Dizzle

Media reports that it was a Red-shirt supporter (soldier in civilian clothes) who was shot dead by the students who carried a gun and fought back after they were attacked with weapons. Because both sides are having 24/7 round the clock rallies so close to each other, they knew it would further cause more deaths to continue on. So it's good that they cancelled before things get worse. I'm sure people are tired of it around there.

Do you have any link(s) to such "media reports", other than Jatuporn's announcement to the reds or Richard Barrow's tweets, the death was a red supporter?

This one, from the Assoc. Foreign Press, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/685650-1-dead-four-people-shot-at-ramkhamhaeng-university-after-clashes/#entry7104820, reports on a 21-yr-old being shot dead, no affiliation (pro- or anti-government) is mentioned, while this one, from the Nation, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/685650-1-dead-four-people-shot-at-ramkhamhaeng-university-after-clashes/page-2#entry7105161, reports it was in fact a Ramkamhaeng student that was shot dead.

Soi 71 is not near the Israeli embassy. The Israeli embassy is in Ocean Tower II just of Soi 19

Depends what you define as "near". Soi 19 is just about 3 miles from Soi 71. Furthermore, if reports that the bomber was angry at the taxi driver for not wanted him to take him (to where?), it wouldn't be a stretch to say that 3 miles is not far at all. Speculation of course.

More information on the Kasetsart Agricultural Trade Fair, being held February 4 - 12, is available at:

http://www.ku.ac.th/newdesign/hilight_detail.php?highlightID=193

If you can't read Thai, copy and paste the web address into Google translate -- that should give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect at the fair. I just went to the Khon Kaen Ag Fair last weekend and my farm manager says the Kasetsart fair is virtually the same thing. I am, nonetheless, still going to check it out.

Double, triple, and even quadruple bananas have occurred frequently enough on my farm growing up that it wore off its novelty pretty fast.

Just drove through Sukhumvit Soi 13. About 200 m inside the Soi, water is percolating up from the sewers. A 20 - 30 meter stretch of water about 10 cm or so deep. I'm hoping this isn't a sign of what's to come ... This is similar to how the On Nut - Srinakarin intersection started several days back.

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What is the Central Lad Prao/JJ park area looking like today? Is there any noticeable increase or decrease in the water level?

Still very wet ! Around JJ water has decreased 3 cm on yesterday

Not entirely true. I just went to JJ Mall this afternoon. The west side of the market is completely dry, but the east side (BTS side) is submerged. The animal market in JJ has been open continuously since the flooding began.

This is no laughing matter. The biggest danger here comes from self-proclaimed snake specialists that mistakenly identify one of these for the common, less venomous green tree snakes. The green mamba CAN KILL YOU and is particularly dangerous to smaller people -- the lethal dosage can be as little as 0.25 mg toxin per kg of the victim's body weight and a full-grown mamba can deliver up to 90 mg of toxin in a single bite. Translation: if you are a 60 kg human, as little as 15 mg of the toxin can kill you. Of course this is a lower limit, so no need to overly panic -- some people can survive up to 30 mg toxin per kg of body weight.

As for "local snakes having a meal of them" -- that's actually quite possible. Hopefully the cobras roaming around are hungry and not too stressed out to eat.

ASTV claiming that protesters are being prevented from entering protest site /TAN_Network

They were given advanced warning, that the Red Cross Fair had permits to use that area, and had gotten them well ahead of time. Apparently PAD believes Possession is 9/10 the law.

For all it is worth it is 9/10ths

Remeber the airport take over by the 'Other Side' ?? :jap:

Are you serious? "9/10" written out in words could be "nine over ten", "nine divided by ten", OR "nine tenths". Writing a fraction (with the fraction bar) with a counting number in the numerator and an ordinal number in denominator is technically incorrect.

Yeah, its just me against the world. Maybe you need to read my post again. Both protests should have been stopped right away. The yellow siege was successful - one of the main guys was made Foreign Minister. This set a precedent. The army and police shouldn't have taken sides. They should have enforced the law. They didn't. When the reds came out, they didn't bother to enforce the law either. What would happen to protesters at LAX in the US or in Times Square who refused to leave? They would be arrested right away regardless of where the sympathies of the security forces lay. Because the law is the law. But not here.

The yellow siege wasn't "successful". The yellows were there to stop Somchai from landing (forget where from). The whole yellow protest (8 months) was to stop the PPP from changing the constitution to get Thaksin off his crimes.

The court decision disbanding the PPP was going to happen anyway, with or without the yellows.

Let me try another angle. They just gave 6 months in jail to a number of protesters. Good. Now how many yellows did jail time after taking over the international airport? This makes it easy to convince people that there is a double standard.

What were the laws and who was the government at the time of yellow protests?

Not double standards. Different situations.

I am not saying that the yellow protests were not wrong. I am just pointing out the facts of the situation.

I concur 100%! For those unhappy with the governments action (or, more appropriately, "inaction") during the yellow maniacs airport stint, take your complaints to Somchai, a red backer. It was his government at the time.

