More Rallies 'as Soon As Decree Ends'

[george]

AFTER THE CHAOS

More rallies 'as soon as decree ends'

BANGKOK: -- The red shirts were likely to regroup after the government lifts the state of emergency, sources from security forces said yesterday.

Although life in Bangkok appears to have returned to normal, intelligence officials have had tips that supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra plan more rallies as soon as the state of emergency is discarded.

Red-shirt leaders such as Jatuporn Promphan, Jakrapob Penkair had earlier announced they were ready to stage an underground movement.

Informants claim the new round of rallies were intended to be more dramatic than those that took place in recent days.

The government has been warned to check D-Station carefully and take legal action against taxi drivers' local radio stations as they were a media allegedly instigating an uprising and anarchy.

Pheu Thai Party Udon Thani MP Lt Col Surathin Pimanmekin said the red shirt movement would continue although they had been told by the leaders to suspend the protest. "People who are treated unfairly still want to demonstrate their protest in their own way. They do not need leaders. Having leaders does not necessarily ensure victory."

He said provincial people would come to Bangkok to issue demands to the government.

Democrat Party adviser Banyat Bantadtan believed the red shirt movement would revive after regrouping to try gather more strength.

However, he said the longer the rallies went on, the more public opposition the red shirts would face before finally dying down.

"Thaksin fears that it would reach that point and that's why he has been calling for a mediator to bring reconciliation,'' he said.

Banyat, formerly a Democrat Party leader, gave three reasons that would drive Thaksin to compromise: first he doesn't want to go to jail. The Supreme Court's Political Division for Political Office Holders had sentenced him to two years in prison over a land deal by his ex-wife.

Secondly, he did not want to lose his assets (courts are due to rule on $2 billion of family money that has been frozen in Thai banks). And third, he wanted to return to power.

Banyat said it would be hard to find people who would act as a mediator for Thaksin, as the former PM wanted the government to throw 13 graft cases, worth Bt200 billion in damages, out of the court.

"Thai society has developed to the point that people will not allow a few people to settle this problem because it goes against moral and legal grounds,'' he said.

Meanwhile, a former Roi Et MP for the pro-Thaksin People Power Party, Nisit Sinthuprai, claimed the riots this week were the work of a third party and not the red shirts.

He also claimed the military crackdown on the protesters on Monday led to deaths and that he would find evidence and relatives of people supposedly killed to present to the press.

He said the red shirts had not lost the war; they were just taking a recess. "We will actually steal a small victory by breeding red-shirt seeds in the heart of people. Once we blow the whistle, a bigger number of red shirts will turn up."

He said he would be a second-generation leader for the red shirts and would lead a rally to call for the resignation of three privy councillors and the PM.

-- The Nation 2009-04-16

[xminator]

Personally I doubt they will be able to put any substantial numbers on the streets.

Edited April 15, 2009 by xminator

[onni4me]

Personally I doubt they will be able to put any substantial numbers on the streets.

Maybe just at the airport..?

[mhatami]

Personally I doubt they will be able to put any substantial numbers on the streets.

What bunch of bull Sh...t

Oh yeah luv Taxin priorities, Jail, Money then rule of laws

Edited April 16, 2009 by mhatami

[TPI]

Meanwhile, a former Roi Et MP for the pro-Thaksin People Power Party, Nisit Sinthuprai, claimed the riots this week were the work of a third party and not the red shirts.

He also claimed the military crackdown on the protesters on Monday led to deaths and that he would find evidence and relatives of people supposedly killed to present to the press.

He said the red shirts had not lost the war; they were just taking a recess. "We will actually steal a small victory by breeding red-shirt seeds in the heart of people. Once we blow the whistle, a bigger number of red shirts will turn up."

He said he would be a second-generation leader for the red shirts and would lead a rally to call for the resignation of three privy councillors and the PM.

-- The Nation 2009-04-16

Bang!...bang!.....bang! some where a dog barks in a carpark...silence and peace reigns. Only in this case does the end justify the means?

edited by TPI for berevity

Edited April 16, 2009 by TPI

[midas]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

[bertlamar]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

they aren't stupid enough to do this sort of stuff in their own neighbourhoods because they have to live there. They didn't have any problem being funded to come into the cities and run riot, because they get to go home and not live there.

