Thai Troops Accused Of Pre-Vote Intimidation

[patjem]

No one (except perhaps the writer of the above) believes they came to Bangkok to burn it. If so why did they wait a couple of months? The fires were lit after the army started slaughtering them. I am not surprised a few red shirts got a bit angry about that!

I also don't think Thaksin gave them 10,000 pickups which are in any case pretty useless against tanks. The banks and finance companies (which are owned by the elite of Bangkok) own the pickups! The yellows of course use porches to drive into civilians. They wouldn't be seen dead in a pickup

You cannot be serious.

People around my home town were openly bragging about burning Bangkok six weeks before the deed was done. Pick-ups full of youths/thugs were paid upon arrival at the protest, and varying bonuses were given for assorted weapons, petrol, other stuff that was smuggled into the protest site.

The fact that the money was only paid on arrival, and not on subsequent days, lead to many of these youths/thugs returning home out of pocket, and rather disenfranchised with the Thaksin machine.

So they sat on the petrol for 6 weeks without using it?

There is no doubt they thought to set fire to barricades and tires but the buildings were in response to murder!!

Many were given money to compensate for loss of earnings but don't tell me the protesters were there just for the money. I spent a lot of time with them and they were passionately motivated by what they saw as injustices. NOne of them returned home with a profit of that I am sure. They were poor people who couldn't afford to protest that long without some help.

Easy to do when you've indoctrinated them with so many speeches. Many believed what lies they were being told.

[jdinasia]

All I can say ... is Somo obviously never listened to Arisaman or Nutthawut ... or for that matter even Thaksin. None of this has FA to do with the topic though. Somo -- the intent was there from the beginning ... push and goad until the reds got the violence they wanted .. then burn. It didn't happen faster (other than on APril 9th) because nobody rose to the bait. The tactics were clear from the beginning.

(I'd post the videos from the rallies calling for the burning well in advance -- but the links I have are all in Thai and I doubt many people would understand it. Chuan Leekpai's speech last Thursday certainly put it into perspective though. (If you understand Thai even marginally you should click on the google ad for Abhisit that is showing up on many of these pages and pick video 3/3 of Chuan --- sad but powerful.

Back to the topic ---- THIS thread is about an inter-agency squabble between the police and the military.

Edited June 29, 2011 by jdinasia

[cdnvic]

The Bangkok arsons are not the topic here, please get back to the subject which is alleged voter intimidation.

[Huey]

If I was Thai I would so be looking to find away to support the military right now. I wish them the best of luck in battling the red cancer in the north.

Fortunately, the Thai population does not share your view of living under a military dictatorship. If this is your preference, I suggest you consider one of the African nations or perhaps Syria.. IThe view you have expressed is an endorsement of the suppression of civil rights.

I'm American, and while I hardly share all of the views of my govt, the suppression of Terrorist groups is one where I have to agree with them.

Your comment is cute BTW, first time I heard that in awhile, "You don't like it then you can go back to Africa!" LoL you almost made me homesick Geriatric

[billd766]

If anyone thinks Thailand will become a paradise if the PTP wins and Thaksin comes back you are deludeing yourself. The poor will remain as they are now no better and maybe worse off.

Keep deludeing yourselves that the redshirt leaders are a bunch of nice guys and I have a bit of swamp land to sale you

Can I build an airport on it?

[chuang]

If anyone thinks Thailand will become a paradise if the PTP wins and Thaksin comes back you are deludeing yourself. The poor will remain as they are now no better and maybe worse off.

Keep deludeing yourselves that the redshirt leaders are a bunch of nice guys and I have a bit of swamp land to sale you

Do you think the Thai people are better off now than five years ago....come on...

[Ricardo]

If anyone thinks Thailand will become a paradise if the PTP wins and Thaksin comes back you are deludeing yourself. The poor will remain as they are now no better and maybe worse off.

Keep deludeing yourselves that the redshirt leaders are a bunch of nice guys and I have a bit of swamp land to sale you

Do you think the Thai people are better off now than five years ago....come on...

Of course they are, the economy has been growing at several percent per-annum, except for a slight hiccup due to the GFC.

[Huey]

If anyone thinks Thailand will become a paradise if the PTP wins and Thaksin comes back you are deludeing yourself. The poor will remain as they are now no better and maybe worse off.

Keep deludeing yourselves that the redshirt leaders are a bunch of nice guys and I have a bit of swamp land to sale you

Do you think the Thai people are better off now than five years ago....come on...

Their currency is certainly stronger I wish the US$ appreciated as much as the Baht over the past 5 years!

[PingManDan]

Out with Army intimidation and rule, also while they are on the way out lets get rid of one sided political party the Democrats, who's deceitful lies are only for their wealth and gain of power, and the keeping of the real Thai people in shackles.

