Signs Of Public Doubting Yingluck's Abilities As Bangkok Braces For Deluge

[eastlight]

What abilities did they think she had? She is a complete political novice, a clone, and a puppet. Seriously there is little any one politician could do in the face of this natural disaster, but the PM's handling of it has been awful. Maybe next time Thais should look for some sort of competence in the people they elect.

But don't forget they're going to get tablet computers for their six year olds which they can then sell.

[Arkady]

anyone think Thaksin will appear in Bangkok in the next few days, riding in like a Night in Sh........... to save the day - the capital and the people, you heard it here first lol

Anything is possible with that guy but I think it would be a big mistake. His sister and her government are sinking fast in the popularity ratings and the military is rising due to their flood relief efforts. The government should probably declare a state of emergency in certain provinces to allow the military to deal with the situation more effectively, e.g. to prevent sabotage of flood barriers and mobs demanding that flood gate openings should favour their districts. However, they don't want to the give the military more power even temporarily or to have a chance to look good. In the background there is a lot of tension due to the government's plan to amend the Defence Act to give it a free hand in military appointments which would wipe out most of the current top brass next year. Also the demands of the red shirts to prosecute the top brass for their actions last year are making waves. If Yingluck resigns and is replaced by some one more confrontational like Chalerm who also has control of the police, that would escalate the tension between the government and the military. If Thaksin showed up at the same time, the situation could become explosive.

[eastlight]

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

If you wish to compare flooding in Australia and Thailand, please understand the subject matter is the RESPONSE to the flooding. Do you think our response was as piss poor as we see here? If not, what is the comparison?

As soon as the floods hit Australia you just knew the Aussies would tackle it in the best possible way (and that's coming from me, a Brit!).

[Arkady]

But .... if she were to go, resign, get sick, give-up or whatever .... who would PTP replace her with? Chalerm? Banharn? Sudarat? or how about Jatruporn

Banharn and Sudarat are ineligible as they are banned politicians. Jatuporn is unacceptable even to Thaksin, as he is a red shirt leader and none of them were even allowed in the cabinet. Leaves only Chalerm.

[rogerdee123]

But .... if she were to go, resign, get sick, give-up or whatever .... who would PTP replace her with? Chalerm? Banharn? Sudarat? or how about Jatruporn

Banharn and Sudarat are ineligible as they are banned politicians. Jatuporn is unacceptable even to Thaksin, as he is a red shirt leader and none of them were even allowed in the cabinet. Leaves only Chalerm.

another family dynasty in the making

[h90]

Stating the obvious really, and quite rightly the people will get to judge Yinglucks performance at the next election and if the memory of the flood mismanagement is as severe as reported she will be voted out of office

You forget, she's the number one party list candidate for PTP. She has no constituency to toss her out. It doesnt matter how incompetent she is, we're stuck with her.

And another 500 baht should sweeten the memory.

500 Baht will definitely do the trick

[Skywalker69]

Its ironic that all the big mouth red leaders are completely silent. They are only comfortable when bitching and complaining. Imagine the red sentiment if the dems were in office and handling the crisis like this.

They arre busy creating "Red willages"

[h90]

But .... if she were to go, resign, get sick, give-up or whatever .... who would PTP replace her with? Chalerm? Banharn? Sudarat? or how about Jatruporn

Banharn and Sudarat are ineligible as they are banned politicians. Jatuporn is unacceptable even to Thaksin, as he is a red shirt leader and none of them were even allowed in the cabinet. Leaves only Chalerm.

Isn't the ban soon expiring?

And sure they would have sisters, brothers to make the puppet?

[Skywalker69]

Khun (Khunying?) Sudarat, former close advisor to Thaksin Shinawatra and also the former Minister of Health during that MOH corruption scandal is now advisor to the FROG ... oops I mean FROC .... So we can all relax now knowing that she is helping Khun Yingluck manage the situation.

Thanks, now I know I am in safe hands.time to pusch the panic button

[Skywalker69]

Katrina came up in the Gulf and hit NO over a matter of 5 days. This flooding situation has built over months. No comparison.

