Red shirt mass rally on Wednseday ... who cares?

[sandman67]

The solution to this issue is a clear one:

There is one thing that will clear the streets of yellows and reds for good, and would end strife here in three minutes.

The King is the only person ALL Thais respect and love. Were he to make a public address asking his subjects to respect the law and cease these mob rule protests, no matter what colour they wear, the protests would instantly cease.

After all, which Thai would disobey the wishes of His Majesty? Not one that wishes to hold any moral authority or respect of his peers.

In times of crisis HM The King has stepped up and ensured his country stepped back from the brink. His moral authority is unquestionable. That he does not get involved in politics is proper, but now his country is on the brink of economic and social disaster.

His country needs him to step forward one last time, and for one I pray he does before this mob mentality wrecks any chance of Thailand's recovery.

Fingers crossed

[caller]

We're getting into dangerous territory, but the fact a siege was laid at a close advisors house speaks volumes to me.

[sandman67]

Id say a plot to assassinate a Privy Council member is a more serious indicator of the need to stamp out the mob.....

[STEVE G]

As I understand things, this stage of the demonstrations is now coming to an end and will be wound down for the holidays.
I believe that this is part of a deliberate strategy to hold a series of escalating protests rather than a single long drawn out one in the manner of the PAD.
These protests could get much bigger as so far, certainly in the area of Issan I’m familiar with, no one has gone down to Bangkok yet to show their support, these red shirts now are predominantly those that work in the Bangkok region.
The reason for the different strategy is largely due to the fact that the Reds don’t have members of the Bangkok elite to supply lunch boxes with 500 bt notes in them like the PAD did. (I was told this by a Cambodian man in our village, who went to the airport protest solely for this reason!)

[sandman67]

hmmmmm

this just in from NNT

Spokesman to the Democrat party leader Thepthai Saenpong also disclosed that authorities from the Foreign Ministry had been dispatched to Dubai upon news that former PM Thaksin Shinawatra was currently in the country. The United Arab Emirates has been accommodating to Thailand in its effort to retrieve the ousted PM and is poised to use its insurgent extradition treaty with the Kingdom to hand over Dr. Thaksin.

personally Id do a Good shepherd and drop him off over Issan.....from 4000 ft.

[caller]

According to the beeb they're within 50 yards if the ASEAN summit hotel!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 993322.stm

[CraigDunn]

My compliments to Nayok Abhisit.

Whatever the background and foundation of his party and the present government, he handles himself and situations extremely well, imo, and he's a credit to the country.

Both sides are right and both sides are wrong; red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, red leather yellow leather, reth yeller yelly wather, welly weather too. It's raining in Thailand.

It took European democracies hundreds of years and many revolutions and civil wars to evolve, and still there can be massive dissent and demos in the streets. Thailand's democratic development will not be over anytime soon, but hopefully, and with intelligent governance by folks like Abhisit, it will not be destructively painful.

Happy New Year!

cd.

[caller]

Can't agree with your view of the PM, CD - he's been made to look a fool. Thailand is front paqe news all around the World again and all for the wrong reasons.

Things are not working right (to order?) when neither the Police or Army can stop what appear unarmed civilians. Suggests to me that strife is deep rooted and everywhere, including within those meant to be keeping order. And that is dangerous.

[Spitfire]

Well, it's all been "postponed" because the protesters have got inside the police cordened-off area and the event locations today(morning). Police have done very little. The leaders of China, Ausralia etc are taken on a boat out to sea and then air-lifted to safety by helicopter. It's all over the BBC and CNN.

Well, farce doesn't really do it credit.

[CraigDunn]

Well, it sure is a little embarassing to have just complimented a politician and then see him trashed within hours

I do like, however, his eloquent diplomacy and they way he has insisted that the government will deal with these matters peacefully and in accordance with the law, avoiding violence. Previous revolts in Thailand have resulted in scores of deaths. He looks like a complete pratt right now, though!

Perhaps we'll get to know whether the police and the army did so little because they were under orders not to open fire (actually, I don't think they were armed) nor to get really rough, or if they did next to nix because they don't want to assault their own countrymen. Maybe they're all closet Thaksin lovers. I'm having real trouble making sense of any of it.

cd.

[MrPlum]

Just speculating a little, what would be the best way to introduce draconian new police powers? Allowing the protesters to disrupt an important conference?

Or is it that the police are loyal to Thaksin (an ex-Policeman)?

[dtaai-maai]

I'm having real trouble making sense of any of it.

You and me both. I was watching some of it on TV today, and it took me back to the yellow shirts at the airport. My first response to both was 'How absurd, it simply wouldn't be allowed to happen in (insert country name here).'

On reflection, whatever one's political views and whatever the reasons behind it, it's actually quite refreshing to see relatively little real confrontation or bloodshed this time. So the ASEAN conference has been postponed. So what?

[Chas]

"Thailand should not have allowed this to happen" is the quote of one of the delegates to the ASEAN conference . .and he has it absolutely right.

But there should be no surprise since the police/army have now failed twice to control crowds of unarmed protesters bent on destruction. .including. . . I saw on tv, a little old woman in a wheelchair!

You have to wonder if perhaps they just dont know how to do security or crowd control without using machine guns. Other countries seem to be able to do this . .why not the Thai police/ military?

Very embarrassing for Abhisit and the country, and just a tragedy for our tourism and those thousands of people who survived the airport fiasco cuts but who will now lose their jobs. The effect on Hua Hin will likely be profound and long lasting . . .and that affects everyone who lives here.

Reading between the lines, especially in light of the attack on Abhisit the other day . . .the red shirts should not EVER have been within a mile of him to begin with . . . I guess that he is giving all the right orders, but that they are not being followed. His military are giving him the old "nod, and smile, yes boss routine" and then doing nothing or precious little.

He has done too little, thats obvious, but you cant say for sure that he hasnt been trying.

I agree that he is a good man though, doing as well as anyone could ever do given the circumstances. Considering the tens of thousands of Thai citizens of both color shirts so ready and willing to trash their own country for 500 baht a day . . .IMHO he is a better man than Thailand deserves.

Democracy? Never happen. Not with pooyai controlling every aspect of life here.

[Spitfire]

Well, I don't think they need new powers, just need to exercise the ones they already have. This can be equated to many areas. Thailand is not short of laws etc, it's short of enforcement and when "enforcement" happens then it is done selectively, which is just a load of rubbish and leaves the whole country open to ridicule. This simply instills in all that there are some people or situations that are above the law that may act with impunity when desired, hence the phrase "Banana republic/kingdom".

Don't they have tear gas and rubber bullets? Is that a problem in this culture? They are trying to be like the west in so many other areas, why not this one?

Makes the police farce look pathetic, ergo questions internationally about security and stability.

Hmmmm, as said by the previous post, hard to make sense of it unless there are "other" forces secretly at work. Alway a murky affair, this sort of stuff here.

[sargeant]

Was it a film i saw last week i thought it was the BBC news when a bunch of rioters in London pushed the police out of the way and trashed a bank or something during the G20ish summit