PAD Threatens Protest If Thai Govt Continues Amnesty Push

[h90]

The PAD has been under appreciated for the service they did for the country. They are about to be appreciated again. I didn't necessarily agree with their methods, but having seen how much worse the reds were, I guess the ground rules are now set as to how this game will be played.

If I'm the PAD I'm going to go after sea ports and railways this time. Bring the import/export market to its knees. Given the floods have already crippled industry the damage there will be minimized, but killing the supply chains will have a dramatic effect on the population. Force the government to look incompetent or fire first. Then the yellows become the oppressed demonstrators, and the civil war can begin between the red government and the yellow freedom fighters.

Your post is a slap in the face for all Thais that have suffered under the childish actions of the PAD. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs and due to the closure of the main international airport, the tourism sector has taken damage that will take years if not decades to fully repair.

Destroying the import/export market, preventing the country from recovering from the floods, then forcing the government to shoot at its own people ..? Seriously. Someone suggesting things like that needs to go for a check-up. What you're suggesting is illegal to say the least.

Freedom fighters? Service for the country? What you're suggesting is a blueprint to destroy Thailand.

Give me a break!

loooool

Tens of thousands have lost their jobs, it will need decades to repair :cheesy:

[Foggy Bottom]

For Sale:

Size L expensive dress shirt, worn once. Perfect for those with a death wish or leaving the country. Makes a great gift to your boss or father-in-law.You can guess the colour.

Or perfect every Monday ( Fridays often too ) if you work here.

Have you noticed how the yellow color shirts is showing respect for and to honor the King ?

So clearly passable anywhere in a yellow shirt, at least Mondays and Fridays anyway..

Actually my shirt is blue, but it has a coffee stain on it so I thought I could flog it here under the premise of newsworthyness something or other...

Does the coffee stain look like an image of mother Theresa?

If so you should eBay it mate

[WAERTH]

Protests take time to get traction. So do not expect a big turnout on the first few times. The previous anti Thaksin protests build up slowly over a period of time. I expect this to be the same and do not expect masses of people. Word has to get around.

W

[Foggy Bottom]

I think the country will face major problems unless the Thaksin situation is resolved. Either he serves time or he should stay out of the country. He is simply too decisive.

The recent floods and the possibility of major political instability is going to have a severe impact on the country. Flood ravaged, unemployed people living with rising prices are ripe to cause problems.

The conditions you describe were classic backgrounds for communist insurgencies and takeovers up until the fall of the USSR bloc.

Today, I doubt the mass reaction (as in effectively civil war a-la-Vietnam or Laos) would occur.

As the floods have not yet receded, any mobilisation of rural masses is going to be limited ... turning the whole thing into a "damp squat".

[lannarebirth]

Protests take time to get traction. So do not expect a big turnout on the first few times. The previous anti Thaksin protests build up slowly over a period of time. I expect this to be the same and do not expect masses of people. Word has to get around.

W

A large percentage of Bangkokians who would attend such a rally aren't even in Bangkok right now, though I guess they'll be drifting back soon.

[Galong]

Three pages of tripe so far on this thread. There is not one bit of valuable information here. Now I remember why I left TV for a few years. Time to give it a rest again. Bye.

[JurgenG]

Protests take time to get traction. So do not expect a big turnout on the first few times. The previous anti Thaksin protests build up slowly over a period of time. I expect this to be the same and do not expect masses of people. Word has to get around.

W

In the previous yellow protests there was two kind of people. First came the supporters of the democrats, it was "picnic in the park" with people going home at the first sign of a rain. Then came the "professionals", with a number of very nasty people, paid by the backers of the PAD. They were the real trouble makers, a "rent a crowd" organization. Democrats supporters are supposed to be the "educated" Thais. Have a look at the records of the PAD protests, how many people in the PAD's crowd fit that description ?

The "true" protesters came back later under the label "multicolor shirts". No real impact, as I said, at 4 pm it's time to go back home for dinner.