Next time I suspect red shirts go to poor areas like Din Daeng flats (or Chonburi) with lots of rural turned city folk proud of their homes, they might suffer a whole lot more.

No doubt the movement will continue, but they lost most of their potential support; I'd guess they will reappear as the 'next colour after red' shirts.

[animatic]

Meanwhile, a former Roi Et MP for the pro-Thaksin People Power Party, Nisit Sinthuprai, claimed the riots this week were the work of a third party and not the red shirts.

He also claimed the military crackdown on the protesters on Monday led to deaths and that he would find evidence and relatives of people supposedly killed to present to the press.

He said the red shirts had not lost the war; they were just taking a recess. "We will actually steal a small victory by breeding red-shirt seeds in the heart of people. Once we blow the whistle, a bigger number of red shirts will turn up."

He said he would be a second-generation leader for the red shirts and would lead a rally to call for the resignation of three privy councillors and the PM.

-- The Nation 2009-04-16

Bang!...bang!.....bang! some where a dog barks in a carpark...silence and peace reigns. Only in this case does the end justify the means?

edited by TPI for berevity

These guys will say what ever floats into their head and think it makes sense.

[midas]

they aren't stupid enough to do this sort of stuff in their own neighbourhoods because they have to live there. They didn't have any problem being funded to come into the cities and run riot, because they get to go home and not live there.

Next time I suspect red shirts go to poor areas like Din Daeng flats (or Chonburi) with lots of rural turned city folk proud of their homes, they might suffer a whole lot more.

No doubt the movement will continue, but they lost most of their potential support; I'd guess they will reappear as the 'next colour after red' shirts.

I don't necessarily agree with you. The biggest thing I noticed

is the sheer anger of some rural people regarding what appears to be

a blatant double standard in the treatment of the yellow shirt leaders-

who committed just as much damage economically to this country

and the redshirt leaders. It seems this will just rub salt into the wound.

I have spent a lot of time in Isaan and I think it's a mistake to underestimate

the anger which has been building up there and the rift just seems to be getting

wider

[hammered]

With a bit of luck we will see a split between genuine democracy and better rights seeking redites and the Thaksin supporting gangs linke dot local powerful regional leaders who exploit the poor as much as anyone in Bangkok. If Thaksin is discredited enough it also opens an opportunity to move to issues rather than people.

Chaturon described the riot as out of control and Jaran made similar statementsd. These are both supporters of the reds - Chaturon mild and from a distance and Jaran directly. There may be some sanity from this situation if there are peopleon the other side who are also willing to negotiate a new democratic framework that most can accept. The problem is the powerful upcountry feudal warlords on one side and the entrenched elitists on the other. Lets hope the number of extremists decreases on both sides.

Interesting how the poweful influential feudal figures at provincial level that make up a lot of PTP never get mentioned in terms of oppression and they are certainly as exploitative as any Bangkok based exploiter but maybe harder to crticise locally. There are many contradictions that are going to start to show themselves beyond the simple mantras the various sides throw out as though some ultimate truth.

It is as others have noted harder to burn and destroy your own neighborhoods than those you dont have tolive in but not beyond the realm of possibility. It also runs the risk of turning local peoplewho just want to get on with life off of the cause.

[h90]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

Don't think that AKA-47 is difficult to get in Cambodia or Myanmar.....

[webfact]

I've read that years ago...

Source: Asterix and the Goths

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_and_the_Goths

[LawnGnome]

**Urgent**

Red Shirts Sighted In US!

Thousands rally with 'tea parties' on tax day

By JOE BIESK, Associated Press Writer Joe Biesk, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 15, 7:55 pm ET ATLANTA – Whipped up by conservative commentators and bloggers, tens of thousands of protesters staged "tea parties" around the country Wednesday to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts. The rallies were directed at President Barack Obama's new administration on a symbolic day: the deadline to file income taxes. Protesters even threw what appeared to be a box of tea bags toward the White House, causing a brief lockdown at the compound.

