Thai Government Urges Citizens On Alert In Bangkok

[britmaveric]

..... I think my country is getting bad as well

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Zoltan]

I wonder if there is any way to negotiate with these guys.. instead of using force.

[apex2000]

If these people want a separate State, then let them have it. See how they cope in generating their own fuel supplies, water, transport infrastructure, schools, trade agreements with the rest of the world, their own phone and postal systems, their own airline, their own factories, providing enough food for their mini-nation etc etc etc.

See how they cope with their independence and how long it is before they come calling for help.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Couldn't have put it better myself - bunch of losers. Let them have their 'freedom' and see how they cope. When they eventually call for help, just say &lt;deleted&gt; you, you got what you wanted, now live with it.

[carlweaver]

My feelings exactly. These folks seem to think that people will be nice to them and their countries if they act like jerks. By and large, terrorism is felt by the people whose goverments created the problems. Even the CIA knows this and keeps meddling where it shouldn't.

For the current escalation of terror I place much of the blame on the current PM!

2nd GW Bush (shrub) would be in line!

Both are  very poor leaders in my opinion!

I would like to see them get out of office as soon as possible!

Wake up Thailand/ USA you are sleeping on the job!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[thaibebop]

Thaksin and Bush are both failures when it comes to terrorism because you simply can't fight the enemy with conventional weapons.  How can you fight an enemy whose soldiers are willing to run suicide missions?  With aircraft carriers?  WIth ground troops?  You can't win. 

Both Thaksin's and Bush's arrogance breeds the type of hate that the terrorists have for them.  The result, unfortunately, is that innocent people will suffer... too bad Bush and Thaksin won't suffer.  They will come out with more money.  I doubt that either really cares what happens to the citizens of the US or Thailand.

I don't have the answers, but I do know that neither of these leaders will leave the world a better place when their political term is finally over.  Who loses? All of us.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How can you call Bush a failure, since 9/11 how many terrorist attacks has the western world suffered. You may not like the guy but he is successfull and maybe he thinks he can win, this must be a better option than saying "We can't win".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Success my arse! America was in the black, now it's all red. So, much for spending money wisely. Now Big Brother strollin' down the street putting up eyes on every street corner to make sure we don't hurt ourselves or get in to trouble. Can't go to the airport w/o having some overworked, underpaid bulldyke check my pants for foreign objects! Oh yes smashing success, if you think underminding everything America stands for, then whatta guy!

I am sorry jaloochapurr, but America only helps christian countries and the Jews. Bush feels sorry for those poor Jews, after all it's not tjhe modern day Jews fault that he is a Jesus Killer! BUSH IS NOT A SUCCESS!

[britmaveric]

Hmmm not a success - 2 term yank presidents are rare. Obviously he is doing smth right!!!

[thaibebop]

Hmmm not a success - 2 term yank presidents are rare. Obviously he is doing smth right!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, and most Americans watch reality T.V. and like B.Spears. Just cause the maggots have the right to doesn't mean they can make an educated vote. They alway think about the group they belong to first before the good of the country. Bush won because in this country right now there is a powerful conservative backlash. Sooo, many Amercians are finding Jesus and think that's how they should vote. If simple being able to get the job, even twice, successful than people like Hitler, Stalin, etc; must have also been successful. What a revoting display of success!

[mogoso]

For the current escalation of terror I place much of the blame on the current PM!

2nd GW Bush (shrub) would be in line!

Both are  very poor leaders in my opinion!

I would like to see them get out of office as soon as possible!

Wake up Thailand/ USA you are sleeping on the job!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes i totally agree with you. Neither of them are right wing enough we need to crack down on these terrorists, Perhaps a stalin type person would be the answer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Perhaps you would care to explain why you'd lump Stalin in the right wing. A socialist is from the left wing of the political scene. It's funny how they left attributes their own failures and horrors to the right.