Now it's different. I think people are fed up with the hooligans, what ever the color of their shirts. And the "reds" are now organized to deal with Sondhi's mercs.

We will probably see some street protests organized by the democrats. Maybe 100,000 people in the street for a couple of hours.

Democracy at work

And that will be it.

Edited November 18, 2011 by JurgenG

[Buchholz]

even burn buildings

I have only been in Thailand for about a year and a half, but from watching the news both in Australia and here I have only seen people wearing red setting fire to buildings both in Bangkok and up north.

and the Northeast

.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Buchholz

[Scott]

One post with a series of pictures has been deleted. If you are responding to a post, then do so with a few words about what the pictures represent.

Another post which is a re-hash of minute details of the Suvanabhumi closure has also been deleted.

Please stay on the topic of this protest.

[Arkady]

Well this coulld be the flashpoint ,will the army let the pad cripple the country 1st or will they stage a coup before?

This coulld be far worse than the country has allready experienced over the last 10 yrs ,thaksin last stand coulld be a bloodbath taking this country back years into the terrible times of the 70s students riots.

What you are not taking into account is that the PAD is no longer an effective street fighting force. They are bitterly divided amongst themselves and they turned against the Democrats when Abhisit was PM. All that and the nationalistic ranting about Cambodia turned off a lot of their supporters and funding. The Thaksin issue is potentially powerful enough to galvanize their support base again but it will take time and this time the red shirts are much better organized to attack them. That is what Thaksin has been banking on, i.e. to come back quickly and entrench his own power base before PAD can regroup as an effective fighting force and I think he is probably correct.

The wild cards are in and around the military, whose top brass knows that Thaksin is planning to eradicate them and the fruit of their loins to the nth generation, when he comes back and gets fully behind the wheel again. I think that treason prosecutions and death sentences are easily possible, once Thaksin has had the two 2007 constitutions and the coup makers' self-amnesty annulled. Whoever ordered the assassination attempt on Sondhi is still out there and has proved untouchable to both red and yellow governments, although they know who it was. Then there was the successful hit on Seh Daeng (admittedly a small potato but a very slick job) that has never been investigated, even though it should be relatively easy to find out who pulled the trigger on whose order.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Arkady

[Steely Dan]

Well this coulld be the flashpoint ,will the army let the pad cripple the country 1st or will they stage a coup before?

This coulld be far worse than the country has allready experienced over the last 10 yrs ,thaksin last stand coulld be a bloodbath taking this country back years into the terrible times of the 70s students riots.

What you are not taking into account is that the PAD is no longer an effective street fighting force. They are bitterly divided amongst themselves and they turned against the Democrats when Abhisit was PM. All that and the nationalistic ranting about Cambodia turned off a lot of their supporters and funding. The Thaksin issue is potentially powerful enough to galvanize their support base again but it will take time and this time the red shirts are much better organized to attack them. That is what Thaksin has been banking on, i.e. to come back quickly and entrench his own power base before PAD can regroup as an effective fighting force.

Maybe, and then again perhaps not. The handbags on the border with Cambodia and the 'vote no' election campaign were both foolish, however in a strange way PAD need Thaksin just as the red shirts do in order to keep them relevant. Had the democrats won the last election the PAD would have become utterly irrelevant, now with the P.T cronyism stooping to Marcos or Suharto depths I suspect many former PAD supporters and some new ones will march with the PAD, especially in the light of the monumental pigs ear the current government made of the flood crisis and the timing of the geriatric fugitive pardon bill whilst the average man in the street was up to his waist in it.

[Scott]

Where is this place of protest (located, what area) so I can give it a wide birth?

A sensible question. Does anybody have an answer. In case I happen to get out of my own personal "Lake Placid", I would just as soon not get into the middle of a protest.

What area is the protest going to take place?

