The Longer The Red-Shirts Rally, The Higher The Damage

[FreedomDude]

I guess it's also no surprise this article mentions nothing of PM Abhisit's use of the word "TERRORISTS" and the irrational panic this has created in potential travelers from the west.

I received an email from very concerned older family members back home about my safety after they read something about red shirt TERRORISTS.

Let's face it. As long as tourists stay away from the faceoff area and its surrounding hotels and malls, there is no reason to fear anything but a safe and lovely holiday. The severe dropoff in tourism is far greater than it sould be given the facts on the ground. Prime Minister Abhisit has contributed GREATLY to the overhype of traveler fears.

[BKjohn]

Only the businesses and the elites affected here. People still great, weather, beaches. All's well with the world and this is just a forum and the policits will work out, or we will have a coup.

It'll be ok in the long run.

Only the businesses and elite affected? Really? Who do you think work for these businesses? And who do you think sell things to these businesses, including those who work there? I wonder if any employees of these businesses buy food from vendors on the street?

"All's well with the world? the politics will work out?" You sound like my mother telling me that everything will be okay even though I got a "C" grade on an exam!

Sir, what planet are you living on? Nirvana? When you wake up from your stupor, do let us know!

Sunset, this is a perfect example of the lack of IQ of those red shirts and their supporters here - a large Hotel has about 100 suppliers on average which include a lot of small to medium producers as well as large companies who employ thousands of people who will find their tush on the street soon. A lot of Isaanies work for those companies too, talking about shooting your own people .... they do not shoot themselves in the foot because they are not the ones who work, they are the lazy bumbs who have nothing better to do than to follow their leader and <deleted>.. up the country

[Chaimai]

A lot of Isaanies work for those companies too, talking about shooting your own people .... they do not shoot themselves in the foot because they are not the ones who work, they are the lazy bumbs who have nothing better to do than to follow their leader and <deleted>.. up the country

When you have nothing, there is very little to lose.

Just a few more mouths for the rice crop to feed.

Remember, most of the money that is sent home is 'absorbed' on lao khao, lottery, gambling and the local wat.

[Hollywood3000]

I too have decided to postpone my trip to Thailand due to not wanting to be inconvenienced by the protesters. I love Thailand and don't have a place I can go that will fulfill the Thai fix but I do have other wonderful tropical resorts my wife and I can go to in the mean time.When I lived in Thailand things were different and time was on my side but now working for a Farang corp in Farangland vacation time is limited and precious and I don't want to risk it caught in traffic jams on sukhumwit. I know I am not alone in my thinking too, Thailand really needs to find a solution to this problem if they hope to retain any of the progress they've made the last decade.

I just left Bangkok, it's basically business as usual there. Don't cancel your trip, it's very tiny areas that get affected. Have no fear, don't believe fear TV...oh I mean CNN.

[BKjohn]

Remember, most of the money that is sent home is 'absorbed' on lao khao, lottery, gambling and the local wat.

Yep too true

Thailand was emerging from a third world status with an ever faster growing middle class. To instigate social changes and to improve standards of the poor one needs finance. The reds are busytrying to send Thailand back to being a third world country.

Just look at the European countries with their "great" social care system facing total meltdown because of lack of funding.

You need a large, strong, productive middle class to carry any social system and Abhisit already made a number of reforms. Cutting the debts of the farmers in half and than giving them 15 years to pay off the rest did not do a lot, simply because they were not planning to pay it back anyway. Thaksin gave them money for them to vote for him and that made them happy.

Those reds simply want more money and "papa Thaksin" has offered it to them if he gets back into power. This and because they are getting paid is the only reason why they are here.

I think some of those reds here are just enjoying to stir up things, they can't all be such Imbeciles

[Redsunset]

Only the businesses and the elites affected here. People still great, weather, beaches. All's well with the world and this is just a forum and the policits will work out, or we will have a coup.

It'll be ok in the long run.

Sunset, this is a perfect example of the lack of IQ of those red shirts and their supporters here - a large Hotel has about 100 suppliers on average which include a lot of small to medium producers as well as large companies who employ thousands of people who will find their tush on the street soon. A lot of Isaanies work for those companies too, talking about shooting your own people .... they do not shoot themselves in the foot because they are not the ones who work, they are the lazy bumbs who have nothing better to do than to follow their leader and <deleted>.. up the country

Quite right.... a sizable chuck of the workforce supports tourism and international businesses directly or indirectly. Moreover, much of the international capital that flows into this country might be re-directed to other countries if Thailand is deemed to be too risky. This also represents a ton of potential jobs for all citizens of Thailand.

