cavelight

TV is drenched in the western mindset - the unskillful thinking of revenge, blame, hatred, arrogance and ignorance. Very few people on here are aware of their self - that inflated balloon that feels so important but in reality is just hot air. So many hysterical rants and personal attacks are jostling for space in every thread, so many pumped-up selfs... it demonstrates perfectly the problems with western culture, and the benefits of Buddhist thought and self-knowledge.

Do yourself a favour and go over to YouTube, where you will find some sensible videos about Buddhist thinking from the venerable Ajahn Brahm.

Udorn provincial HQ on fire... the first of many buildings to get torched. Much more unrest to come in the provinces...

http://www.thairath.co.th/content/region/83965

Now 45.5b for sterling at Krungsri.

For plenty of expats here, this is a disaster. If it hits 40, I think a few people will have to start surviving on the cheapest rice and a few nicked canoon. The UK is s**t hitting a powerful fan right now.

True story, no photoshop. This is Santisuk, a pig-tailed macaque monkey who works with Thai police in Yala province. I have no doubt that a torrent of witty captions will folllow...

Hundreds of the usual hippy-style backpackers trying to get into Thailand at Aranyapratet on my visa run yesterday. So many, in fact, that I had to pay the 200b bribe to get a quick entry stamp, or I would have been there for an hour and a half. Business as usual - plus the usual backpacker whining about having to pay 4 quid to avoid waiting. Money well spent, because it was firkin hot over there, as it often is.

For decades the poor have been held down in the mud of paddy fields in grinding poverty by the rich elite and the top tier of Thai society. Eventually the poor will decide that they do not wish that situation to continue, and the events that then unfold will inevitably be unpleasant. The elite will cling to power until it is torn from their hands.

This is an inevitable bump on Thailand's rocky road to true parliamentary democracy. If the red shirts were having their revolution in Burma, the world would be applauding their bravery. The feverish and hysterical anti-red posts on this forum are mostly from those who have never experienced true poverty or the yearning to improve their lives that grows quietly in the paddy fields.

The astonishing rudeness of many of the posts shows an obvious ignorance of Buddhism and its values, along with a boorish and old-fashioned colonial arrogance.

British Ambassador Quinton Quayle said:

Please tell me that's a made up name. No wonder the Aussies and Americans think we are all Little Lord Fauntleroys!

"Good show! Have to keep these foreign Johnnies on their toes... that's how we built the empire."

The amount of flaming in this thread is very sad.

I think a few people need to go and sit quietly in a temple for a while to let go of their self.

It's sad to see the forum descend into a bar-room brawl... if you can't be polite to each other, then maybe the mods should just lock all the threads.

Hysterical, heavily biased nonsense - just another day at the office for the Nation writers. This is not journalism.

I have been reliably informed that the Thai Ministry of Information [Censorship] has banned all postings of pictures, videos and comments about the use of soldiers to shoot down pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok. It claims it will get co-operation from YouTube and foreign governments - which shows their breathtaking naivety in international affairs.

Strong echoes of the JFK assassination. That red shirt with his brain on display was certainly the recipient of a high-velocity round.

Take a read of the JFK autopsy, and you'll quickly see what I'm talking about...

JFK Autopsy

Abhisit hoist with his own petard (a Shakespearean-derived anecdote - appropriately from Hamlet, a play packed full of bloodthirsty Machiavellian scheming and subterfuge).

A petard was a small bomb used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. The term has a French origin and dates back to the sixteenth century. Again rather appropriate under the circumstances. Enlightened TV members will enjoy the quote, which will sail over the heads of the "Benidorm Boys" on here without any resonance or value...

There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,

Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,

They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way

And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;

For 'tis the sport to have the enginer

Hoist with his own petar; and 't shall go hard

But I will delve one yard below their mines

And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,

When in one line two crafts directly meet.

In the passage above, the "letters" refer to instructions (written by his uncle Claudius, the King) to be carried sealed to the King of England, by Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the latter being two schoolfellows of Hamlet. The letters, as Hamlet suspects, contain a death warrant against Hamlet, who will later open and modify them to instead request the execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Enginer refers to a military engineer, the spelling reflecting Elizabethan stress.

Regardless of your views, from an objective analytical position I'm surprised the reds stopped when they seemed to be gaining tactical momentum in the city, with plenty of captured weapons including what appears to be 20mm on their stage. Their ability to capture armoured vehicles was interesting and unexpected. I don't see what there was to stop them taking the whole city, other than manpower - 20mm rounds go through thinner walls like butter, and through bullet-proof vests as though they were T-shirts. They certainly had the motivation. With fresh influxes of rural (and urban) poor to significantly swell red shirt numbers, the army would have to pitch ever-increasing quantities of soldiers and hardware at them - and that's a slippery slope to full-on urban revolution, especially if the reds' ability to capture military hardware continued or escalated.

Some will say the army "withdrew". Looking at the number of destroyed or immobilised armoured vehicles, it looks more like a retreat.

Who exactly is going to pay this tax. Your average Chai looks upon paying tax as a serious loss of face.