It is a bad comparison but surely if we all put our heads together we can help OZEMADE come up with a better one. Anything to avoid actually addressing this current government's performance... or lack thereof.

Hmmmm,mmmm,ahhhh,ahhhh. No I can´t.

[xthAi76s]

Yes it is a huge amount of rain to assimilate, but it was possible to mitigate it earlier on. They didn't even look.

Not immediately putting the head of irrigation in charge of FROC was beyond idiotic.... Who ever suggested another 'leader' should be canned NOW for mindless incompetence. .

If she had any leadership 'balls', Sukhumbhand would have respected that and let her take the lead, as it was he had to just take the Bangkok reins and deal with the problems, including public announcements.

The US Corp of Engineers is the main large scale dike and water works building in the USA< they get called if there is ANY large scale issue of flooding, but like the army here, can't move until the politicians say go by calling a state of emergency. Certainly there are 'acts of god' bigger than mans abilities to control it fully, but always Man ca act to mitigate the damage. IF he has the will to make the tough decisions. That has proved lacking here.

This government was bound to have a large disaster it mismanaged, a foregone conclusion, but no one imagined it would be this fast and this big. Still maybe 3 Typhoons is karma's way of telling the Thai People; 'You screwed up folks, electing this mess was a fundamental mistake, and I'm now gonna prove it to you.'

NO amount of giving her a personal circle of advisors, rather than big bros circle of lackeys, is going to suddenly give her the power, information and abilities to get the job done as MOST citizens expect.

I do remember reading, after the enquiry was released, the U.S. Corp of Engineers admitted that they had not built the wall correctly years before and that is what caused the first breach causing the flooding of New Orleans. They also admitted that they knew the wall would not hold in a disaster like the tidal surges that the hurricane caused.

So here is a Powerfull Government that has all the experts and equipment and manpower, but cant stop a Natural Disaster. :blink:Oopsie !

That's correct both failures of the Corps of Engineers and Bush's Homeland Security monstrosity method of managing the disaster. The Bush Administration correctly took the heat for it and the democrats won the next election.

It's off-topic, but the Army CoE had asked the Bush administration for $1Billion to shore up New Orleans' flood defenses, Bush refused. $1Billion invested could have saved $6Billion in losses. To put it on topic, sadly, both the USA then and Thailand now had political leaders of the silver spoon variety, who apparently had no regard for the masses.

** Edited so as not to be misread as rude **

This doesn't resonate with my thinking. If you can agree that (as one poster earlier put it) that economic (and therefore, political) realities dictate what happens much of the time, then you cannot simply suggest these similarities of Thai and US policy.

To keep it short, are comparing a wealthy country to a poor one. Thailand is an agricultural country that depends quite heavily on farming (to feed its own population) and for food export. The US is no longer such a country. The economics are not the same. The disaster in New Orleans is NOT to the US economy as the flooding in Thailand is to its economy. Plus, how many of these New Orleans style floods have there been according to the US record? Probably not nearly as many as there are in Thailand.

Comparisons like this are interesting and esp when they can be made well.

Cheers

Edited October 20, 2011 by ThailandMan

[rogerdee123]

But .... if she were to go, resign, get sick, give-up or whatever .... who would PTP replace her with? Chalerm? Banharn? Sudarat? or how about Jatruporn

Banharn and Sudarat are ineligible as they are banned politicians. Jatuporn is unacceptable even to Thaksin, as he is a red shirt leader and none of them were even allowed in the cabinet. Leaves only Chalerm.

Isn't the ban soon expiring?

And sure they would have sisters, brothers to make the puppet?

Chalerm has at least two sons with terrific leadership potential.

[Bkkorupcountry]

I would say most all Thai authorities are not well suited for this sort of disaster.

Leaders here tend to be hard headed and constantly need to provide an facade of superiority and do not like to seek advice.

From the governors, to the mayors, to the university deans, they all have to flex their muscle and act knowledgeable about everything even if they do not understand it.

The problem runs much deeper than just the PM.