[PingManDan]

If anyone thinks Thailand will become a paradise if the PTP wins and Thaksin comes back you are deludeing yourself. The poor will remain as they are now no better and maybe worse off.

Keep deludeing yourselves that the redshirt leaders are a bunch of nice guys and I have a bit of swamp land to sale you

Do you think the Thai people are better off now than five years ago....come on...

Certainly Not ! just have a look around, more crime, more drugs, more of everything that hurts Thailand as a whole, not just the people - - - - - -

[cup-O-coffee]

If I was Thai I would so be looking to find away to support the military right now. I wish them the best of luck in battling the red cancer in the north.

Fortunately, the Thai population does not share your view of living under a military dictatorship. If this is your preference, I suggest you consider one of the African nations or perhaps Syria.. IThe view you have expressed is an endorsement of the suppression of civil rights.

I'm American, and while I hardly share all of the views of my govt, the suppression of Terrorist groups is one where I have to agree with them.

Your comment is cute BTW, first time I heard that in awhile, "You don't like it then you can go back to Africa!" LoL you almost made me homesick Geriatric

And I am an a citizen of the United States, and I disagree. Terrorism is too often used to broad brush and down trod issues that deserve deeper understanding. I know my country's history in my own interpretation and opinion formed from study, and I believe I have a fair shake on what's going on now, and you certainly do not represent the majority view. Judging by your signature, you would probably label me as a terrorist for my views, were I to mention them. The use of phrases such as "enemy combatant" or "terrorist" towards ones own citizens is, in my strong opinion, a sobering, cowardly, paranoid and grave accusation that instead demands an answer to the questions, "What are we, the people, becoming?", and "What are we, the people, allowing our governments to become?", and "Why does it not spell a revolution when the government can murder its own people, and the people merely let the moment slip away?". Does it have anything to do with the dumbing-down of society? Perhaps Thomas Jefferson might think so.

The issue of this article revolves around the charges of intimidation of citizens of a country by its military. Respectfully, this military justifies its existence as a means to an end; to protect the monarchy; or so they say. One must seriously wonder if this purpose in life has taken on a newer meaning, and instead is used merely as a bludgeon; a means to suffocate or smother the better well-being of a nation; to silence the voice of dissent. Perhaps the question that is rearing its ugly head revolves around a well-armed institution that is beginning to realize that it has outlived its usefulness, and sees the writing on the wall that spells its extinction of purpose, and appears to have decided to enter the game of politics, with side-arms on their hips and tanks at their rear, to set the stage for the inevitable things, or thing, to come.

This manner in which this business of soldiers acting in this way is handled, is no better illustrated in the United States handling of its own soldiers reprehensible behavior in recent years towards innocent "enemy combatants" and "terrorists". At least Thailand doesn't invade foreign countries who never once tried to invade the United States - but were rather the victims of false accusations - and sufferers of the murder of countless thousands of innocents who never heard of John and Susan Smith in Peoria, Iowa, who sit on their fat <deleted> and watch FOX snooze sound-bytes of the "Victory in Iran" over the Terrorist Boogeymen. (ref: No WMD found!). Not one of these "terrorists". let alone one hundred of them could put together enough money to fund any effort to breach the Fascist US gauntlet and force their way to John's and Susan's front doorstep!

The focus on this shouldn't be what was done by these soldiers carrying illegal firearms and badgering and harassing the citizenry, but rather how it is handled. That is the telltale sign of the way things are, and the lean of things to come.

And here's the clincher that makes me reserve my opinion against the red shirts or any other shirt: When the facts show that a military force is solidly involved in politics and political struggle - when military leaders personally opt to use government owned helicopters to fly into Northern Thailand - without any missive from their government leaders to do so - and threaten the people to "behave" or else; one has to wonder how mad these military leaders have become, to assume that they have any right to carry out such

that is not government condoned and stenches of a political agenda. No one caught that? On that note, why would it be any worse for civilians to use their own vehicles to come to their government and plead their case and remind their government that the people are the reason for their existence. Why is that seen as a terrorist action, and these military commander's actions not?

How can you convince me, or any other sane person, that carrying non-government issued, unlicensed firearms, and using government owned property to further ones own personal views does not somehow suggest that maybe ("MAYBE") the possibility of personal opinion and prejudice of well-armed individuals existed in 2009, Bangkok? Do we have a de-facto party, or not?

You cannot convince me, and it is my opinion that the ramifications of this article merely describe larger issues that will soon become substantial fact to support my opinion.

Edited July 2, 2011 by cup-O-coffee

[TAWP]

If anyone thinks Thailand will become a paradise if the PTP wins and Thaksin comes back you are deludeing yourself. The poor will remain as they are now no better and maybe worse off.