Well the Isaan parliament building will just have to be made from bamboo then... ...but seriously, I think it's not a bad idea. It would give Isaan people some pride in their own region, as well as removing many of their political squabbles from Bangkok to somewhere hundreds of km away.

LOL... 'a bit like the Scottish parliament'. Now there's a <deleted> entity for you where the purse strings are still firmly held by London.

Yes, that's exactly my point - a fudged solution here is a good solution... it would give the Isaan people a feeling at least that they had some control. I'm not talking about partition into different nations, which as you suggest is often worse than doing nothing.

Partitioning Thailand might solve some problems - especially Isaan. If Isaan had its own parliament with tax-raising powers (a bit like the Scottish parliament in the UK) the people might get a feeling that they were a bit more in control of their own destiny, rather than being dictated to by the rich elite in Bangkok.

5 people have died in clashes, according to the BBC - one Japanese journalist working for Reuters and 4 redshirts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8612783.stm

Abhisit is going to wake up to civil war unless he's very careful.

The Red Shirt leaders called for a dissolution of Parliament and immediate elections so that the electorate could decide on whether or not (and how) to amend the military Constitution of 2007 and also to decide on future government policies.

Abhisit gave no commitment to fresh elections and questioned the reason for such elections. All he could say is that “we hear what you say”. According to Abhisit further negotiations were necessary. Basically his position was to buy more time while not proposing any concrete time table.

Abhisit falsely claimed that he was “democratically elected, not manoeuvred into power by the military”. He claimed that he “always” opposed the “methods” of the 2006 coup. When challenged about whether he would reject all laws and bodies which stemmed from this illegal coup and oppose military intervention in politics, he said that any amendments to the military Constitution of 2007, as demanded by the Red Shirts, would have to be made by both the elected House of Representatives and the Senate. Half the Senators were appointed by the military after the coup. In other words, while Abhisit claimed to oppose the 2006 coup, he supports all the measures brought in by the military junta, including the military appointed senators. He also asked if the Red Shirts would accept the interventions of courts after any future elections if a political party was found to be in breach of election laws. This implies that Abhisit supported the manoeuvring of the courts which dissolved the elected Samak government on the grounds that Samak engaged in a cooking programme on TV.

Abhisit implied that any further negotiations should also involve other parties which might not be happy with amending the military Constitution. In other words Abhisit thinks that the PAD should be involved in negotiations. He also resurrected the old chestnut about the “silent majority” not supporting either side in order to argue that the Red Shirts did not represent the majority. Yet repeated elections and the size of Red Shirt mass demonstrations undermines Abhisit’s claim. The fact that he was forced to negotiate with Red Shirt leaders on live TV is also an indication of the Red Shirt’s strength.

Abhisit refused to answer whether the present Thai state was controlled by the military and other non-constitutional elements. He refused to comment on the fact that the military Constitution enshrines the legitimacy of the 2006 coup. He refused to answer the charge that the military had illegally allowed the PAD to seize the international airports against the wishes of an elected government in late 2008. He claimed that the military Constitution of 2007 was accepted by a democratic referendum. He ignored the fact, pointed out by Red Shirt leaders, that many provinces were under martial law at the time of the referendum and the fact that the military junta spent millions in a one-sided campaign to accept the Constitution.

Abhisit stated that before fresh elections could be held, the issue of Constitutional amendments should be solved and society had to be “peaceful”. On the side of the Government, PM secretary-general Korbsak Sabhavasu also stated that the Constitution should not be amended by the party that wins a future election because this would not be “democratic”. But the Red Shirt leaders affirmed that they wanted Parliament dissolved now and fresh elections held as soon as possible. They pointed out that they were making these demands on behalf of millions of Red Shirts who have little patience for a continuation of the military backed Government. They maintained that fresh elections should be held before any new amendments to the Constitution are made. This is so that the people can give their opinion in fresh elections about how to proceed with the Constitution without any further delays or excuses for delays. Let us see what the people decide. If Abhisit claims he is representative of the majority of the electorate he shouldn’t be worried about fresh elections. The PAD now have their own political party, so their support can be tested in practice by elections. The Red Shirts said that if Abhisit felt that he could govern the country right now in the face of mass protests then he could just ignore the demands for elections. The question is... can he really govern?

PM secretary-general Korbsak Sabhavasu claimed that elections would solve nothing and possibly lead to a crisis. What guarantee was there that people would accept the result? The Red Shirts repeatedly gave assurances that Red Shirts would accept the result of democratic elections. What Korbsak failed to mention was that the crisis resulted from the fact that the military, the PAD and the Democrat Party refused to accept the results of democratic elections ever since 2005.

The Red Shirts proposed an ultimatum that Parliament should be dissolved within 2 weeks and that they would wait until tomorrow to hear the answer of the Government.

I don't understand why so many falang on here have a problem with a fresh and fair election being called. With UN supervision or whatever, and all political parties being allowed to field candidates, the people will get what they vote for.

After the military-backed Democrat Party Government of Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency and issued arrest warrants for pro-democracy Red Shirt leaders, the Government has attempted to close down all Internet and satellite media or websites which don't toe the government line.