But what do you do? appease them, give them the provinces? How long before would there be violence in other parts of the kingdom with a demand for this or that, Understand there is no appeasement to this brand of Islam that would work. The stated goal is total domination of the world by Islam, under Islamic law. To them incrementalism is very valid, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

A reemergement of feudal states, with petty warlords, petty wars, all under the banner of Islam sounds like a scifi novel, till you look at Islamic states and how they function.

A bitter vetch of the future awaits all of us to taste, it's how we react now to try to stem this flood of the ignorant violent and brainwashed followers of Islam.

[hopeless]

Im just thinking about how we won world war 2, we were losing until the Americans nuked the Japs........................................

............................

[hopeless]

Lets face it, the world has gone to pot, I mean everywhere is fkded, England where Im from has gone completly down hill, crime is rife, 1 in 4 teens are prolific offenders. Bush is NOT RELIGIOUS, as the bible clearly states WAR IS WRONG bla bla, and now we constantly have to live in fear for our own lives and the lives of our loved ones thanks to the small number of brainwashed muslim extremists.

Humans will never live in peace....Never

We are the vermin, not pigeons, not rats or flies. Humans will end this world one way or the other.....

[Boon Mee]

Lets face it, the world has gone to pot, I mean everywhere is fkded, England where Im from has gone completly down hill, crime is rife, 1 in 4 teens are prolific offenders.  Bush is NOT RELIGIOUS, as the bible clearly states WAR IS WRONG  bla bla,  and now we constantly have to live in fear for our own lives and the lives of our loved ones thanks to the small number of brainwashed muslim extremists.

Humans will never live in peace....Never

We are the vermin, not pigeons, not rats or flies.  Humans will end this world one way or the other.....

Not to mention what the Som Tom lady charged me the other day!

Outrageous.

[Pooklook1]

We wont end the world, the world will still be here, its just us that wont be.

[maerim]

We are the vermin,

Speak for yourself.

[udon]

If these people want a separate State, then let them have it. See how they cope in generating their own fuel supplies, water, transport infrastructure, schools, trade agreements with the rest of the world, their own phone and postal systems, their own airline, their own factories, providing enough food for their mini-nation etc etc etc.

See how they cope with their independence and how long it is before they come calling for help.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well put Bazza.... I don't think these thickies have thought it through yet

Unless they have found some oil we don't know about.

Edited April 6, 2005 by udon

[Tippaporn]

Protect yourself from such kind of bomb they use here, it is easy. Go online and use Google, search term "Cell Phone Jammer". These are widely available (yet illegal devices). Put one in your house, another in your car/motorbike or simply carry it with you, it's no larger than a pack of cigarettes. In a range of 25 meters around you no GSM cellphone will work, thus - cellphone triggered bomb won't work either.

It is too easy to construct this type of bomb, but it too is easy to make this kind of bomb useless. Police before all else should use such device, particular the bomb specialists.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

imagine, how sorry you might feel living with ultra high frequency device working 24/7 around you? unless you have kids, though:-)

what a sorry face would be, when simple stupid timer will trigger the bomb near ? or weight sensor, or temp sensor, or pressure sensor, or movement sensor, or.... tired to type.

there's no protection from assault, really

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is indeed protection from assault. Unfortunately, the advice would fall on deaf ears. Safety is yours for the taking, as is happiness and any other good thing this world has to offer. Tell people that they can have what they want and they'll argue to the death that you're crazy in saying so. Ignorance is NOT bliss!