Finally, someone who really knows about Thailand and Thais, unlike those self proclaimed "I have been living here since the days of Noah" experts.

[Bkkorupcountry]

anyone think Thaksin will appear in Bangkok in the next few days, riding in like a Night in Sh........... to save the day - the capital and the people, you heard it here first lol

Anything is possible with that guy but I think it would be a big mistake. His sister and her government are sinking fast in the popularity ratings and the military is rising due to their flood relief efforts. The government should probably declare a state of emergency in certain provinces to allow the military to deal with the situation more effectively, e.g. to prevent sabotage of flood barriers and mobs demanding that flood gate openings should favour their districts. However, they don't want to the give the military more power even temporarily or to have a chance to look good. In the background there is a lot of tension due to the government's plan to amend the Defence Act to give it a free hand in military appointments which would wipe out most of the current top brass next year. Also the demands of the red shirts to prosecute the top brass for their actions last year are making waves. If Yingluck resigns and is replaced by some one more confrontational like Chalerm who also has control of the police, that would escalate the tension between the government and the military. If Thaksin showed up at the same time, the situation could become explosive.

Strange sense of logic. If the military is present to prevent sabotage of flood barriers that the mobs are demanding, how would their popularity continue to rise?

You quote "However, they don't want to the give the military more power even temporarily or (for the military) to have a chance to look good." - so the military will look good keeping the baying hounds from destroying the barricades and relieving their area from flooding?

[rogerdee123]

I would say most all Thai authorities are not well suited for this sort of disaster.

Leaders here tend to be hard headed and constantly need to provide an facade of superiority and do not like to seek advice.

From the governors, to the mayors, to the university deans, they all have to flex their muscle and act knowledgeable about everything even if they do not understand it.

The problem runs much deeper than just the PM.

Finally, someone who really knows about Thailand and Thais, unlike those self proclaimed "I have been living here since the days of Noah" experts.

Where is Dan Rivers when we need him? He should be here reporting from the balcony of his condo.

[Tanaka]

I haven't heard much noise from her supporters about how they feel about her performance. What are the red shirts up north saying?

They are out in the sticks trying to make more villages Red. To prepare for the return of their leader who shall come and restore our country to greatness. Hmm

[pimay11]

I haven't heard much noise from her supporters about how they feel about her performance. What are the red shirts up north saying?

They are out in the sticks trying to make more villages Red. To prepare for the return of their leader who shall come and restore our country to greatness. Hmm

Tanaka I know you said this in jest but here in Udon Thani you are spot on.

[Babcock]

I suspect there are quite a few red shirt supporters that wish that they had not taken that 500 baht to vote Yingluck into office. As her stated platform during the election was to bring her brother back to Thailand, the red shirts cannot be too surprised that she has proven herself to completely incompetent in the face of an actual crisis. I feel sad for the Thai people......

Another fallacy. There was no need to spread any money around. I know for a FACT that up north there was no money given out.

As has wisely been stated by Ozemade and I quote again:

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

[gl555]

I suspect there are quite a few red shirt supporters that wish that they had not taken that 500 baht to vote Yingluck into office. As her stated platform during the election was to bring her brother back to Thailand, the red shirts cannot be too surprised that she has proven herself to completely incompetent in the face of an actual crisis. I feel sad for the Thai people......

Another fallacy. There was no need to spread any money around. I know for a FACT that up north there was no money given out.

As has wisely been stated by Ozemade and I quote again:

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

Please stop the Red mantra of "It's a natural disaster, no one could have stopped it".

Yes we know its a flood. Yes we know you can't beat acts of God. But what people are angry about is the whole mismanagement of the crisis from day one. No one's saying she could have stopped the flooding. However, if she and her brother's cronies weren't so incompetant then maybe some places could have been saved. You can't stop a natural disaster but you sure as Hell can prevent it from being much worse.

[Arkady]

But .... if she were to go, resign, get sick, give-up or whatever .... who would PTP replace her with? Chalerm? Banharn? Sudarat? or how about Jatruporn

Banharn and Sudarat are ineligible as they are banned politicians. Jatuporn is unacceptable even to Thaksin, as he is a red shirt leader and none of them were even allowed in the cabinet. Leaves only Chalerm.