Since late March the Red Shirts have been holding peaceful and disciplined protests in Bangkok. They have not destroyed anything or held weapons of any kind. Their demands are for the dissolution of parliament and immediate fresh elections. The military-backed Government is totally opposed to elections, since the Democrat Party has never ever won a majority.

The Red Shirt protests are in stark contrast to the Yellow Shirt PAD demonstrators in 2008. The PAD used violence and carried weapons. They occupied and wrecked Government House and seized and shut down the international airports. No one has been punished for these criminal acts. The PAD demand that the democratic space be reduced because they believe that the majority of the people do not deserve the vote. The Democrat Party has worked hand in hand with the PAD and the army. Yet Hans van Baalen Dutch MEP, President of the Liberal International, supports the military backed government in Thailand and claims that a crackdown on Red Shirts would defend the Rule of Law in Thailand.

Abhisit justifies his state of emergency on the grounds that the Red Shirts are blocking shopping centres. This is a lie, one of many lies told by the Thai Prime Minister. Another lie is that the Red Shirt media is advocating violence. They have done nothing of the kind. Yesterday's brief invasion of the parliament grounds by Red Shirts was in response to CS gas canisters being thrown at the peaceful crowd outside.

Today the Red Shirts went to their satellite TV station to ask for it back, yet foreign media like the BBC claim wrongly claim that the Red Shirts were trying to "occupy" the satellite station. What they wanted was for the transmissions to be reinstated.

The Red Shirts are a mass movement of workers and peasants. They are demanding a restoration of Democracy. Most support former PM Taksin because his government introduced Thailand's first ever universal health care scheme and pro-poor policies. Foreign media often incorrectly portray the Red Shirts as rural people. They are poor people from urban and rural areas, including Bangkok. They represent the vast majority of Thai citizens.

Record of the Abhisit Government...

The Democrat Party took over the Government after:

• Continuously criticising the Taksin Government for using state funds for the poor

• Refusing to take part in the elections of 2006 because they knew they would lose

• A military coup in September 2006

• A military Constitution was introduced in 2007 which decreased the democratic space

• They lost the December 2007 election

• They supported the PAD violent demonstrations which seized Government House and closed down the international airports

• The Royalist Courts were used twice to dissolve Red Shirt parties which won majorities

• Corrupt politicians were bullied and bribed by the army to change sides and support the Democrat Party

My previous posting about this was from a source who presented the photo disingenuously; the innuendo was reflected in my post, which the mods deleted - fair cop.

However, I now re-present the matter. The original story appeared at Matichon Online (in Thai language):

Matichon Online Article

It's not an empty gun bag - I think there's a big gun in it (assault rifle?).

If the mods are unhappy with the veracity of the Matichon article, go ahead and delete the post. I won't raise the issue again.

The story of Thaksin having prostate cancer is entirely fictitious. It was a rumour started by one of his opponents in parliament. The fact that the Nation has failed to rebut the story tells you all you need to know about the Nation and the colour of its proprietors.

Dr Tajing Siripanit, a commissioner from the Thai National Human Rights Commission, stated on NBT television at 13.30 on 4th April 2010, that the military-backed Government “would be justified in using force” against the peaceful pro-democracy Red Shirt protesters “because they were disrupting shopping” in the centre of Bangkok. In fact, the Red Shirts were not blocking the pedestrian entrances to any shopping centres.

Previously, the National Human Rights Commission remained quiet about the PAD blockade of the international airports in 2008 and the 2006 military coup. They have remained silent about the use of lese majeste against Government critics and they are silent on the censorship of the media. Many members of the National Human Rights Commission are PAD supporters.

This is an example of what the Red Shirts mean when they say that the “independent bodies” are staffed by military junta appointees. This is why we need immediate fresh elections and the abolition of the military Constitution.

Most Thai NGOs who repeatedly called for the democratically elected Peoples Power (Red Shirt) Government to use restraint against the PAD protestors in 2008, have remained silent during the present government’s threats to use force against Red Shirt protesters who are maintaining peaceful protests in the streets. They have also supported the military-backed Government’s refusal to call immediate fresh elections. Some NGOs have said that local community rights issues need to be sorted out first before elections, as though community rights and Democracy have nothing to do with each other... Amnesty International in Thailand has PAD supporters on its staff and so AI has refused to take up lese majeste prisoners as prisoners of conscience.

Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent Thai online news portal Prachatai, was charged on 31 March 2010 under the Computer Crimes Act.

Ms Chiranuch had to wait nearly four hours before bail was approved with a 300,000 baht bond, calculated on her salary as a nursing sister, for not removing comments posted on a web-board deemed offensive to (censored) fast enough to satisfy the government censors.

The Criminal Court set May 31 for the first hearing to check defence and prosecution witness lists.

In March 2009, military installed Thai Prime Minister Abhisit lied to a meeting at St John's College, Oxford that he had "sorted out Chiranuch's case and it was a misunderstanding by the police".

Link to Bank of England page about the newer 20 note:

Bank of England