Thai year-old coup imposes superficial calm but little else

[LivinLOS]

Sound familiar ??

"XXX announced that he was a soldier, not a politician, and that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be announced when the situation was normalized."

Who was that XXX ?? Idi Amin..

[oldsailor35]

I like it calm

Don't miss the red shirts shooting or burning down something

And its easier to notice the monk thieving more land, and collecting cash on the streets of Bangkok.

[oldsailor35]

I'll take a "superficial calm" any day over what was about to happen.... an all out civil war with the likely deaths of thousands and a splitting of the country into "Thaksinland" and the rest of Thailand....

And your basis of this was what? your opinion only?

Not a single Country put out a danger warning calling for all it's citizens to flee the Kingdom due to civil war being imminent

Not a single Intelligence agency believed civil war was about to unfold.

There has already been a civil war ongoing for the past 10 years in the South.

There was never the logistical support to launch a civil war, what were they going to use weapons wise?

Who was going to go to war? All the reds against all the yellows?

Why was the whole of the Royal Thai Army not on a war footing, Ports and Airports under Military control?

Thaksinland and the rest of Thailand? Do you mean the whole of the country against Bangkok?

What makes you think the Thais have the stomach to go all out and engage each other where thousands will have been killed?

By stating there would have been an all out civil war, it would be safe to say you believe the "yellows/Non Thaksin" elements to be sufficiently armed to protect themselves, and at some stage go on the offensive?

Do you honestly believe the RTA would have been able to function after mass desertions with lots of soldiers returning home to defend their families from reds/yellows/and greens?

How much military knowledge do you posses, to be able to begin to fathom how much logistics, from basics like Ammunition, Vehicles and POL (fuel) required to mobilise even 1,000 hardcore fighters on both sides? considering the magic number of 7% keeps getting mentioned as to the strength of the UDD, that by the way is a whopping 4.5 MILLION people, I doubt the Chinese Army could mobilise this much at short notice.

Who would command the sides considering you still have Army officers within the RTA who are loyal to Thaksin in some shape or form..

Well, if they keep persecuting prominent Redshirts and exonerating the likes of the multi corrupt Suthep. It will surely happen. The people will only take so much before they break

[baboon]

I like it calm

Don't miss the red shirts shooting or burning down something

Or the yellowshirts barricading themselves inside the international airport and halting all flights, out bound and inbound, causing huge damage to the tourism industry.

Old old history and really not relevant, but yes the yellow shirts did occupy the airport but they didn't

halt any flights, that was solely a function of the airport authority.

Wow. The absolute pinnacle of sophistry...

[oldsailor35]

I think he's done a fantastic job.

Here in Phuket the beaches have never looked better. There has been a serious dent in the cesspool of corruption that was Phuket last year.

The progress here in Phuket would have been unimaginable without the coup. I'm a big supporter of the General and hope he stays in office forever. Who needs democracy?

Good to see you got your priorities straight: good looking beaches > voting rights, human rights, free press, democracy.

I suppose you were being sarcastic, but that is often hard to detect as some people type similar messages as you just did and actually mean it. So just to be sure you weren't serious, can you give some examples of the progress that has been made in the past year (specifics about the cesspool of corruption that have now been cleared up) in Phuket excluding some window dressing that happens under every government every year?

One perfect example is Surin Beach. An incredible, world class beach that was sold off to clubs and restaurants to the point where it was unrecognizable as the King's favorite beach. The General came in and laid down the law, "No Business on the King's Beach" and the word went out all over Phuket. They military demolished every business that encroached on every beach in Phuket. That is a milestone.

There is many other examples of the incredible progress that's been made here. Things like an orderly taxi cue at the airport. It was a third world cluster eff last year.

The stealing of national park land. Everything was up for sale in Phuket for a price. That shit has come to an end.

Yes, more could be done but I'll take what we've been given. The progress this year was unimaginable last year.

I was on the front lines trying to stop the encroachment on the beaches. Taking photos and trying to get the local rags to point out what was happening. It was like trying to stop a tsunami with a sponge.

