Thailand's Thaksin Prepares For War

[spidermike007]

Always scare when a country feels a need to have pro-government demonstrations when there are no anti-government demonstrations going on.

Clearly this is the path to reconciliation.

Well, even my die hard friends from Issan, who backed Yingluck without question, are now openly scorning her, and referring to her as hapless, incompetent, ignorant, and unable to lead the country. So, when that happens you know there is a need to stimulate the masses, who are losing faith in the ability of this absolute neophyte to at least appear to be in control. And for those of us who took a wait and see approach to the whole thing, we have long ago given up on this rather feeble leader. Of course, the alternative Abhisit was a bought and paid for whore, who was only interested in doing the bidding of the Army, and in helping to protect the fortunes of the richest in Thailand, so was he any better?

Yet another post that pours scorn on Abhist without knowing the facts or understanding where Abhisit came from. Beats me!

He was truly bought and paid for. I believed in him at first. But, what did he do to benefit the average Thai? What did he do to improve the country? His hands were tied by his masters. And he did as he was asked to do, by the powers that be. To believe otherwise, is to visit the Land of Oz.

[CalgaryII]

I think allowing him back will be the best thing. I mean how easy was it to put a bullet through Seh Deang's head?

I suppose that is one way of dealing with political enemies who are one's political nemesis.

Coups are another.

Elections are another!

[Reasonableman]

And incitement to civil war is another.

I think allowing him back will be the best thing. I mean how easy was it to put a bullet through Seh Deang's head?

I suppose that is one way of dealing with political enemies who are one's political nemesis.

Coups are another.

Elections are another!

[CalgaryII]

Does he want a civil war in Thailand?

Obviously he needs some kind of divisions and chaos or how else can he be perceived as Thailand's savior? If nobody needs saving then they don't need a savior ;-)

The last election certainly assisted in rectifying divisions and chaos initiated by the coup perps.

A key issue I think, is that voters were fully aware of Ms. Y and all her associates, when they selected her.

Everything was fully declared.

Not complicated.

[whybother]

He was truly bought and paid for. I believed in him at first. But, what did he do to benefit the average Thai? What did he do to improve the country? His hands were tied by his masters. And he did as he was asked to do, by the powers that be. To believe otherwise, is to visit the Land of Oz.

His government got through the GFC with the country in good economic shape.

[OzMick]

Always scare when a country feels a need to have pro-government demonstrations when there are no anti-government demonstrations going on.

Clearly this is the path to reconciliation.

Well, even my die hard friends from Issan, who backed Yingluck without question, are now openly scorning her, and referring to her as hapless, incompetent, ignorant, and unable to lead the country. So, when that happens you know there is a need to stimulate the masses, who are losing faith in the ability of this absolute neophyte to at least appear to be in control. And for those of us who took a wait and see approach to the whole thing, we have long ago given up on this rather feeble leader. Of course, the alternative Abhisit was a bought and paid for whore, who was only interested in doing the bidding of the Army, and in helping to protect the fortunes of the richest in Thailand, so was he any better?

Yet another post that pours scorn on Abhist without knowing the facts or understanding where Abhisit came from. Beats me!

He was truly bought and paid for. I believed in him at first. But, what did he do to benefit the average Thai? What did he do to improve the country? His hands were tied by his masters. And he did as he was asked to do, by the powers that be. To believe otherwise, is to visit the Land of Oz.

School uniform and text subsidies, old age payment, a rice subsidy that actually gave money to farmers. Not bad in a short term plagued by a fragile coalition and while fighting a mercenary insurrection.

Note that only the old age payment survives, mainly because gullible people were lead to believe it was a gift from the Great Leader.

[OzMick]

An inevitable critical event which will cause major emotional and political turmoil awaits Thailand. Some people will see this as an opportunity for self-aggrandisement, political gain and access to vast wealth. When it occurs, some people will be much more prepared than others, and be prepared to risk a huge loss of life for personal/family gain.

I wait this date with trepidation, vastly increased by the thought of a megalomaniac with a private militia that he keeps agitated and ready to react, and if the OP can be believed, a war room manned 24/7 to pass along his orders.

