Oberkommando

It's no wonder Thais continually tell us that "this is Thailand, you no understand" with the level of ignorance shown on here.

"Us"?

Speak for yourself.

'Us' meaning foreigners, Westerners; farang if you will.

Did my comment about foreigners being ignorant of Thai history strike a nerve?

your wasting you time a lot here simply do not understand Taksin or what he wants to achieve and the harm he has done and is quite capable of doing which is far far less than any of army coups

Several Thai military dictators and their military governments have been immeasurably worse than Thaksin and his populist governments.

So many people completely ignorant of Thai history on here yet feel fit to make ridiculous statements (and quite frankly offensive to those that lost lives in the struggle for Thai democracy in the last century).

Your Hitler and Pol Pot comparisons to Thaksin are laughable and not even worth addressing.

It's no wonder Thais continually tell us that "this is Thailand, you no understand" with the level of ignorance shown on here.

Absolutely staggering.

Hate to beak your bubble but the air port take overs and riots in central Bangkok were done under a democratic Government.

I for one think Thailand does not need that kind of Democracy and if it takes an military take over to put a end to it so be it.

It is indeed a sad state of affairs that those kind of actions can be tolerated just because it is a Democracy.

What was so terrible about the military it would not have allowed either one of those actions. Doe's that bother you.

All the things I listed happened as a result, once more, of Thai military interference in politics in the shape of the 2006 coup and the abrogation of the 1997 peoples' constitution (a constitution if you remember which was the first to be written as a direct result of the military dictator Suchinda's coup and bloody crackdowns in 1992).

Anyone calling for military dictatorships and coups clearly doesn't have the first clue about Thai history and should be ashamed of themselves for doing so.

well i and my thai family would much prefer a military government than this lot of totally corrupt robber barons they would not be worse thats for sure

A Thai history lesson is in order as the regimes of fascist military dictators throughout the years have invariably been worse and arguably more corrupt.

Another vote here for Hong Kong.

Thailand needs to become a military dictatorship until the Thai people become mature enough and educated enough

What a disgusting statement.

well i and my thai family would much prefer a military government than this lot of totally corrupt robber barons they would not be worse thats for sure and we can only hope yet again the army will save Thailand from itself before your hero completely takes over and starts reeducating peole pol pot style. I find people like you disgusting even though you are either totally naive deluded or just plain stupid

Your beloved Thai military gave refuge to Pol Pot in Thailand back in the 80's when he fled from the Vietnamese.

next time the dems win

Comedy gold.

No, it wasn't democratic, but the country was heading into turmoil over the undemocratic and self serving shenanigans of Thaksin, after that the return to elections was relatively fast and painless.

Relatively painless excepting the martial law, airport takeovers, riots in central Bangkok and the numerous other debacles and crises that have happened since 2006 which have left Thailand's reputation in tatters and cost the country billions upon billions in lost revenue.

Thailand needs to become a military dictatorship until the Thai people become mature enough and educated enough

What a disgusting statement.

It's not just the fact that he did it, it's the underhanded, gutless and spineless way in which it was done. An utter disgrace to the principles of governance and rule of law. The man is unworthy of his office. It's pathetic.

I disagree, in Thailand, those are all the traits that are required to hold such a position and only serve to assist swift ascent to the higher realms of public office.

When the motorists in Bangkok don't stop for children crossing the road at a zebra crossing with a red light as I see on a daily basis then I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often.

Normally if a helicopter goes a bit over the border it is not shot down. There is a protest note at best.

If a Cambodian logger strays over the border they are burnt alive, shot or just disappeared.

Did they find the six missing loggers last week or did they turn up dead along with the four others who were shot by the Thais?

What a nice Christmas present for Mr. T and his supporters.

Only a matter of time before his triumphant return and return to the 'good ol' days'.

Enough of this mincing around !!!! All this waiting for the return of the Chosen One , and the stream of idiotic pronouncements about him is starting to irritate me. I say he should come back right now. Then the civil war can start, so things will be sorted one way or another. Then the country can get back to normal, and maybe the government can actually take some action to help rebuild the country after the floods..... :jap:

The civil war is already raging in the Southern provinces.

And this is normal for Thailand, it has been the same for the 28 years I have been here, and will never change.

Isn't she being sued by the Malaysians for malpractice or something?

But if they happen to come from over the border in Isaan, and are 'lured' (or sold) to Pattaya, that's different?

Seizing the passport of a Thai in Thailand wouldn't really be a major hurdle to escaping.

While there must be murky back street brothels somewhere in Pattaya, the girls who work in the bars there are in no way imprisoned, except perhaps through economics. The western view is always to assume nobody would ever do that job unless they are a drug addict or a sex slave being held against their will. That's not even true in the west.

Many are trapped and are drug addicts, even those that work in the bars catering to Westerners.

It's somewhere in the middle.

That they are not being somehow forced to sell themselves (by economics or other factors) is the myth perpetrated by Westerners (myself included in naive days), to make ourselves feel better about engaging in the same immorality as the Thais.

These will be useful for the 7/11 clerks to monitor stock levels and waiters/waitresses to take orders as more and more Thai youths move into the servant, sorry the service industry.

Smart thinking Mr. T.

Why are posters going on about Muslims?

They weren't behind the many lethal bomb attacks on New Year's Eve 2006/2007 in Bangkok.

16.4% of them are medically retarded according to government stats.

Compared to about 8% of the rest of the population in other provinces.

Thai Airways International is among the airlines to be affected; it will have to buy carbon credits to offset this. The cost is Bt500 million per year; money that could be saved and spent on other things.

They can add that half a billion to their B5 Billion loss last year.

and definitely the fact that Thailand managed to evade being 'colonised' by some other nation

Thailand didn't manage anything. Britain's interests in the region prevented Thailand from becoming a French colony.

Which New Year? They have three holidays for New Year's; ours, theirs and Chinese.

Pick one <deleted>.

Funny that I don't recall reading about any others that were there at the time saying that it was taken over with grenade launchers and machine guns.

Who mentioned grenade launchers and machine guns?

I witnessed them putting up the barricades on the roads and stopping traffic and they were armed with weapons and dressed as paramilitaries.

After they had secured the roads leading into the airport the protesters arrived, some time later.

Initially I mistook them for bonafide security officials when I drove through their roadblock on the main road.

Phiphidon owning a lot of people on this thread with those snippets from the TRCT.

They have enough to explain as to why the Red Shirt Leaders have an indoor running track, while their disposable minions doing their dirty work are confined in places like the Pathum Thani prison.

Leaders are always treated differently to the foot-soldiers, surely you know this.

The yellow shirt leaders were untouchable, and some even got positions in the government, even having participated in and condoned terrorist action. (and yes, taking an airport forcibly was a terrorist action).

You conveniently forgot to answer my question about which yellow shirt leaders have been arrested and imprisoned.

For all your bleating about double standards you are nothing but a hypocrite; attacking one side while refusing to condemn the other.

If you do not feel safe anywhere in LOS then the simple answer is do not go there.Stay at home and get robbed or bashed at your' local train station.

I think the BIB are doing a reasonable job in Thailand.At least they don't take the softly ,softly approach of Police in Melbourne.

Just recently a team 80 combat clad coppers tried to break up a protest of 300 people outside a chicken processing plant.

After 15 mins of pushing and shoving the cops gave up and went home. Their comment afterwards"we took the softly,softly approach".

the protestors are still there and the rest of us here get booked for 4 kms over the speed limit.(All about revenue)

Don't get confused with bitterness over your local Police, Thai Police are doing a terrible job and always have done.

The Thais don't trust or like them, and that says a lot to me anyway.