Very sad pictures

Forgot to add some information to the picture

7 killed and 101 injured Nine people are in critical conditions including a 10 year old boy.

With many families on the protest site and the indiscriminating shooting by the Thai military it's a wonder that no child has been shot.

However last night a 10 year old boy was seriously shot in the abdomen when the van he was traveling in failed to slow down at a check-point.

Source: Daily News Thailand

Standard Geneva convention rules of war

The soldiers had no idea who was inside or the vehicles purpose

Normal logic when a soldier holding a gun says stop. you stop

For gods sake.. Do you people not read ??

He wasnt inside the vehicle.. Troops shooting hit at the vehicle hit bystanders.

... What are the "bystanders" doing there anyway? They are being told to GO AWAY but don't. They want to "watch". Then, when they get shot, fuel is given to the red idiots and their equally ignorant sympathizers to justify their accusations that the troops are "firing indiscriminately" at "innocent" bystanders.

Pathetic.

I keep noticing that in a number of threads and various replies the phrase ' government / PM...order the killing of civilians' , keeps cropping up. Does anyone have evidence that at some point in the not too distant past the government sat down and ordered the army to go and kill civilians????

If my memory serves me right the PM ordered the rally to be dispersed in line with International standards.And was at the time very explicit that these were his wishes. Unless international standards include ordering the killing of civilians how has this phrase become accepted as the truth??

The Red Shirt leaders just keep repeating "the PM ordered the killing of innocent civilians" over and over and over again. Eventually, the masses of impressionable followers believe it to be the "truth". Pretty simple actually -- I do it to my primary level students all the time in order to impress on them the value of thinking more critically over things that are presented to them -- even if such things are presented to them by people purportedly in positions of authority or respect.

Simply put, what we are seeing here is a massive failure of the Thai educational system. These red shirt leaders and their minion are acting like schoolchildren that have yet to be truly educated on how civilized people are able to settle their differences in opinion.

As much as I do empathize with the family of the slain police, I can't help but feel that the police as an institution have brought this upon themselves. They are, once again as an institution, viewed as incompetent and a laughing stock. The general public's confidence in the ability for the police to do their jobs (ie, protect the public, apprehend criminals, etc), although already quite low due to the persistent corruption and bribe-collecting image they already have, has plummeted to rock bottom. Really – does anyone really expect a policeman to actually chase a criminal, or even a simple traffic violator? I hate to admit this (or not), but I have more than once in the past ignored policemen that have tried to "flag me down" on the side of the road, as: 1) I know I didn't do anything wrong; 2) I'm pretty confident they're not going to bother jumping on their "scooters" to chase me; and 3) no one else cares enough to perhaps jot down my license plate number to report to the authorities.

In contrast, back the in the U.S., "no one" likes (or at least wants to run into) the cops because they are generally competent and, the vast majority of the time, will do their jobs. Here, it seems, "no one" likes the police because they're corrupt and, to put it mildly, untrustworthy.

False.

Tourism is 4th as a percentage of GDP (6%)behind

Automobiles and Automotive parts (11%), Financial Services (9%), Electric appliances and components (8%).

However it is all intertwined. You kill tourism, investment confidence will take a massive hit, which would affect financial services, industrial investment and output, etc.

Now, let's study numbers in Thailand. I suppose some people here think that nobody is oppressed, right? Seems like I see a few people making that claim. I suppose that if they are not on chains, they are not oppressed? Growing 100KG of rice for 400baht, no oppression? Having to sell the loto to make a living, no oppressed? Going to get a higher education to get paid $10K THB a month, not oppressed? Having to send their daughters to the big city to make ends meet, not oppression? Having to see old, fat farangs with some money as 'economic opportunities', not oppression? Having to drink 10 to 20 shots a night in order to make money, no oppression? Having to work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for 8-9K THB cleaning rooms at a 5 star hotel, no oppression? Having to pay the police in order to sell your trinkets on the street, no oppression?

Heck no, after all the government claims that Thailand has an unemployment rate of 1.5%!! That's lower than Japan, lower than any industrialized country in the world! Why are they so unhappy if they are all gainfully employed and making a good living!!! Yeah! What shallow, self serving vision of the world you must have if you think that people making LESS than 4,000 baht a month working the farm should not feel oppressed. Go read a little bit about all the class and rural upheavals in the history of the world and you will see all the same patterns.

May be I should be asking the question - what do you think is oppression to you, aside from being on chains?

Oh my ... where do I begin?

The situations you describe do not exemplify OPPRESSION. Yes, it is possible that these situations may arise as a result of being oppressed, but not necessarily by the government. But, more than likely, they are consequences of either life choices that they had made earlier on in life or circumstances that are beyond the government's control (especially this government that is less than 2 years old). Furthermore, other than the 10K/mo uni grad, many of these people you describe may simply be UNEDUCATED. There is a BIG difference between being oppressed and being uneducated. As far as I can gather, Thai citizens are given the opportunity to go to school. Sure, the Thai educational system is in dire need of reform. But this fact remains -- many students, poor or rich, rural or urban, do succeed and are able to eventually afford more of what the modern world has to offer. Then again, many don't. That's just a fact of life. It happens in every country.

