Thai army chief announces military coup

[mccw]

Democracy fanatics; would you support the murder of all persons with a name beginning in S if a simple majority had voted for it?

Or the confiscation of all non Thai citizen bank account holders funds for distribution to the rice farmers?

The second example is akin to how many tax payers feel about thier taxes getting used by shin to buy the northern rural (non tax payers) votes.

1.) No. And once anyone votes to murder some portion of the population, that demos obviously no longer exists, so the issue is moot.

2.) I would not support such a move, but I would consider a military coup in response to constitute criminal usurpation.

So you would not support a coup to prevent terrorism and mass murder?

Like the recent Egyptian coup; better to let the Islamists systematically kill Christians is it? All the name of democracy.

[mccw]

Democracy fanatics; would you support the murder of all persons with a name beginning in S if a simple majority had voted for it?

Or the confiscation of all non Thai citizen bank account holders funds for distribution to the rice farmers?

The second example is akin to how many tax payers feel about thier taxes getting used by shin to buy the northern rural (non tax payers) votes.

1.) No. And once anyone votes to murder some portion of the population, that demos obviously no longer exists, so the issue is moot.

2.) I would not support such a move, but I would consider a military coup in response to constitute criminal usurpation.

So you would not support a coup to prevent terrorism and mass murder?

Like the recent Egyptian coup; better to let the Islamists systematically kill Christians is it? All the name of democracy.

And so to finish my point with waiting for your answer.

If option one and you stick to opinion that you up hold democracy no matter what - then you are supporting mass murder for your idealist beliefs.

But if you can see that actually sometimes steps need to be taken for the greater good to protect the population from terrorism, then you can accept the Thai coup as it is and drop all the belly acheing.

So which is ?

You support terrorism and murder of innocent civillians or not?

[Mrgk]

Democracy fanatics; would you support the murder of all persons with a name beginning in S if a simple majority had voted for it?

Or the confiscation of all non Thai citizen bank account holders funds for distribution to the rice farmers?

The second example is akin to how many tax payers feel about thier taxes getting used by shin to buy the northern rural (non tax payers) votes.

1.) No. And once anyone votes to murder some portion of the population, that demos obviously no longer exists, so the issue is moot.

2.) I would not support such a move, but I would consider a military coup in response to constitute criminal usurpation.

So you would not support a coup to prevent terrorism and mass murder?

Like the recent Egyptian coup; better to let the Islamists systematically kill Christians is it? All the name of democracy.

And so to finish my point with waiting for your answer.

If option one and you stick to opinion that you up hold democracy no matter what - then you are supporting mass murder for your idealist beliefs.

But if you can see that actually sometimes steps need to be taken for the greater good to protect the population from terrorism, then you can accept the Thai coup as it is and drop all the belly acheing.

So which is ?

You support terrorism and murder of innocent civillians or not?

If one side starts systematically killing the other, like I said, then democracy is moot, and things will be settled by the gun, not the vote.

But that was not the case in Thailand, especially as we do not know who perpetrated the sporadic attacks of the last few months (well, except for the unfortunate episodes with the PDRC guards / popcorn experts, of course).

So no, I do not support the Thai coup, and I would encourage all Thais who have been disenfranchised by the illegal actions of the army to take whatever action they feel is proper given the circumstances. This would include the judicous use of lethal force, of course.

[Dr Bruce]

Jamie,

Which number in your 15 is armed soldiers on the stree?

Which number in your 15 is banning groups of more than 5?

Which number in your 15 is blocking TV stations?

Which number in your 15 is closing all schools?

[Trembly]

Democracy fanatics; would you support the murder of all persons with a name beginning in S if a simple majority had voted for it?

Or the confiscation of all non Thai citizen bank account holders funds for distribution to the rice farmers?

The second example is akin to how many tax payers feel about thier taxes getting used by shin to buy the northern rural (non tax payers) votes.

If it meant the murder of Suthep hell yeah.

BTW what a load of bullshit the rural people dont pay taxes. Everything, from petrol for their trucks to food in the shop is subject to VAT. This VAT plays a far bigger role in tax revenues than income tax which is what i presume you talk of.

They don't pay any income tax that is what I was referring to. The rice scheme was a clear vote buying ploy and not a helping the poor measure- if helping the poor some kind of blanket means tested income support would have been the fair policy. Lots of poor who are not rice farmers.

Anyway. So you condem Simon, Sanjay and Somchai to death if a majority vote for it; you jest I guess but the point stands; majority can vote for terrible things and just because they vote for it does not make it right!

The poorest farmers didn't even qualify for the scheme because of the acreage threshold.

