Thaksin Aide Noppadon Seeks US Role In Thailand

[slapout]

Noppadom over the past few months, has given credibility to a analysis of his antics and vocal skills I heard recently. "He is well on his way to making the village idiot have credibility."

[march]

Suggest Noppadon put his head between his legs and kiss his arse goodbye!

I read that he has now put his head between his legs and taken his road show to the EU now to see if his drama will play on that stage.

[march]

On the heels of his "successful" trip to the USA,

come more uncorroborated claims; it'll be interesting to hear what the EU clerk's version is:

EU 'concerned about Thai freedoms, political prisoners': Noppodon

By The Nation

Published on July 5, 2010

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama has met with officials from the European Union in a further bid to boost the red shirts' image in the international arena.

Former foreign minister Noppadon claimed yesterday his visits to the United States and Belgium had successfully drawn the attention of foreign governments to the need to hold peace talks in Thailand.

Noppadon denied he had lobbied against the government's reconciliation plan, as the Democrat Party claimed, while meeting senior officials in both countries.

"I met both officials and executives of both the US Congress and the Senate," Noppadon said.

"It was not true that I met only clerks, like the government claimed."

He said he also met US academics and representatives of key international organisations, and gave interviews to foreign reporters.

He then flew to Brussels, the Belgian capital, to meet executives of the Office of the European Union and EU human rights officials.

Noppadon said he received a warm welcome from EU officials and that they expressed concern about people's freedoms and were keen for the Thai government to lift the state of emergency and release "political prisoners".

Noppadon said EU officials understood the government used excessive violence in deploying troops to crack down on the people, he said.

"Both the US and EU want Thailand to hold peace talks between both sides. They don't want to interfere in our country's affairs but they want to see peace talks take place," Noppadon said.

"My trip was not a waste, as I got a chance to report about the situation in Thailand and highlight the proposal for peace talks."

Noppadon claimed the US Congress resolution showed the United States wanted to see the Thai government hold talks with its opponents.

"I was not there to oppose the resolution but I was there to create confidence in Thailand. I supported the resolution on reconciliation but I proposed that we should hold peace talks [also]. What I did was an attempt to help our country," he insisted.

Noppadon denied that Thaksin had hired three lobbyists to harm the Kingdom. He said Thaksin hired the firms to "coordinate facts and information", not to damage Thailand's image.

He added that the hiring of the US firms was reported to Congress as required for transparency.

He said he would reveal tomorrow details showing the government also used taxpayers' money to hire US lobbyists.

Noppadon claimed he paid for the trip with his own money while the government used taxpayer funds to send Thai Trade Representative Kiart Sitthiamron to the US.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/07/05/politics/EU-concerned-about-Thai-freedoms-political-prisone-30133053.html

[Siripon]

The abrupt transfer and swap of the American ambassador to the Philippines raised many eyebrows here. One theory is it was to do with the close relationship between Pojaman and Mr John's Korean wife which displeased the Thai government.

[march]

The abrupt transfer and swap of the American ambassador to the Philippines raised many eyebrows here. One theory is it was to do with the close relationship between Pojaman and Mr John's Korean wife which displeased the Thai government.

Are you sure about that? If so, they certainly have kept it quiet. I've not heard of this before and can't find mention of it in any English news or press releases from either Embassy's website (which still list Eric John as the ambassador to Thailand and Harry Thomas as the ambassador to the Philippines). Even this youtube video from just 3 days ago depicts Eric John's speech at the U.S. Embassy Bangkok as ambassador:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGc_QjTn8cU&feature=player_embedded

Anything in the Thai press or blogs for a link regarding the transfer?

I could certainly understand the theory you mention, however, as Sophia John in her position of a senior diplomat's wife, probably shouldn't be hanging out with a convicted felon.

Edited July 5, 2010 by march

[scorecard]

Don't underestimate the capabilities of some of these lobbyist / PR firms (note I didn't say their morals).

I've seen them in action before. They are vey very clever at word construction and can easily convince the masses that black is suddenly white.