BTW a smart move to have the commander of the anti-aircraft division in his pocket if he was planning to fly in by private jet. I wonder if he has bought the air force interceptors as well.

The arrogance of attempting to deprive the largest political block and Movement of a political context is prepostorous.

To suggest that the Opposition and their elements are the only ones motivated by, and in a political context, will be their ongoing irrelevance.

Only when they accept that the electoral majority who elected this Government, are equal, yes equal partners in the political life of Thailand will there be normality within that sphere.

And I am being magnanimous here. The electoral majority vs the minority certainly does not equality make, but to at least to contextualize politically minded people politically, will go a long way to eradicating the distrust between people.

It is OK to attribute political motivations to politically minded people, instead of trying to denigrate political opponents through simplistic political motivations.

It's nice to see that you have finally worked out how to reply. Now note that this function is to REPLY to other posters' comments, not to attach your totally unconnected and irrelevant statements and so gain some badly needed credibility. Please observe this ettiquete.

Thx. for the compliment Ozmick.

Regarding connecting my replies to the comments of Posters, have another read.

See and appreciate the connection. It is there Ozmick. It may take more than just a superficial scan.

There was no compliment - a chimp would have worked it out faster.

You seem to suffer from the false belief that I wish to read your historically inaccurate, simplistic (democracy = elections), repetitive and falacious drivel. I DO NOT.

[animatic]

Thaksin is pathologically set on taking full control partly because that was his original aim before being deposed, after his term expired, but also because of the revenge motive. No revenge is complete unless you take MORE than they took from you. He sees them as having taken what he hadn't yet gotten control of.

So he has a war room to track coup makers. This is just claptrap to keep pushing the 'eminent coup button' in his Red Followers. Preaching to the choir. Things have slowed to a crawl for Thaksins personal plans, the Red Troupes are getting restless, and he needs to keep feeding them red meat to make them stay on point till his next move. It also explains the Amsterdam-lead online Perception Management moves we can see lately.

Clearly they are moving to make a bundle on Water Retention and Spillway purchases through their friends, shills and proxies, hence the meeting with real-estate moguls, in secret last week. But before this cash cow of kick-backs can be spread around, he must still keep his street branch placated, and angry. Letting them become complacent isn't an option. Letting them imagine they will be the front line defense against a coup, makes them imagine they are empowered and important.

Let us correct a couple things here without engaging indoctrinated Thaksin haters:

• The coup was a coup against an elected administration. Expiry dates of that Administration was a matter for the next election.
  
• There definitely are those who track the coup-ists. Been there, done that....never again!
  
• To diminish the politicization of a huge swath of the electorate by suggesting their motives are not political, and only linked to their associations is offensive to them to say the least. Arrogantly stated by Oppositional elements who think they are the only ones in a political context, and all others outside of it, antagonize their opposite. Arrogance that places them outside the political electoral sphere.
  
• Being empowered and important is not an illusion. Last July's election demonstrated that very clearly.
  
• To denigrate genuine efforts at solving water and spillway solutions, have the same feel to it as when the Opposition tried to use the disaster for their own political purposes, principally being wall-to-wall FROC flogging during the crisis. Now they are turning their attention to demonizing solutions. A little bit like the Tea Party and other Oppositional elements in the USA blocking all Obama initiatives, for fear he may be succesful.
  

The coup was against an unilateral taking of the MP chair buy a resigned,

and expired temporary caretake PM Thaksin. Pretending to be the

full PM at the UN in NYC while he was nothing of the sort.

I could care less of you track coup-ists, that's your hobby.

No clue what this is referencing. Are you forgetting who says what?

You can't diminishes a political scam to anything other than what it is,

A brainwashing of a segment of the population as a means to power.

In addition to divide and conquer tactics.

Thinking you are empowered, and actually being empowered, are different things.

Empowerment via false pretenses is manipulation, not empowerment.

Who denigrates the water resources efforts? Not I.

I just denigrate those that are obviously going to try and profit on it

at public expense, without actually doing anything productive

beyond land ownership manipulations. Land is up for grabs,

who grabs it up and then and sells it to the government profits.

