Oberkommando

This is a minority viewpoint. Thaksin is a thorn in the side of the ultra-conservative right-wing government; that much is true. However, a far greater threat to their hold on Thai politics lies in the heart of the Thai people that will fight for freedom irrespective of Senor Thaksin.

The preference for a dictatorship and disdain for democracy by those in absolute control is well documented.

Keep on believing boys, maybe the tooth fairy will turn out to be true too.

You can't argue with documented fact.

This is a minority viewpoint. Thaksin is a thorn in the side of the ultra-conservative right-wing government; that much is true. However, a far greater threat to their hold on Thai politics lies in the heart of the Thai people that will fight for freedom irrespective of Senor Thaksin.

The preference for a dictatorship and disdain for democracy by those in absolute control is well documented.

I just renewed mine.

I was well aware the license expired after 10 years in order to keep the photo current.

Nothing new or unusual.

Answering a few of Parry's allegations would carry more weight that the usual knee-jerk reaction of "they're all wrong!"

I'm not a shrink billing by hour. If he can't get even the basics right, I'm not going to waste time and effort on dissecting fantasies he built on those wrong premises.

Abhisit's position is getting stronger and stronger every day.

Red "people power" fizzled out, opposition is in disarray, coalition partners are busy strenghtening their own bases - there are no serious threats to his position at all.

At first I thought you were just trolling but now I am starting to worry. You can't actually be serious with even half the stuff you post surely?

The only threat to Mark Vejj's position will be elections.

You know it, he knows it and that's why they won't happen.

It's amusing when a prominent Western publication points out a few unsavoury truths the rabid anti-Thaksin mob on here accuse the person of not spending enough time in Thailand or being out of touch with Thai current affairs. Predictable and tedious but amusing nonetheless.

That's another beauty of living in Japan - no crime, especially no burglaries. Nobody would be a fool to break into anybody's house for possessions that cost 30$ a piece to city concil to dispose of.

There's plenty of crime in Japan, just all organised under the banner of Yakusa.

And that's the way the Japanese like it, better the devil you know, after all.

That's the real reason opportunist crimes like break-ins and burglaries are uncommon.

No my friend, you are wrong completely. When you visit a country you should follow their rules. If you can't stay home.

Yet a large percentage of visitors Thailand attracts come here specifically for a certain illegal activity.

Some rules are made to be broken it seems.

Not a chance. We just aint that significant despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth on an internet forum. The sooner we understand that, the shorter this thread will be.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Thailand is receiving a lot of negative press at the moment, including this story being picked up by some of the main British papers.

Cumulatively, as another poster pointed out, it most certainly will have an effect.

I also know that the UK authorities operate at the opposite end of the scale - hence individuals such as this feel it's acceptable to behave like guttersnipes.

The difference is the punishment will more than likely fit the crime in the UK.

This is of course assuming this guy actually did anything wrong. I am leaning to the belief that he was a bit miffed at missing his flight and being treated like a criminal, then being locked up for several days due to the negligence and incompetence of others.

Enough to push most of us over the edge I would think.

Of course the Thais can never admit they are wrong so they have thrown the book at this guy. Face must be saved, after all.

About 18 months ago I flew into BKK from Dubai and I saw an over-officious Immigration Officer having an argument with an American gentleman who had nipped under the cordon to use one of the desks after being beckoned to do so by the Official manning the desk. The officious officer came from nowhere, incorrectly scolding the American for jumping the queue, and tried to send him to the back of the (now really, really long) line. Needless to say the American had something so say about this but the Thai wouldn't listen to reason. Unfortunately I didn't see the conclusion of this fracas as I had to get stamped in myself and collect my baggage...

The coup was to avoid a bloodshed and than the military refused to kill peaceful demonstrators

So those rioters I saw attacking Police, fighting running battles, driving vehicles into Police with the intent to kill and injure, and taking away and shooting suspected infiltrators were all part of my imagination then?

That's good to know.

Thailand would be in a civil war by now with embargos from the rest of the world....

Just postponing the inevitable.

So the military did the only right thing.

The military should be answerable to the Government and the electorate. "Doing the right thing" shouldn't be part of the equation. Of course in Thailand the military is only answerable to a single figure, and does as they please as a separate entity with no culpability or responsibility. Their shady and dubious past, even in dealing with their own citizens speaks volumes.

You'd have to be a complete dupe or just a plain old idiot to believe, given their sordid history, that the Thai military ever does what is best for the Thai people.

Why? Are you saying the bottom is going to drop out of the used car market in Thailand?

The bottom is dropping out already.