Shouts rang out from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to Salt Lake City, where many in the crowd booed Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman for accepting about $1.5 billion in stimulus money. Even in Alaska, where there is no statewide income tax or sales tax, hundreds of people held signs and chanted "No more spending."

"Frankly, I'm mad as hel_l," said businessman Doug Burnett at a rally at the Iowa Capitol, where many of the about 1,000 people wore red shirts declaring "revolution is brewing." Burnett added: "This country has been on a spending spree for decades, a spending spree we can't afford."

Article Continued Here - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090415/ap_on_...ax_day_protests

Edited April 16, 2009 by OptimusPrimeBKK

[Thai at Heart]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

I don't think it would come to guns, but a low level insurgency could be possible. It isn't as though the army have done a great job in the South, although the situation there is not the same as this.

I saw up country in the last couple of days, one small level protest continuing even after the Bangkok protests were put down. I don't know if the remaining reds are committed enough to continue but it may happen and if it descends into a semi terrorist group with bombs, that would be very scary.

[midas]

Don't think that AKA-47 is difficult to get in Cambodia or Myanmar.....

Well we do know Thaksin spent a lot of time in Cambodia and

had powerful connections there.

I just sense something big has changed with some rural people-

they see it as their elected leader having been victimised from office of PM

replaced with a a suave young English speaking PM they cannot begin relate to.

And yet when they try to use the same tactics as the yellow shirts to object to this

-they have come off substantially worse. This is why I just think

this is going to fester like a sore and maybe Jakrapob Penkair

sees himslef as a viable alternative ?

[PhilHarries]

Well of course the protests will resume. Disregarding Thaksin, who merely used the mobs as an attempt to overthrow the government for his own benefit, the underlying reasons behind the discontent of the poor agro-classes still remain. Thaksin and his TRT opened Pandora's box and showed the rural poor that they have a voice and that they could make it heard in the corridors of power. Well the box is open and there's no way they're going to get the lid back on it.

This is why the red movement could not be allowed to succeed. Once they achieve one ideal through open rebellion they'll go for another, and another, and another. Every time they want something and the government doesn't deliver out will come the rabble. This route goes down the path of mob rule, democracy becomes just another sound byte. They'll never understand that in a democracy the elected government does not always do want the majority of the peple want.

[bertlamar]

I don't necessarily agree with you. The biggest thing I noticed

is the sheer anger of some rural people regarding what appears to be

a blatant double standard in the treatment of the yellow shirt leaders-

who committed just as much damage economically to this country

and the redshirt leaders. It seems this will just rub salt into the wound.

I have spent a lot of time in Isaan and I think it's a mistake to underestimate

the anger which has been building up there and the rift just seems to be getting

wider

A lot of Isaan aren't favouring the red shirts; in southern Isaan....well that's where the blue shirts came from.

Certainly much of the country (not just rural poor) sees some hypocracy between treatment of the reds and yellows, but let's bear in mind the red shirts went (in the minds of many Thais) far further including random beatings, arson, bomb scares, etc. The people of the Dindaeng flats are mostly poor and if ever there was a case of alienation, that was it - the other uprisings against the red shirts in Chonburi and upcountry show certainly while there is a lot of anger, it is not universally pro red shirt and rather the rural poor have (in a good way) seen the benefits of standing up and speaking out; some are choosing to do red shirt style and some are hopefully going to choose to do in a more constructive way.

And that they will ask for decent stuff rather than the annual debt forgiveness type stuff symptomatic of the mind set explaining why you go to almost any part of Isaan and the wealthy ones are for the most part the Thai Chinese immigrants or Thais from other parts of Thailand who started off 50 years ago with nothing and since then now have wealth....while the average stay mired in poverty and playing the lottery as their only hope to get rich.

As for policy etc, the current adminstration seem to be doing just as much popularist stuff for the poor as TRT ever did; a bit more sustainable as well. But with the constant interference from bozos like Jakapop Penkair (who let's be quite clear is up on legitimate charges of Lese Majeste and had no problem stuffing his pockets with cash during his brief sojourn at Channel 11 renamed NBT by him and reprogrammed by him) the anger is being fed more and more.

