"Violence Unlikely" At Today's Red-shirt Rally

[animatic]

Jimi was 100w Marshal loud, had a spare amp, but only played one at a time.

I confirm that. I stood in front of it.....

I have a friend who roadied for Jimi, and also Crazy World of Arthur Brown's and The Doors and others back in the day.

And I worked with Bill and Terry Hanley who developed the 1st PA's that could keep up with him.

MC5 and Black Flag were MUCH louder, Tommy Iommi with Black Sabbath too.

[Sunderland]

I am better at geography. Care to expand on the historical link ... thanks

[cmsally]

It's to do with 1981 April Fools Day coup when Prem et al went to Khorat.

Its to do with which way the pendulum swings and where the weight is situated.

Edited September 18, 2009 by cmsally

[Sunderland]

That makes sense now.

Certainly ties in with the madness of the PAD choosing the same weekend to cause bother on the border.

Something ought to give.

Time running out for Abhisit / Thaksin / someone ....

[Sunderland]

Should send primary school kids to the front line. They make a din when the mood takes them

[ratcatcher]

This is a more conventional Thai Long Range Acoustic Device.

[Scott]

I missed the 1981 coup and the last couple of posters seem to have gotten the meaning. I am apparently not that good at geography or history. Apparently I am more like concrete. Could you give us a little more about Prem and the 1981 coup and going to Korat?

[Thai at Heart]

I agree, the headlines are coming thick and fast, but in reality nothing has happened yet.

Please merge.

[KevinBloodyWilson]

I just hope the police had training on how to use this thing. Still, I guess better than exploding tear gas.

Toxin's red thugs will probably cancel at the last moment anyway, like they are prone to do. Hopefully they will, otherwise the reds will be out shooting more innocent people, burning down public property, threatening to blow up condos with gas trucks, etc. Low life scum eating dirt dogs!

Would you like me to take you off their Crimbo card list?

[animatic]

The irony of today is the Gen Prem acted in 1981 as a peaceful restorer of the path to democracy,

Prior to an army move against appointed PM Thanin Kraivichien and the negotiated settlement they had reached,

Kraivichienan being an more authoritarian civilian despot than even Thaksin is regarded today.

And The Turks attacked Prem himself, who had peacefully negotiated a settlement with Kraivichien

for the good of the country. Prem then acted with muted, but functional, force,

to eventually restore freedoms lost to this attempted putsch

brought on by this over the top civilian,'s paranoid machinations.

And so an eventual return to democracy's path....

Now we have him going to Korat, and possibly more young Turk Thaksinistas,

and a functional democratic system on the line again.

A red win via violence today is the path to a DYSFUNCTIONAL pseudo-democracy

or DOMocracy if you will: a vote, but still the people dominated by the vengeful and ruthless.

Edited September 18, 2009 by animatic

[Publicus]

I agree, the headlines are coming thick and fast, but in reality nothing has happened yet.

Please merge.

Agreed.

[Yoshitaka]

Guard against what?

What a joke.

TiT

[Publicus]

Indeed.

When Thailand comes to a crunch moment such as we have now, today, and Gen Prem relocates to Nakon Rachisima in Khorat, which historically has the carefully screened loyalist army garrison, we can be sure all precautions are being taken and all plans and preparations are being made.

The Bangkok army units are known for their divided loyalties. The Khorat troops are known for their loyalty, unity, and fierce determination.

Thai soldiers in both cities know Gen Prem. (So do the reds and their leaders.)

[Thai at Heart]

As always in Thai politics, the thot continues to plicken.

[dre1247]

<snip>

Well, I was around. I remember very well that this all happened while I was on the bus to Pattaya (a 4 hour ride over a mostly 3 lane provincial road) and quite a few Thais had little transistor radios and were all listening. My Thai language capabilities were not spectacular those days but I picked up the excitement and that Prem, who was loved very much, was on the way with an army from Korat to Bangkok to fight. Wow, I still get goose bumbs right now remebering all this. That was life, living in the far east in a real thrird world country, they would never understand that back home hahaha Sorry if I get a bit nostalgic, but the good old days were really very different from now. I know it is not politically correct for most of you but I have been in I think 4 or 5 coups, and always life became calmer and better afterwards (at least for a while), a "despot of overly corrupt PM" was removed for good reason. Democracy, well for the time being it does not really work well here. Please do not use your western way of thinking and your western ideas as benchmark, it is useless, misguided and wrong. The same as a Thai would go to the west and constantly tells everybody there how wrong they do things because back home in Thailand we do it different, and, thats the only right way.... Get my drift??