Where those 'details to be stated later' lie geographically,

is the biggest cash cow of the current land market.

Nice try with your Dotted List making it look nicely organized and official,

but inside it's just the same P.M. BS. masquerading as logical thought.

No sale..

Edited February 19, 2012 by animatic

[Markaew]

Why do red shirts need to hold more demonstrations?

PT are in pon power, a a Shiniwatra is in powier?

Are they just bored and have nothing better to do?

Does sponge bob square pants just like to read his name in prinit?

at first sight of this news the same thoughts came to my mind. Probably, he is getting bored too much.

He wants to come back as he loves his country so much

But protest for what? ....against what?

Although Thaksin is of Chinese decent, he stills thinks like a Thai and Thais are extremely vindictive. He is merely plotting his revenge. IMHO

[nurofiend]

Does he want a civil war in Thailand?

Obviously he needs some kind of divisions and chaos or how else can he be perceived as Thailand's savior? If nobody needs saving then they don't need a savior ;-)

The last election certainly assisted in rectifying divisions and chaos initiated by the coup perps.

A key issue I think, is that voters were fully aware of Ms. Y and all her associates, when they selected her.

Everything was fully declared.

Not complicated.

just fyi, you know you're shaking these folks up as soon as they resort to attacking you rather than the content of your posts.

most of all, i wish you good luck... not for your ability to provide a strong argument, but for your ability to keep trying to reason.

[Nisa]

Does he want a civil war in Thailand?

Obviously he needs some kind of divisions and chaos or how else can he be perceived as Thailand's savior? If nobody needs saving then they don't need a savior ;-)

The last election certainly assisted in rectifying divisions and chaos initiated by the coup perps.

A key issue I think, is that voters were fully aware of Ms. Y and all her associates, when they selected her.

Everything was fully declared.

Not complicated.

just fyi, you know you're shaking these folks up as soon as they resort to attacking you rather than the content of your posts.

most of all, i wish you good luck... not for your ability to provide a strong argument, but for your ability to keep trying to reason.

Actually I think it would more helpful for him (or her) when replying to quotes to actually reply to the content of the quote instead of going off on something else entirely. If he has a thought about the OP then great, express it in a new post but to do it while quoting somebody comes off as baiting people.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Nisa

[nurofiend]

Actually I think it would more helpful for him (or her) when replying to quotes to actually reply to the content of the quote instead of going off on something else entirely. If he has a thought about the OP then great, express it in a new post but to do it while quoting somebody comes off as baiting people.

fair enough yeah, i do see your point, but so far people haven't been confused by him not quoting them directly but have chosen to answer whatever point he made, usually by a universal "you're a troll" rather than tackling the content of what he says.

[nurofiend]

Actually I think it would more helpful for him (or her) when replying to quotes to actually reply to the content of the quote instead of going off on something else entirely. If he has a thought about the OP then great, express it in a new post but to do it while quoting somebody comes off as baiting people.

fair enough yeah, i do see your point, but so far people haven't been confused by him not quoting them directly but have chosen to answer whatever point he made, usually by a universal "you're a troll" rather than tackling the content of what he says.

but anyway... the guy should be able to stand up for himself, i'm not gonna further argue his case for him ....

[blows]

Would the new riots be a ploy to demand his return?

[Nisa]

Actually I think it would more helpful for him (or her) when replying to quotes to actually reply to the content of the quote instead of going off on something else entirely. If he has a thought about the OP then great, express it in a new post but to do it while quoting somebody comes off as baiting people.

fair enough yeah, i do see your point, but so far people haven't been confused by him not quoting them directly but have chosen to answer whatever point he made, usually by a universal "you're a troll" rather than tackling the content of what he says.

but anyway... the guy should be able to stand up for himself, i'm not gonna further argue his case for him ....

Honestly, I don't agree with his views but I know many of us can be just as passionate in their views and debates but I haven't caught what he wrote to make some people go off on him as they have. I think I have seen him called a troll and somebody else wondering why he has not got banned. I love a good debate (even with some personal diggs) but his getting banned for expressing his views??

