Allies Insist Thaksin Is Healthy And His Mandela Pictures Not Faked

[Buchholz]

Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat - also a former prime minister - said Thaksin had greeted him by telephone on Sunday. Thaksin was not somewhere near Thailand and he was healthy.

Happy Birthday, Somchai. Is there any progress being made on the criminal charges you face?

National anti-graft commission will file criminal charges against ex-Premier Somchai Wongsawat

Wicha Mahakun, a commissioner of National Anti-Corruption Committee (NCCC), said said Somchai would be charged with malfeasance in violation of Article 157 of the Criminal Code.

The Nation - September 7, 2009

Although Khunying Pojaman Na Pombejra is his ex-wife, he still misses her," Somchai said.

Hello Pojaman. Is there any chance you might soon begin serving your 3 year prison sentence following your conviction 2 years ago?

The Criminal Court found Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra guilty of intentionally avoiding a tax payment of Bt546 million. Also found guilty in the historic trial are Pojaman's brother Bannaphot Damapong and her personal secretary Kanchana Honghern. The court sentenced Pojaman and Bannaphot each to 3 years in jail.

The Nation - July 31, 2008

Noppadon insisted the pictures were taken recently, without photo-editing.

Hi Noppadon. It's too bad for you that, given your well-known proclivity for telling falsehoods, your believability factor is at zero.

"I've never heard Thaksin say he would come back to power."

Did you miss the April 2009 declaration of his vow that he would return to Thailand and lead a revolution? (which also refers back to the above about your penchant for spewing falsehoods)

[jayboy]

Mandela was a courageous man, who spend many years in prison to obtain justice.

Actually he spent many years in jail for conspiring to blow people up....

and continued to spend further years in jail for advocating violence via the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe - Spear of the Nation, which amongst other things targeted civilans...

In end, sense/reason preveiled and South Africa ended up were it is today, via agreements between Mandela and De Klerk. (who also won the noble prize for peace, along with Mandela)

But we digress...back on topic

But he won, and Mandela is a world icon and De Klerk is almost forgotten.And yes sometimes violence or the threat of violence is needed to bring a greedy and brutal elite peddling a fairytale of ethnic superiority to the negotiating table, as in...South Africa

Actually it wasn't threats of violence, there WAS violence.....and there was innocent people killed...for example...Peter Macbrides bomb in Durban at Mogoo's bar....The gentleman concerned went to jail, was released under an amnesty, became a politican and was busted for gun running....

If the ANC wanted to fight to change the system...then they should have fought the system then...ie military/police/goverment departments, instead they chose soft targets in most cases

We could also be having a similar discussion about the IRA and the UK, context is different, but the execution the same.....and the IRA where branded terrorists

With respect I'm not sure it's appropriate to lecture the ANC what targets it should have chosen.The system used brutality and violence on the majority mowing down unarmed civilians, and then covering up its crimes.The greedy and selfish elite insultingly patronised the rural majority saying they were uneducated and corrupted by populist politicians.But history wasn't on the elite's side and it was swept away along with its bizarre fairytales.That's the way it was ....in South Africa.

[Buchholz]

I understand that no matter whether a celebrity speaks or keeps silent, it's still news," Somchai said.

celebrity?

the restructuring of the Pheu Thai Party could take place at any time, Somchai said.

At any time? The Pheu Thai Party and Yongyuth has had infighting over this for more than 20 months

Puea Thai Party Leader wants to step down

Puea Thai Party Leader Yongyuth Wichaidit plans to step down so that his Party could be revamped and better prepared to fight back against the government.

"I've tried to resign three times already, but I was asked to hang on because of legal technicalities," Yongyuth said.

The Nation - January 19, 2009

What developed at that time was regional leaders for the Pheu Thai Party. Northeast went to Payap Shinawatra, Central went to Yingluk Shinawatra, South went to Yaowares Shinawatra, and the North went to Yaowapa Wongsawat nee Shinawatra.

Asked whether Pheu Thai's candidate for prime minister should be the party leader or an MP, Somchai said it should be whoever most carried the faith of the people.

It boils down to the misfits Chalerm and Chavalit, both of whom have refused to accept the position of Party Leader for the Pheu Thai Party.

There is, however, someone willing to do so:

Family is ready for Yingluck to lead Pheu Thai Party

Payap Shinawatra, Thaksin's younger brother, talks about his family's feelings on Thaksin's fate, and who should be Thaksin's political heir.

The Nation - July 23, 2009

He also said it was important for a political party to try to win people's trust and bring them hope.

Based on all the above and countless other examples, good luck you to Somchai. You'll need it.

