Tell Me Again How This Is Different From 2010

[Specialist]

"Macdonough's Song"

 

"As easy as A B C"--A Diversity of Creatures"

 

Whether the State can loose and bind

In Heaven as well as on Earth:

If it be wiser to kill mankind

Before or after the birth--

These are matters of high concern

Where State-kept schoolmen are;

But Holy State (we have lived to learn)

Endeth in Holy War.

 

Whether The People be led by The Lord,

Or lured by the loudest throat:

If it be quicker to die by the sword

Or cheaper to die by vote--

These are things we have dealt with once,

(And they will not rise from their grave)

For Holy People, however it runs,

Endeth in wholly Slave.

 

Whatsoever, for any cause,

Seeketh to take or give

Power above or beyond the Laws,

Suffer it not to live!

Holy State or Holy King--

Or Holy People's Will--

Have no truck with the senseless thing.

Order the guns and kill!

Saying --after--me:--

 

Once there was The People--Terror gave it birth;

Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth

Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, 0 ye slain!

Once there was The People--it shall never be again!

 

--Rudyard Kipling

[Flashermac]

Registrations called off in 7 provinces

 

 

The registration of constituency-based candidates was called off today in 7 southern provinces, according to the Election Commission.

 

They are Phuket, Chumphon, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla and Krabi. There are 32 constituencies in the provinces, out of total 56 in the 15 southern provinces.

 

Election Commission (EC) secretary-general Puchong Nutrawong said election officials in the provinces must proceed with the registrations by law.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Registrations-called-off-in-7-provinces-30223193.html

[Flashermac]

BBC ...

 

"Protesters said they were sleeping in tents around Government House when gunfire rang out at about 03:30 on Saturday (20:30 Friday GMT).

 

"I was sleeping and then I heard several gunshots. I was surprised," one 18-year-old protester, who identified himself by his nickname "Boy", told Reuters news agency.

 

A man in his 30s was killed, the Erawan medical centre said."

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25534217

[JaiRai]

The similarity I see between now and 2010:

 

- Large mass of protestors with militant leaders who refuse to budge or negotiate and whose sole intent is dissolution of the current government, along with a tacit acceptance of violence and thuggery.

 

Yingluck should've never tried to push through the amnesty bill, how incredibly fucking stupid and it also revealed that her brother's return was in fact at the top of the agenda despite all exclamations to the contrary. Still, I have no respect - at all - for Suthep and his methods, let alone his vague demands for a 'people's council' and and the wholesale disposal of actual democratic elections (see: Egypt). Stupid.

 

This is going to be interesting. Thais have a way of working things out without the excessive violence you see elsewhere, I hope that remains the same. Corruption here is so endemic it'll take generations to weed out, if ever.

[Flashermac]

I still see a lot of support for the protests, not from any love for Suthep but because people are so sick of the "Thaksin regime". They like to watch the government spin its wheels and look foolish. Yingluck's government has damaged the economy so badly that the increase in the minimum wage is meaningless, with the PM hiding out in red shirt areas and openly campaigning for an election that may or may not happen. (Even the Election Commission wants it delayed.) The warehouses are full of rice, which cannot be sold unless the government accepts it has farked up seriously and sells it at the market price (far less than what they paid for it). The government wants to renew dam projects that were cancelled years ago as unnecessary and destroying the local ecology (including national parks and wildlife preserves). Even the red shirt taxi driver I rode with yesterday criticised the government for its ridiculous "first time buyer" plan that put another 1,200,000 cars on the streets. He said, "This government is no good. I want Thaksin back." He actually called Yingluck คนโง่ ! I thought that was interesting, since who do they think comes up with every idea the government does? It is Thaksin himself. But the reds still think he is the messiah.

 

p.s. As to Pheu Thai acknowleding that reform is necessary, their party list candidates show it by putting Thaksin's sister as #1, his bro-in-law as #2, and his cousin as #3. When people saw that, they knew what a farce Yingluck's words are that she will establish a reform committee after she is re-elected. "Put us in charge of the hen house, na ka."

