais were protecting and providing safe haven for their leader Saloth Sar aka Brother Number One aka Pol Pot.

Probably just a drunken mistake, all told.

Actually the Thai and Cambodian locals in the area around the temple had been getting on very well for years until some bright spark decided to make it a World Heritage site.

The PAD 'solution' to the Preah Vihear World Heritage Listing (there's more at the link, but that's the jist of it).

“We would close all 40 Thai-Cambodian border checkpoints, and ban all flights to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap from Bangkok; 70% of flights to the two destinations are from Bangkok.

And then we would order the Defense Ministry to build a naval base at Koh Kut, deploy two battleships there, together with patrol ships, build a runway for F-16 aircraft, abolish the committee which oversees demarcation of overlapping sea areas, and officially declare our own marine map.

Cambodia would be hopping mad, but we would not bother because Cambodia would not have the nerve to fight us. They can make noises and threats because our own people are traitors. But if they see that Thai soldiers have a firm stand, the (new) Thai government has a firm stand, and the Thai people are ready to sacrifice their lives for sovereignty, they will back off. Cambodia can do nothing but to count on Thailand. If they want to count on Vietnam, let them do so, but problems would surely arise between the real Cambodians and the Vietnamese in future.

China openly makes friends with everybody, but furtively China knows that, between Thailand and Cambodia, it prefers Thailand.

When we declare all overlapping areas ours, Cambodia will surely protest. But we will not argue. We’ll send our battleships to seize any islands and islets we spot, or anchor our battleships in the overlapping sea territory.

http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/732

I can concur with you that the border squabbling, regarding the temple specifically, pre-dates PAD by decades.

.

However the ultimatums, protests and rituals carried out by the PAD added flames to the fire and exacerbated the situation after a peaceable solution looked to have been likely.

Not to mention PAD core leader and future foreign minister Kasit's remarks about Hun Sen.

The Cambodians want a coup?

Hun Sen is enjoying a period of popularity, ironically partly due to his strong-arm tactics when dealing with the Thais during the Democrats fumbling of the Preah Vihear issue. Cambodians are intensely proud of Preah Vihear. It is a iconic symbol of Cambodian history and the Khmer Empire.

I'm sure the Cambodians are happier with the political situation in Thailand now, as the fascist nutters and those who pander to overt nationalism and extremism have been removed from government office.

the border squabbling pre-dates PAD by centuries

Border conflict does but the issue was brought to the fore again by the fascist element of the PAD and their unreasonable demands and behaviour.

Of course after the illegal Thai army invasion and occupation of the temple in 1959 and the subsequent (and correct IMO) ICJ ruling that the site is Cambodian and the eviction of the Thai military from Cambodian soil it has been a sore point for Thai nationalists for decades.

Of course he's dishonest. It's a cultural trait.

I personally believe the attitudes and feelings of superiority towards foreigners in the US and the UK are MUCH MUCH harsher than those in Thailand.

"Topping Asia and the world in animosity toward migrants at 82 percent is Thailand, whose robust economy attracts cross-border movements of people from neighboring Mekong countries fleeing poverty or countryside war."

From a Gallup Poll in 2005.

As a rule Thais have much less issues with foreigners than most western nations but your continued feelings of superiority, brought from your home country, will never let you see this.

Utter nonsense yet again.

Immigration statistics tell a completely different story. How many foreigners received Thai citizenship last year in comparison to the millions of foreigners that receive citizenship to Western countries?

How multicultural is Thailand? Not to mention they are fighting a war in the South; Buddhist Thai versus Muslim Malay.

Just ask a Thai what they think about Laos/Burma/Cambodians or any other Asian people to find out how they really feel about foreigners.

Wake up.

You obviously haven't lived in Thailand very long. Most past coups were the result of very bad and evil governments and supported by Thais. I have never noticed any Thais

depising foreigners here except the criminal foreign trash that inhabits places like Pattaya and Phuket and the foreign pimps that own brothel bars. On the contrary the reason we live here is because our many Thai friends make us feel so welcome.

I have lived in Thailand 28 years.

In which time I lived through another coup in 1991 which ended up as a bloody uprising the following year with the army shooting pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok. Sound familiar?

Most past coups were certainly not because of "very bad and evil governments and supported by Thais". Do not spout utter nonsense.

Such a nice and peaceful country.

More than 5000 deaths in the South in the last 8 years says different.

Do you have proof?

Of course.

OF THE five dirt-poor farmers who set out from Chhoeu Slab village in November in search of rosewood, only four returned. The fifth is recuperating in a Thai hospital, having been shot by a Thai border patrol.

http://www.economist.com/node/21541871

Police and military officials were searching for six missing Cambodians yesterday who villagers believe were shot dead by Thai soldiers on Saturday night after entering the Khun Han district of Thailand’s Si Saket province in search of luxury timber.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011112853007/National-news/six-missing-after-border-shooting.html

Nearly 30 Cambodians have been shot dead while illegally crossing the Thai border since 2008, with many headed there for the purpose of illegal logging. Yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said they have only themselves to blame.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121453355/National-news/hun-sen-puts-onus-on-loggers.html

Reading the sorts of comments that have been posted above expressing desire for military coups it is no wonder so many foreigners are despised by the Thais.

If it turns bloody and the military start to put the boot in, which has happened so many times before, you can always go home right?

Here we go again...

We've been Godwinned yet again.