[Tippaporn]

This is hypothetical, lets all become Muslims, then these insurgents would look for another excuse to exercise their criminal activities, they are a large multi national business, they deal in arms, drugs, prostititution anything they can cash in on to obtain the power they seek. Im from a small  Australian city, and the Arabic Muslims there have destroyed the local football team, cricket team and other venues frequented by fun loving teenagers all because they are non conforformist in their adopted country. Even the Police wont tackle them because they have so many problems with racial discrimination. I moved to Bangkok with my Thai wife now this, they are the cancer of the World.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

On a deeper level perhaps Muslims are illustrating to the rest of the world what happens when rigidity of thought sets in and the effects when taken to an extreme level. Beliefs that are accepted without question, regardless of the negative aspects of those beliefs, regardless of whether or not those beliefs have any true value. No one ever questions beliefs once they are accepted as fact. I'd say there's quite a bit of that in all of us!

The answers lie just underneath the surface events. Dig a little bit deeper, folks.

[Tippaporn]

..If I remember rightly the so called (PULO)  Pattani United Liberation Organisation said last October that they would burn Bangkok down after the deaths of 78 Muslims who were in Thai army custody.

So we should not be surprised that these despicable terrorists who want power and wealth by means of cowardly violence have made their attacks  with a view to frightening people.

These insurgents may think that they have a right to their own autonomy, but to use violence as a means to achieve it is a road to nowhere for them.

Thank goodness that the world has strong leaders who will make a stand against terrorists....if we did not have the likes of George Bush, and Tony Blair, and yes in this instance Thaksin then we would all live in permanent daily fear of the terrorists.

As far as dialogue is concerned an agreement by means of negotiation will only be achieved when the terrorists feel that they have not realised any headway by the use of their violence. This will come about when they have been `hurt` by being hit hard by the forces of law and order.

If concessions are given to these people and  they think that these concessions have come about because of their use of  bombing innocent civilians then this will open the floodgates for others who will see violence as a way of getting what they want.

So yes we must remain vigilant and be strong minded in the fight against terror and not be brainwashed into thinking that these terrorists are people who we can simply have dialogue with. Dialogue yes... but with strong military pressure as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sadly enough, I think you are wrong about the terrorists achieving nothing. The issue of terrorism and the South has been hotly debated in Thailand ever since the first events in this uprising, there was a huge national parlamentary debate some time recently. Sad though it is, these debates would be unlikely to have occurred in the absence of a terror threat. How much did you hear about the South before this ball was set in motion?

I also have a question for you. By what means did the USA come to exist as a separate, autonomous entity from the English? Why did the colony not try to negotiate its way out, and fail to do something when the English did not listen?

To make myself clear, I really dont support violence against innocent people in any way, but your solution "to hit hard" is really quite blunt.

IMHO, the best way to stop terrorism in the South is to make sure the terrorists do not have a base of discontended people to recruit to their cause. This you achieve by listening to the demands and troubles of the common people, who want the right to practice their religion and more civil rights, as well as fewer corrupt officials. Hopefully you also realize the issue is further complicated because the southernmost provinces belong to another race of people who do not have much in common with the Central government of Thailand and also have a history of autonomous rule.

Hitting hard is good advice for builders, not politicians.

I choose to disregard your comments about Bush and Blair since they are irrelevant here, and hardly comparable with Thaksin.

More to the point, I really fail to see what progress Thaksin has made in trying to solve the Southern problems - please give me some examples.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...You are talking about innocent people and I am talking about terrorists...you know the ones that make bombs and kill real innocent people....these terrorists are the ones who should be hit hard by the forces of law and order and yes you may say it is blunt....I agree it is blunt.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Those who lobby for war should put themselves at the front of the recruitment line. How quickly most people will change their tune!

[jumbo]

Sorry all but I definitely do not understand the link between Thaksin and Bush.

While Bush is more or less a complete failure Thaksin put Thailand back on the (economic world) map. Just do your homework on the numbers and you will see that Thaksin has performed something like a miracle. It will never be 100% good enough for everybody but that is so in all cases.

Furthermore I do not understand how you can (mostly) all share the idea that the PM/president can fight terrorism; one cannot fight terrorism. Leaving the South the South is also not an option. Terrorisme is a fight by few against many and most of the people in the South do not strive for being cut loose from Thailand or be independent, they are just farmers who must and need to work for a living.