[Flashermac]

Protest death toll rises to eight

 

 

Eight people have been killed and more than 300 injured over the past two months due to the overheating political tension that led to clashes with police on Thursday and a drive-by shooting early yesterday.

 

An anti-government protester was shot dead and three others seriously injured by unknown gunmen at a demonstration site near Government House early yesterday morning, emergency medical staff said.

 

The four men were shot just after 3am on Saturday near gate number 4 at Government House, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Erawan Emergency Medical Services Centre.

 

A man was also shot while driving near Government House about an hour later at 4am, police said.

 

Yottana Aongart from Chumphon was shot in the torso. The bullet pierced from the right to the left side of his body. He was admitted at Klang Hospital but died shortly after.

 

Yottana, 26, was the eighth death in the anti-government protest. Five of these died at Ramkhamhaeng University at the start of the month, while two were killed during a clash between police and protesters at the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng on Thursday. More than 300 others have also been injured, some seriously.

 

In the situation early yesterday morning, Saneh Lohasart was shot in the left ankle and sent to Rajavithi Hospital, while Surapong Somklaew, 19, was shot twice in the body and Pravit Thongprang, 25, shot above a knee. The latter two were sent to Ramathibodi Hospital.

 

Police Captain Surapol Jaihao of Nang Lerng police station said police found four bullets of unidentified size, plus bullet holes in an electricity generator and a concrete barrier nearby. Investigators would check close-circuit video from Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and nearby schools.

 

Surapol said a pickup truck "led" a car to the scene before unknown gunmen in the backseat of the car lowered the window to shoot the four men.

 

Forensic police went to the scene yesterday to collect evidence, but said it would take time before results of the close-circuit camera investigation would emerge.

 

Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO) spokesman Pol Major Gen Piya Uthayo said in a press conference at 1.30pm yesterday that a group of men in a gold-bronze Toyota with unidentified licence plate drove from Phitsanulok Road through Nang Lerng intersection straight to Chamai Maruchet bridge. They stopped the car and sprayed shots into barriers near the Students and People's Network for Thailand's Reform (STR) protest site, before fleeing toward Rama V Road.

 

Moreover, Sombat Nakpetch, 48, was shot in the leg while driving past Oratai Bridge near Government House as he and his wife were delivering food to police officers in Government House, Piya said.

 

He said the gunshots were fired from within 200 metres.

 

When Sombat tried to drive to a hospital, his pick-up crashed into a police booth on Rama VI Road, Piya said. Sombat was treated at Kasemrad Hospital, in Prachacheun.

 

Piya said police would discuss with STR on strengthening the security in the area.

 

People's Democratic Reform Committee spokesman Akanat Promphan called for police to take responsibility, saying it was their duty to ensure the safety of protesters.

 

Deputy Metropolitan Police commissioner Maj-General Thitiraj Nonghanpitak said police would investigate thoroughly and make the case clear to prevent further conflict. He asked people not to presume who the wrongdoers are.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Protest-death-toll-rises-to-eight-30223200.html

[Specialist]

Flash, in your opinion, how long until the brown matter impacts the rotary air impeller?

 

I'm tentatively thinking of visiting for two weeks, ca. late March or second half of April (either before or just after Songkran).

 

For a number of reasons, I'm not making my airplane and hotel reservations just yet.

[waerth]

I feel the shit will start hitting the fan in the coming weeks. By Songkran most of it should be over, unless we decent into a civil war (sadly still a possibility)

[Flashermac]

Flash, in your opinion, how long until the brown matter impacts the rotary air impeller?

 

I'm tentatively thinking of visiting for two weeks, ca. late March or second half of April (either before or just after Songkran).

 

For a number of reasons, I'm not making my airplane and hotel reservations just yet.

 

 

Even when the red shirts took over the business district in their much more violent (so far) protest, Cowboy and Nana were unaffected. Patpong was quite close to "Fort Red" and few people seem to have gone there, but the bars were still open. Life went on, though you wouldn't know that from the foreign press. Jai Rai and I roamed around with no problems.