[Redsunset]

I too have decided to postpone my trip to Thailand due to not wanting to be inconvenienced by the protesters. I love Thailand and don't have a place I can go that will fulfill the Thai fix but I do have other wonderful tropical resorts my wife and I can go to in the mean time.When I lived in Thailand things were different and time was on my side but now working for a Farang corp in Farangland vacation time is limited and precious and I don't want to risk it caught in traffic jams on sukhumwit. I know I am not alone in my thinking too, Thailand really needs to find a solution to this problem if they hope to retain any of the progress they've made the last decade.

I just left Bangkok, it's basically business as usual there. Don't cancel your trip, it's very tiny areas that get affected. Have no fear, don't believe fear TV...oh I mean CNN.

It is pretty much business as usual... except if the red shirts start fighting with the soldiers, then it could be very chaotic... could end in a few hours, or could persist. Given that there are many many red shirts who might not be at Rajaprasong, who knows how long this "war" could last... yes, the government could win the battle, but that is not the end game. Moreover, given that the red shirts are desperate, I would not be surprised if they start blowing up buildings and chucking grenades into restaurants to wreck more havoc.

So, yes, it is still pretty safe to go out to have your bowl of noodles on the street, but who knows in the near future... I do not want to be sitting there as shrapnel goes flying across my noodles!

[Redsunset]

I am sure you are not serious!

No one could be that stupid!

Everyone should hold the Red Shirt organizers responsible for the losses. I think it would be a good class action Lawsuit for all the business adversely affected by their illegal action of closing the area

What's so stupid about that! These businesses have lost hundreds of millions of Baht due to the Red Shirt protests and they should be held accountable for that.

that would takes years in court and tons of paperwork!!!

[bkkjames]

I am sure you are not serious!

No one could be that stupid!

Everyone should hold the Red Shirt organizers responsible for the losses. I think it would be a good class action Lawsuit for all the business adversely affected by their illegal action of closing the area

What's so stupid about that! These businesses have lost hundreds of millions of Baht due to the Red Shirt protests and they should be held accountable for that.

that would takes years in court and tons of paperwork!!!

careful, otherwise the Red Leadership and a few on here will try to spin it...

"Red Protests Create Years of Work & Jobs for Lawyers and Accountants"

[whiterussian]

Everyone should hold the Red Shirt organizers responsible for the losses. I think it would be a good class action Lawsuit for all the business adversely affected by their illegal action of closing the area

How much do you think shutting down Govt house, plus the main airports of Bangkok cost...

just getting my calculator out... 1 week, usually 750 flights operating through Suvarnabhumi Airport on a daily basis...

6000 flights...

On 26 November 2008, the airport was suffered from an illegal occupying of the protestors who claims themselves as People's Alliance for Democracy, closing the departure lounge and blocking exits, causing almost three thousand passengers stranded within the main terminal, another 350,000 were stranded inside the country, as all flights were grounded

[yoshiwara]

I guess it's also no surprise this article mentions nothing of PM Abhisit's use of the word "TERRORISTS" and the irrational panic this has created in potential travelers from the west.

I received an email from very concerned older family members back home about my safety after they read something about red shirt TERRORISTS.

Let's face it. As long as tourists stay away from the faceoff area and its surrounding hotels and malls, there is no reason to fear anything but a safe and lovely holiday. The severe dropoff in tourism is far greater than it sould be given the facts on the ground. Prime Minister Abhisit has contributed GREATLY to the overhype of traveler fears.

But Thaksin has paid for it.

[bkkjames]

Everyone should hold the Red Shirt organizers responsible for the losses. I think it would be a good class action Lawsuit for all the business adversely affected by their illegal action of closing the area

How much do you think shutting down Govt house, plus the main airport of Bnagkok cost...

I's wager a tad more than the loss of a few handbags in the shopping district!!!

And as has been said 10101 times already on here - we were against the Airport shutdown as well.

How far back do you want to go to try and justify the current situation? What is convenient?

[MrJohnson]

Nero fiddles while Rome burns... I'm getting the hel_l out of here.... the sh*t is about to hit the fan...

Good luck on your travels.

Please keep in touch and let us know where in the world is half as good a place to live in as Thailand.

Only the businesses and the elites affected here. People still great, weather, beaches. All's well with the world and this is just a forum and the policits will work out, or we will have a coup.