How to solve it; I wish I or you knew; but it is safe to say that WE ALL do not.

Yes we are top critisers from our safe username environment but bringing a real solution to somebody who is incapable (as most of you think) is not even a part of our braintank here.

Please try to bring a solution and do not ridicule people or even a country if your mind is as blank as theirs

[Tippaporn]

Well it has been heading north for so time already. Only the blind could not see that. However I would have thought that the PM would have learned from history and defused the situation during last year already.

See how they cope with their independence and how long it is before they come calling for help.

Sure with shoddy education down South for generations, that should work. 

How can you call Bush a failure, since 9/11 how many terrorist attacks has the western world suffered.

Not many, but you lost most of your rights after the attack. Osama must be laughing his ass off in some cave.  

You may not like the guy but he is successfull and maybe he thinks he can win...

Successfull at what? Successfull and MAYBE thinks he can win. Where is the success in MAYBE you can win?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think george Bush has done a good job after all look at how this mess started anyway the world trade center was attacked thats what started it all so i think the world has been allot safer place since allot of the alkida freaks have been killed.and osama binladen can laugh all he wants hideing in caves i think we have that laugh not him some life hes liveing hahahahahaah rich but to scared to show his face anywhere for fear somebody will collect the bounty on his head dead or alive.some of these jerks here saying bush is a failure doesn`t know what they are talking about thats for sure.as far as the southern provinces of thailand is concerned why doesn`t thailand reclame the land from these ungratefull muslims liveing there.make them leave the country and there will be no problems after they are gone.muslims can`t even get allong with there own kind let allone the rest of the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Spoken like a true idiot. The World Trade Center episode didn't start it all. I wouldn't be so quick to consider America as an innocent babe in the woods, either. Same with Thailand. And I'd certainly say that Bin Laden has changed of the face of America in many important respects. Loss of freedom, for one. But then freedom isn't as prized in the U.S. as it once was. Safety takes precedence over freedom these days.

[Tippaporn]

Hmmm not a success - 2 term yank presidents are rare. Obviously he is doing smth right!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nixon was a two-term president, too. No more needs to be said.

[Tippaporn]

>>>>Not too long ago we had a large group of young men who were treated like animals and suffocated in the back of trucks. >>>>>>

Well it seems this large group of muslimes were trying to BREAK OUT OF JAIL FELLOW TERRORIST LEADERS!!!

They deserved what they got. 

You liberals are a crack up

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nam Kao, are you writing this from a gym? Sounds like your all pumped up, bathed in the glory of your virility. I'd say Bush could use a guy like you.

[taxexile]

strict border controls down there , highly paid informants , a professional intelligence gathering network , and ruthless miltary reprisals against those involved with terrorist acts.

i.e. bring in the israelis.

before it really gets out of hand like it did in israel.

its in its infancy at the moment and can be stopped , but going soft on them and paying too much heed to human rights etc. will just make things worse.

i dont think you can negotiate with radical muslims , they will never be content , they only want to destroy that which they cannot have .

you can only kill them ,

its not an ideal world.

go , thaksin , go !!

and heavy public awareness campaigning as to unattended packages etc., some parking controls at public places , random searches , and all the other sh1t that the uk had to put up with for the ira , and now the usa has had to adopt.

of course , with the laziness and corruption of the police , and the blinkered and selfish (lack of public spirit ) thai populace , even raising public awareness a fraction and getting them to act on it is well nigh impossible.

personal freedoms , here , like other countries infested with the virus of islamic terrorism will have to be curtailed in order to reduce the inevitable bombs.

these measures should be started now , and strictly enforced , but of course they wont , until some terrorist makes it up to phuket or bangkok and successfully detonates a bomb a la bali.

compare the response from the authorities you would get if you reported a suspicious package in hualampong station with the response in say, kings cross station in london and you can see how much catching up there is to do.