You do have to question any person that would actually believe someone like Jakapop (the mouthpiece of the TRT govt who lied about chicken flu etc etc) would actually have the reputation internationally to be anything other than a joke PM in the mould of Banharn, Chavalit and Samak - admittedly thinks himself better educated, but I suspect rural Thailand's homophobia and his own lack of support from Thaksin (watch how fast he got sold out in the Lese Majeste case) means that Jakapop's only real option is to keep working for Thaksin as his news media career is well and truly over. Plus the numerous gay stories circulating rule out the senior statesman option; fine to be gay (as numerous senior statesmen prove) but not to be too open about it generally.

Edited April 16, 2009 by bertlamar

[Old Man River]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

I think some are willing to do this and it won't take very many. Throughout the world we have seen guerrilla tactics being used and I would expect the same out of this group of terrorists. The key is to negate the current UDD leaders and the three most dangerous are still at large (Thaksin, Jakropob and Jaturporn).

[mhatami]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

I think some are willing to do this and it won't take very many. Throughout the world we have seen guerrilla tactics being used and I would expect the same out of this group of terrorists. The key is to negate the current UDD leaders and the three most dangerous are still at large (Thaksin, Jakropob and Jaturporn).

Why can’t the Thai people ever say sorry and take responsibility. It is always someone else fault and they will do something better to win.

[webfact]

How many people believe what we saw

in Bangkok a few days ago could spread to provincial cities and towns

with the worst-case scenario being street gunfights with military

with guns smuggled over the border into Thailand

from Cambodia in recent years ?

Do you think the rural population is angry enough to do this?

I think some are willing to do this and it won't take very many. Throughout the world we have seen guerrilla tactics being used and I would expect the same out of this group of terrorists. The key is to negate the current UDD leaders and the three most dangerous are still at large (Thaksin, Jakropob and Jaturporn).

Why can’t the Thai people ever say sorry and take responsibility. It is always someone else fault and they will do something better to win.

Because of that "face" the might going to lose. Thats more important than anything else.

Edited April 16, 2009 by webfact

[pedro01]

What I am hearing from red-shirts that I know is that they are going to rally again. All of them are telling me they 'saw' bodies of their dead red-shirted comrades being loaded into army trucks.

I do not believe they saw it but they seem to believe it happened. They are low on details about where & when it was and most of the people I know were at Sanam Luang which is not where the major scuffles were. Perhaps on their big screen...

Bizarrely - they all say the same thing "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" (although in Thai). The people I spoke to don't know each other, yet they all used that same line.

When I asked why there are no pictures of such from phone cams or international media, they talk about how the images have been suppressed. When asked how Thailand could suppress phone cam images uploaded to the internet or how they would influence CNN, Sky or BBC, they draw a blank.

Whoever is feeding them the story (if that is what it is), has indeed crafted a good tale to anger the reds & potentially bring more people on their side as they learn of these so-called deaths at the hands of the army.

[ballpoint]

I think some are willing to do this and it won't take very many. Throughout the world we have seen guerrilla tactics being used and I would expect the same out of this group of terrorists. The key is to negate the current UDD leaders and the three most dangerous are still at large (Thaksin, Jakropob and Jaturporn).

So they start guerilla tactics up country? Doing what? Blowing up government buildings? Burning down schools? Blocking roads? Their popularity is already on a rapid decline as news of their atrocious behaviour in Bangkok towards the same poor people that they claim to be for spreads across the country. Unlike the South, they won't have a sympathetic local population to cower behind. Let them try, it would provide the government with the excuse needed to totally crush their leadership.

[ballpoint]

What I am hearing from red-shirts that I know is that they are going to rally again. All of them are telling me they 'saw' bodies of their dead red-shirted comrades being loaded into army trucks.

I do not believe they saw it but they seem to believe it happened. They are low on details about where & when it was and most of the people I know were at Sanam Luang which is not where the major scuffles were. Perhaps on their big screen...

Bizarrely - they all say the same thing "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" (although in Thai). The people I spoke to don't know each other, yet they all used that same line.

When I asked why there are no pictures of such from phone cams or international media, they talk about how the images have been suppressed. When asked how Thailand could suppress phone cam images uploaded to the internet or how they would influence CNN, Sky or BBC, they draw a blank.