It'll be ok in the long run.

You must seriously have your head in a very dark place if you think ordinary people arn't hurting because of this stuff.

[gemini81]

so what is the govt going to do?

allow the ludicrous events, threats and behavior to continue, it appears.

[OzMick]

Seems funny to me that most of the posters on this thread agree that the article is stating the bleeding obvious, though it may pass as journalism, except for thr red apologists. 1 gives us a bit of basic marxist theory "necessary for the class warfare", and the other idiot thinks there's nothing wrong.

Might make interesting research material for a trick cyclist.

[bangkoklight]

careful, otherwise the Red Leadership and a few on here will try to spin it...

"Red Protests Create Years of Work & Jobs for Lawyers and Accountants"

Very true, like climate change has created new opportunities for business and new economies. Don't forget that all economies are based on using (destroying) something, then making (recreating) something new. It’s the cycle of life.

[BKjohn]

Culprits fired RPG at PTT petrol depots in Pathum Thani

These are the things those reds are up to now. If the tank had blown it would have caused huge loss of life

Now I'm just waiting for those reds here to come out of their holes and say "oh the government did this to discredit the red " such a statement wouldn't surprise me at all

The reds can end all this now by simply leaving and going home - anything that happens when the government /army moves in to clear them is 100% their fault

Get the <deleted>.. out of Bangkok

[bangkoklight]

Culprits fired RPG at PTT petrol depots in Pathum Thani

These are the things those reds are up to now. If the tank had blown it would have caused huge loss of life.

Now I'm just waiting for those reds here to cme out of their holes and say "oh tha government did this to discredit the red " such a statement wouldn't surprise me at all

The reds can end all this now by simply leaving and going home - anything that happens when the government /army moves in to clear them is 100% their fault

Get the <deleted>.. out of Bangkok

News to your ears eh BKjohn? If the tank had blown... If these people weren't repressed in the first place... If they got a fair wage for the work they did... If they didn't have the send their daughters to work in the sex industry in the City to make ends meet... With all these "ifs", you can see the "whys".

[retarius]

Congratulations to the NBT! There must be some real “smart party” people working at that one-sided news agency. Why can't they report on the fact that the class divide in Thailand will ultimately leave the country behind its regional neighbours, who are getting their act together with social reform, social welfare programmes, and infrastructure projects.

In the short-term the economy will suffer, yes. So a few hotels are being disrupted. I think people need to look at the bigger picture; Thailand as a whole with the majority of its people working in the agricultural sector - the heart of the economy.

And all social revolutions cause disruption to the economy (and to society), like all storms cause damage to the environment. But in the long-term, as ecologists know, storms are part of the life creating cycle, producing greater biodiversity and opportunities for new species to thrive. In the case of a social revolution, an opportunity for the lower classes to climb out the poverty trap and show their true potential - for the benefit of the whole. This is how the developed nations of the world came about.

Nice Post BangkokLight....very true indeed....many of the posters in here think that the poor should just put up with the status quo and let the elite eat the whole pie...would it hurt these pigs if they only had 95% of the pie instead of 100%?

[AGareth2]

^ no one HAS to send anyone to work in the sex industry.

That is a myth!

[thepodest]

Who comes up with these news headlines....

[retarius]

I guess it's also no surprise this article mentions nothing of PM Abhisit's use of the word "TERRORISTS" and the irrational panic this has created in potential travelers from the west.

I received an email from very concerned older family members back home about my safety after they read something about red shirt TERRORISTS.

Let's face it. As long as tourists stay away from the faceoff area and its surrounding hotels and malls, there is no reason to fear anything but a safe and lovely holiday. The severe dropoff in tourism is far greater than it sould be given the facts on the ground. Prime Minister Abhisit has contributed GREATLY to the overhype of traveler fears.

But Thaksin has paid for it.

Abhisit's language has been carefully crafted by a PR agency...he constantly refers to "terrorists" which then gets picked up by the government media and its sympathizers in the Bangkok Post and Nation....the word has been carefully selected because,a s we all know, it's OK to kill terrorists, and so when the army butcher the protesters he won't catch so much flack for the rest of the world's press, democratic governments, and quangos. It's sad to see how desperate this guy is to hang on to power...

[Redsunset]

careful, otherwise the Red Leadership and a few on here will try to spin it...

"Red Protests Create Years of Work & Jobs for Lawyers and Accountants"

Very true, like climate change has created new opportunities for business and new economies. Don't forget that all economies are based on using (destroying) something, then making (recreating) something new. It's the cycle of life.