Edited April 6, 2005 by taxexile

[penzman]

Over a million illegal Burmese/Laos/Cambodians immigrants made it in easily into Thailand. Good luck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

really? did you hear about horrible conditions in refugee camps? throwing burmese back to the border? they are treated as livestock, man.

about terrorism. for thai gov't - it's a war against criminals, for them - it's liberation. pretty common case in history, right?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I do not blame any of these people for seeking better life conditions. It was meant to show how easy it is for anyone to illegally cross the border or leave one of these southern provinces and go around unnoticed.

[Bangkok Barry]

It might be a little off-track, but since there have been a couple of references to two-term Presidents.....

Isn't it odd that in a country that claims to be the world's greatest democracy (the USA, in case you were wondering!!), their citizens are denied the right to vote for who they want.

I'm thinking back to Clinton, who I believe had a popularity rating somewhere in the 80's at the time he was not allowed to stand for a third term. Why not? Can some American enlighten me? He would clearly have had an excellent chance of winning again.

In Britain the same person can stand indefinitely (Thatcher, now Blair), and if the people don't want that person they are voted out. But at least the people get their say.

Having said that, though, Thatcher was then eventually thrown out by her own party.....

[Bangkok Barry]

And while we're on the subject of security, this from Tuesday's London Daily Telegraph....

Last stand against Mexican wave

With their straw hats, deck-chairs and ample supplies of soft drinks, Jack Montrose and his three-man team of fellow pensioners would have struggled to make the ranks of the famed Minutemen of George Washington's day.

As their walkie-talkies crackled into life on the barren US-Mexican frontier, they were not quite sure whether they were Team Six or Team Ten of Arizona's new volunteer border-monitoring "Minutemen" - or even which way they should train their binoculars.

But it takes commitment to sit in the blazing sun and clouds of dust for an eight-hour shift every day for a fortnight, as they plan to do.

As they deployed 100 yards from the dilapidated wire fence that marks America's most porous frontier, their determination to take a stand against the flood of illegal immigrants that pour across each year was undeniable.

They had a stern message for the half a million Mexicans who slip into the promised land of Arizona every year and also for President George W Bush whose proposed liberalising immigration reforms they deplore: enough is enough.

"We're not against immigrants," said Mr Montrose, 62, a retired engineer. "My great-great-grandfather immigrated here from Scotland. But they came the right way. They knew they had to take the oath of allegiance.

"These come the wrong way. It is an invasion. And I'm tired of our government, which doesn't give straight answers to the problem."

The Minuteman Project is the brainchild of Chris Simcox, the editor of Tombstone Tumbleweed, the newspaper in the town best known for the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

"Our aim is to send a message to Mr Bush and Congress that they have not listened to the demands of citizens," he said as he deployed teams every few hundred yards along five miles of border. "We are modelling what homeland security should look like. There should be National Guardsmen every 2,000 yards from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. You can't find a greater threat to the US than right here."

His project is the fruit of mounting concern over immigration - an issue that splits Mr Bush's Republicans between the pro-business wing that welcomes cheap labour and the traditional law-and-order wing that is alarmed over the threat posed to security by the 2,000-mile southern border.

Mr Bush is pushing Congress to pass legislation allowing for temporary visas for guest workers. It is an attempt to bring millions of undocumented workers out of the shadows - and to court Hispanics to vote Republican - but is denounced as an amnesty.

The National Review, the house journal of America's conservatives, warned that immigration could fatally divide the Republicans just as abortion split the Democrats in the 1970s.

After Mexico's President Vicente Fox last month voiced concerns over the Minutemen, Mr Bush denounced it as vigilantism, which infuriated the volunteers. "I'm an American patriot yet Bush has the nerve to call us vigilantes," said William Breaux, 48, a huge Texan patrolling a dried-up river bed.

"Most of us voted for his sorry behind but he is giving our country away. He is a big disappointment."