Point being, I can understand why you felt the need to say something.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Nisa

[Nisa]

Would the new riots be a ploy to demand his return?

And we have a winner!!

[CalgaryII]

Thaksin is pathologically set on taking full control partly because that was his original aim before being deposed, after his term expired, but also because of the revenge motive. No revenge is complete unless you take MORE than they took from you. He sees them as having taken what he hadn't yet gotten control of.

So he has a war room to track coup makers. This is just claptrap to keep pushing the 'eminent coup button' in his Red Followers. Preaching to the choir. Things have slowed to a crawl for Thaksins personal plans, the Red Troupes are getting restless, and he needs to keep feeding them red meat to make them stay on point till his next move. It also explains the Amsterdam-lead online Perception Management moves we can see lately.

Clearly they are moving to make a bundle on Water Retention and Spillway purchases through their friends, shills and proxies, hence the meeting with real-estate moguls, in secret last week. But before this cash cow of kick-backs can be spread around, he must still keep his street branch placated, and angry. Letting them become complacent isn't an option. Letting them imagine they will be the front line defense against a coup, makes them imagine they are empowered and important.

Let us correct a couple things here without engaging indoctrinated Thaksin haters:

• The coup was a coup against an elected administration. Expiry dates of that Administration was a matter for the next election.
  
• There definitely are those who track the coup-ists. Been there, done that....never again!
  
• To diminish the politicization of a huge swath of the electorate by suggesting their motives are not political, and only linked to their associations is offensive to them to say the least. Arrogantly stated by Oppositional elements who think they are the only ones in a political context, and all others outside of it, antagonize their opposite. Arrogance that places them outside the political electoral sphere.
  
• Being empowered and important is not an illusion. Last July's election demonstrated that very clearly.
  
• To denigrate genuine efforts at solving water and spillway solutions, have the same feel to it as when the Opposition tried to use the disaster for their own political purposes, principally being wall-to-wall FROC flogging during the crisis. Now they are turning their attention to demonizing solutions. A little bit like the Tea Party and other Oppositional elements in the USA blocking all Obama initiatives, for fear he may be succesful.
  

The coup was against an unilateral taking of the MP chair buy a resigned,

and expired temporary caretake PM Thaksin. Pretending to be the

full PM at the UN in NYC while he was nothing of the sort.

I could care less of you track coup-ists, that's your hobby.

No clue what this is referencing. Are you forgetting who says what?

You can't diminishes a political scam to anything other than what it is,

A brainwashing of a segment of the population as a means to power.

In addition to divide and conquer tactics.

Thinking you are empowered, and actually being empowered, are different things.

Empowerment via false pretenses is manipulation, not empowerment.

Who denigrates the water resources efforts? Not I.

I just denigrate those that are obviously going to try and profit on it

at public expense, without actually doing anything productive

beyond land ownership manipulations. Land is up for grabs,

who grabs it up and then and sells it to the government profits.

Where those 'details to be stated later' lie geographically,

is the biggest cash cow of the current land market.

Nice try with your Dotted List making it look nicely organized and official,

but inside it's just the same P.M. BS. masquerading as logical thought.

No sale..

• A coup is a coup. To characterize it as a normal event in the life of a democracy doesn't fly. Either there are elections, or not. A coup speaks for itself.
  
• Until one side of the politicaL divide attributes honorable intentions and motivations to their political opposites, trouble will reign in the world of Thai Democracy. One side does not have the market cornered on Political contextualization with political motives. The fact that the coup-ists emenated from that side, would suggest the opposite. It would be very helpful to avoid arrogance and accept political equality.
  
• To suggest one side of the political divide functions on the basis of brainwashing is most erroneous. Given the electoral majority, that means a lot of political zombies in Thailand. A most disrespectful view of the Thai electorate.
  
• Empowerment by false pretenses is manipulation as you assert....Empowerment by electoral victories is real and attested to by voters. Especially when voters were fully informed and made choices accordingly.
  
