Perhaps Thaksin has a vision of dividing the country and making Chiang Mai the capital of his little banana republic.

With his own army of "Ronin warriors"

I think most of Bangkok and all the south would agree with that split......

Perhaps Thaksin has a vision of dividing the country and making Chiang Mai the capital of his little banana republic.

With his own army of "Ronin warriors"

I think most of Bangkok and all the south would agree with that split......

Mark can have the deep South.

Kingdom of Pattani thrown in for FREE as grace.

The diehard members of the Thaksin Fan Club won't change their spots. Those who can see the bigger picture will. But its the diehards that can cause the most trouble. Thaksin and the other leaders know that the kwais are easily manipulated and they still (and will continue to do so) form a considerable army that can cause mayhem when and where they like and then use Thaksin and his PR people (such as that disgusting Robert Amsterdam) to rewrite history. Even Thaksin is not sure where he himself stands. 'I'm out of politics', 'Thaksin thinks ......' etc etc etc. Shifting sands. If you look at his contradictory statements over the years you can see he is an idiot and people like Amsterdam recognise this and simply pump him for all he's worth as he's a good earner for these guys.

As for democracy, Thai's have no idea what this word, or concept, means. The fundamental basis of Democracy is the rule of law. Without the rule of law, or respect for the law, there can be no democracy. Burning Bangkok, looting shops, accusing the Abhisit government of things about which they were not responsible, constant lies and corruption - even smaller things like all the reds I saw here in Chiang Mai riding their motorcycles without helmets whilst on their way to some rally, proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the reds are as far away from understanding democracy as you could possibly be. And that's the way Thaksin wants it to be. If only they understood .........................

At the risk of upsetting certain posters, IMHO I agree with you.

Democracy seems to mean different things to different people.

Better hold back from the last bit though. Hardly anybody wears a helmet in CM, including the school kids (age 10 up) who ride 2 or 3 on a motor bike to/from school. It's amusing to see motor cyclists carrying helmets when they know they're heading towards a known police check-point - surely makes them even more dangerous! Arguably they are reds in the making, or more likely IMHO, apathetics in the making.

Going through some reading matter for another topic, there was reference to a King Taksin, who after the Burmese invaded Thailand, restored Thai rule.

The interesting bit is that he was murdered by the next King when it was believed King Taksin was insane.

Well I thought it was interesting!