Isn't the ban soon expiring?

And sure they would have sisters, brothers to make the puppet?

Chalerm has at least two sons with terrific leadership potential.

The third one is also a bit of a crack shot.

The ban on Sudarat dates back to 2007 when TRT was dissolved and will end on 31 May 2012. Banharn's ban started in 2008 and ends on 31 Dec 2013.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Arkady

[Arkady]

I suspect there are quite a few red shirt supporters that wish that they had not taken that 500 baht to vote Yingluck into office. As her stated platform during the election was to bring her brother back to Thailand, the red shirts cannot be too surprised that she has proven herself to completely incompetent in the face of an actual crisis. I feel sad for the Thai people......

Another fallacy. There was no need to spread any money around. I know for a FACT that up north there was no money given out.

As has wisely been stated by Ozemade and I quote again:

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

Please stop the Red mantra of "It's a natural disaster, no one could have stopped it".

Yes we know its a flood. Yes we know you can't beat acts of God. But what people are angry about is the whole mismanagement of the crisis from day one. No one's saying she could have stopped the flooding. However, if she and her brother's cronies weren't so incompetant then maybe some places could have been saved. You can't stop a natural disaster but you sure as Hell can prevent it from being much worse.

I don't doubt that a lot of Northern voters, as well as Northeastern and Central (outside Bkk) voters were highly motivated to vote for PT. However, the fact remains that they still have to be paid. Thaksin introduced the concept of distinctive national political platform and bought out all the local godfathers but he didn't eliminate the practice of vote buying. Why would he, even if he could? His deep pockets give him a huge advantage over everyone else. The evidence you can present for your "FACT" is clearly statements from PT politicians not worth the hot air they generated.

Unfortunately the qualities that make for a successful Thai politician, especially in the provincial godfather parties like PT, Chartthaipattana and Bhumjai Thai - being an unashamed liar, a thief, schoolyard bully, murderer, having no conscience etc - don't make talented administrators, particularly in times of crisis.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Arkady

[steveromagnino]

Another fallacy. There was no need to spread any money around. I know for a FACT that up north there was no money given out.

As has wisely been stated by Ozemade and I quote again:

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

Actually, I will explain what a strawman argument is; here's an unrelated example

ME - gee this government is doing a terrible job of managing the flood

SOMEONE - You don't know anything. This government could not stop the flood, it is blah blah

ME - I don't mean that; it's already been 3 months since Lopburi went 'waterworld'; they are doing a lousy job of MANAGING it NOW

SOMEONE - give her a break, she can't stop it from raining, it is the previous government/god/irrigation dept fault for causing the waters to go up

ME - yes, but she needs to act now to do something, anything, positive and useful.

RIght now, we urgently require

- leadership

- clear information

- immediate aid to ALL Thais (requiring support of all resources, namely the armed forces)

- coordination between all agencies/departments to minimise impact

- cease favouritism and focus on saving the areas that can be saved

We are getting none of the above. This is poor leadership and management, not entirely unexpected from a civilian government comprising people who have not been through a flood. The only one showing any leadership is from the BMA, Bangkok Governor.

We have questions like why are some areas of Suphanburi being spared and who is the underlying owner of the fields of rice that are going to profiteer so handsomely with the rice pledging scheme which ONLY rewards crops harvested; why is there a lack of clear information, what possible role does Sudarat have to play now; why is everything so focused on PR (PM answering phones, crying, walking around) but nothing is ACTUALLY being done properly as above? Why so much effort on attempting to defy gravity and pushing water down the river out the mouth in violation of basic scientific principles? Why aren't those boats and those tens of millions of baht being used to actually deepen rivers and canals; clear blockages etc etc? What is the government going to do immediately now to ensure tens of thousands of people do not succumb to disease, dyhydration and malnuetrition? What role is the private sector to play in delivering aid?