As a teacher, I have taught students from all walks of life, rich and poor, intelligent and not-so-intelligent, ambitious and downright lazy.

Yes, compared to the U.S., it is much more difficult for a child from a poor Thai family to succeed in school and go on to a fulfilling career, no matter how intelligent and ambitious that he/she may be. However, it is NOT impossible. There are no cruel laws or government policies that are intended to isolate any specific group of Thai citizens, such as the "rural poor", and prevent them from getting an education. It is unfortunate that there are many intelligent Thai children whose families feel they have no choice and stop sending their children to school early so they can help support their families. But, in many cases, the reality is they do have a choice.

I have met many Thais from rural poor families that made the right choice. Mothers and fathers made the necessary sacrifices to allow their children to take advantage of the educational opportunities that are available. Just out of college, many of them started out making about 8K-10K/mo but are now making a respectable 15K to 20K/mo, of which half goes home to help support their families.

This brings me to your "oppressed" 10K/mo uni grad. What's wrong with 10K/mo!?! Your perception that 10K/mo is not enough is based on what standard? Of course by western standards 10K/mo just won't cut it -- in the west. But 10K/mo is sufficient to start off a reasonable, Thai-style life. Sure, it may not be enough to afford a person all the "luxuries" of the modern world, but luxuries are just that: luxuries. They are not necessities. Unfortunately, many Thais are quite materialistic and brand-conscious so they end up blowing an entire month's salary on a smart phone or Gucci handbag. But that, in no way, shape, or form, constitutes oppression.

I may be wrong but no one is planting or harvesting rice in issan at the moment and it is dry season I thought that planting was done between june and july and harvest between october and december ?

Yes you are wrong, parts of issan can grow two crops a year, definitely in parts of Surin

He is not entirely wrong. The primary growing season does typically begin in May-June when the rain is expected to begin. The primary harvest is toward the end of the calendar year. In a few regions (perhaps Surin, as you claim), a secondary growing season is possible.

However, with the current drought situation, it is likely that secondary harvests will be substantially lower than expected.

It is quite possible, if not likely, that the "withering crops" described in the article would be withering whether or not the quoted farmer were here or back on the farm. However, being at the red shirt rallies, with the free food and water purportedly available there, doesn't seem to be a bad alternative to toiling over dried-up rice paddies. Throw in some monetary compensation and it becomes a no-brainer.

This is purely speculative, of course.

This government is far more democratic than many that have gone before it. I think these people need to be educated.

Finally ... we come to the root of the problem! A simple concept that is monumentally difficult to address. From an ideological perspective, I fully sympathize with the redshirts that truly believe they stand for a good cause. The lack of educational opportunities for the vast majority of poor people is perhaps the most dominant factor that has led to this unfortunate situation.

If you want some unbiased information you should not only look to state and army owned channels but also have a look at People's Television (channel 4 on Sophon; channel 20 on TMN).

AGREED. These people are behaving like wild animals, absolutely disgusting and very disrespectul.

This is the very line of thinking that has many of these Red Shirts angry. Yes, they are not as educated as many of the patrons of this forum, as well as the majority of the white collar workers typically residing in the cities. But that doesn't give the so-called "educated" the right to relegate them to a less-than-civil level of humanity, or categorize them as "wild animals".

This elitist attitude is just as big a problem that needs to be addressed as the lack of education of the huge segment of Thailand's population that make up much of the Red Shirt movement. To these predominantly rural poor, it is this attitude that they find "absolutely disgusting and very disrespectful. "

An issue that may arise for older teachers is in regards to group medical insurance plans. Many insurance providers will not allow your enrollment if you are over a certain age.

Our school has no problem hiring older teachers unless they insist that the school has to find insurance that will cover them. If such a situation arises, the school simply won't hire them.

This is an interesting situation indeed. Ill have to check on this with our personnel director.

I thought true-blue, real international schools only hired fully qualified teachers.

I think the problem here is the definition of "fully qualified teachers". I currently work at what most would consider a "true-blue, real international school", the rather large, well-established one in Minburi, and we do occasionally hire teachers that might not fit under some school's, or even our own, definition of fully-qualified. This is especially true in emergency situations.

In fact, contrary to popular belief, we have quite a few non-western teachers (Filipinas, Indians, and so forth) that would more than likely not be hired by the school in question, assuming the school in question is the school that I suspect it to be. Will check on this too.

Wow.

Does anyone know if this is on DVD somewhere? It would be nice to show to my science class.

Checked my balance on my US account for an ATM withdraw last week. There were TWO extra bank charges. An international transaction fee (1.5%) and an ATM withdrawal fee ($1.50). This doesn't mean that I wasn't charged the extra B150 by the Thai bank (Bangkok Bank, I think) as it probably is reflected in the actual withdrawal amount which was $599.69 for a B20,000 transaction.

BTW, my card is a simple debit card my withdrawal was from my savings account. It shouldn't matter whether it's a VISA or MC debit card unless I'm doing a credit card cash advance.