Justice Minister Rules Out Thaksin Pardon

[nikster]

Brilliant letter showing calmness, reasonableness and willingness to take sacrifice by Thaksin especially when compared to the rabid reactions of his enemies. This letter will go down very well with his supporters and also helps with those in the middle who want ti to all go away by making him look reasonable compared to his never willing to compromise enemies.

The reality is whether Thaksin returns or not isnt going to change more than a few people's lives, but most realise that keeping him outside is going to keep the silliness going on and on, and that does affect lives. Realpolitik

Are you wearing red glasses?

Well the letter is obviously intended for people with red glasses, and it seems to hit the right notes for those people?!

To me, all I see is the same blatant lies, and it doesn't look particularly brilliant, either. Thaksin's sole strategy seems to be "lie until you die" or "lies repeated often enough become truth". Thaksin is humble? Might as well believe in Santa Claus. He has the best interest of the country at heart? He spent 6 years proving the opposite. Reconciliation? Then why do his reds minions quite publicly - on the stage, on camera - call for bloodshed?

Thaksin's lies are so big and so bold you either buy into them fully, or you reject them.

[scorecard]

Its simply amazing that a crook on the run from jail time could be considered for a Pardon in the first place . Simply amazing .....

I completely agree with you that no fugitive on the run should ever be considered for a pardon. I also belive any pardon for Thaksin would likley be the absolute worst things that could happen to Thailand, as it would likely lead to so much civil unrest from both supporters and those against.

That being said... it would not be the first time that a government abused this power

http://en.wikipedia....don_controversy

While most presidents grant pardons on several days throughout their terms, Clinton chose to make most of them on January 20, 2001. Collectively, the controversy surrounding these actions has sometimes been called Pardongate in the press

Marc Rich, a fugitive who had fled the U.S. during his prosecution, was residing in Switzerland. Rich owed $48 million in taxes and was charged with 51 counts of tax fraud, was pardoned of tax evasion. He was required to pay a 100 million dollar fine and waive any use of the pardon as a defense against any future civil charges that were filed against him in the same case. Critics complained that Denise Rich, his former wife, had made substantial donations to both the Clinton library and to Mrs. Clinton's senate campaign. According to Paul Volcker's independent investigation of Iraqi Oil-for-Food kickback schemes, Marc Rich was a middleman for several suspect Iraqi oil deals involving over 4 million barrels (640,000 m³) of oil.^[21] Longtime Clinton supporters and Democratic leaders such as former President Jimmy Carter, James Carville and Terry McAuliffe, were all critical of the Clinton pardon. Carter said the pardons were "disgraceful."^[22]

Maybe this is why Clinton helped Yingluck sidestep some of the questions during the joint press conference.... as she may simpathize with a leader abusing their power to push through unjust pardons???

Clinton knew before arriving in Thailand that the pardon effort was dead. The United States is committed to this elected government, period. That means without Thaksin.

Mark Rich or pardons in any other country have their history, same in Thailand, however the history of such actions in other countries has no relevance whatever to the current Thai situation.