As for your comment on 'facts' regarding vote buying. I am not often smart enough to give universal facts about things, I admit I do not know so much about the world. So maybe you didn't see it or maybe your area is clean. I doubt it, but it is possible. FACT Somkid Banthaisong was yellow carded for vote buying. So we can conclude based on facts rather than emotional personal observation....in the North/northeast there has been vote buying.

[David48]

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

If you wish to compare flooding in Australia and Thailand, please understand the subject matter is the RESPONSE to the flooding. Do you think our response was as piss poor as we see here? If not, what is the comparison?

Looks like I'm going to join the long queue and flame OZEMADE and agree with OzMick.

There are few grounds for comparison between what is happening in Thailand now and the flood event that happened in Queensland.

I live in South-East Queensland just south of Brisbane.

Here there is a systematic approach to flood mitigation.

There is a Town Planning regime which does discourages building of dwellings in flood prone areas.

A targeted campaign by the government to purchase properties that are serially flooded.

A co-ordinated approach from all levels of government at a Local, State and National level.

A SMS warning service alerting residents of impending problems or disasters.

A central point of information management and dissemination.

But no-one gets it 100% correct and Brisbane suffered the same mistake that Thailand did.

The previous year was of low rainfall and consequently when the rains arrived this year, the dams were maintained at a higher level to preserve water, so when the flood waters did arrive, the dam level was to high to allow for the majority of the water to trapped and stored in the dams.

So apart from a co-ordinated approach to flood and disaster mitigation the situation in Thailand has two major points of differences.

The government in Thailand knew weeks, if not months in advance of the impending danger and volume of flood water about to travel along the major river systems to the center of the country.

Secondly, and potentially more importantly, in the aftermath of the Queensland and New Orleans disasters and genuine enquiry was held and the relevant findings were and are being implemented so that when a catastrophe of this nature strikes again, the country, it's government and it's people are better prepared.

I wonder what the resultant action in Thailand will be in a months or a years time.

Did some say ...

[animatic]

quote name='animatic' timestamp='1319077263' post='4778312'

Yes it is a huge amount of rain to assimilate, but it was possible to mitigate it earlier on. They didn't even look.

Not immediately putting the head of irrigation in charge of FROC was beyond idiotic.... Who ever suggested another 'leader' should be canned NOW for mindless incompetence. .

If she had any leadership 'balls', Sukhumbhand would have respected that and let her take the lead, as it was he had to just take the Bangkok reins and deal with the problems, including public announcements.

The US Corp of Engineers is the main large scale dike and water works building in the USA< they get called if there is ANY large scale issue of flooding, but like the army here, can't move until the politicians say go by calling a state of emergency. Certainly there are 'acts of god' bigger than mans abilities to control it fully, but always Man ca act to mitigate the damage. IF he has the will to make the tough decisions. That has proved lacking here.

This government was bound to have a large disaster it mismanaged, a foregone conclusion, but no one imagined it would be this fast and this big. Still maybe 3 Typhoons is karma's way of telling the Thai People; 'You screwed up folks, electing this mess was a fundamental mistake, and I'm now gonna prove it to you.'

NO amount of giving her a personal circle of advisors, rather than big bros circle of lackeys, is going to suddenly give her the power, information and abilities to get the job done as MOST citizens expect.

I do remember reading, after the enquiry was released, the U.S. Corp of Engineers admitted that they had not built the wall correctly years before and that is what caused the first breach causing the flooding of New Orleans. They also admitted that they knew the wall would not hold in a disaster like the tidal surges that the hurricane caused.

So here is a Powerfull Government that has all the experts and equipment and manpower, but cant stop a Natural Disaster. :blink:Oopsie !

That's correct both failures of the Corps of Engineers and Bush's Homeland Security monstrosity method of managing the disaster. The Bush Administration correctly took the heat for it and the democrats won the next election.

It's off-topic, but the Army CoE had asked the Bush administration for $1Billion to shore up New Orleans' flood defenses, Bush refused. $1Billion invested could have saved $6Billion in losses. To put it on topic, sadly, both the USA then and Thailand now had political leaders of the silver spoon variety, who apparently had no regard for the masses.