P.S. Another good luck to you on facing your still pending charges.

[sbk]

I didn't even realize this thread was about the ANC in the first place???

[warfie]

I really don't see it, the hand vs fingers colour thing looks like just normal light shading... doesn't look suspect to me at all.

agreed

[xminator]

If you check the date of this blog post with photos of other people (inc Bill Clinton) in the same room also with Mandela, who is also in the same attire as the Thaksin photo, one could conclude the photos were taken around the World Cup period.

It's the same room but picture frames, books on the shelves behind Mandela are arranged differently.

Did you look closely at BOTH pictures in that blog post? There is a diffrence between the top and bottom picture, but pictures and books in the second picture matches perfectly with Thaksins picture. My guess is that the two pictures in that blog post is from two diffrent rooms. And one of them is the same as Thaksins room.

[rubl]

Hi Noppadon. It's too bad for you that, given your well-known proclivity for telling falsehoods, your believability factor is at zero.

Don't be to harsh on K. Noppadon, he's just following in the footsteps of his great inspiration and paymaster

[Lumumba]

I didn't even realize this thread was about the ANC in the first place???

I feel the need for correction by Jayboy was needed.

Thaksin, Mandela, ANC, all related from my POV.

Jayboy tell him as it was, light over evil at the end of the day.

In no way am I in support of the giant prick Zuma running the show at the moment.

[TAWP]

From the low-quality versions posted one cannot say if there has been any manipulation.

And the fingers does not look like they are out of color.

If anyone has a high-resolution version that isn't destroyed by compression, I would like to see it.

[alex_aka_P]

The photo WAS "cured" without any doubts.

Convert it to LAB channels and see the difference in chroma/lumi/alpha masks. Everything is crystal clear:

1. Whole Thaksin's right side is edited

2. Taksin's head was completely edited (perhaps moved from another photo usung square select\cut\paste tool?)

3. Something large was removed from the right side of the picture (using square tool again)

4. Mandela's head (left side) was slightly edited (perhaps to remove the overlighting)

5. The books were "arranged".

6. Taksin's right-hand was also edited (same-same square tool)

7. Something was moved out from the left side of Taksin (right above the lamp on the table)

It is 101% fake, muchachos. I've been working in lab for a while.

[TAWP]

The photo WAS "cured" without any doubts.

Convert it to LAB channels and see the difference in chroma/lumi/alpha masks. Everything is crystal clear:

1. Whole Thakki's right side is edited

2. Takki's head was completely edited (perhaps moved from another photo usung square select\cut\paste tool?)

3. Something large was removed from the right side of the picture (using square tool again)

4. Mandela's head (left side) was slightly edited (perhaps to remove the overlighting)

5. The books were "arranged".

6. Takki's right-hand was also edited (same-same square tool)

7. Something was moved out from the left side of Takki (right above the lamp on the table)

It is 101% fake, muchachos. I've been working in lab for a while.

You are making the mistake of basing the analysis on overly compressed source-material. What you see can be packing artifacts from the jpeg-compression.

[alex_aka_P]

You are making the mistake of basing the analysis on overly compressed source-material. What you see can be packing artifacts from the jpeg-compression.

No, I am not.

Artefacts are mostly visible on contrast channel (as the contrast is the "content-making component" and contains over 90% of the graphic data and thus affected by the artifacts), but not on chroma/luma/alpha channels (whose are smooth gradients, mostly).

Anyhow...see the attachment, and try to imagine this from a bit different ange +10min Photoshop usage (attention to their hands, necktie, etc!)

PS: All my notices are fit to this picture, BTW. Takki is edited, newspaper removed from the right side, etc...

PPS: Photo from http://www.annarbor.com/sports/fifa-world-cup-affords-two-ann-arborites-experience-of-a-lifetime/

[rubl]

If the picture of K. Thaksin shaking hands with Mr. Mandela is fake, I assume we will hear from the representatives of Mr. Mandela, or the South African Embassy ?

[alex_aka_P]

If the picture of K. Thaksin shaking hands with Mr. Mandela is fake, I assume we will hear from the representatives of Mr. Mandela, or the South African Embassy ?

I highly doubt it. They don't have to prove their innocence every single time when someone opening his/her Photoshop. Not you, nor me.

[DocHolliday]

for better evaluation...

[rubl]

If the picture of K. Thaksin shaking hands with Mr. Mandela is fake, I assume we will hear from the representatives of Mr. Mandela, or the South African Embassy ?

I highly doubt it. They don't have to prove their innocence every single time when someone opening his/her Photoshop. Not you, nor me.