Whoever is feeding them the story (if that is what it is), has indeed crafted a good tale to anger the reds & potentially bring more people on their side as they learn of these so-called deaths at the hands of the army.

I think you'll find that in many rural areas, certainly here in Buri Ram, even if these claims proved to be true, the reaction from the locals would be "so what? They got what they deserved". Average Thai's are getting fed up with protestors of any colour, particularly ones who deliberately endanger and threaten other average Thais.

[pedro01]

What I am hearing from red-shirts that I know is that they are going to rally again. All of them are telling me they 'saw' bodies of their dead red-shirted comrades being loaded into army trucks.

I do not believe they saw it but they seem to believe it happened. They are low on details about where & when it was and most of the people I know were at Sanam Luang which is not where the major scuffles were. Perhaps on their big screen...

Bizarrely - they all say the same thing "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" (although in Thai). The people I spoke to don't know each other, yet they all used that same line.

When I asked why there are no pictures of such from phone cams or international media, they talk about how the images have been suppressed. When asked how Thailand could suppress phone cam images uploaded to the internet or how they would influence CNN, Sky or BBC, they draw a blank.

Whoever is feeding them the story (if that is what it is), has indeed crafted a good tale to anger the reds & potentially bring more people on their side as they learn of these so-called deaths at the hands of the army.

I think you'll find that in many rural areas, certainly here in Buri Ram, even if these claims proved to be true, the reaction from the locals would be "so what? They got what they deserved". Average Thai's are getting fed up with protestors of any colour, particularly ones who deliberately endanger and threaten other average Thais.

I hope so. Although another part of the reds story is that all of the voilence was perpetrated by non-reds - they are trying to paint an incredible story.

This would not be so worrying - but they are telling this tale to people that believe Thaksin.

[animatic]

Well of course the protests will resume. Disregarding Thaksin, who merely used the mobs as an attempt to overthrow the government for his own benefit, the underlying reasons behind the discontent of the poor agro-classes still remain. Thaksin and his TRT opened Pandora's box and showed the rural poor that they have a voice and that they could make it heard in the corridors of power. Well the box is open and there's no way they're going to get the lid back on it.

This is why the red movement could not be allowed to succeed. Once they achieve one ideal through open rebellion they'll go for another, and another, and another. Every time they want something and the government doesn't deliver out will come the rabble. This route goes down the path of mob rule, democracy becomes just another sound byte. They'll never understand that in a democracy the elected government does not always do want the majority of the peple want.

Have to agree with you Phil, The genie is out of the bottle,

and the current administration understands that.

This is not the same Democrats villified for decades by up country puyais,

to prevent political encroachment on their power bases.

The Issanese WILL be getting more say and more services, it is inevitable.

But definitely NOT through the Red Shirts.

Another mechanism that will act rationally will logically rise act as a group voice for the north.

Thaksin has ruined the possibilities the Red Shirts could have had to

lead effectively for the rural poor. They were co-opted for his purposes

and are now sadly tied to his coat-tails. and swirl down the drain.

PTP is a ghost of a coherent party,

directly, and way to closely, tied to these riots.

The height of hypocrisy is Chalerm trying to vilify the government

for putting down riots his own party members were instrumental in starting.

I will give him the brass balls of the year award for trying.

It is not a given that being anti-Thaksin and anti-Red Shirts

is automatically anti-Rural Poor.

Just not so.

As you said letting the red shirts win now would set

extraordinarily poor precedent for the future.

Which should not mean the rural poor have automatically lost any gains,

nor gain further in the near term, just not gains THROUGH the minority Red Shirts.

Edited April 16, 2009 by animatic

[animatic]

What I am hearing from red-shirts that I know is that they are going to rally again. All of them are telling me they 'saw' bodies of their dead red-shirted comrades being loaded into army trucks.

I do not believe they saw it but they seem to believe it happened. They are low on details about where & when it was and most of the people I know were at Sanam Luang which is not where the major scuffles were. Perhaps on their big screen...

Bizarrely - they all say the same thing "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" (although in Thai). The people I spoke to don't know each other, yet they all used that same line.