Don't see how the fact that certain parts aren't locally sourced has great bearing on the price. Tax on imported parts isn't that high, it's the tax on fully assembled cars that's exhorbitant and that which pushes the price of European cars through the roof.

BMW 3-Series arrive in kit form and are only assembled here with some local parts.

The models that are assembled here are more reasonably priced than the wholly imported models.

Still expensive in comparison to buying the same model in Europe but it is still the tax that is the reason.

BMW have been at the Thai Government for years to reduce the tariffs so they can be more competitive here and in Asean. Still not happened though.

The automobile industry is in serious trouble in Thailand and we haven't even seen the start of it yet.

Hardly arson.

Melting bus shelters and phone boxes with a lighter is petty vandalism.

It is still vandalism and the items have to be replaced or renewed, it probably wouldn't seem petty if the money was coming out of your pocket.

What did I say?

It's still a petty offence, unlike arson, which is a more serious crime.

Get a grip.

I only use Gustav Emil Ern.

Thai steel is rubbish.

It's starting to make the major British news networks now.

Embarrassment for the British Embassy and Consular staff in Thailand and another nail in the coffin for Thai tourism.

No wonder the puppet-in-chief is "worried about Thailand's image abroad".

He's making a speech at Oxford Uni soon. Will be interesting to see the reception he gets.

Ohh and you will find many thais that speak reasonable english if you get yourself off Patpong or Kohsan Roads for a few minutes.

Wouha wouha, LOL, What a joke, ND makes my day

That was a peach. Almost missed it.

Even Cambodians speak far better English than the Thais.

Hardly arson.

Melting bus shelters and phone boxes with a lighter is petty vandalism.

I would add, everybody stops for tanks, in my experience.

Next time may be a little different.

I have sometimes wondered if this is some kind of stupid power show

It is.

If someone hasn't mentioned it I read on a thread here last year or year before about a foreigner getting killed by a huge cement truck. He was on that part of Sukhumvit around Phloen Chit or thereabouts where they let one lane of traffic on the left side run in the wrong direction. Not knowing this, he wasn't looking that way and got plastered and died. I later ran into a guy who happened to be walking by at that time and took a picture of the corpse with his camera phone. Unfortunately, I looked.

Sounds like that was the ill thought out scheme where the authorities encouraged pedestrians to carry flags to cross the road at pedestrian crossings.

Unfortunately in the instance I remember two foreigners were killed as the guy in the truck, going illegally in the bus lane in the wrong direction didn't stop and killed them.

Thailand has some of the most unsafe roads in the entire World. A proper disgrace.

The chicken kiev I ordered last week looked and tasted like it came from Chernobyl - totally un-edible. Couldn't it even cut through it - it was that overfried.

Have not tried the reuben under the new management but not hopeful at this point.

I wouldn't be back under any circumstances if served a meal like that.

There seems to be a tolerance of poor quality in Bangkok, much more so than other major cities.

How about the 3 series BM? It's certainly made in Thailand and yet the 325i SE sells for something like 3.6m baht.

No current BMW 3-series models are wholly built in Thailand.

Final assembly happens on certain 3-series Asian model designations in Rayong but only about 40% of parts are locally sourced, hence the high prices still due to import taxes.

It always used to disgust me but in some ways i've comes to terms with it now. OK, so yes imported cars may well be ridiculously priced, but then if you can afford one at least you can rest a little easier knowing that it's value won't plummet like a stone as in the UK. Swings in roundabouts.

Let's come back to that post in 18 months...

Buy a car and forget pick-ups and pick-up based 'SUVs'.

Cars are far more pleasurable to drive, unless of course you live on a farm where 4wd and clearance is needed.

The interior is a bit outdated though..

The current Vigo/Fortuner interior is straight out of an early 1990's Lexus. Exactly the same.

You may likely NOT like that, but it is fact.

You might not like the fact the Democrats did not, and still could not win an election.

Nor did Samak or Somchai, unless you understand how minority-parties can form a majority-coalition government, which is how the PPP managed to gather support to form two governments.

Their party was still elected and they were voted into office by MPs.

They will not call elections because they know they are not representing the electorate, no matter how you try to twist it.

Ditto for Somchai, no matter how you try to forget it or ignore it, he had the chance but didn't call the election, which you clearly believe (and I don't) he would have won hands-down. Why do you think that was ?

Why should he have called an election? His party was elected in the most recent election and he to the post of PM when the former PM was removed by legal process. The courts removed him anyway so the point is moot.

Without the illegal actions of the PAD and the military and the assistance of courts in banning all their opponents while they got off without punishment for the same offences, this Government would be nowhere near office.

