Chalerm Denies Threat Of Terror: Thailand

[softgeorge]

Let me throw an interesting side question onto the table...

When this thing first erupted yesterday, before the Israel target angle was known, a lot of folks were speculating that tourist places like Nana, Cowboy and/or Patpong might be potential targets... And that set me to thinking...

While I'm no bar scene expert, I always read about a large group of Soi Cowboy bars being owned/run by the "Arab Group." And when I did a bit of Googling last night, I saw one reference to some Iranian individual being behind that whole thing, whatever it is....

So I was just wondering, does anyone know what exactly the "Arab Group" behind Soi Cowboy is.... And if there's an Iranian connection there (unless I suppose it happened to be an Iranian Jew), then one might assume that Cowboy would be off-limits as targets to any clued-in Iran-Lebanon-Hezbollah types.

Thoughts? Facts? Opinions?

The Arab, as he is called owns SOME of the bars, but not all. I cannot recall the exact number of bars. I don't know much else, as I stopped going to these places many moons ago, it was more a passing curiousity on my first few trips into the Kingdom. But surely a place for colaborators to clean money and further finance operations against "kaffir" one would imagine.

If I recall Arabs bars are mostly centered around the upper part of Cowboy, towards the end with the very nice looking restaurant that I never went into because it was too expensive for what it was.

I don't think they could own a bar and be a fanatical muslim/terrorist at the same time. Usually terrorist are taking Islam to the extreme and they are totally against alcohol. The abide by 150% by sharia law and would kill thier own if the had anything to do with alcohol.

[Morch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykonos_restaurant_assassinations

"and Mohamed Atris, were convicted of being accessories to murder."

Runs in the family, it seems.

[softgeorge]

Oh now I'm feeling much safer, "NOT",

This is a quote by Charlerm, as reported in the media in Australia. ( I understand news from the Nation is considered as the only reliable/creditable news source and the only one permitted on T.Visa, so I won't mention the Australian paper. I can provide it in a p.m.)

The suspect has denied involvement with any terrorist activities, he added.

"These two men entered Thailand a while ago but did not conduct any ilegal or terrorist activity. I wonder why Israel was suspicious about them."

It appears that the government doesn't even know why thier agencies arrested the guy.

[petedk]

Thai Foreign Minister upset that Embassies are warning their citizens........

"The warnings irked Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, who said Saturday that he was "disappointed" that embassies have not consulted the Foreign Ministry according to diplomatic convention before issuing the warnings".

Mr Surapong insisted that Thai security agencies have known about the terrorist plot for a while and have been tracing a group of suspects. He said tourists and investors can have confidence in Thailand's security measures."

Yeah sure we have confidence. I don't how their intelligence works but when I see the local security in acction then I have no confidence

We saw how the security were "boxed on the ears" at the airport when patting down a VIP.

I've seen people refuse to open bags at the MRT when the alarm goes off. The guards just do a polite smile and let them pass through.

As long as the lower ranking Thais have to show respect for people above them security will never be tight anywhere.

I'm also sure that money in this country will buy anyone excess to anything.

[kerryk]

Let me throw an interesting side question onto the table...

When this thing first erupted yesterday, before the Israel target angle was known, a lot of folks were speculating that tourist places like Nana, Cowboy and/or Patpong might be potential targets... And that set me to thinking...

While I'm no bar scene expert, I always read about a large group of Soi Cowboy bars being owned/run by the "Arab Group." And when I did a bit of Googling last night, I saw one reference to some Iranian individual being behind that whole thing, whatever it is....

So I was just wondering, does anyone know what exactly the "Arab Group" behind Soi Cowboy is.... And if there's an Iranian connection there (unless I suppose it happened to be an Iranian Jew), then one might assume that Cowboy would be off-limits as targets to any clued-in Iran-Lebanon-Hezbollah types.

Thoughts? Facts? Opinions?

The Arab, as he is called owns SOME of the bars, but not all. I cannot recall the exact number of bars. I don't know much else, as I stopped going to these places many moons ago, it was more a passing curiousity on my first few trips into the Kingdom. But surely a place for colaborators to clean money and further finance operations against "kaffir" one would imagine.

If I recall Arabs bars are mostly centered around the upper part of Cowboy, towards the end with the very nice looking restaurant that I never went into because it was too expensive for what it was.

I don't think they could own a bar and be a fanatical muslim/terrorist at the same time. Usually terrorist are taking Islam to the extreme and they are totally against alcohol. The abide by 150% by sharia law and would kill thier own if the had anything to do with alcohol.

The name of the club was Cheetah's in Sarasota Florida the 9/11 guys hangout while they were learning to fly. If memory serves me correctly.