There has been incredible progress and it could only have been accomplished with a coup. I fear the day Thailand goes back to the way it was before. Eff democracy, I'm serious!

How about renewing a visa at the Phuket Immigration shithole? That's all changed. Bribes are no longer standard operating procedure.

Anybody else got other examples? Things have changed for the better, but everyone knows the future is tentative.

Not to mention the number of police that have been transferred out of the positions they had while they are being investigated and the number of arrests for corruption. It is only the beginning. It will take years to get it all in as good an order as any country can. This is what Prayut said when he first stepped in. He said there would be an election and there would still be work to do after it.

Only two kinds of people can't figure out why every thing is not perfect now. Thaksinites and idiots.

But i a convinced that Prayuth has'nt looked inside any temples yet

[oldsailor35]

I liken Thailand to some of the Middle Eastern countries, they have a such a long history of fighting and corruption, a history of never conceding an inch or ever agreeing with another party & will kill each other at the drop of a hat!!!

REDS/YELLOWS are a mirror image of each other... like siblings in a dysfunctional family who cannot be in the same room together for 5 minutes without scrapping, wanting to take what the other one has while their own pockets are full to bursting point, not because they really want it or even need it, just to stop the other one from having it .

They couldn't see above the edge of the trough they were feeding at... however while they were squabbling over the spoils of being in charge of the country the rest of the population were trying to earn a living to stay alive on a daily basis, earn a few hundred baht to eat & send their children to school, while the fat cats were getting richer with populist policies the poorer were getting poorer.

So a coup ensued to try to restore order to an out-of touch & out-of control government... yes a ceasefire if you like to use the term.

Ceasefires are usually enforced by military or out-side peace keepers, to give time to hot heads on either side to cool down a bit before doing something really stupid like letting a country slip into a full blown civil war and ripping itself apart for years to come.

Someone had to stand up and draw a line and say enough of this blind hatred, enough of the years of failed governments & failed promises.

Thailand had to pull itself above the petty personal vendettas which were being played out at the highest levels.

Peace had to be restored to the streets & corridors of power, a truce so that stability could return to the streets where people could return to work.

Slowly but surely the fractures & hatred could subside enough so that international bodies might show an interest in long term development & investment

returning the country to prosperity.

I think the vast majority of Thai society has benefited from the last year of peace, allowing the majority to go back to a normal life.

Sure there are "die-hards" on every side who want to return to the old ways, because when a country is in turmoil they can do as they please, it's the only way they can succeed as leaders..

But now after a year of calm outside interests are looking to invest in long term businesses and infrastructure improvements, this will in turn increase the business options to the areas which will benefit the Thai people for years to come, not a one-off populist policy to get cheap votes.

Thai people will eventually see that the old ways were crippling the country both from within & from outside.

Thai people will start to see the benefits in their pockets & will hopefully start to realise they can make money for themselves instead of waiting for scraps to be thrown to them from the government dining table!

Long may calm continue I say,

yes long may Prayut or who-ever it takes to do the job of pulling Thailand out of the mess it was in.

Long may the die-hards of either colour stay quiet & let peace reign and not return Thailand to social dysfunction hatred & greed !

Its obvious that you came to Los to dream !

[The Deerhunter]

I do not do heros here either (All my heros wore spurs). If Suthep (or his family) are into any form of property corruption or park encroachment, prosecute them.

The land scandals which brought down the Leekpai government ??

Or the palm oil price manipulation scandals while he was deputy PM last time he got near power ??

Or the use of live rounds after being explicitly told by legislators that this action wasnt legal ??

Which one do we go at first ??

Which ever you like. I will not be there lodging a private prosecution. Whatever he may have done which is illegal go for it. Except the live fire in 2010. They wanted a million people with i million litres of fuel to burn Bkk down. That called for urgent & definite action. They will sort that out in due course i guess. Off you go. Don't let me stop you.