The courts didn't ban "all their opponents", they banned three political parties for cheating, in the last election. Most of the actual MPs are still in parliament, although they have so far failed to form a credible Opposition, or even to select a leader. Their disarray, and some clever manouvering by the Dems, enabled a different coalition to come to the front. That's politics for you.

They are deliberately targeting certain political parties and individuals without targeting others accused of similar crimes. A clear bias.

You seem to be trying to convince us, and most probably yourself, that it was just a bit of shrewd politics that allowed the Democrats into power, which we know is the stuff of deluded fantasy, after months of PAD campaigning, court bias, military posturing and other measures.

We're tired of the lies.

Let's be honest for a change.

(my comments above in red)

This is all wandering off from the article in Time, which was just a classic of self-serving humbug, IMHO.

If you can't go into details there's not much point in making the claim

That's exactly why there's been a severe clampdown on certain thought crimes recently by this unelected government.

And as a result, free and fair discussion on this and related topics is not allowed on this website nor most others in Thailand.

Just because we can't discuss certain things doesn't mean they are untrue.

This is just a cop-out excuse used to try and disguise a lack of facts.

How can a poster feel he has the freedom to write the following without repercussion:

What about Suthep? He's more of a corrupt c...t then Thaksin ever was yet he is still in politics.

but yet is unable to give the reasons for his claim? How can stating the reasons be any more dangerous for him to post than that statement?

Stating allegations of corruption commited by politicians is simply not a topic that falls under the umbrella you are refering to, as frequently demonstrated on threads such as this.

That is up to the poster that made the allegation to quantify.

And you know fine well that the laws I was referring to, the libel laws in particular, do allow politicians, including Thaksin himself, to deflect allegations of wrongdoing.

As far as I am concerned corruption is just as entrenched in the Democrat Party as has been proven so - their Chief Spokesman has previously been found guilty by the National Counter Corruption Commission as a minor example. I won't get into specifics about people, the facts are all there if you look for them.

In Thailand you cannot speak your opinion against the rich and powerful because you could be either sued or arrested, or both, as just happened to that Swiss Journalist. Bottom line.

It makes not a jot of difference if they could or could not win.

Of course it does. The electorate should have been given a chance to vote again after the last government was annulled.

In fact they won more the PPP in per person voting,m but lost in Party List voting.

But guess what the PPP party list don't exist.

They didn't win enough support to create a Government though, and that's the important point. But don't forget most of the opposition was banned and they still couldn't win after numerous attempts at trying and rigging the game, so that should tell you something.

They did not NEED to call elections because there was a LEGAL mechanism,

and cheaper for the country, to form a government.

They were asked to call elections from many sections of the community, both locally and internationally yet chose not to do so.

They do not have a mandate from the people and until they call elections and win them, this will remain so.

I note you didn't call the courts illegal.

The courts were selective in who they prosecuted.

PAD and the army may or may not have sped things up,

but the courts would have arrived at the same decisions

in a not to different time frame. So crying PAD and ARMY is moot.

It certainly is not moot with the long history of military involvement in Thai politics and that this Government is now a proxy for the military and their backers in the elite who fund and control the PAD.

I could care less about PAD, they've made their bed too.

They were the barking dog in the night.

The dog bit back when hit with a stick too many times.

TRT and PPP got caught with hands in the till.

PPP had fair warning and ignored it.

They fell from their own actions.

End of story.

No, it's far from the end of the story, which is unfortunate for this country as it spirals into the abyss.

Are the board still going to get their massive bonuses that the shareholders are trying to block through the courts?

Massive bonuses, despite the Airline losing Billions and asking the Government for bailouts.

Some of the major PAD funders and members of this current Government are on the board I believe.

Cyber crime laws were on the books in most western countries,

so Thailand was only playing catch up to reality.

HOW they apply it is not to western style methods or standards it seems.

Nonsense. Media freedom in Western Countries is far better than that in Thailand, especially online.

There are laws but they are not used, unlike in Thailand, to silence critics and restrict freedom of speech.

Western methods and standards of human rights are not applied here, in that statement you are almost correct.

The Thai model is to crush dissenting voices and opinion, not to police the internet to make it a safer place as in the West.

You may likely NOT like that, but it is fact.

You might not like the fact the Democrats did not, and still could not win an election.

They will not call elections because they know they are not representing the electorate, no matter how you try to twist it.

Without the illegal actions of the PAD and the military and the assistance of courts in banning all their opponents while they got off without punishment for the same offences, this Government would be nowhere near office.

Let's be honest for a change.