Why prove innocence? Mr. Mandela is not guilty of anything. It's just that a fake photo with k. Thaksin, a notorious and controversial person, a statement may be forthcoming. Stand-alone this picture has no value, it's the story around it which may provoke outrage and contempt from the duped parties.

[alex_aka_P]

Why prove innocence? Mr. Mandela is not guilty of anything. It's just that a fake photo with k. Thaksin, a notorious and controversial person, a statement may be forthcoming. Stand-alone this picture has no value, it's the story around it which may provoke outrage and contempt from the duped parties.

And you expect the Embassy to sound the whole story-behind-the-scene to you?

Yeah, keep waiting... :-)

[filingaccount]

Original sizes here:

http://imgur.com/8bAdY.jpg

http://imgur.com/cJ1mG.jpg

http://imgur.com/cRN95.jpg

I do not wish to speculate, but I do enjoy analyzing images....

[rubl]

Why prove innocence? Mr. Mandela is not guilty of anything. It's just that a fake photo with k. Thaksin, a notorious and controversial person, a statement may be forthcoming. Stand-alone this picture has no value, it's the story around it which may provoke outrage and contempt from the duped parties.

And you expect the Embassy to sound the whole story-behind-the-scene to you?

Yeah, keep waiting... :-)

I don't expect anything, that's why I said may

[TAWP]

I'm still waiting for a high resolution/quality version of the pic.

The others in the supposed series (from another website) with other high level officials are very crisp and not destroyed by overly destructive compression.

The image on The Nations page, and their watermark added to it [!], is highly destroyed through re-packing a compressed file...

[jayboy]

If the picture of K. Thaksin shaking hands with Mr. Mandela is fake, I assume we will hear from the representatives of Mr. Mandela, or the South African Embassy ?

I highly doubt it. They don't have to prove their innocence every single time when someone opening his/her Photoshop. Not you, nor me.

I disagree completely.South Africa has diplomatic relations with Thailand and an Embassy in Bangkok.Thaksin is a fugitive from justice.If the photo is faked then we will hear about it from the South Africans.If it is not faked we will hear nothing I suspect.

Personally, I have no idea and frankly couldn't care less.

[givenall]

Why would we think that Thaksin Shinawatra would lie, or fake something? It's not as if he was a convicted fugitive from justice is it?

You have to love the part about how he is keeping quiet, lmfao.

Why are Thaksin;'s fingure over Mandela hand is Black. they forgot to fix the color?

[astral]

Having an asian complexion and black fingers can't be healty.

Perhaps he has severe frostbite.

[rubl]

Enough speculation. Let he amongst the members here who has friends in the South African Embassy gently probe.

[Buchholz]

Amongst "celebrities", to use Noppadon's words, I wonder how many of them spend any significant time confirming or not confirming the validity of all the avalanche of photos that are published on the Net on a daily basis on them.

Outside of Thailand, the likely response from most (or their respective Embassy) would be, "Thaksin who?"

[Soutpeel]

Enough speculation. Let he amongst the members here who has friends in the South African Embassy gently probe.

I personally think this meeting never took place, as the court case against the guy who killed Nelson Mandela's great granddaughter in a car crash was postponed to August 27 by the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court, so somehow, dont think he would have been in mood for a photo-op with the esteemed Ex-PM of Thailand.

[hanuman1]

Why is it so inconceivable that Mandela would meet Taksin?

Whether or not his conviction was politically motivated is debatable in foreign circles. The fact that he was illegally removed from office is not, and that will always garner a degree of sympathy among democratic nations whether you like it or not.

Coups are just not the done thing. In Thailand, the electorate may be required to forgive and forget such constitutional infringements but the 'Mai Pen Rai' attitude has never been one of this country's most successful exports. Foreign governments just don't buy it.

[DocHolliday]

MTHAI says it is a fake - it's the hand which reveals the bluff

http://news.mthai.co...news/85657.html

- unfortunately in Thai but you can translate with Google

larger picture: http://www.voicetv.co.th/thumb/1_20340.jpg

[Insight]

Why is it so inconceivable that Mandela would meet Taksin?

Whether or not his conviction was politically motivated is debatable in foreign circles. The fact that he was illegally removed from office is not, and that will always garner a degree of sympathy among democratic nations whether you like it or not.

Coups are just not the done thing. In Thailand, the electorate may be required to forgive and forget such constitutional infringements but the 'Mai Pen Rai' attitude has never been one of this country's most successful exports. Foreign governments just don't buy it.

Thankfully foreign govts don't seem to be buying the red cause either.

Pretty understandable when they have the guy who presented this photo as "evidence" for an envoy though.

[webfact]

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