Edited September 19, 2009 by webfact
quote involving monarchy has been deleted

[Publicus]

dre1247 makes a welcome flesh and blood post that, if I may say, also realistically states that TiT. The post is appreciated and well taken.

Pardon the simplification but the post reminds me there's the right way, the wrong way and the Thai way.

[webfact]

"Violence unlikely" at today's red-shirt rally

By Piyanart Srivalo,

Kesinee Taengkhieo,

Panya Thiewsangwan

The Nation

Published on September 19, 2009

Intelligence indicated no possibility of violence in today's rally by the red shirts as protest leaders have been instructed by fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to "save the energy and funds" for a large demonstration during the upcoming Asean Summit next month, a government spokesman said yesterday.

National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director Adul Kowattana yesterday reported the findings to a meeting of senior officials from state agencies during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House, deputy government spokesman Watchara Kannikar said.

The NIA chief told the meeting that the agency did not expect the red-shirt rally to end by tomorrow morning.

Intelligence showed that Thaksin did not want to create violence in this protest and that he preferred to save the energy and funds for another rally to be organised next month in Bangkok during the 15th Asean summit.

The summit venues are Phetchaburi's Cha-am district and Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district, where authorities plan to invoke the Internal Security Act.

Protest leaders had said the rally, to be held at the Royal Plaza, would end around midnight today.

The former prime minister also expected to create an impact ahead of the next general elections, which he anticipated to take place early next year, the intelligence chief was quoted as saying.

"Intelligence showed that the former prime minister did not want to see violence but he could not stop the red-shirt leaders. What is frightening is that the leaders would be unable to control the aggressive participants of the protest. There is also concern that a third party will try to incite confusion. Such signs have been detected," Watchara said, based on information from Adul.

The information was compatible with that from some sources in the opposition Pheu Thai Party.

Thaksin told a group of leading party figures, who met him in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, earlier this month that he did not want today's protest to become violent, the sources said.

The former leader wanted the rally to be simply an expression of political views, with no obvious political goals, according to the sources. Thaksin was convinced there would be a general election early next year and possible talks with his political enemies soon.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said yesterday that the aim of imposing the ISA was to prevent violence and maintaining peace rather than limiting the liberties of protesters.

"Most Thai people want the country to be peaceful," he said.

Abhisit was speaking during an inspection of the Internal Security Operations Command. It was his first visit to the agency after becoming prime minister and its ex-officio director.

The prime minister is scheduled to leave the country tomorrow for the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the Group of 20 Summit in Pittsburgh the following week.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who will be in charge during the premier's absence, reiterated yesterday that officials would use no weapons other than crowd-control gear.

Meanwhile, Somyos Phruksakasemsuk and other red-shirt leaders yesterday filed a petition with the Criminal and Appeals Courts against the Cabinet, accusing them of malfeasance for imposing the ISA. The Administrative Court earlier rejected a similar petition by the red shirts on grounds that the matter was beyond its jurisdiction.

In a related development, Army commander-in-chief General Anupong Paochinda insisted yesterday that there would be no coup during the prime minister's absence from the country, as had been rumoured.

"There won't be any coup by any group of people. I can assure about that," he said.

Three years ago this month, a coup toppled Thaksin's government while he was in New York to attend the annual UN assembly.

-- The Nation 2009/09/19

[losworld]

National Intelligence Agency... that has about as much validity as "Mexican Border"

[LaoPo]

National Intelligence Agency... that has about as much validity as "Mexican Border"

You're underestimating Thailand's possibilities, know-how and Intelligence in general. Many agencies and military agencies are trained by US specialists in all kinds of disciplines.

France and Thailand have one thing in common....they both have around 65 million people; I realize that France is a lot more down the road than Thailand but to compare the Intelligence Agency of Thailand with the Mexican border is odd.