** Edited so as not to be misread as rude **

This doesn't resonate with my thinking. If you can agree that (as one poster earlier put it) that economic (and therefore, political) realities dictate what happens much of the time, then you cannot simply suggest these similarities of Thai and US policy.

To keep it short, are comparing a wealthy country to a poor one. Thailand is an agricultural country that depends quite heavily on farming (to feed its own population) and for food export. The US is no longer such a country. The economics are not the same. The disaster in New Orleans is NOT to the US economy as the flooding in Thailand is to its economy. Plus, how many of these New Orleans style floods have there been according to the US record? Probably not nearly as many as there are in Thailand.

Comparisons like this are interesting and esp when they can be made well.

Cheers

For the record South Eastern and South Gulf Coast USA regularly gets very, very serious hurricanes New Orleans was a Perfect Storm type, worst storm worst place for it, but almost every year there is a major hurricane in USA. I have friends on both coasts and have been through a few myself.

Edited October 20, 2011 by animatic

[pimay11]

I suspect there are quite a few red shirt supporters that wish that they had not taken that 500 baht to vote Yingluck into office. As her stated platform during the election was to bring her brother back to Thailand, the red shirts cannot be too surprised that she has proven herself to completely incompetent in the face of an actual crisis. I feel sad for the Thai people......

Another fallacy. There was no need to spread any money around. I know for a FACT that up north there was no money given out.

As has wisely been stated by Ozemade and I quote again:

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

Not a fallacy in Udon. My maid's family and extended family, total of twelve people received 500B each by the local red gang to vote PT. She hates them so she took the 500B and voted Democrat.

[SICHONSTEVE]

What abilities did they think she had? She is a complete political novice, a clone, and a puppet. Seriously there is little any one politician could do in the face of this natural disaster, but the PM's handling of it has been awful. Maybe next time Thais should look for some sort of competence in the people they elect.

"Yingluck has a lot to learn if she wants to hold on to power. First, she needs to assemble a coterie of her own supporters, not those who back her brother. Through these people, she can exercise her power to get things done the way she wants".

But she did!!!! she said so herself. I can clearly remember her saying "my brother has no input into the selection of the cabinet and government officers - surely the prime minister wasn't lieing, was she????? Thaksin was a complete bystander when the government was set up - you don't think he was up to something when a sizable number of (the now cabinet) went to pay him a visit for his birthday bash, surely!!!!

Its funny though because the foreign minister and this and that minister in a position to argue the case for getting Thaksin an amnesty seemed to have been ever so quiet on the matters relating to their actual job remit and are for some reason furiously beavering away, searching for a means in which they can expedite Thaksins return to Thailand, get him his passport back and plead for him to be allowed into countries like Japan so that he look like a statesman again (just like in times gone by).

Second, with help from these advisers, she can toughen her stance against whatever forces rock the stability of her government. She needs this and she should act fast. Sadly for her, with a disaster of this scale, the honeymoon period is over.

Stability???? What is she to do??? sack the whole blooming lot of them (and herself for that matter) and start again??? A tad late for that I think - is the water going to suddenly recede or disappear if that happens - Khun Thaksin wouldn't take too kindly to younger sis dismantling his baby either (what am I saying, I forgot, they are Yingluck's chosen ones) silly me!!!!.

"The honeymoon period is over"!!!! - they have finalised the divorce more like it. Her ministers do not have any faith in her, she does not have any faith in them (or herself). The people do not have any faith in any of them!!!! What an incredulous shambles this is!!!

Regrets???? I bet she has quite a few now!!! Thanks bruv - that's another fine mess you've gotten me into (absense of smile).

Edited October 20, 2011 by SICHONSTEVE

[SICHONSTEVE]

I suspect there are quite a few red shirt supporters that wish that they had not taken that 500 baht to vote Yingluck into office. As her stated platform during the election was to bring her brother back to Thailand, the red shirts cannot be too surprised that she has proven herself to completely incompetent in the face of an actual crisis. I feel sad for the Thai people......

Another fallacy. There was no need to spread any money around. I know for a FACT that up north there was no money given out.

