I'm not a dictator, says angry Prayut

[peecee]

Thailand's benevolent leader has grown used to sycophants telling him how great he is and what a wonderful job he's doing of running the country. I would hope that the world leaders (with obvious exceptions like Putin) push the opposite view whenever they meet.

[timewilltell]

Let's be honest many Thais just abuse the system under the word Democracy and haven't really got a clue to the true meaning. Now sprout we want it back (To abuse it again for self-interest ).

Like it or not this might be the only way for now.

To be honest with you a lot of Thais don't seem to understand the meaning of language at all. It seems to me that most do just about the opposite of everything they say from coming to a meeting when even 'I'm on my way' means they don't turn up, 'I will do xyz' where xyz doesn't get done, and 'Isn't she beautiful?' refers to a man!

I am not sure if it is lying or just confusion or maybe just that the things these types do are so obviously wrong and lacking in humanity that saying something nice but opposite the truth just enables them to pretend they are something they quite clearly are not.

Yes, some will say it is all to make the other person happy - I assure you the total selfishness of this society has nothing to do with making anyone else happy and everything to do with making excuses so they can feel good about themselves

[tutsiwarrior]

it's amazing how these jive milicos delude themselves...Augusto Pinochet said the same thing...poor old uncle Augusto was so disrespected when he died and he even got busted in London for his, whatever...what goes around comes around and I would've thought that that would be obvious to an asian...

[wilcopops]

I"m not a dictator.....and anyone who says I am......

[wilcopops]

As I sit in soi 4 having a beer....I wonder why so many people that are not Thai have so many opinions about this country.

Myself ...I'm off to firework festival in patts next week....then direct taxi to kanchanaburri for war festival and kung birthday. Then bang saen for speed festival.

Back to bkk then au for couple of weeks. Maybe HCMC AirAsia after that $100 return....

I love living in a junta.....surpression ??? Who cares I can't see it. Get off the high horses.

I left glasses at home , so no need for corrections.

You guys need to get over youselves

"As I sit in soi 4 having a beer....I wonder why so many people that are not Thai have so many opinions about this country."

and today's most facile post award goes to................

[jayboy]

Thailand

A slow motion train wreck in action now.

The regime used the Urban dislike and mistrust of the rural Thais and of the North to split the people and thus open the door for the coup.

The people of Bangkok thought there would be some return to democracy. They were played the fools. There was never any intention of holding anything that even resembled real elections. Now the people of Bangkok are slowly but surely becoming hostile toward the regime and all of its parts.

The rich seem United against the people for now but that can quickly change should anything close to a revolution start to raise its head.

Different rich will split to different sides of the fight based upon beliefs and self interest.

That tick tock you hear is the ticking time bomb that will go off sooner or later here.

Farangs will split and run out of the nation in mass for their own safety.

The economy, which is already in decline will collapse.

The city might even burn.

It could all be avoided if only the rich elite who rule the nation would use their own common sense and education to make changes. Do you really think this system can continue here when it has collapsed all over the world in other places? You think you are somehow smarter or more charming than the other elites in Europe were? You are better than the Russian leaders of old Russia were? If I were you I would not wait until the people are hungry and then say--"let them eat Rice".

I am glad I got out. it is a terrible place to raise children now and the danger for Farangs is on a steady increase.

The only thing the two sides in a Thai civil war would agree upon is that the farang need to go.

Jeeez Where to start with this one? The country had already been divided by big T and red shirt brain washing of the rural folk, Do you and all other red types really believe that PTP, Jat, Nat, Chalerm, YL give a toss about the people in Isarn and the north? (Surely PTP;s incompetent policies which hurt the poor badly must give you some clue) What the hell has Russia's past or present ( Your post isn't very clear) history got to do with Thailand? I am sick and tired of reading wet dream adolescent fantasies about violence in Thailand by westerners posting on TVF because that's really all they are and all they will ever be.

I think you are tilting at windmills because I have seen no posts advocating violence from any side.In any event I doubt such posts would be tolerated by mods.

As to the position of the poor in the North and North East you are deluded.Thaksin's policies undoubtedly benefited the rural poor and all serious studies confirm this.This is not to say they were well constructed or always properly directed, but the impact was undoubted - which is why many of them were adopted by the Democrat opposition.As to which group of politicians "care" most about the rural Thais who can say? But in the minds of the rural majority there is very little doubt - which is why Thaksin and Yingluck are the most popular politicians by a considerable margin.

Russia is relevant to Thailand in the sense it stands in contrast to Britain,France and the US in the way it dealt with a rising better educated, politically aware and more literate working class.The elites of these countries astutely learnt the art of compromise, and thus kept most of what they had in terms of wealth and political power.In Russia of course they lost it all by being stupidly pigheaded believing feudal and military controls could keep the powerful social changes at bay.I leave it to you to decide in which camp Thailand seems likely to fall.

[AleG]

it's amazing how these jive milicos delude themselves...Augusto Pinochet said the same thing...poor old uncle Augusto was so disrespected when he died and he even got busted in London for his, whatever...what goes around comes around and I would've thought that that would be obvious to an asian...

Pinochet's regime killed over 30.000 Chileans (and a handful of foreigners), and, among other things, seized power by aerial bombardment and. in all probability, murdering the elected president. Comparing Prayuth with Pinochet is hysterical.

[tutsiwarrior]

everyone needs a little hysteria, sometimes...

same thing, though, the military seizing power in the name of all that is right which for them is restoring the power of the traditional elite that they are naturally part of...no one knows the extent of what's been done since the coup...in Chile it was on TV for everyone to see...and we do have the benefit of hindsight and what was exposed by the investigations...

jeezuz...apologists are tiresome...

