Red Shirts And Police

[prospero]

Police and Red Shirts are having a set-to at the intersection of Pattaya Tai and Pattaya 3. Anyone know how it started? Can we expect more of this with the ASEAN conference coming to town?

[NanLaew]

A 'set-to' or are they standing around looking at each other while everyone else slows down to gawk?

[deprogrammed]

Maybe the Red shirts have a point. How come Abbisit was prominent on photos at the G20 summit. Is it because he is part of the boys network, and if so who is he representing. The working class or the elite

Doesnt take much working out!

Edited April 7, 2009 by deprogrammed

[NanLaew]

^ Abhisit's picture was prominent where? I was in the UK during the G20 and never saw his smiling face except as part of the group photo fiasco at the end.

The boy is a legend on his own lunchtime.

[Phil Conners]

Abhisit is the first honest leader in generations. What do you prefer? One of the old boys with a straw into the state coffers? At least he tries his best to improve the lives for the majority. Give it some time.

[CGW]

Abhisit is the first honest leader in generations. What do you prefer? One of the old boys with a straw into the state coffers? At least he tries his best to improve the lives for the majority. Give it some time.

Its not often I am shocked but mentioning Abhisit in the same sentence as honest! you cant be even vaguely serious! Look at his cabinet.............

Edited April 7, 2009 by CGW

[pumpuiman]

Abhisit is the first honest leader in generations. What do you prefer? One of the old boys with a straw into the state coffers? At least he tries his best to improve the lives for the majority. Give it some time.

:D

[snuggzzz]

Ditto above.............................

[moo9]

Alll the Abhisit critics seem to be married with an isaan lady....som na na

Working class and Thaksin...what a joke!

[britmaveric]

^only joke is a statement like the one above!!! :D

[moo9]

I did not want to offend anybody married to an Isaan Girl (!), but the blindness a a few farang towards Mr. Thaksin is amazing. Does snybody really believes that the Thaksin Clan cares of poor people? He pampers them as they are the cheapest votes to buy. That it is all about and big money went into his pockets.

[Ulysses G.]

Do you really think that other Thai politicians care about the poor?

[deprogrammed]

^ Abhisit's picture was prominent where? I was in the UK during the G20 and never saw his smiling face except as part of the group photo fiasco at the end.

The boy is a legend on his own lunchtime.

4th from the left - this image gave many Thais the impression that Thailand is part of the G20.

PS it matters not wether you were in the Uk or Timbuck2 during the G20. Or are you somehow deluded into thinking that being in the Uk gives you a better look at the photos published throughout the planet

[Chang_paarp]

While this has nothing to do with the origonal post.....

The PM was there as an invited guest because Thailand is having it's turn as APEC president. His seating at the offical dinner was somewhat better than the Ausie PM who was there because the Ausie economy rated a seat, according to photos published in Oz media.

[NanLaew]

^ Abhisit's picture was prominent where? I was in the UK during the G20 and never saw his smiling face except as part of the group photo fiasco at the end.

The boy is a legend on his own lunchtime.

4th from the left - this image gave many Thais the impression that Thailand is part of the G20.

PS it matters not wether you were in the Uk or Timbuck2 during the G20. Or are you somehow deluded into thinking that being in the Uk gives you a better look at the photos published throughout the planet

My comment was directed at what I assume to be your observation of Thai media coverage of the G20 summit which made the PM look like a significant player. I was simply making an observation that in the UK media, he never came up on the media radar; he was just another smiling suit. I am sure that the German & French media is sycophantically ranting about how the Merkel-Sarkozy 'alliance' effectively emasculated the Obama-Brown back-slapping buddy club perception of the UK media.

Not delusional. Have another coffee and relax. "4th from the left"... I assume you are referring to a Thai media picture and not the Daily Telegraph, Bild, Figaro or The New York Times.

BTW, the BBC reported that the redshirts busted a window on the PM's Jeep Cherokee while he was in Pattaya and the MIB had to whisk him away for his safety. Maybe that was the 'set-to' the OP referred to?

[Spalpeen]

Getting back to the original post, news reports indicate that an unmarked car carrying PM Abhisit was stopped at the Pattaya Tai/ 3rd Rd. intersection when it was attacked by a group of red shirts. The rear window was broken and an attempt was made to drag the driver from the car.

Abhisit was returning to Bangkok following a cabinet meeting held at the Royal Cliff.

[homeless007]

Alll the Abhisit critics seem to be married with an isaan lady....som na na

Working class and Thaksin...what a joke!

Best laugh in a long time! Great!

[sotsira]

Abhisit is the first honest leader in generations. What do you prefer? One of the old boys with a straw into the state coffers? At least he tries his best to improve the lives for the majority. Give it some time.

He might look like the honest clean cut new kid on the block, thats just what they want people to think, but who pulls his strings i wonder?

Oh, and how was he elected ?

[moo9]

Is it true that abt. 500 redshirts demonstrated this morning in front of the police Soi 9 beachroad, demanding the release of the 2 arrested suspects, who were involved of attacking the PM's car yesterday?