[theblether]

The US has a moral obligation to notify of potential terrorist attacks, especially to an allied nation such as Thailand, and even more so when its own citizens are likely to be the targets.

They dont have an obligation to make sure its ok with Thaivisa members first and to share all the security information with us.

So the net result of all this is the Thai authorities have one suspected terrorist in custody, and another one on the run. Of course it would have been better to have lifted both of them but thats the reality of pursuing terrorists, they are slippery.

On the whole I would say a job well done by the US and Thai authorities.

[softgeorge]

The US has a moral obligation to notify of potential terrorist attacks, especially to an allied nation such as Thailand, and even more so when its own citizens are likely to be the targets.

They dont have an obligation to make sure its ok with Thaivisa members first and to share all the security information with us.

So the net result of all this is the Thai authorities have one suspected terrorist in custody, and another one on the run. Of course it would have been better to have lifted both of them but thats the reality of pursuing terrorists, they are slippery.

On the whole I would say a job well done by the US and Thai authorities.

I think you mean Israel/Thai authorities.

[metisdead]

An off topic nonsense post has been removed.

[animatic]

Something could happen somewhere. The USA and Israel are desperate to launch an attack on Iran. It would help the cause if there was some sort of incident, many nationalities involved.

Or this is an attempt to scatter US or Israeli resources around the world to make an real attack easier.

[Jingthing]

Something could happen somewhere. The USA and Israel are desperate to launch an attack on Iran. It would help the cause if there was some sort of incident, many nationalities involved.

Or this is an attempt to scatter US or Israeli resources around the world to make an real attack easier.

I can speak to this one. There is a strong faction in the Israeli leadership that would like to launch a strategic attack on Iran's nuclear program including bombing. This is no secret and the debate has been going on for awhile; its hard to know if a final decision has been made yet. We can assume Israel is behind the scientist murders. The current US administration most definitely does NOT want a full war with Iran, nor does it want Israel to bomb. The right wing US opposition is positioning itself as more hawkish, but it's hard to know if this is just a positioning game or if they are really serious. (Ignoring Ron Paul who has zero chance of being president.) Anyway, Israel and the US are close allies, but Israel will do this themselves if they are convinced they must do it. Of course, they'll bet the US with join in later if they do, and its a good bet. I don't buy these conspiracy theories that Israel or the US are behind this Thailand thing. Sometimes it is what it is, and I think the highest probability is some kind of revenge scenario from one of the internal factions in Iran. While I'm not a fan of wacked out conspiracy theories, the truth is nobody posting here actually knows the full total truth on these matters. Edited January 15, 2012 by Jingthing

[bridge2bridge]

Chalerm DENIES any terroism threat but arrests TERROR suspect---- HMMMM.

T.I.T.

[sirchai]

"These two men entered Thailand a while ago but did not conduct any terrorist activity. I wonder why Israel was suspicious about them."

No! Nobody needs to arrest innocent Muslim.......

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The Arab, as he is called owns SOME of the bars, but not all. I cannot recall the exact number of bars. I don't know much else, as I stopped going to these places many moons ago, it was more a passing curiousity on my first few trips into the Kingdom. But surely a place for colaborators to clean money and further finance operations against "kaffir" one would imagine.

If I recall Arabs bars are mostly centered around the upper part of Cowboy, towards the end with the very nice looking restaurant that I never went into because it was too expensive for what it was.

I don't think they could own a bar and be a fanatical muslim/terrorist at the same time. Usually terrorist are taking Islam to the extreme and they are totally against alcohol. The abide by 150% by sharia law and would kill thier own if the had anything to do with alcohol.

SG, I think you're really missing the point of my original post on this issue re Soi Cowboy... It wasn't to suggest in any way that the operator/operators of the Arab group bars are/were in any way fundamentalists or extremists... Of course, that would seem a pretty unlikely prospect.

Instead, the point of my original post was to wonder whether the would-be fundamentalist bombers might be unlikely to attack a business area where the owner/owners are Arab/Iranian... One could make a pretty basic argument that the bombers are out to attack U.S./Israeli/Western interest.... not those of fellow Arabs.

That's assuming, of course, that individuals like the would-be bombers would have any idea of who the owners of bars on Soi Cowboy are... That would be an interesting thing to know...all by itself. Obviously bombers use some research and intelligence gathering to assess and pick their intended targets....

Edited January 15, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TAWP]

I don't think they could own a bar and be a fanatical muslim/terrorist at the same time. Usually terrorist are taking Islam to the extreme and they are totally against alcohol. The abide by 150% by sharia law and would kill thier own if the had anything to do with alcohol.

For reference a saw a clip with a man claiming that if an 'operative' goes undercover, in preparation of his ultimate sacrifice (often seen with his beard completely shaved off etc) it would be allowed for him to drink alcohol to be able to remain under cover until his mission was carried out.