• Land speculation resulting from water management remedies is a real possibility, as long as the Opposition doesn't try to characterize all Govt. efforts in this regard as tainted. To blame them on one hand for doing nothing,.and then to also malign them on the other hand. for doing something doesn't fly. The Opposition's incessant FROC-flogging media frenzie using a disaster to further their narrow political aims recently, is still fresh in the mind of the Thai electorate who elected and supported their elected choice through the disaster that occurred.
  
• You will notice my focus on message, as opposed to messenger. The logic of the message can be judged by the readers.
  

Edited February 19, 2012 by CalgaryII

[scorecard]

Actually I think it would more helpful for him (or her) when replying to quotes to actually reply to the content of the quote instead of going off on something else entirely. If he has a thought about the OP then great, express it in a new post but to do it while quoting somebody comes off as baiting people.

fair enough yeah, i do see your point, but so far people haven't been confused by him not quoting them directly but have chosen to answer whatever point he made, usually by a universal "you're a troll" rather than tackling the content of what he says.

but anyway... the guy should be able to stand up for himself, i'm not gonna further argue his case for him ....

Honestly, I don't agree with his views but I know many of us can be just as passionate in their views and debates but I haven't caught what he wrote to make some people go off on him as they have. I think I have seen him called a troll and somebody else wondering why he has not got banned. I love a good debate (even with some personal diggs) but his getting banned for expressing his views??

Point being, I can understand why you felt the need to say something.

Who has banned him?

[animatic]

Reason has long gone out the window here.

Why argue it still exists..

[rixalex]

He was truly bought and paid for. I believed in him at first. But, what did he do to benefit the average Thai? What did he do to improve the country? His hands were tied by his masters. And he did as he was asked to do, by the powers that be. To believe otherwise, is to visit the Land of Oz.

With the short time he had (about two and a half years), and with the stormy waters of the world economy meltdown to try and steer through, plus of course having to fight violent and repeated attempts at toppling him, i think he did just about as well as anyone could have done in that situation.

[animatic]

Thaksin is pathologically set on taking full control partly because that was his original aim before being deposed, after his term expired, but also because of the revenge motive. No revenge is complete unless you take MORE than they took from you. He sees them as having taken what he hadn't yet gotten control of.

So he has a war room to track coup makers. This is just claptrap to keep pushing the 'eminent coup button' in his Red Followers. Preaching to the choir. Things have slowed to a crawl for Thaksins personal plans, the Red Troupes are getting restless, and he needs to keep feeding them red meat to make them stay on point till his next move. It also explains the Amsterdam-lead online Perception Management moves we can see lately.

Clearly they are moving to make a bundle on Water Retention and Spillway purchases through their friends, shills and proxies, hence the meeting with real-estate moguls, in secret last week. But before this cash cow of kick-backs can be spread around, he must still keep his street branch placated, and angry. Letting them become complacent isn't an option. Letting them imagine they will be the front line defense against a coup, makes them imagine they are empowered and important.

Let us correct a couple things here without engaging indoctrinated Thaksin haters:

• The coup was a coup against an elected administration. Expiry dates of that Administration was a matter for the next election.
  
• There definitely are those who track the coup-ists. Been there, done that....never again!
  
• To diminish the politicization of a huge swath of the electorate by suggesting their motives are not political, and only linked to their associations is offensive to them to say the least. Arrogantly stated by Oppositional elements who think they are the only ones in a political context, and all others outside of it, antagonize their opposite. Arrogance that places them outside the political electoral sphere.
  
• Being empowered and important is not an illusion. Last July's election demonstrated that very clearly.
  
• To denigrate genuine efforts at solving water and spillway solutions, have the same feel to it as when the Opposition tried to use the disaster for their own political purposes, principally being wall-to-wall FROC flogging during the crisis. Now they are turning their attention to demonizing solutions. A little bit like the Tea Party and other Oppositional elements in the USA blocking all Obama initiatives, for fear he may be succesful.
  

The coup was against an unilateral taking of the MP chair buy a resigned,

and expired temporary caretake PM Thaksin. Pretending to be the

full PM at the UN in NYC while he was nothing of the sort.