[Rupert2]

So who wants to buy my condo now ?

Sent from my SM-P601 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Might be the best time - when the baht is weakened.

[Mrgk]

The military "are not killing anybody" in the same sense that a bank robber toting an AK-47 is "not killing anybody", and the same ethical rules apply.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Mrgk

[Mosha]

Amazing how many posters are in favor of the coup. If you don't remember how it was living here during the last one you will change your tune in a couple of weeks.

I was here. Life went on as normal. Except the police stayed home,

[sumtingwong]

Speaking of the Thai majority:

englishnews headline "Poll shows over 75 percent of the people support martial law"

[oxo1947]

The other 25% were incarcerated...........................

[lucjoker]

the rattle snakes are in the jail now,non political man is now PM. Bravo

Hopefully it stays like this for ever.

Don't give politicians /rattle snakes ,no more chance.

Erase the word "politics" ,it never did good to no body ,is an institution of thieves ,that's all.

A strong hand is needed,not a bunch of lying thieves.

ps :don't make a fool of yourself trying to lecture me about politics

[Stradavarius37]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The military "are not killing anybody" in the same sense that a bank robber toting an AK-47 is "not killing anybody", and the same ethical rules apply.

Your logic is faulty - The military carrying the weapons are to prevent the Red/Yellow protesters from killing. So its not the same - thanks for playing.

[Stradavarius37]

How is everyone enjoying the coup so far?

[Showbags]

Just went to our local paper shop for a remembrance edition of the English papers...they said don't wait for the Nation as ALL were recalled for printing something wrong...only Bkk Post today...apparently

[Fookhaht]

How is everyone enjoying the coup so far?

I had a coup of mocha with raspberry syrup this a.m. at Starbucks (after 5 a.m., of course.). Enjoying it. Thanks for asking.

[Tokay]

"It's not a coup"

[Strangebrew]

Being close to the Generals age I think if in his position I might have done the same thing. The protest were getting out of control Innocent people were dying, thats men, women and children. The police took one side and never caught the people doing the killing even when they had clear pictures of them. If I'm correct the head of CAPO was saying or threatning the peaceful protestors and protecting the red shirts. But be that as may in the end the Thai's fail to grasp the meaning of Democracy. Correct me if I'm wrong but Democracy is rule by the people for the people. Not by the rich for the rich. When your leaders openly rob the country blind and use there money and power to flaunt the law, you don't have Democracy, When your leader's threaten harm who don't approve of there view of things you don't have Democracy When you don't have compermise you don't have Democracy. Democracy isn't perfect by far but it allows the people to redress the government for change. The leaders need to be neutral and listen to the voice of the people, they need to be accountable for there actions. If need be set up a civilian review board with the power to impeach polictians that fail in there job. You need to be able to weed out the corruption from all levels of government. You also need to stop outside interference from other parties even if that means arresting them and bring them to justice. I hope all Thai's try to understand it isn't one side veruses the other side it is one peoples needs for a safe place to raise your children, The freedom of having the chance to make ones way in life. It's not about government handouts. I wish all the Thai people the best for a good future Join together one voice one Thailand End this in fighting of the children ruining your country. With your voice show your leaders who is the boss.

[djjamie]

Jamie,

Which number in your 15 is armed soldiers on the stree?

Which number in your 15 is banning groups of more than 5?

Which number in your 15 is blocking TV stations?

Which number in your 15 is closing all schools?

"Old communists know that when it comes to revolution, ignorance is much more powerful than knowledge,"

Dr Weng, who learnt his Maoist teaching in Vietnam after communism took over knows this.

​You mock what you don't understand and that my friend is exactly how Dr Weng wants it.

​The corner stone of what the UDD purport to defend, democracy, and because you are ignorant of what it means you mock others that do understand.

Edited May 23, 2014 by djjamie

[attrayant]

It is possible (in the US, UK, Germany, at least) to get a direct connection from one location to another, but it is very expensive.

It's the rule, not the exception. Banks typically use private T1 lines between their various locations and HQ, and use 56k DDS lines for their ATMs. If it became known that publicly traded financial institutions were sending their transaction data over the public internet, they wouldn't have customers much longer. I am speaking from experience, having been responsible for designing data networks for Verizon in the past.

Another problem with using the public internet is the uncertain routing and delays that often crop up. The public internet is "best effort" service, which means "we'll send your traffic when we're done sending the traffic of customers who have bought guaranteed class of service links". Home businesses might try to get by using DSL, but nobody else would - especially if you've got client side business applications making thousands of procedure calls to remote servers and databases.

