Army Chief Prayuth Warns Pheu Thai

[blazes]

This is politics. People want to get elected and they believe that once THEY are elected than THEY will correct all the countries ills.

Fear is the greatest motivator of all. Does anyone really believe that george bush would have been reelected without raising the terrorist threat level weekly? Does anyone have any doubt about fear being used in every political campaign since the beginning of time. Nobody can predict what the outcome of this election will be.

It appears to me the the Army has been a stabilizing force in Thailand. The reds have some legitimate concerns. but they underestimate the backlash they will get if they think that they can just change things without bring along all of the society. Thailand is a world economic power because the Army has been able to stabilize the country so it can move forward. No country has made the transition from monarchy to democracy in a short time. It takes hundreds of years to become stabilized and the Army seems to be acting in the long term best interest of Thailand.

Take a look at Wikipedia entry for King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Franco died in November 1975. Juan Carlos was king almost immediately. He intervened strongly in 1981 when the army attempted a coup. Juan Carlos's intervention to protect the democratic will (as expressed in the elections...Socialist Felipe Gonzalez elected) cemented the role of the monarchy in Spain to this day.

So, hundreds of years? No, in Spain it took only 6.

[rubl]

Fear is the greatest motivator of all. Does anyone really believe that george bush would have been reelected without raising the terrorist threat level weekly? Does anyone have any doubt about fear being used in every political campaign since the beginning of time.

A good documentary is The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear

Here's a YouTube video playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1D677F7EAAEE3DD5

The UDD have portrayed, via their propaganda, that Abhisit, Suthep and the army are ruthless killers based on the events last year, and millions of naive country folk have taken it all in.

The defacement of Dem's election posters seems to confirm this view. I've seen Dem's posters with k. Abhisit's face slashed, written over, or 'mustachioed'. The last on some other parties posters also. Mind you, I only see things in Bangkok, as in 'be around and while there see'. I don't refer to 'saw with my own eyes' while referring to video clips, no, only the real thing for me

[whybother]

Take a look at Wikipedia entry for King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Franco died in November 1975. Juan Carlos was king almost immediately. He intervened strongly in 1981 when the army attempted a coup. Juan Carlos's intervention to protect the democratic will (as expressed in the elections...Socialist Felipe Gonzalez elected) cemented the role of the monarchy in Spain to this day.

So, hundreds of years? No, in Spain it took only 6.

A change from a dictatorship, on the death of the dictator, to a constitutional monarchy, in a country surrounded by democratic countries is not a very good comparison to Thailand.

[blazes]

Take a look at Wikipedia entry for King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Franco died in November 1975. Juan Carlos was king almost immediately. He intervened strongly in 1981 when the army attempted a coup. Juan Carlos's intervention to protect the democratic will (as expressed in the elections...Socialist Felipe Gonzalez elected) cemented the role of the monarchy in Spain to this day.

So, hundreds of years? No, in Spain it took only 6.

A change from a dictatorship, on the death of the dictator, to a constitutional monarchy, in a country surrounded by democratic countries is not a very good comparison to Thailand.

Admittedly, nowhere is a particularly good comparison with Thailand, but I was responding to the question of what happens when a country without much experience of parliamentary democracy is suddenly subjected to a coup attempt by the army (as has happened on all too many occasions in Thailand).

Spain came out of that challenge to its democratically elected government very well. We are all wondering what will happen if a similar challenge occurs to an elected government here that the RTA decides is bad for the country's health.

[Ricardo]

The defacement of Dem's election posters seems to confirm this view. I've seen Dem's posters with k. Abhisit's face slashed, written over, or 'mustachioed'. The last on some other parties posters also. Mind you, I only see things in Bangkok, as in 'be around and while there see'. I don't refer to 'saw with my own eyes' while referring to video clips, no, only the real thing for me

Sadly I can confirm that this is also commonplace in central-areas of Chiang Mai, clearly none of the 'Rak Chiang Mai 51' thugs were awake, when their red-shirt education-schools were talking about democracy or respect for other peoples' views. But that's 'true democracy' for you.

[jayboy]

Take a look at Wikipedia entry for King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Franco died in November 1975. Juan Carlos was king almost immediately. He intervened strongly in 1981 when the army attempted a coup. Juan Carlos's intervention to protect the democratic will (as expressed in the elections...Socialist Felipe Gonzalez elected) cemented the role of the monarchy in Spain to this day.

So, hundreds of years? No, in Spain it took only 6.

A change from a dictatorship, on the death of the dictator, to a constitutional monarchy, in a country surrounded by democratic countries is not a very good comparison to Thailand.

Admittedly, nowhere is a particularly good comparison with Thailand, but I was responding to the question of what happens when a country without much experience of parliamentary democracy is suddenly subjected to a coup attempt by the army (as has happened on all too many occasions in Thailand).

Spain came out of that challenge to its democratically elected government very well. We are all wondering what will happen if a similar challenge occurs to an elected government here that the RTA decides is bad for the country's health.

One must also here give full credit to King Juan Carlos who at a critical moment chose democracy over reactionary repression and a discredited military still influenced by the fascist Franco tradition.An act of real courage and moral integrity.

[Buchholz]

Meanwhile.... back in Thailand the topic of the gun-wielding Pheu Thai Party MP candidate returns with...

.

Edited June 12, 2011 by Buchholz

[Buchholz]

Pheu Thai candidate faces police complaint for threatening soldier

The Army has filed a police complaint against a Pheu Thai candidate in Bangkok for allegedly threatening an on-duty soldier with a pistol, the Army spokesman said Friday.

Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the complaint was filed against Pairote Issaraseripong.

The soldier in question is an Army sergeant who is part of the government's anti-narcotics Unit 315 and was gathering information in Nong Chok district before his encounter with Pairote, the spokesman said.

The issue turned into a conflict between the Army and the Pheu Thai Party as both sides started accusing the other of politicising the matter.

Sansern insisted yesterday that Pairote - who was accompanied by six or seven other men - confronted the sergeant and signaled that he was carrying a pistol.

-- The Nation 2011-06-12

Edited June 12, 2011 by Buchholz