2 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

Certainly agreeing on your input; and yes, it remains a fact that "caretaking" is an easier ticket. 35 years ago, when politics was a boiling pot of led again, Anand Panyarachun coached Thailand twice through troubled waters as a caretaker PM on behest of HM Rama IX. No political ties, no political career, a successful business executive with 20 years of experience in the diplomatic service whose only interest was to calm the political tides which have created havoc over Thailand since 1932.

Future will tell; I - for one - am not betting on anything as ....... betting is illegal in Thailand ;-)

Cheers - and I think that over time betting and casinos will become legal - and then we can all have a bet on the result.

21 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Extremely coincidental border flare up to get those nationalists on board.

I think Anutin saw the event as an opportunity and played the game far better than the PT or PP did. PP should have agreed to take over the PM role and then used that period to show the people they can run the country. Instead they were politically immature and stupid - assuming that they would be the 'winner' at the next election with PT in such a bad shape. 24 hours is a long time in politics - Anutin agreed to an early election, on the basis that he believed that would give Himself and his Party the time to prove their abilities, and to prepare the ground for the election. BJT were also the smartest during the Senate elections and ended up with a lot more 'aligned' Senators than the other Parties.

I recall some years ago when I had a 'debate' with a high profile Expat Youtuber when I claimed that Anutin would be the PM one day. He was adamant that Anutin would never be PM and we 'went at it a bit'. When I sent him a note when Anutin became PM he never replied - and blocked me from his channel. There are many Expats here who have been here for many years and have been involved in many things - but they have absolutely no idea how politics (and business) really works.

33 minutes ago, XRules said:

I think Anutin saw the event as an opportunity and played the game far better than the PT or PP did. PP should have agreed to take over the PM role and then used that period to show the people they can run the country. Instead they were politically immature and stupid - assuming that they would be the 'winner' at the next election with PT in such a bad shape. 24 hours is a long time in politics - Anutin agreed to an early election, on the basis that he believed that would give Himself and his Party the time to prove their abilities, and to prepare the ground for the election. BJT were also the smartest during the Senate elections and ended up with a lot more 'aligned' Senators than the other Parties.

I recall some years ago when I had a 'debate' with a high profile Expat Youtuber when I claimed that Anutin would be the PM one day. He was adamant that Anutin would never be PM and we 'went at it a bit'. When I sent him a note when Anutin became PM he never replied - and blocked me from his channel. There are many Expats here who have been here for many years and have been involved in many things - but they have absolutely no idea how politics (and business) really works.

This guys is pure arrogance !!!!

28 minutes ago, MikeandDow said:

This guys is pure arrogance !!!!

This guy has a cat as his avatar - is it a woke liberal ??

4 hours ago, XRules said:

I think Anutin saw the event as an opportunity

Saw the event or manufactured it?

13 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Saw the event or manufactured it?

Indirectly Trump is helping Anutin right now. Anutin's standing up to Trump over the border issue gives him credibility as Trump creates international alienation. Anutin got very lucky with the past three or four days.

On 1/21/2026 at 4:07 PM, dinsdale said:

Saw the event or manufactured it?

The recording of the Phone Call? Or the Military Actions taken?

On 1/20/2026 at 4:35 PM, bannork said:

It's hard to predict how many seats The Democrats will get this time. They're undoubtedly revitalized under Abhisit, and this is the liberal wing of The Democrats, if this leads up to 40 seats, then would they join PT and/or Bhumjaithai?

Abhisit resigned over the Dems joining the Prayut government, and now he's said they wouldn't join parties with 'grey politicians'. Well that rules out both BHJ and PT in theory!

I believe they could work with the People's Party, but likely in opposition this time.

There are different interpretations of Abhisit's decision to not support the Junta.

One is that he was upset that, unlike after the previous coup, the miliary did not give him the top job and decided to govern by themselves. Despite the fact that he did all he could to get Prayut appointed as army chief in 2010.

3 hours ago, XRules said:

The recording of the Phone Call? Or the Military Actions taken?

The latter.

BJT only got 10% of the votes last elections.

PT will always need to figure in the power equation. Even a diminished PT will be too influential to ignore. PP can never go at it alone regardless of how many votes they get. That is the reality and there’s always compromises to be made.

Has anyone not learned anything from past elections?