I could care less of you track coup-ists, that's your hobby.

No clue what this is referencing. Are you forgetting who says what?

You can't diminishes a political scam to anything other than what it is,

A brainwashing of a segment of the population as a means to power.

In addition to divide and conquer tactics.

Thinking you are empowered, and actually being empowered, are different things.

Empowerment via false pretenses is manipulation, not empowerment.

Who denigrates the water resources efforts? Not I.

I just denigrate those that are obviously going to try and profit on it

at public expense, without actually doing anything productive

beyond land ownership manipulations. Land is up for grabs,

who grabs it up and then and sells it to the government profits.

Where those 'details to be stated later' lie geographically,

is the biggest cash cow of the current land market.

Nice try with your Dotted List making it look nicely organized and official,

but inside it's just the same P.M. BS. masquerading as logical thought.

No sale..

• A coup is a coup. To characterize it as a normal event in the life of a democracy doesn't fly. Either there are elections, or not. A coup speaks for itself.
  
• Until one side of the politicaL divide attributes honorable intentions and motivations to their political opposites, trouble will reign in the world of Thai Democracy. One side does not have the market cornered on Political contextualization with political motives. The fact that the coup-ists emenated from that side, would suggest the opposite. It would be very helpful to avoid arrogance and accept political equality.
  
• To suggest one side of the political divide functions on the basis of brainwashing is most erroneous. Given the electoral majority, that means a lot of political zombies in Thailand. A most disrespectful view of the Thai electorate.
  
• Empowerment by false pretenses is manipulation as you assert....Empowerment by electoral victories is real and attested to be voters. Especially when voters were fully informed and made choices accordingly.
  
• Land speculation resulting from water management remedies is a real possibility, as long as the Opposition doesn't try to characterize all Govt. efforts in this regard as tainted. To blame them on one hand for doing nothing,.and then to also malign them on the other hand. for doing something doesn't fly. The Opposition's incessant FROC-flogging media frenzie using a disaster to further their narrow political aims recently, is still fresh in the mind of the Thai electorate who elected and supported their elected choice through the disaster that occurred.
  
• You will notice my focus on message, as opposed to messenger. The logic of the message can be judged by the readers.
  

Still no sale.

Twisting logical arguments just enough to appear opposite to their real meaning,

is only disingenuous manipulation, it doesn't win the argument only muddies the waters.

This catchphrase string of PR sound bytes doesn't make the point.

No sale yet again.

Back the the Perception Management drawing board.

Edited February 19, 2012 by animatic

[CalgaryII]

Ozmick, #187

There was no compliment - a chimp would have worked it out faster.

dam_n, and here I thought I had a friend.

Loneliness is no fun, you know!

You seem to suffer from the false belief that I wish to read your historically inaccurate, simplistic (democracy = elections), repetitive and falacious drivel. I DO NOT.

It gives me great comfort to know that no-one is forced to read anyone's Post.

I acknowledge a degree of repetition however. Cannot be avoided.

When faced with Oppositional repetitive mantra's, leads to same in-kind.

As an example, the Opposition repeats over and over that constitutional reform has a very singular and simplistic motivation, focussed on one individual. Every time I read that, I am prompted to list out the real reasons, lest anyone thinks the Opposition mantra has value.

So if that happens, and you have been informed and educated about this before, it pleases me that you have the capability to skip over it.

Not complicated.

[scorecard]

Actually I think it would more helpful for him (or her) when replying to quotes to actually reply to the content of the quote instead of going off on something else entirely. If he has a thought about the OP then great, express it in a new post but to do it while quoting somebody comes off as baiting people.

fair enough yeah, i do see your point, but so far people haven't been confused by him not quoting them directly but have chosen to answer whatever point he made, usually by a universal "you're a troll" rather than tackling the content of what he says.

but anyway... the guy should be able to stand up for himself, i'm not gonna further argue his case for him ....

There's another point here. What he/she says has mostly been debated many many times before and most of it has been disproven.