As has wisely been stated by Ozemade and I quote again:

It would not matter who was in power, they were not going to stop this flood.

New Orleans natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Brisbane Queensland natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

Thailand, natural disaster, could not stop flooding.

North Queensland Australia, has just had 14 inches of rain in 24 hours, natural disaster cant stop flooding.

To mention a few recent ones.

Do you think she is GOD, give me a break.

Noooo!!! an emphatic No on that one - but I do know of someone related to her who is convinced he is :jap:.

Edited October 20, 2011 by SICHONSTEVE

[rubl]

begin removed ...

Actually there is a case in this emergency for a strong minded manager with huge political clout to take overall control.Is there such a person? There might be but he lives in Dubai.

Fine suggestion to replace the somewhat incompetent sister by the brother who suggested her as MP/PM in the first place. This of course ignoring for discussion's sake the fact that the said brother is a fugitive criminal living the highlife in Dubai and likes to go shopping in Paris.

[bhakta]

The Thai people have elected Thaksin's party to govern them, and they get exactly what they wanted. They want everything for nothing, as do much of the populations of Western Europe and the USA. Few are taught to be self-reliant. I am sure she has a good heart, good intentions, but she is in way way over her head, and those around her listen to her brother on Skype not to her.

[steveromagnino]

Actually there is a case in this emergency for a strong minded manager with huge political clout to take overall control.Is there such a person? There might be but he lives in Dubai.

You could argue that his handling of bird flu and the tsunami:

- misinformation and lack of clarity

- failure to mobilise the right forces to solve the problem

- refusal to accept outside support when needed

- focus on PR and grand standing vs. actually solving the problems

- substantial profiteering along the way for connected parties (e.g. CP chicken farms got super lucky)

- failing to compensate or support those affected long after the fact

Arguably, he is a leader; and was able to mobilise civil servants and others to do what he wanted....he communicated singlemindedly. Surely, he cannot be the only Thai capable of this???!

Anyhow, for flooding, you need an expert in emergency management. Yingluck and her team are clearly not capable of managing this. We can assume any good ideas from Dubai have already been pushed down to govt level; we see Sudarat running around, his proxy on the ground other than his sister....result? Nothing. We see him speaking in exclusive interviews....any valuable content? No. The rumours that he is playing a part in the favouritism upcountry where some areas are being sacrificed to help others do him no favours although may well be untrue...however certain areas are suffering while their neighbours do not. Hence the need for armed services and police to maintain order. Which isn't happening yet.

It is hard to think of any government doing a worse job by NOT doing anything (other than motoring boats to burn off fuel); the Dems would have handed over the relief function to the army probably 3 weeks ago... have you spent time in Lopburi? Take a look at what spending 2-3 months with a house under water is like....living in sewerage. It's a crisis, and sheer bloodymindedness is the only reason why the current govt won't hand it over. The only aid some people are getting are from the private sector and NGOs.

Right now, we need a strong leader; it doesn't have to be an elected one, who will lead the FLOOD RELIEF EFFORT ( not coups or politics, just making sure people have food, water, medical assistance). For all their faults, the clarity of the situation during the red shirt clamp down to evict them from their occupation of Ratchaprasong was so much clearer in terms of the plan and what was going to happen compared to now.

And I mean from both sides - clear communication from the leaders of the occupation, and also from the spokesperson from the army. We knew more about what was going on then ,with all the irrationality of humans, than we do now - with all the basic science of watershed and rainfall.

The steps to take are limited and thus simple, the need to clearly communicate critical, and the willingness to mobilise all able bodied people essential (namely the armed forces). Communication is critical, and even if they did nothing, at least if the government did a half decent job of explaining what was happening, we would be 100X better off. Multiple grandstanding spokespeople contradicting eachother makes little sense.

Let's hope the BMA handle Bangkok. Maybe the army are not too late to support the relief effort upcountry, if the government can assign the right people the right power to solve things.

But it's definitely at the point where perhaps a few extra napkins at KFC will not solve the problems.

Edited October 20, 2011 by steveromagnino