A T1 was typically around $600 a month about 5 years ago. That sounds expensive to you and me, but it's just part of the cost of doing business in most countries. Businesses that do teleconferencing and need high speed connections to their remote servers and databases can not afford to reply on the slow public Internet. Businesses also want the capability of routing their own traffic on their own subnets and setting up firewalls between their networks and the public network. These customers also want the capability to call up the carriers and troubleshoot routing problems when they happen, and have a tech statically route business traffic when needed. This isn't possible for general internet traffic which is dynamically routed.

Do an image search for "corporate data network" if you want to ;earn about the difference between a business intranet and the public Internet.

Any getting back to the topic, there has been no Internet disruption thus far.

[dwcrist]

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

Like what? What was the way out, Sherlock? There wasn't one, no comprise will ever come from T and his bought minions. His influence and grip on this country has screwed it no end and it must be diluted for it to move on--look at the state it's in today, look at the cost of things!

There will be blood spilt because of this, no doubt, but that would have happened anyway.

Sorry, but this is the only way at this time in this part of the world. The 'democracy' touted by that government was a complete sham.

Listen, Moriarty. Overthrowing an elected legitimate government and throwing the constitution out the window whenever it suits you is not acceptable. That is what got us into this mess in the first place back in 2006. This coup is completely different from providing security under martial law, which I applauded. I have no love for Thaksin or his clan, or for that matter anyone red or yellow who is corrupt (pretty much all of them). Wrong doers must be held accountable. But that is for the courts to decide, not the military. And punishment is to be applied to only those responsible, not to an entire party as an excuse to take control. The fact is that Peu Thai was elected fairly by a landslide victory that cannot be accounted for by vote buying because the public simply wanted them. Then they did some naughty stuff and protestors said that the people didn't want them anymore, so they dissolved the house. The constitution has a remedy for this situation which was to hold elections after the house was dissolved. But the protestors claiming to be the voice of the people blocked the voting (voice) of the people. The Dems are only trying to grab power through undemocratic means. The whole world sees it and is clamoring for Thailand to hold elections and stop military rule and interference to give the power back to the people (not the elite minority that say they are the voice of the people).

[lomatopo]

The POMC is continuing to make new declarations, some of which modify earlier declarations.

Does anyone have a link to updated translated versions of all these declarations?

[Fookhaht]

Being close to the Generals age I think if in his position I might have done the same thing. The protest were getting out of control Innocent people were dying, thats men, women and children....

If you or he had simply taken over the Ministry of Transport, you/he could've saved a lot more lives in one day than were lost in the last six months of political violence. If that was his big motivation, it was sorely misplaced.

I don't buy it.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Fookhaht

[Jip99]

How is everyone enjoying the coup so far?

[attachment=268034:4653292.jpg)

[Jip99]

How is everyone enjoying the coup so far?

[sumtingwong]

Last time I checked, under a democracy, when politicians break the laws or violate the constitution, they are removed and sent to jail for their crimes. Even if they got 100% of the vote; Democracy is not a get out of jail free card.

[dwcrist]

Oh man. And they were doing so well. Guess they couldn't resist the cookie jar once they got so close. This shows that no progress has been made or is planning on being made in politics and the military can basically take over whenever they want to regardless of laws or government.

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

What are you talking about? This is progress Thai style. The naughty children have been throwing tantrums for the last year. Finally the adults sit them down and asked them to behave. When the children refused they were sent to bed without their desert.

I aplaud the general for the balsy move a few weeks before his retirement. This is the example of duty to the country and its people. Thailand would have been a better place if more of its leaders showed the same.

When you put it that way it sounds much better. And I think that from that angle you are completely right.

The martial law thing was fine and a good idea, which I also applauded. But the problem that I just can't get over with the coup is the fact that they completely tore up the constitution again. I am afraid that they will again take sides and setup an unelected government in favor of the elites' agenda and make "reforms" that will dissolve their political opponents and let them remain in power despite the will of the people.

[sgtsabai]

Strangebrew, I thought you were describing Amerika there for a second. Oh and John Kerry needs to keep his mouth shut, he and the plutocrats he represents lost all credibility long ago. This coup does, at least to me, have a different feel than the last one. If a semblance of 'democracy' (it never was one truly, same as most just in name only, the rich rule) is not restored quickly I think the economic effect will really start to kick in.

[Piichai]

Oh man. And they were doing so well. Guess they couldn't resist the cookie jar once they got so close. This shows that no progress has been made or is planning on being made in politics and the military can basically take over whenever they want to regardless of laws or government.