[jayboy]

I like it calm

Don't miss the red shirts shooting or burning down something

Or the yellowshirts barricading themselves inside the international airport and halting all flights, out bound and inbound, causing huge damage to the tourism industry.

Old old history and really not relevant, but yes the yellow shirts did occupy the airport but they didn't

halt any flights, that was solely a function of the airport authority.

Such a moronic comment and so long mocked that it takes someone of immense stupidity to regurgitate it.

[JDGRUEN]

Something about grenade launchers firing grenades hither and yon, sniper rifles use to kill people, bombs going off ... that told me there was no Democracy to destroy ... What the military junta did was stop the hemorrhaging - not just of blood spilled -- but of the fabric of the nation.. If the PM and his Military backing sit on this for Five Years I personally do not see a problem ... The Thai political parties were tearing the nation apart. I am quite happy that someone said .. "STOP"!

Irresponsible political parties do not a Democracy make!

[yooyoo]

I'll take a "superficial calm" any day over what was about to happen.... an all out civil war with the likely deaths of thousands and a splitting of the country into "Thaksinland" and the rest of Thailand....

And your basis of this was what? your opinion only?

Not a single Country put out a danger warning calling for all it's citizens to flee the Kingdom due to civil war being imminent

Not a single Intelligence agency believed civil war was about to unfold.

There has already been a civil war ongoing for the past 10 years in the South.

There was never the logistical support to launch a civil war, what were they going to use weapons wise?

Who was going to go to war? All the reds against all the yellows?

Why was the whole of the Royal Thai Army not on a war footing, Ports and Airports under Military control?

Thaksinland and the rest of Thailand? Do you mean the whole of the country against Bangkok?

What makes you think the Thais have the stomach to go all out and engage each other where thousands will have been killed?

By stating there would have been an all out civil war, it would be safe to say you believe the "yellows/Non Thaksin" elements to be sufficiently armed to protect themselves, and at some stage go on the offensive?

Do you honestly believe the RTA would have been able to function after mass desertions with lots of soldiers returning home to defend their families from reds/yellows/and greens?

How much military knowledge do you posses, to be able to begin to fathom how much logistics, from basics like Ammunition, Vehicles and POL (fuel) required to mobilise even 1,000 hardcore fighters on both sides? considering the magic number of 7% keeps getting mentioned as to the strength of the UDD, that by the way is a whopping 4.5 MILLION people, I doubt the Chinese Army could mobilise this much at short notice.

Who would command the sides considering you still have Army officers within the RTA who are loyal to Thaksin in some shape or form..

Let the junta calm you down ...

[Jim walker]

bring everything out in the open and fix it so when is the General going to start and when will he be bringing all parties concerned for some constructive negotiations around the table and get started and progress to the root of the variances between the democratic party leaders, and party policies. and then Thailand can once again join the world community once again.

[heybruce]

Something about grenade launchers firing grenades hither and yon, sniper rifles use to kill people, bombs going off ... that told me there was no Democracy to destroy ... What the military junta did was stop the hemorrhaging - not just of blood spilled -- but of the fabric of the nation.. If the PM and his Military backing sit on this for Five Years I personally do not see a problem ... The Thai political parties were tearing the nation apart. I am quite happy that someone said .. "STOP"!

Irresponsible political parties do not a Democracy make!

What caused the hemorrhaging was a party that can not accept that it can't win an election. What should have been done to stop the hemorrhaging was an election to provide a new government with electoral legitimacy. The military could have made this possible by making it clear it was prepared to use force to clear illegal demonstrations and ensure a peaceful election.

Of course doing this would have resulted in an elected government, which the military and others didn't want.

[hawker9000]

I like it calm

Don't miss the red shirts shooting or burning down something

Or the yellowshirts barricading themselves inside the international airport and halting all flights, out bound and inbound, causing huge damage to the tourism industry.

Old old history and really not relevant, but yes the yellow shirts did occupy the airport but they didn't

halt any flights, that was solely a function of the airport authority.

Killjoy. Distorting the truth with facts like that... Tsk tsk.