Note saying that has anything to do with the alleged owner in question, but just a note.

[jayboy]

We can assume Israel is behind the scientist murders.

We can probably assume that I agree despite the unconvincing denials.

However there is another regional power which is as determined as Israel to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons,Saudi Arabia.It's unlikely but not entirely worthy of dismissing instantly that the Saudis may have had a hand....

[Jingthing]

We can assume Israel is behind the scientist murders.

We can probably assume that I agree despite the unconvincing denials.

However there is another regional power which is as determined as Israel to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons,Saudi Arabia.It's unlikely but not entirely worthy of dismissing instantly that the Saudis may have had a hand....

More like Saudi is happy Israel did it. I don't actually consider these targeted strategic value killings as terrorism but rather acts of war. Blowing up a bus of children to make a political statement, that is terrorism. I'm of the the opinion that a soft war between Israel and Iran has been going on for some time now. Israel has made direct attacks albeit clandestinely while Iran uses proxies like Hezbollah. Edited January 15, 2012 by Jingthing

[kerryk]

We can assume Israel is behind the scientist murders.

We can probably assume that I agree despite the unconvincing denials.

However there is another regional power which is as determined as Israel to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons,Saudi Arabia.It's unlikely but not entirely worthy of dismissing instantly that the Saudis may have had a hand....

I wouldn't rule out Australia. Last year Australia expanded sanctions against Iran amid growing concerns over the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.

[wxyz]

Let me throw an interesting side question onto the table...

When this thing first erupted yesterday, before the Israel target angle was known, a lot of folks were speculating that tourist places like Nana, Cowboy and/or Patpong might be potential targets... And that set me to thinking...

While I'm no bar scene expert, I always read about a large group of Soi Cowboy bars being owned/run by the "Arab Group." And when I did a bit of Googling last night, I saw one reference to some Iranian individual being behind that whole thing, whatever it is....

So I was just wondering, does anyone know what exactly the "Arab Group" behind Soi Cowboy is.... And if there's an Iranian connection there (unless I suppose it happened to be an Iranian Jew), then one might assume that Cowboy would be off-limits as targets to any clued-in Iran-Lebanon-Hezbollah types.

Thoughts? Facts? Opinions?

The Arab, as he is called owns SOME of the bars, but not all. I cannot recall the exact number of bars. I don't know much else, as I stopped going to these places many moons ago, it was more a passing curiousity on my first few trips into the Kingdom. But surely a place for colaborators to clean money and further finance operations against "kaffir" one would imagine.

If I recall Arabs bars are mostly centered around the upper part of Cowboy, towards the end with the very nice looking restaurant that I never went into because it was too expensive for what it was.

I don't think they could own a bar and be a fanatical muslim/terrorist at the same time. Usually terrorist are taking Islam to the extreme and they are totally against alcohol. The abide by 150% by sharia law and would kill thier own if the had anything to do with alcohol.

the 911 terrorists drank alcohol and went to strip clubs, these groups are hypocrites in the worst way

[chooka]

We can assume Israel is behind the scientist murders.

We can probably assume that I agree despite the unconvincing denials.

However there is another regional power which is as determined as Israel to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons,Saudi Arabia.It's unlikely but not entirely worthy of dismissing instantly that the Saudis may have had a hand....

I wouldn't rule out Australia. Last year Australia expanded sanctions against Iran amid growing concerns over the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Edited January 15, 2012 by chooka

[chooka]

We can assume Israel is behind the scientist murders.

We can probably assume that I agree despite the unconvincing denials.

However there is another regional power which is as determined as Israel to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons,Saudi Arabia.It's unlikely but not entirely worthy of dismissing instantly that the Saudis may have had a hand....

I wouldn't rule out Australia. Last year Australia expanded sanctions against Iran amid growing concerns over the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Sorry my friend but the Julia and Australian Government couldn't organise a shag in Pattaya. Yingluk has more grey matter than our Aussie government.

[wxyz]

"These two men entered Thailand a while ago but did not conduct any terrorist activity. I wonder why Israel was suspicious about them."

No! Nobody needs to arrest innocent Muslim.......

"innocent Muslim"

now that is an oxymoron for you

[wxyz]

Chalerm and credibility are enemies

btw, where are the perp pics of the terrorst reenactment

or the identifying them by their disease?

[chooka]

Chalerm and credibility are enemies

btw, where are the perp pics of the terrorst reenactment

or the identifying them by their disease?

If he/they were ever arrested there should be the standard happy snap. The one with the accused seated at the table smiling with 1/2 the police force standing behind him smurking for the camera. Seems odd there is not one for this prize catch.