How about this title: "Red Protests Fuels New Economy for U.S. Lawyers and Accountants Displaced by Sub-Prime Meltdown"

[bangkoklight]

Who comes up with these news headlines....

The government with backing from the well-established, old-money elite and broadcasted with the help of their yellow messengers - disguised as no colour nowadays. All to distract from the real, pertinent issues.

[AGareth2]

I thought Thailand was hardly effected by sub-prime

[Goooner]

Abhisit's language has been carefully crafted by a PR agency...he constantly refers to "terrorists" which then gets picked up by the government media and its sympathizers in the Bangkok Post and Nation....the word has been carefully selected because,a s we all know, it's OK to kill terrorists, and so when the army butcher the protesters he won't catch so much flack for the rest of the world's press, democratic governments, and quangos. It's sad to see how desperate this guy is to hang on to power...

And how else would you classify these 'mystery' grenade throwing 'people' or these black clad warriors that magically appeared within the red ranks when the army/police tried to disperse them last week?

I think the word terrorist is quite accurate right now, in fact its a term that should have been branded into the reds a long time ago!

Simply put - the reds are domestic terrorists

[BKjohn]

Culprits fired RPG at PTT petrol depots in Pathum Thani

These are the things those reds are up to now. If the tank had blown it would have caused huge loss of life.

Now I'm just waiting for those reds here to cme out of their holes and say "oh tha government did this to discredit the red " such a statement wouldn't surprise me at all

The reds can end all this now by simply leaving and going home - anything that happens when the government /army moves in to clear them is 100% their fault

Get the <deleted>.. out of Bangkok

News to your ears eh BKjohn? If the tank had blown... If these people weren't repressed in the first place... If they got a fair wage for the work they did... If they didn't have the send their daughters to work in the sex industry in the City to make ends meet... With all these "ifs", you can see the "whys".

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't you realize that you have just made a statement showing what those red thugs are really about ?

Sending their daughters to work in brothels or bars shows how morally clean these knuckleheads are and by the way, they do so not to buy food but to have that new TV or motorcycle - as I said before, had a factory with more than 100 employees and we had to pay them twice a month because even though we had free decent accommodation rent free for them on top of 6k a month wages some 12 years ago + insurance + holiday pay - they were never able to manage their money and all, wit no exception owed to the money lender. Booze, women and gambling were their priorities - in short - sanook - work came way down the list and saving wasn't even on it.

Even among those couples who together earned over 12k a month and lived rent free a lot of daughters were working in Pat Pont or Cowboy -

I know personally two companies, one in the UK and another in Germany who used to import Thai made products. They have all switched to India, Bali, Sri Lanka, Vietnam .. because labor is a lot cheaper and quality better. Bali produces far better wood work products than Thailand and cheaper where India is a lot cheaper and makes a huge variety of products. Now, lets not forget China, much lower labor costs than in Thailand. They also have cheap highly skilled labor.

The tourism industry is what provides a good living for those Isaani knucklehead red shirts (this does of course only mean the minority making the trouble) - government figures/percentages can not include the "grey" income from tourism since none of the hookers, soup stalls, souvenier shops, massage parlors, taxis, rental shops etc etc etc pay any taxes and do not register their income.

Most of the workers in the tourist industry are from Isaan and their own people, the red shirts are busy destroying their source of income

Investors looking at Thailand with higher wages, more restrictions and lots of trouble on the streets ( I refuse to call it political trouble because this has nothing to do with politics) caused by armed thugs will not be impressed

[Redsunset]

I thought Thailand was hardly effected by sub-prime

Thailand was just scratched by the sub-prime mess... the U.S. was at the epicenter...

[anotherpeter]

Abhisit's language has been carefully crafted by a PR agency...he constantly refers to "terrorists" which then gets picked up by the government media and its sympathizers in the Bangkok Post and Nation....the word has been carefully selected because,a s we all know, it's OK to kill terrorists, and so when the army butcher the protesters he won't catch so much flack for the rest of the world's press, democratic governments, and quangos. It's sad to see how desperate this guy is to hang on to power...

If you actually read Abhisit's comments, he never refers to the protestors as "terrorists".

He refers to the "terrorists" (generally the black clad guys) as being amongst the protestors.

[Redsunset]

Rumor off of Facebook....

Thaksin just suffered from shock after receiving chemotherapy in Dubai....

Can anyone verify... only a rumor...