[hanuman2543]

"In an interview given during ASTV's News Hour program, People's Alliance for Democracy founder Sondhi Limthongkul said the Cabinet's secret meeting on issues surrounding a royal pardon decree has demonstrated the shameful behavior of politicians who will do anything for personal gain. "

That is the only purpose of being in Thai politics :jap: .

Never mind the colour of your shirt .

Edited November 18, 2011 by hanuman2543

[Buchholz]

i guess there was nobody from the yellow shirts in the previous government !

Perhaps the foreign minister!

Which is now occupied by Thaksin's cousin !

.

[ratcatcher]

I think the country will face major problems unless the Thaksin situation is resolved. Either he serves time or he should stay out of the country. He is simply too decisive.

The recent floods and the possibility of major political instability is going to have a severe impact on the country. Flood ravaged, unemployed people living with rising prices are ripe to cause problems.

At the risk of being presumptuous Scott, I think you meant to say " He is simply too divisive?:jap:

[Scott]

Oops, thanks Ratcatcher, your right. Perhaps a Freudian slip?

[Buchholz]

The PAD has been under appreciated for the service they did for the country. They are about to be appreciated again. I didn't necessarily agree with their methods, but having seen how much worse the reds were, I guess the ground rules are now set as to how this game will be played.

If I'm the PAD I'm going to go after sea ports and railways this time. Bring the import/export market to its knees. Given the floods have already crippled industry the damage there will be minimized, but killing the supply chains will have a dramatic effect on the population. Force the government to look incompetent or fire first. Then the yellows become the oppressed demonstrators, and the civil war can begin between the red government and the yellow freedom fighters.

100% right

[AleG]

Protests take time to get traction. So do not expect a big turnout on the first few times. The previous anti Thaksin protests build up slowly over a period of time. I expect this to be the same and do not expect masses of people. Word has to get around.

W

In the previous yellow protests there was two kind of people. First came the supporters of the democrats, it was "picnic in the park" with people going home at the first sign of a rain. Then came the "professionals", with a number of very nasty people, paid by the backers of the PAD. They were the real trouble makers, a "rent a crowd" organization. Democrats supporters are supposed to be the "educated" Thais. Have a look at the records of the PAD protests, how many people in the PAD's crowd fit that description ?

The "true" protesters came back later under the label "multicolor shirts". No real impact, as I said, at 4 pm it's time to go back home for dinner.

Now it's different. I think people are fed up with the hooligans, what ever the color of their shirts. And the "reds" are now organized to deal with Sondhi's mercs.

We will probably see some street protests organized by the democrats. Maybe 100,000 people in the street for a couple of hours.

Democracy at work

And that will be it.

Please explain "And the "reds" are now organized to deal with Sondhi's mercs. ", specially in the context of "Democracy at work."

[h90]

Protests take time to get traction. So do not expect a big turnout on the first few times. The previous anti Thaksin protests build up slowly over a period of time. I expect this to be the same and do not expect masses of people. Word has to get around.

W

In the previous yellow protests there was two kind of people. First came the supporters of the democrats, it was "picnic in the park" with people going home at the first sign of a rain. Then came the "professionals", with a number of very nasty people, paid by the backers of the PAD. They were the real trouble makers, a "rent a crowd" organization. Democrats supporters are supposed to be the "educated" Thais. Have a look at the records of the PAD protests, how many people in the PAD's crowd fit that description ?

The "true" protesters came back later under the label "multicolor shirts". No real impact, as I said, at 4 pm it's time to go back home for dinner.

Now it's different. I think people are fed up with the hooligans, what ever the color of their shirts. And the "reds" are now organized to deal with Sondhi's mercs.

We will probably see some street protests organized by the democrats. Maybe 100,000 people in the street for a couple of hours.

Democracy at work

And that will be it.

As my wife and my staff frequently went there, I can guarantee that this is not true. My accounting girl got red eyes from the tear gas and she isn't a nasty person. A middle age women beside my wife got rubber bullets in the chest. And the neighbor of my favorite restaurant in chumphon lost a leg. But I don't know him, maybe he is a nasty person.