There are many who believe this characters posts in fact have a completely different motive, to try to create and to entrech a line / a picture / a perception of the paymaster / the reds / the pt which is blatantly untruthful to say the least.

Just look at the post immediately above, #202.... starting with 'just an example......'. blatantly dishonest, blatantly & deliberately misleading.

Whats also true IMHO is that most of the tv members who have written against this character would agree there is an urgent need for action to reduce the gap, to build better democracy, to gain equal justice for all, but see the reds and their leaders pt are totally lacking in credibility in these matters, in fact what have they actually done or said which directly addresses these points, introduces some logical structured approach, introduces / suggests some specific polices to address thes matteras? Nothing, zero!

A troll, nothing more.

Edited February 19, 2012 by scorecard

[Oberkommando]

Only in Thailand would we have Westerners condoning coups and military dictatorships.

Only in Thailand would those same Westerners be appreciative of a man who's record on human rights is truly appalling, has taken Thailand into a new, dark era of media censorship and who has failed, at every gifted opportunity, to win a general election even when the odds were so stacked in his favour it seemed impossible to lose.

[CalgaryII]

He was truly bought and paid for. I believed in him at first. But, what did he do to benefit the average Thai? What did he do to improve the country? His hands were tied by his masters. And he did as he was asked to do, by the powers that be. To believe otherwise, is to visit the Land of Oz.

With the short time he had (about two and a half years), and with the stormy waters of the world economy meltdown to try and steer through, plus of course having to fight violent and repeated attempts at toppling him, i think he did just about as well as anyone could have done in that situation.

The repeated attempts at toppling him, were perfectly understandable.

Acquiring one's Prime Ministership via Parliamentary manueverings which in turn were an extension of a coup, creates such a situation.

The electoral majority knew they were the electoral majority. For them to be governed by an electoral minority had predictive results.

I have said before, the Australian Prime Minister did it correctly.

When she was elected PM via Parliamentary manueverings, she decreed immediately that the Prime Ministership was a nationally elected office, and scheduled a national election to validate herself.

Oppositional types will spin this as her simply following timelines to a previously scheduled election, but that wasn't her take.

But I can fully understand Abhi's reluctance to follow suit. As it was, the Australian Prime Minister barely squeeked through....Abhi knew that would not be the case for him, and so did the R' song protesters.

The violence referenced needs to be corrected as coup-ist violence on anti-coup people, with predictable reactions. To suggest the attackers were benevolent and the attackees were anarchic and anti-social, doesn't fly. Especially when perpetrated by pro-coup elements which was the entire focus of the protests to begin with.

[newsweird]

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you`re still a rat.

Edited February 19, 2012 by newsweird

[Reasonableman]

Yes, but some rats are preferable to other rats

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you`re still a rat.

[bigbamboo]

Only in Thailand would we have Westerners condoning coups and military dictatorships.

Only in Thailand would those same Westerners be appreciative of a man who's record on human rights is truly appalling, has taken Thailand into a new, dark era of media censorship and who has failed, at every gifted opportunity, to win a general election even when the odds were so stacked in his favour it seemed impossible to lose.

The remarkable aspect about the bloodless 2006 coup was the public reaction to it. 'Mai pen rai' would just about sum it up.

[blows]

Only in Thailand would we have Westerners condoning coups and military dictatorships.

Only in Thailand would those same Westerners be appreciative of a man who's record on human rights is truly appalling, has taken Thailand into a new, dark era of media censorship and who has failed, at every gifted opportunity, to win a general election even when the odds were so stacked in his favour it seemed impossible to lose.

You are right, Thaksin's media censorship and human rights record was quite appalling.

[OzMick]

Only in Thailand would we have Westerners condoning coups and military dictatorships.

Only in Thailand would those same Westerners be appreciative of a man who's record on human rights is truly appalling, has taken Thailand into a new, dark era of media censorship and who has failed, at every gifted opportunity, to win a general election even when the odds were so stacked in his favour it seemed impossible to lose.

Hard to win when you're out of the country, banned from politics, and have multiple charges of corruption proven or pending. A huge budget for creating strife and buying votes, and a mate ready to kick off a minor border war did help though.