Keep deludeing yourselves that the redshirt leaders are a bunch of nice guys and I have a bit of swamp land to sale you

Do you think the Thai people are better off now than five years ago....come on...

Certainly Not ! just have a look around, more crime, more drugs, more of everything that hurts Thailand as a whole, not just the people - - - - - -

More crimes? I suppose, if you factor in all the violence Red Shirts started last year.

More drugs? Not sure if the total amount has gone up, we have just seen a shift in what kind of drugs more people with problems use, just as we have seen in the west. Not to miss that those that often use drugs from this category is often...Red...

[musiclover]

If I was Thai I would so be looking to find away to support the military right now. I wish them the best of luck in battling the red cancer in the north.

Fortunately, the Thai population does not share your view of living under a military dictatorship. If this is your preference, I suggest you consider one of the African nations or perhaps Syria.. IThe view you have expressed is an endorsement of the suppression of civil rights.

I'm American, and while I hardly share all of the views of my govt, the suppression of Terrorist groups is one where I have to agree with them.

Your comment is cute BTW, first time I heard that in awhile, "You don't like it then you can go back to Africa!" LoL you almost made me homesick Geriatric

And I am an a citizen of the United States, and I disagree. Terrorism is too often used to broad brush and down trod issues that deserve deeper understanding. I know my country's history in my own interpretation and opinion formed from study, and I believe I have a fair shake on what's going on now, and you certainly do not represent the majority view. Judging by your signature, you would probably label me as a terrorist for my views, were I to mention them. The use of phrases such as "enemy combatant" or "terrorist" towards ones own citizens is, in my strong opinion, a sobering, cowardly, paranoid and grave accusation that instead demands an answer to the questions, "What are we, the people, becoming?", and "What are we, the people, allowing our governments to become?", and "Why does it not spell a revolution when the government can murder its own people, and the people merely let the moment slip away?". Does it have anything to do with the dumbing-down of society? Perhaps Thomas Jefferson might think so.

The issue of this article revolves around the charges of intimidation of citizens of a country by its military. Respectfully, this military justifies its existence as a means to an end; to protect the monarchy; or so they say. One must seriously wonder if this purpose in life has taken on a newer meaning, and instead is used merely as a bludgeon; a means to suffocate or smother the better well-being of a nation; to silence the voice of dissent. Perhaps the question that is rearing its ugly head revolves around a well-armed institution that is beginning to realize that it has outlived its usefulness, and sees the writing on the wall that spells its extinction of purpose, and appears to have decided to enter the game of politics, with side-arms on their hips and tanks at their rear, to set the stage for the inevitable things, or thing, to come.

This manner in which this business of soldiers acting in this way is handled, is no better illustrated in the United States handling of its own soldiers reprehensible behavior in recent years towards innocent "enemy combatants" and "terrorists". At least Thailand doesn't invade foreign countries who never once tried to invade the United States - but were rather the victims of false accusations - and sufferers of the murder of countless thousands of innocents who never heard of John and Susan Smith in Peoria, Iowa, who sit on their fat <deleted> and watch FOX snooze sound-bytes of the "Victory in Iran" over the Terrorist Boogeymen. (ref: No WMD found!). Not one of these "terrorists". let alone one hundred of them could put together enough money to fund any effort to breach the Fascist US gauntlet and force their way to John's and Susan's front doorstep!

The focus on this shouldn't be what was done by these soldiers carrying illegal firearms and badgering and harassing the citizenry, but rather how it is handled. That is the telltale sign of the way things are, and the lean of things to come.

And here's the clincher that makes me reserve my opinion against the red shirts or any other shirt: When the facts show that a military force is solidly involved in politics and political struggle - when military leaders personally opt to use government owned helicopters to fly into Northern Thailand - without any missive from their government leaders to do so - and threaten the people to "behave" or else; one has to wonder how mad these military leaders have become, to assume that they have any right to carry out such

that is not government condoned and stenches of a political agenda. No one caught that? On that note, why would it be any worse for civilians to use their own vehicles to come to their government and plead their case and remind their government that the people are the reason for their existence. Why is that seen as a terrorist action, and these military commander's actions not?

How can you convince me, or any other sane person, that carrying non-government issued, unlicensed firearms, and using government owned property to further ones own personal views does not somehow suggest that maybe ("MAYBE") the possibility of personal opinion and prejudice of well-armed individuals existed in 2009, Bangkok? Do we have a de-facto party, or not?

You cannot convince me, and it is my opinion that the ramifications of this article merely describe larger issues that will soon become substantial fact to support my opinion.

Well said and unarguably objective and accurate.