Apparently, the 2 morons were realsed without bail and no further investigation.....!!!

I always thought that Pattaya will go on as usual, despite the problems in BKK, but as the mob turns up here now as well.....

[CGW]

^ Appears so, they released the "suspects" the Chief of Police has been given a 30 day holiday and Thailand is getting more first rate publicity on the world news, just what it needed! Whens Disneyland supposed to open up here?

[rixalex]

Give it some time.

Yes they should. I and i'm sure many others certainly gave the square-faced shister a hel_l of a lot more than 3 or 4 months before drawing conclusions.

Abhisit has done nothing during his short time in office to warrant being completely written off - those that do are letting their feelings for Thaksin and the reds affect their judgment. They want Abhisit to fail so badly, just so they can smugly say "so you see, Thaksin isn't so bad after all".

In the end, Abhisit may well fail - time will tell - but to date he's done a solid if not unspectacular job.

[eljeque]

Right now, most every PM around the world is seeing a bad situation get worse.

In SE Asia starting about 2000, a few years after the fall, the economies did well, and improvements were everywhere.

Every PM looked great. That is not the present situation, and no matter how wel anyone does, it is still going to look pretty bad versus their competition from eight years ago.

[raylo]

Alll the Abhisit critics seem to be married with an isaan lady....som na na

Working class and Thaksin...what a joke!

Most of Thaksin's strongest & unshakeable support has been and remains far north. Not Northern working class. To those who actually live in Thailand you would remember the main "security details" were Chiang Mai and above during the military government. Think why that would be!

Read his biography or get someone to read it for you if that is a problem. You might understand his power base then. Isaan is only a part of it and as people have correctly identified the poor idolise him. He may have got that for a few baht but it was the right thing at the right time. No matter if it was politically motivated.

And no I am not married to an Isaan lady but I have lived there before. My whole region including Westerners support him. Me? I am neutral. I just have a low tolerance for morons/

By the way he is not in Cambodia as reported in another blog. I saw him last night and no it was not in Thailand.

[moo9]

He may have got that for a few baht but it was the right thing at the right time. No matter if it was politically motivated.

You should ask yourself whether Thaksin's few baht here and there really improved the living conditions of people in the region.

I doubt it. it is all about PR to support his private and politcal interests. But that is much too complicated for the vast majority of the people.

Cheers

[asiancup2007]

Moo9 Yes Thaksin did improve the living conditions of people in Essarn.

He is shrewd attacking the invisible hand is a brillant ploy.

By the way wasn't Abhisit representing ASEAN at the G20 not APEC.

[Pdaz]

I did not want to offend anybody married to an Isaan Girl (!), but the blindness a a few farang towards Mr. Thaksin is amazing. Does snybody really believes that the Thaksin Clan cares of poor people? He pampers them as they are the cheapest votes to buy. That it is all about and big money went into his pockets.

What the man said.. Imposible to have a truly democratic election when so many of the population are happy to sell their vote for a 500 baht handout and some sweet talk... Until the poor/uneducated get some self respect and elect somebody who truly represents them nothing will change. Voting in a 'champion' who's only interest is 'self interest' will only make their situation worse and rape the country of it's wealth. Abhisit may not be perfect but he has to be preferable to Thaksin.

People who sell their vote should loose their right to vote.. If they put so little value on it they obviously don't understand how important it is.. They are as selfish as Thaksin and have no thought to the greater good of the country..

[fiddlehead]

I did not want to offend anybody married to an Isaan Girl (!), but the blindness a a few farang towards Mr. Thaksin is amazing. Does snybody really believes that the Thaksin Clan cares of poor people? He pampers them as they are the cheapest votes to buy. That it is all about and big money went into his pockets.

People who sell their vote should loose their right to vote.. If they put so little value on it they obviously don't understand how important it is.. They are as selfish as Thaksin and have no thought to the greater good of the country..

Sometimes they have no choice.

My wife was taken off the record books in her hometown in Issan.

When we tried to find out why, we were told it was because she didn't fill out a form asking if she was going to vote for Taksin or not last time he ran.

She didn't know anything about this and we had to pay (the guy who took her off the books) 500 baht to get her put back on.

Amazing Thailand.

[Chang_paarp]

Moo9 Yes Thaksin did improve the living conditions of people in Essarn.

He is shrewd attacking the invisible hand is a brillant ploy.

By the way wasn't Abhisit representing ASEAN at the G20 not APEC.

Er whoops, you are right there, I knew it was one of those acronyms.

[Meg_2003]

Anyone know whats happened today? Bus loads of reds came from Bangkok last night.. Wondering how the meeting went today?

[tropo]

Anyone know whats happened today? Bus loads of reds came from Bangkok last night.. Wondering how the meeting went today?

The red shirts have turned Pratumnak Road south of the intersection to the Conference Centre into a parking lot. They're not going anywhere.

I haven't seen the hill end of Pratumnak Road yet.