Mentors Posted April 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Govt dispatches special envoy to bring back Thaksin Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senniam said on Thursday that the government has dispatched a special envoy to negotiate the extradition of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaworn said he could not disclose the name of the country providing safe haven to Thaksin due to the ongoing negotiations. In the initial talks, the country appeared unwilling to cooperate in sending back Thaksin, he said. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/30100090/Govt-dispatches-special-envoy-to-bring-back-Thaksi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Well Cambodia/Thai tensions have been quite strained recently... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Bangkok Post 10 Apr 2009 Red Shirts douse Songkran outlook Industry bodies fear fallout from protests Thailand's tourism industry has once again been scuppered by political tension as local and foreign tourists reconsider or cancel trips, despite the upcoming Songkran holiday. Bangkok was paralysed yesterday after Red Shirt demonstrators blocked several key roads. Many nearby businesses were affected and congestion slowed traffic to a snail's pace. As yet, no countries have upgraded their travel advisories. For instance, the Australian government, at 6:30 pm yesterday, maintained a high degree of caution for travelling to Thailand. The Federation of Thai Tourism Associations (FTTA) has asked the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to consider the country's economic needs. "Thailand and the tourism industry have been hurt already by many negative factors, so Thai people should not aggravate the situation further," said Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thailand Travel Agents (ATTA), a member of the FTTA. The FTTA now fears two major tourism events in the second half of the year, with a total of 27,000 delegates, will be cancelled if protests continue. Mr Apichart said some meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (Mice) events had already been cancelled. He forecast more cancellations if protests turn violent. Japanese and Chinese tourists, in particular, are likely to cancel trips to Thailand. The ATTA expects tourist arrivals from Scandinavia to plunge by over 20% if the situation continues into next month. Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa yesterday promised to resign if the UDD seized the airports or a state of emergency were declared. But he is still confident those events will not happen again. "If politics is still unstable, everything we - the government and the private sector - have tried to promote will be rubbish," he said. "In the past, the government solved problems in the wrong way. The government should amend the constitution to give amnesty to all politicians who have been banned in 2007 and 2008. Some people were punished even though they were not guilty." Sisdivach Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association, said he had received many calls from travel agents in China about the UDD rally. "Although there are no cancellations yet, I can say that Thailand is losing an opportunity to grow in China. They are very concerned about the airports closing again. They said, 'Why don't Thai people think about their country's benefit?'" Mr Sisdivach said the country could lose over 10 billion baht from the Chinese market. Thailand has had about 100 group tours per month, but today the number was down to only 10. Maiyarat Pheerayakoses, president of the Association of Domestic Travel (ADT), said domestic travel would be affected until the second half of the year. "We will see more layoffs in travel agents. We have lost over 40% of our business since the middle of last year," she said. Meanwhile, Tanit Sorat, chairman of the Logistics Club of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said transport routes from the Eastern Seaboard to Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi Airport were still unblocked. "As far as I know, the Red Shirt protesters are flocking to Pattaya to interrupt the Asean+3 summit. But if they move to block the Motorway, that would cause trouble for us as it is the national logistics link to Laem Chabang deep-sea port and to Rayong and Chanthaburi provinces," he said. While the route is not yet interrupted, overseas buyers have started to ask whether the port may be blocked. "We are worried that if this concern persists or worsens, our consumers will shift their orders to Vietnam or China instead," he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentors Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 SNAP ANALYSIS-Thai PM's options narrow after summit fiasco BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's decision to declare a state of emergency around a cancelled Asian summit has narrowed his options in dealing with anti-government protesters and raises questions about whether he has the backing of the military. Political developments in the next 48 hours could determine the fate of his four-month-old coalition government. Here are some possible consequences: * The degree of enforcement by security forces of the emergency will determine Abhisit's largely untested leadership, and whether he can keep the emboldened, largely rural supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra under control. * Abhisit has been considerably weakened by his failure to stop the demonstrators getting anywhere near the summit, which will be interpreted as a sign of indecisiveness even if the aim was to avoid bloodshed. * Abhisit's gamble on invoking an emergency risks fomenting widespread civil strife with unpredictable consequences if the military fails to stand firmly behind him. * Bloodshed following any crackdown on Thaksin's red-shirted supporters will put pressure on Abhisit to step down and call a snap election, or let Thailand's fractious parliament choose a successor. * Bloodshed could even lead to the military stepping in and mounting another coup, after the one in 2006 that ousted Thaksin, although the army has made it clear repeatedly during months of unrest that it did not want to get involved in politics again. * Abhisit's mistake in underestimating the protesters weakens his political standing and threatens his leadership of the Democrat Party. [color:red]* The demonstration by the "red shirts" had been largely peaceful until the arrival on the scene of a mysterious group of blue-shirted, pro-government protesters, their faces covered and armed with clubs and slingshots, which they used. Abhisit will have to address rumours that these were military personnel, used by the authorities to do their dirty work while the police and troops followed orders not to use violence.[/color] http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE53A0SA20090411?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 * Abhisit's mistake in underestimating the protesters weakens his political standing and threatens his leadership of the Democrat Party. Interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Here we go again...a few days of anxiety and uncertainty. I guess he had to appear to be doing something in front of world leaders...but really... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentors Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Here we go again...a few days of anxiety and uncertainty. I guess he had to appear to be doing something in front of world leaders...but really... it looks as someone could have interests to bring Thailand and the people to isolation same as a neighbour state is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Seems to be some sort of small victory parade, with cars beeping horns and whistles running around my area, through Victory Monument... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentors Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Seems to be some sort of small victory parade, with cars beeping horns and whistles running around my area, through Victory Monument... maybe better you stay at home during the next 24 hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Off to Phuket tomorrow, barring incidents/blockades/coups.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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