Amid the parched culverts and thorny hills, US Border Patrol Service agents have one of the hardest jobs in America. Last year they sent home more than a million people. Yet piles of empty water bottles and clothing testify to the many who got through. The Census Bureau predicts that by 2050 the population will be 420 million, against 294 million in 2000.

In an unlikely coincidence a few days before the Minutemen deployed, the government announced more than 500 new agents for the border.

For Dottie Dalton, 66, a widow in a boater with a flowing white ribbon, and her friend, Robin Hvidston, that is the smallest of steps in the right direction. "Let our border patrol do their job," they shouted. "We are here to show Mr Bush it can be done."

Others cut more intimidating figures in their khaki fatigues, with side-arms and hunting knives, although they say all they do is identify suspected illegals and alert the border patrol.

Human rights groups warned that they would be infiltrated by white supremacists and highlighted the danger of confrontations.

But the mood is more carnival than carnivore and all parties are seizing the chance to polish their image. Helicopters buzzed the frontier and, in a rare public outing, Mexican patrols appeared on the frontier in sparkling orange uniforms and orange vehicles.

To the joy of the Minutemen, Border Patrol figures suggest the number of illegal immigrants trying to cross in their zone in the past few days has dropped dramatically.

...........

Brits will be happy to know that Dad's Army is still alive and well, now dealing with the reported 500,000 Mexicans who creep into Arizona alone each year (any of whom could be a terrorist, of course, which makes the airport checks with finger-printing and so on just another example of American window-dressing).

[Bangkok Barry]

Sorry - that should have been Wednesday's Daily Telegraph. Hard to keep track of time in the LOS.

[johnh101]

If these people want a separate State, then let them have it. See how they cope in generating their own fuel supplies, water, transport infrastructure, schools, trade agreements with the rest of the world, their own phone and postal systems, their own airline, their own factories, providing enough food for their mini-nation etc etc etc.

See how they cope with their independence and how long it is before they come calling for help.

Couldn't have put it better myself - bunch of losers. Let them have their 'freedom' and see how they cope. When they eventually call for help, just say &lt;deleted&gt; you, you got what you wanted, now live with it.

Unfortunately a newly independant Islamic state would not have to call for help anywhere. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Libya, Indonesia. Malaysia, Iran, et al, would be showering them with petro dollars ensuring their success and taking one more, albiet small, step towards global islamification.

But always remember to listen when you hear the minarets wailing....

"Allah's got a white bum..."

[mogoso]

It might be a little off-track, but since there have been a couple of references to two-term Presidents.....

Isn't it odd that in a country that claims to be the world's greatest democracy (the USA, in case you were wondering!!), their citizens are denied the right to vote for who they want.

I'm thinking back to Clinton, who I believe had a popularity rating somewhere in the 80's at the time he was not allowed to stand for a third term. Why not? Can some American enlighten me? He would clearly have had an excellent chance of winning again.

In Britain the same person can stand indefinitely (Thatcher, now Blair), and if the people don't want that person they are voted out. But at least the people get their say.

Having said that, though, Thatcher was then eventually thrown out by her own party.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Clintons popularity didn't translate into votes. He never recieved a majority( at least 50%) of the vote in either election. 80% of a popularity poll in a left leaning newspaper isn't a true measurement. And at no point did he ever have that high a score, in gallup or other pollsters.

The constitution was changed after Roosevelt was elected to a fouth term. As to why, fear of a long term republican presidency after the war was the demos reasoning.

So no president can hold office more than two terms due to a Constitutional change.

[Darkling]

So Darklinbg you would prefer a leader who kills millions of his own country men then? Thaksin and Bush may be bad but i would chose them over Stalin any day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes,very good point. Perhaps Pol Pot would be a better choice.

[Darkling]

Sorry mate you got it wrong, the human race is the cancer of the world

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If i order a firing squad for 7am, will you promise to turn up?