 

I hope this won't get more violent, but if it does it shouldn't last long. What is worrying is that the "men in blacks" are now doing their thing again. Presumably, they are Seh Daeng's hand picked and trained men who have sworn loyalty to Thaksin. If it is not them, I have no idea who they could be. They were sniping at both sides at Ramkhamhaeng, and now they have sniped at both sides at the Sports Stadium. CAPO (which is in the government's pocket) claims the snipers at the stadium were protesters, but they were firing from a building in an area with no protesters near it. The attacks on the protester camp are identical to some that happened during the yellow shirt protests, when the yellow shirt guards were shot at from passing cars. I expect it is the same people again.

 

The big question is who would benefit from a violent conflict? One could say the government would, if it turns the people against the protesters. On the other had, if it became so violent that the military would feel compelled to step in that probably means it is not the "Thaksin regime" behind it.

[Flashermac]

Violence and bloodshed won't solve problems

 

 

The current political violence is a poignant reminder that Thai culture is not as peaceful and gentle as officials like to claim through government textbooks and tourist brochures. In the last two months, eight people have been killed and over 300 injured.

 

As conflict over the election and reform process continues, it can only be concluded that the number of casualties will rise.

 

In fact, a compilation of photos of the victims or participants in political violence over the past decade alone would make very disturbing viewing, and it would surely outsell all the books that idealise the "amazing Kingdom of Thailand".

 

Instead of simply condemning the bloodshed - which all of us should do - perhaps we should also ask ourselves why Thai society is so prone to political violence.

 

At least three key factors underpin this penchant for violence, and it all boils down to the way some people think.

 

First, is the sense of absolute self-righteousness. Thais are often taught through a conservative education system that there can only be one correct answer. Thus, if you think you are right, your opponents must therefore be wrong and misguided. Within this context, a political conflict can become a struggle between good and evil - not just a struggle between fellow human beings with different political opinions and ideologies.

 

Back in 1976 on the morning of October 6, it was mostly university students who were abused, killed and mutilated due to anger over a photo used by royalists, who claimed to be defending the monarchy.

 

Fast forward to 2010, when 99 people - mostly anti-government red shirts - were killed on the streets of Bangkok during the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration. However, most people only mourned the loss of those on their respective sides.

 

It was the same situation last Thursday - but in reverse - when a police officer was killed and there was an outpouring of sympathy and condolence from pro-Yingluck Shinawatra government red-shirts, while the protesters who clashed with police were mostly mute. There was only a brief mention of the police officer's death by leaders of the People's Democratic Reform Committee.

 

On the night of November 30 and in the early hours of December 1, five people were killed. It was not a "personal feud", one person observed to this writer on Twitter. "No," I replied.

 

"It's not a personal matter, but something far worse because these people were killed by strangers - just because they happened to have a different political opinion. This makes it tragic."

 

Tolerance of people with different political views is not possible if one believes there can only be one path that is right. Such an attitude is compounded by the ethos that the ends justify whatever means one takes - the second problematic factor.

 

Thus, calls for and support of a military coup - with 18 "successful coups" over the last 81 years of the Thai democratic system - are seen as acceptable for the current anti-government camp. This explains a belief in a "good coup" - like the one back in 2006.

 

The reality of the 2006 military intervention was that it nullified the electoral rights of millions who did not support the putsch. It was in fact a form of political violence.

 

Many Thais may appear to be kind and ready to avoid conflict on a superficial level, but this tendency is "unnatural" and not suited to democratic principles, because conflict is a natural part of the democratic system, which then searches for peaceful solutions.

 

Despite deeply rooted traditions that teach Thais to avoid conflict in daily life, many are unable to resolve political conflict peacefully through deliberation and compromise. Instead, they end up resorting to violence in an attempted to annihilate "the other side". Such zero-tolerance is reprehensible in a modern, heterogeneous society.

 

Nothing will change unless we first acknowledge the reality of political violence. We must acknowledge that some aspects of our culture and our thinking are not suited to a tolerant, democratic society.

 

Resorting to force and violence in an attempt to "solve" our political problems will not work. In fact, political violence, and the thinking which endorses it, has become a problem in itself.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Violence-and-bloodshed-wont-solve-problems-30223192.html