My wife always donated money there, shouldn't it be the other way if she is Sondhi's merc?

[h90]

Protests take time to get traction. So do not expect a big turnout on the first few times. The previous anti Thaksin protests build up slowly over a period of time. I expect this to be the same and do not expect masses of people. Word has to get around.

W

In the previous yellow protests there was two kind of people. First came the supporters of the democrats, it was "picnic in the park" with people going home at the first sign of a rain. Then came the "professionals", with a number of very nasty people, paid by the backers of the PAD. They were the real trouble makers, a "rent a crowd" organization. Democrats supporters are supposed to be the "educated" Thais. Have a look at the records of the PAD protests, how many people in the PAD's crowd fit that description ?

The "true" protesters came back later under the label "multicolor shirts". No real impact, as I said, at 4 pm it's time to go back home for dinner.

Now it's different. I think people are fed up with the hooligans, what ever the color of their shirts. And the "reds" are now organized to deal with Sondhi's mercs.

We will probably see some street protests organized by the democrats. Maybe 100,000 people in the street for a couple of hours.

Democracy at work

And that will be it.

Please explain "And the "reds" are now organized to deal with Sondhi's mercs. ", specially in the context of "Democracy at work."

That is the usual red version of Democracy...like in the red villages....

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been removed.

Again, I think there has been enough of a rehash of previous situations. Please stick to the topic of THIS protest. References to previous situations is permissible, but only in the context of the current situation.

[JAG]

The PAD has been under appreciated for the service they did for the country. They are about to be appreciated again. I didn't necessarily agree with their methods, but having seen how much worse the reds were, I guess the ground rules are now set as to how this game will be played.

If I'm the PAD I'm going to go after sea ports and railways this time. Bring the import/export market to its knees. Given the floods have already crippled industry the damage there will be minimized, but killing the supply chains will have a dramatic effect on the population. Force the government to look incompetent or fire first. Then the yellows become the oppressed demonstrators, and the civil war can begin between the red government and the yellow freedom fighters.

100% right

So: you applaud a post advocating destroying Thailands infrastructure, and creating the conditions for a civil war do you? Chr*st on a Bicycle, you really need help!

Edited November 18, 2011 by JAG

[Buchholz]

The PAD has been under appreciated for the service they did for the country. They are about to be appreciated again. I didn't necessarily agree with their methods, but having seen how much worse the reds were, I guess the ground rules are now set as to how this game will be played.

100% right

So: you applaud a post

Sorry, meant for the first portion to be applauded.

.

[Skywalker69]

The PAD has been under appreciated for the service they did for the country. They are about to be appreciated again. I didn't necessarily agree with their methods, but having seen how much worse the reds were, I guess the ground rules are now set as to how this game will be played.

If I'm the PAD I'm going to go after sea ports and railways this time. Bring the import/export market to its knees. Given the floods have already crippled industry the damage there will be minimized, but killing the supply chains will have a dramatic effect on the population. Force the government to look incompetent or fire first. Then the yellows become the oppressed demonstrators, and the civil war can begin between the red government and the yellow freedom fighters.

No, that isn't going to happen.

Ok I give up. What is going to happen?

Not that.

Very Informative!!

[Skywalker69]

nationnews RT @tulsathit: Thaksin told Reuters he knew nothing about the amnesty decree because it was discussed at closed-door Cabinet meeting.

He is a born liar!!!

PTP motto; "What Thaksin thinks PTP will accomplish!

[nikster]

Nothing like a common enemy to rally the troops... this should bolster the PAD quite a bit.

To be honest, as much as I despise T. and also this predictable, sleazy, and obvious maneuver of his old cronies in the government - the PAD isn't much better than the red mob. Too much nationalism, too much "back to the old" sentiment in the PAD. The PADs proposed "solution" to the problem that the reds keep winning election was actually to abolish elections... or to only allow certain people to vote... their crazy actions around the temple didn't impress much either...