Edited December 6, 2014 by tutsiwarrior

[tutsiwarrior]

whatta mess...

[tutsiwarrior]

I gotta continue...

I spent some time in Santiago in the 90s on a job and I saw the ghosts and the damage that was done...a military cadet with his absurd ceremonial sword and tailored uniform gets on the metro and all the conversation stops...and I lived in Las Condes where the women wear furs and I worked in Renca which is an industrial slum...those filthy bastids unleashed the dogs of hell on a perfectly functioning western style democracy and not just on the people that they murdered...but on the future generations to boot...

and now I've chosen to live and retire in Thailand...

I could go on but I'm old and have got blood pressure problems...

Edited December 6, 2014 by tutsiwarrior

[AleG]

I gotta continue...

I spent some time in Santiago in the 90s on a job and I saw the ghosts and the damage that was done...a military cadet with his absurd ceremonial sword and tailored uniform gets on the metro and all the conversation stops...and I lived in Las Condes where the women wear furs and I worked in Renca which is an industrial slum...those filthy bastids unleashed the dogs of hell on a perfectly functioning western style democracy and not just on the people that they murdered...but on the future generations to boot...

and now I've chosen to live and retire in Thailand...

I could go on but I'm old and have got blood pressure problems...

I see, so you rather cling to prejudices from past experience instead of assessing current events based on their own merits. Got it.

[tutsiwarrior]

what you 'got' from the previous text is your own interpretation, my friend...

as westerners and inured to the western democratic tradition an aversion to military dictators is not what one would call a 'prejudice'...

but, (sigh) Thailand is not the west and we are mistaken if we apply our inaccurate western judgments...I agree...and good for Thailand if they resist western pressure to do otherwise...but call a spade a spade, if you want to be authoritarian don't pretend to do otherwise with 'elections' that are disregarded and etc...

and, authoritarian brutality is damaging when the population expects something else...I am a big fan of Vietnam and the communist party is in control there and most folks don't expect otherwise...no surprises...

Edited December 6, 2014 by tutsiwarrior

[wilcopops]

Thailand

A slow motion train wreck in action now.

The regime used the Urban dislike and mistrust of the rural Thais and of the North to split the people and thus open the door for the coup.

The people of Bangkok thought there would be some return to democracy. They were played the fools. There was never any intention of holding anything that even resembled real elections. Now the people of Bangkok are slowly but surely becoming hostile toward the regime and all of its parts.

The rich seem United against the people for now but that can quickly change should anything close to a revolution start to raise its head.

Different rich will split to different sides of the fight based upon beliefs and self interest.

That tick tock you hear is the ticking time bomb that will go off sooner or later here.

Farangs will split and run out of the nation in mass for their own safety.

The economy, which is already in decline will collapse.

The city might even burn.

It could all be avoided if only the rich elite who rule the nation would use their own common sense and education to make changes. Do you really think this system can continue here when it has collapsed all over the world in other places? You think you are somehow smarter or more charming than the other elites in Europe were? You are better than the Russian leaders of old Russia were? If I were you I would not wait until the people are hungry and then say--"let them eat Rice".

I am glad I got out. it is a terrible place to raise children now and the danger for Farangs is on a steady increase.

The only thing the two sides in a Thai civil war would agree upon is that the farang need to go.

Jeeez Where to start with this one? The country had already been divided by big T and red shirt brain washing of the rural folk, Do you and all other red types really believe that PTP, Jat, Nat, Chalerm, YL give a toss about the people in Isarn and the north? (Surely PTP;s incompetent policies which hurt the poor badly must give you some clue) What the hell has Russia's past or present ( Your post isn't very clear) history got to do with Thailand? I am sick and tired of reading wet dream adolescent fantasies about violence in Thailand by westerners posting on TVF because that's really all they are and all they will ever be.

Astounding and disappointing to see that after all the discussion on TV about the current situation some people still think this is a "red shirt/yellow shirt" thing. It really bears belief.

(mind you, the content of the rest of his post clues us a clue!)

Edited December 6, 2014 by wilcopops

[Kitsune]

"Did I do anything wrong? Have I done any damage or wasn't the situation already bad when I took over?" Prayut said.

Have these so convenient terrorist attacks just before the coup been investigated?

I don't believe these were individual people.

Who was behind them?

[Fatty123]

Does anyone know if Sociology - in particular, the four main perspectives [http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/sociologys-four-theoretical-perspectives-structural-functional-social-conflict-feminism-symbolic-interactionism.html] is taught in Thai universities? I suspect that the only structural courses still consist of principals originating from the Siamese Revolution. (I - for obvious reasons - do not want to get into specifics)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_revolution_of_1932]

I'm no expert on Sociology, but I have touched on it during an education degree. One guy kept cropping up. Pierre Bordieu. He was a self confessed Marxist, some of his stuff was almost impossible to argue with (and I'm no Marxist) . Thing is, I can't see his stuff being allowed in Thailand.

I just don't think you can teach sociology without concepts such as cultural and social capital. Like I said, I'm no expert, I touched on it during modules regarding inclusiveness, the National curriculum/politics, but they seems pretty important concepts.

And can you imagine doing a political science degree in today's Thailand? What's the point?

[whybother]

"Did I do anything wrong? Have I done any damage or wasn't the situation already bad when I took over?" Prayut said.

Have these so convenient terrorist attacks just before the coup been investigated?

I don't believe these were individual people.

Who was behind them?

People have been arrested for most of the attacks.

[The manic]

The people who are not dictators will soon have their visa revoked from many other countries.

[wilcopops]

"He's not a dictator, he's a very naughty boy!"