When I asked why there are no pictures of such from phone cams or international media, they talk about how the images have been suppressed. When asked how Thailand could suppress phone cam images uploaded to the internet or how they would influence CNN, Sky or BBC, they draw a blank.

Whoever is feeding them the story (if that is what it is), has indeed crafted a good tale to anger the reds & potentially bring more people on their side as they learn of these so-called deaths at the hands of the army.

Just propaganda and spin.

[apetley]

Meanwhile, a former Roi Et MP for the pro-Thaksin People Power Party, Nisit Sinthuprai, claimed the riots this week were the work of a third party and not the red shirts.

He also claimed the military crackdown on the protesters on Monday led to deaths and that he would find evidence and relatives of people supposedly killed to present to the press.

He said the red shirts had not lost the war; they were just taking a recess. "We will actually steal a small victory by breeding red-shirt seeds in the heart of people. Once we blow the whistle, a bigger number of red shirts will turn up."

He said he would be a second-generation leader for the red shirts and would lead a rally to call for the resignation of three privy councillors and the PM.

Bang!...bang!.....bang! some where a dog barks in a carpark...silence and peace reigns. Only in this case does the end justify the means?

edited by TPI for berevity

You would have thought that in this day and age of 24 hour news, handy cams, video and picture capable mobile phones he would have had the evidence close at hand.

Dare I suggest there isn't any?

[PhilHarries]

I do not believe they saw it but they seem to believe it happened. They are low on details about where & when it was and most of the people I know were at Sanam Luang which is not where the major scuffles were. Perhaps on their big screen...

Bizarrely - they all say the same thing "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" (although in Thai). The people I spoke to don't know each other, yet they all used that same line.

When I asked why there are no pictures of such from phone cams or international media, they talk about how the images have been suppressed. When asked how Thailand could suppress phone cam images uploaded to the internet or how they would influence CNN, Sky or BBC, they draw a blank.

Whoever is feeding them the story (if that is what it is), has indeed crafted a good tale to anger the reds & potentially bring more people on their side as they learn of these so-called deaths at the hands of the army.

It doesn't take much effort for those in the shadows behind the red shirts to create images of men in uniform throwing bodies into trucks. In fact I'm rather surprised such images haven't been fed to the likes of Al Jazeera. Maybe they have but the media org's saw through them a little too easily. Even if they did make the bodies disappear, supposing they could in the middle of all that mayhem, there'd still be the walking wounded to tell their tales. Of course they've still ot time to produce "widows" who waved their husbands goodbye last Friday never to see them again.

[hobbler]

It doesn't take much effort for those in the shadows behind the red shirts to create images of men in uniform throwing bodies into trucks. In fact I'm rather surprised such images haven't been fed to the likes of Al Jazeera. Maybe they have but the media org's saw through them a little too easily. Even if they did make the bodies disappear, supposing they could in the middle of all that mayhem, there'd still be the walking wounded to tell their tales. Of course they've still ot time to produce "widows" who waved their husbands goodbye last Friday never to see them again.

So what exactly is wrong with Al Jazeera? They've got some of the best and most balanced international news out there. My wife and I were very happy with the quality of their reporting on the situation in Thailand.

Edited April 16, 2009 by hobbler

[lannarebirth]

What I am hearing from red-shirts that I know is that they are going to rally again. All of them are telling me they 'saw' bodies of their dead red-shirted comrades being loaded into army trucks.

I do not believe they saw it but they seem to believe it happened. They are low on details about where & when it was and most of the people I know were at Sanam Luang which is not where the major scuffles were. Perhaps on their big screen...

Bizarrely - they all say the same thing "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" (although in Thai). The people I spoke to don't know each other, yet they all used that same line.

When I asked why there are no pictures of such from phone cams or international media, they talk about how the images have been suppressed. When asked how Thailand could suppress phone cam images uploaded to the internet or how they would influence CNN, Sky or BBC, they draw a blank.

Whoever is feeding them the story (if that is what it is), has indeed crafted a good tale to anger the reds & potentially bring more people on their side as they learn of these so-called deaths at the hands of the army.

I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't believed it.

-- Marshall McLuhan