Edited November 18, 2011 by nikster

[gregb]

The PAD has been under appreciated for the service they did for the country. They are about to be appreciated again. I didn't necessarily agree with their methods, but having seen how much worse the reds were, I guess the ground rules are now set as to how this game will be played.

If I'm the PAD I'm going to go after sea ports and railways this time. Bring the import/export market to its knees. Given the floods have already crippled industry the damage there will be minimized, but killing the supply chains will have a dramatic effect on the population. Force the government to look incompetent or fire first. Then the yellows become the oppressed demonstrators, and the civil war can begin between the red government and the yellow freedom fighters.

Your post is a slap in the face for all Thais that have suffered under the childish actions of the PAD.

And a rallying point of justice for all the Thais that have suffered under the even more childish actions of Thaksin and the red terrorists. The hope for this country now rests in how the PAD decides to respond to this amnesty threat. They are the last defenders of democracy before the military is forced to step in. You should start being more respectful towards them, as your future is now in their hands.

Let us hope they can come up with a way to stop this amnesty threat without having to roll the tanks.

[mrfarang]

As my wife and my staff frequently went there, I can guarantee that this is not true. My accounting girl got red eyes from the tear gas and she isn't a nasty person. A middle age women beside my wife got rubber bullets in the chest. And the neighbor of my favorite restaurant in chumphon lost a leg. But I don't know him, maybe he is a nasty person.

My wife always donated money there, shouldn't it be the other way if she is Sondhi's merc?

Accounting girl got red eyes from tear gas? A woman besides your wife got shot in the chest? Your neighbor lost his leg?

Care to share where that happened? As far as I know, the PAD airport protest took weeks because the police didn't have the guts to do anything about it. Strange that your accounts of events were never even mentioned in the Thai news. If they did indeed happen, they were probably caused by the yellow PAD thugs themselves.

Let's remember that the PAD are not peaceful protestors, they're armed thugs that are not afraid to use violence in order to force their twisted beliefs upon others:

*removed*

Edited November 18, 2011 by cdnvic
Unattributed copyrighted images removed.

[whybother]

Accounting girl got red eyes from tear gas? A woman besides your wife got shot in the chest? Your neighbor lost his leg?

Care to share where that happened? As far as I know, the PAD airport protest took weeks because the police didn't have the guts to do anything about it. Strange that your accounts of events were never even mentioned in the Thai news. If they did indeed happen, they were probably caused by the yellow PAD thugs themselves.

Let's remember that the PAD are not peaceful protestors, they're armed thugs that are not afraid to use violence in order to force their twisted beliefs upon others:

<snipped pics>

The citizens of Thailand and especially of Bangkok do NOT want to see this happen again.

Do you have ANY idea what happened during the yellow shirt protests? It seems not.

The police did use tear gas against them. People were killed and injured.

And the yellow shirts were at the airport for 9 days.

Edited November 18, 2011 by whybother

[mrfarang]

Accounting girl got red eyes from tear gas? A woman besides your wife got shot in the chest? Your neighbor lost his leg?

Care to share where that happened? As far as I know, the PAD airport protest took weeks because the police didn't have the guts to do anything about it. Strange that your accounts of events were never even mentioned in the Thai news. If they did indeed happen, they were probably caused by the yellow PAD thugs themselves.

Let's remember that the PAD are not peaceful protestors, they're armed thugs that are not afraid to use violence in order to force their twisted beliefs upon others:

<snipped pics>

The citizens of Thailand and especially of Bangkok do NOT want to see this happen again.

Do you have ANY idea what happened during the yellow shirt protests?

It seems not.

A picture speaks more than a thousand words. Take a look at them, I posted them above.

Please explain the violence of armed PAD thugs against unarmed innocent civilians. Is this the kind of democracy that we can expect from PAD?

Edited November 18, 2011 by mrfarang