No wonder people like to shop at Lazada.

[spidermike007]

Anything that can be done to diminish this felon is a positive thing for the nation. He has devoted so much time, effort and money trying to tear his nation apart, and he deserves whatever is coming to him, at this point. To call him disingenuous would be an insult to those types around the world. He redefines a lack of sincerity.

Yes, use the bogeyman in Dubai as a blanket excuse for anything and everything that's going on today. How ingenuous! He stirred the tanned masses of the North/North East out of their stupor (btw, purely for selfish reasons) and now the genie can't be put back into the bottle. This cannot be tolerated by the old elite, as we have clearly seen. Thaksin never wanted to tear the country apart. He's a business man - why would he? What we see today (the division in society) is just a result of him using the "peasants" as a power base.

I could not disagree more adamantly. He knew, when he went into exile, that he was going to stir things up as much as possible. He used his every asset to install his sister into power, so he could maintain control from abroad. He was too cowardly to return here, to face charges. Had he done that, he might have served 12 months in jail, and been enjoying life in his homeland. Instead he became the most divisive figure in recent Thai political history. Yes, he was clever enough to endear the poor to himself, through some progressive policies and by helping people who had never received anything from the central government, in their entire lifetimes. But, that does not forgive his methods. He is a megalomaniacal madman.

However if Thaksin had returned to serve his sentence then he would have been back in court facing the other 15 charges against him and if the sentences were to be served consecutively instead of concurrently he would never have been released from prison.

I seriously doubt he would have served more than a year or two, regardless. The judges here are so weak. When was the last time they handed out a long sentence? To anyone. For any crime.

[Thai at Heart]

Anything that can be done to diminish this felon is a positive thing for the nation. He has devoted so much time, effort and money trying to tear his nation apart, and he deserves whatever is coming to him, at this point. To call him disingenuous would be an insult to those types around the world. He redefines a lack of sincerity.

Yes, use the bogeyman in Dubai as a blanket excuse for anything and everything that's going on today. How ingenuous! He stirred the tanned masses of the North/North East out of their stupor (btw, purely for selfish reasons) and now the genie can't be put back into the bottle. This cannot be tolerated by the old elite, as we have clearly seen. Thaksin never wanted to tear the country apart. He's a business man - why would he? What we see today (the division in society) is just a result of him using the "peasants" as a power base.

I could not disagree more adamantly. He knew, when he went into exile, that he was going to stir things up as much as possible. He used his every asset to install his sister into power, so he could maintain control from abroad. He was too cowardly to return here, to face charges. Had he done that, he might have served 12 months in jail, and been enjoying life in his homeland. Instead he became the most divisive figure in recent Thai political history. Yes, he was clever enough to endear the poor to himself, through some progressive policies and by helping people who had never received anything from the central government, in their entire lifetimes. But, that does not forgive his methods. He is a megalomaniacal madman.

I never said we should forgive his methods. He is many things ( and almost all of them negative) and Thailand would be better off if he was hit by a bus in Dubai. But don't use him as an excuse for junta rule.

And I don't. I am no fan of Little P, nor military rule. But, to be fair, it was a very complicated situation. To be objective, I could not determine any way out of that impasse back then. Not sure if this was the answer. But, the extent of the discord, the total lack of unity, the near shutdown of the capital, the violence, the venom, the hooligans like Chalerm, the incompetents like Abhisit, and and the absolute lack of viable candidates for an election made it a very ugly situation. Here is a link to a very good summary of the events that lead to this crisis and the earlier crisis:

https://assassinationthaksin.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/back-to-thailands-future-thailands-current-explosive-political-scene-from-present-to-origin/

Yes, you could call it a complicated situation. The last government was mind-boggingly inept, corruption (I'm sure) was rampant and PTP tried to sneak an amnesty through parliament.

But the PTP won the election (fairly) fair and square and the correct way of unseating them would have been in an election. It's fairly obvious that the current junta and their supporters created a situation where the army "had" to take over. I'm certain the PTP lost a lot of support in the last few months of their reign but it's not their fault the then opposition (Dems) were totally unable to take advantage of the situation.

The problem is the countless rewrites of constitutions while failing to reform various parts of the civil service to move the country to a more steady footing to prevent corruption but allow government to rule the country.

Every constitution will have its foibles but without a strong independent judiciary, nothing will work.

The hand wringing of the constitution court to find a way to prevent the government making modification was pitiful and always open to accusation of political bias.

Until courts stop swaying to the whim of the day, to manage democracy to the wishes of the few, this stop start coup, rewrite and election will continue.

Constitutions should set a strong clear framework for the country. How many pages and clauses does the new one have? It should support various inalienable rights and step back, not be continually have to be interpreted to see how it works in reality.

All good points. But, you are talking about a strong, independent, competent, and uncompromised judiciary. How many decades might it be, until this nation is blessed with one of those? Not to mention the prosecutors, who are equally compromised, and just as weak and feeble.

It is the one part of society they have NEVER reformed. They keep making crazy judgements and are patently corruptible. They are actually the fountain of most of the problems.

The prosecution service and courts have to work for democracy to work. But of course they have to handle all comers equally and in accordance with the law.

This whole mess started when they decided that thaksin cleaner having his shares was ok. Why did they decide this? I think it's on record to say it would be good for the country and impossible to convict such a popular prime minister.

Look how that worked out.... Lol

[Thailand]

I wonder if in the future there will be strip for tat?

[Raymonddiaz]

someone who took power by guns....is this one a wrongdoer????? who can answer this question??? yes or no???

[Exsexyman]

One of the striking elements of recent political conflicts has been the deep and highly personalized nature of the opposition to Thaksin Shinawatra. Indeed, many of those close to the military junta and in the leadership of the various anti-democrat movements have expressed a deep personal hatred of the man.

That side of the political divide have been particularly keen to remove any royal "honors" that still adhere to Thaksin as presaged in this article, considering these a personal affront to their world of status and hierarchy.

Not sure what this accomplishes for them, other than scratching their itch against the architect of the process that lead to losing their electoral control.

In fact, this vindictiveness merely cements that electoral reality. To on one hand bite the hand of the electoral majority who have comfortably moved beyond Thaksin, but retain their strong sense of electoral entitlement, is small gain.....Their talk of reconciliation as cover for eliminating political diversity will be a steep hill to climb. Long term coercive control is their only option.

Good morning Blackfalds .... Why don't you say what you mean..?? And... Long term coercive control is their only option... I hope you mean "their" as the whole Thai Nation......

Thaksin Shinewatra was and is a vile evil man of the same ilk as Adolf Hitler . His party won elections by bribery and absolute corruption. He is the worst stain in Thailands history .. ever.... "Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts". I'm referring of course to Thaksin's clear culpability in the matter of his 2003 "war on drugs", and following on, his responsibility for igniting the ethnic-religious conflict in the deep South. For more than 10 years now Thaksin has evaded responsibility for these _ the most heinous of his crimes.

And you say "vindictiveness" ...? get a life Blackfalds ... WAKE-UP.....

Congratulations Bakseeda, you are now in pole position in the race for posting the most ludicrous analogy ever seen on this forum, (And there has been no shortage of competition!). Come on all you sad Thaksin obsessives, any advance on 'Thaksin is the same as Hitler'? Can you do better? Get your thinking caps on, we await your efforts with bated breath!