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

What are you talking about? This is progress Thai style. The naughty children have been throwing tantrums for the last year. Finally the adults sit them down and asked them to behave. When the children refused they were sent to bed without their desert.

I aplaud the general for the balsy move a few weeks before his retirement. This is the example of duty to the country and its people. Thailand would have been a better place if more of its leaders showed the same.

When you put it that way it sounds much better. And I think that from that angle you are completely right.

The martial law thing was fine and a good idea, which I also applauded. But the problem that I just can't get over with the coup is the fact that they completely tore up the constitution again. I am afraid that they will again take sides and setup an unelected government in favor of the elites' agenda and make "reforms" that will dissolve their political opponents and let them remain in power despite the will of the people.

The reform process was going to change the constitution anyway; Prayuth's actions just make it easier.

[Jip99]

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

Like what? What was the way out, Sherlock? There wasn't one, no comprise will ever come from T and his bought minions. His influence and grip on this country has screwed it no end and it must be diluted for it to move on--look at the state it's in today, look at the cost of things!

There will be blood spilt because of this, no doubt, but that would have happened anyway.

Sorry, but this is the only way at this time in this part of the world. The 'democracy' touted by that government was a complete sham.

Listen, Moriarty. Overthrowing an elected legitimate government and throwing the constitution out the window whenever it suits you is not acceptable. That is what got us into this mess in the first place back in 2006. This coup is completely different from providing security under martial law, which I applauded. I have no love for Thaksin or his clan, or for that matter anyone red or yellow who is corrupt (pretty much all of them). Wrong doers must be held accountable. But that is for the courts to decide, not the military. And punishment is to be applied to only those responsible, not to an entire party as an excuse to take control. The fact is that Peu Thai was elected fairly by a landslide victory that cannot be accounted for by vote buying because the public simply wanted them. Then they did some naughty stuff and protestors said that the people didn't want them anymore, so they dissolved the house. The constitution has a remedy for this situation which was to hold elections after the house was dissolved. But the protestors claiming to be the voice of the people blocked the voting (voice) of the people. The Dems are only trying to grab power through undemocratic means. The whole world sees it and is clamoring for Thailand to hold elections and stop military rule and interference to give the power back to the people (not the elite minority that say they are the voice of the people).

'The World' knows Jack sh!t about Thailand.... and it sounds like they are not the only ones.

[Jip99]

Oh man. And they were doing so well. Guess they couldn't resist the cookie jar once they got so close. This shows that no progress has been made or is planning on being made in politics and the military can basically take over whenever they want to regardless of laws or government.

Way to prove all the critics right! I was hoping for so much better.

What are you talking about? This is progress Thai style. The naughty children have been throwing tantrums for the last year. Finally the adults sit them down and asked them to behave. When the children refused they were sent to bed without their desert.

I aplaud the general for the balsy move a few weeks before his retirement. This is the example of duty to the country and its people. Thailand would have been a better place if more of its leaders showed the same.

Agree 100%

This has been planned for sometime and many predicted a coup 9 months ago. That timing wasn't quite right but the current political vacuum made it increasingly likely. I think Prayuth has had this blueprint ready for several months and he knows exactly what his game plan is.

It is all very well the western press throwing their hands up in condemnation but that just shows a lack of understanding of what has been happening in Thailand. There has been a rudderless government with it's strings pulled from Dubai - how ludicrous is that for a so-called developed country. Corruption has now became the biggest industry in Thailand. It has always been there but it has grown out of control. I would love to see an independent audit of the rice pledging scheme !

Something had to change; the children couldn't agree that themselves so Papa (in the form of Prayuth and the Royal Thai Army) has sent them to the naughty corner and wrested control of the classroom. There will no doubt be detention for some miscreants and the worst offenders could well be expelled.

On the face of it Prayuth is clear in explaining the job that needs to be done and I genuinely believe that power will be restored, via democratic methods, within a short period of time.

The biggest risk to all this ? Certainly not economic - the Baht is holding up and whilst tourist numbers will dip it is low season and all will be forgotten come November.

The red shirts. Hmm, an interesting one. If, as reported several months ago, the reds have recruited a guerrilla army then there is potential for problems. Such insurgency is unlikely in my view and any attempts would be quickly crushed. Prayuth knows where the enemy is and I believe that the red shirts (like many Thais) are fundamentally cowards who's bark is significantly worse than their bite. I hope I am not wrong on that one.

I think the curfew is mainly in place to allow the army to control/restrict the activities of the red shirts.

I wish Thailand, the country in which I have chosen to call home, every success in achieving necessary reforms and returning to democracy asap.