I think that Thailand's agencies are more sophisticated and also technologically more advanced than we assume. I think it's relatively easy to tap phones and mobile phones/cellphones

Reading between the lines of the article I think Thaksin advised his people indeed to refrain from using violence.

We'll see.

LaoPo

[soihok]

Big Red Shirt rally here in Korat today,, march on Prems house apparently. At least 20,000 expected.

http://koratfarang.com/board/index.php?topic=6105.0

I think I,ll stay in and bask in the glory of Sheffield United beating Sheffield Wednesday at football.....

Edited September 19, 2009 by soihok

[givenall]

"Violence unlikely" at today's red-shirt rally

By Piyanart Srivalo,

Kesinee Taengkhieo,

Panya Thiewsangwan

The Nation

Published on September 19, 2009

Intelligence indicated no possibility of violence in today's rally by the red shirts as protest leaders have been instructed by fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to "save the energy and funds" for a large demonstration during the upcoming Asean Summit next month, a government spokesman said yesterday.

-- The Nation 2009/09/19

I guess the cat is out of bag and he openly admits he is funding these.

[givenall]

National Intelligence Agency... that has about as much validity as "Mexican Border"

I would not give to much credit to US intelligent community, beside I thought they were trained by Mexican anyways

Edited September 19, 2009 by givenall

[losworld]

National Intelligence Agency... that has about as much validity as "Mexican Border"

You're underestimating Thailand's possibilities, know-how and Intelligence in general. Many agencies and military agencies are trained by US specialists in all kinds of disciplines.

France and Thailand have one thing in common....they both have around 65 million people; I realize that France is a lot more down the road than Thailand but to compare the Intelligence Agency of Thailand with the Mexican border is odd.

I think that Thailand's agencies are more sophisticated and also technologically more advanced than we assume. I think it's relatively easy to tap phones and mobile phones/cellphones

Reading between the lines of the article I think Thaksin advised his people indeed to refrain from using violence.

We'll see.

LaoPo

LaoPo - I meant it as a joke in terms of an oxymoron. I'm not comparing the security levels in Thailand to the security of the Mexican border. I think the Thai security forces are probably fairly well trained as you have mentioned

[mc2]

still, there is nothing stopping a yellow or blue shirt putting on a red shirt and provoking the police & escalating violence. .... then the media will blame it all on the red shirts

[Thailand]

still, there is nothing stopping a yellow or blue shirt putting on a red shirt and provoking the police & escalating violence. .... then the media will blame it all on the red shirts

No way, I have it on good authority from a poster on another thread that this sort of thing would never happen.

[Scott]

Dre's post is most welcomed. I don't completely agree with his position, but the history speaks for itself. Times were different then. We now live in a different world and the country needs to move in a direction where the people in power are a lot 'cleaner' than they were then. People are better educated and financially better off than they were then. We have TV, we have the internet. Thais need to have access to information on their politicians who need to 'serve' the public, not the other way around.

Oh wait....to suggest otherwise is defamation here.... Oh well, never mind.

[Insight]

still, there is nothing stopping a yellow or blue shirt putting on a red shirt and provoking the police & escalating violence. .... then the media will blame it all on the red shirts

No way, I have it on good authority from a poster on another thread that this sort of thing would never happen.

I remember Koo82 had this one sussed out a while back though - real red shirts don't wear face masks.

If in doubt, look at the face mask.

[way2muchcoffee]

still, there is nothing stopping a yellow or blue shirt putting on a red shirt and provoking the police & escalating violence. .... then the media will blame it all on the red shirts

Absolutely correct, MC2.

Similarly there is nothing stopping a red shirt protester, or group of protesters, from provoking the police & escalating violence. Then they can blame a third hand, while Thaksin reaps the benefit of more upheaval in the nation's capitol.

It just goes round and round, and there will be no way for the general public to know the truth.

[henryalleman]

Is their no legal possibility to arrest all the ones who visit Thaksin to take their orders from him.

What they are doing is a conspiracy to overtrow a government funded by an a convicted criminal on the run.

i think the Thai government is far to lenient on this matter. I think its high time to bring him back, and put him on trial for high treason also.

[cmsally]

Chai-Anan Samudavanija's - Thai Young Turks provides a good analysis. Don't know if you can find it online though.