Reuters: Thai PM pressured as army chief calls for polls?

[WorldFun]

a) no changes. protesters not moving 1 inch. some malls open part of the day around siam & some BTS stations open on/off. it's a freakin mess!

I say PM stays for now & along him everyone else, but on the other if it goes as per above I'm not surprised in the least either

c) yes for 99.99% of the people thais & foreigners alike live goes on & for now that means a lot of water splashing!!! happy new buddha year***

[Wallenda]

It's amazing that the guy most personally responsible for this military debacle, the general in charge, is the one with the balls to be announcing he thinks new elections are needed the day after his screw-up. He hung those guys out to die. We all saw reds with machine guns in days leading up to this. We all saw the reports of the weapons they grabbed off soldiers. Where the hell was this guy when all this was happening?

 

In a real country, this general would be considering suicide at the moment because of how shameful his performance was in the biggest moment of his career. Instead, he's on a high horse making political recommendations. Uh... you're supposed to be a soldier, sir. Politics aren't your area. And a fine soldier you are, by the way. Yes now that we've seen a demonstration of your expertise in military matters, we now seek your advice on politics.

 

I mean, the whole reason they're saying this happened is that they didn't expect bombs or guns to be used by the protestors. Really? I mean, I'm a casual observer. I did. There's been bombs going off all over town for weeks. They're been brandishing machine guns up on stage. Seriously? You didn't expect it? So what is it that you do know about mob containment? It's not like you needed good intelligence to know these things. All you needed to do was pick up a newspaper or turn on tv.

 

When I saw reports that the troops were moving in to clear the place out, i thought ok so finally they're doing their job -- this should be wrapped up pretty soon. Maybe some arrests, burning cars or whatever but it won't be long now. I mean, we see this a few times every few years where police or military are brought in to bring control to an out of control situation like this, and they always manage to do it within fairly short time. In Tibet, Burma, in Iran, Los Angeles back in the 90s, etc etc. Here, it was like the military was completely incapable of any kind of effective action. At anything. Just completely inept.

 

Hun Sun, come and get it. News flash: the country has no army capable of defending the place. They can't even clear a public square of civilians.

[WorldFun]

yeah LOS is up for grabs - who wants it?

golden opportunity of a lifetime

[Hardy641]

If this paid mob of a few thousand really achieve their goal that the government gives in and Abhisit dissolves parliament would be the end of Thai democracy. I really beg that this won't happen.

[Flashermac]

Update time:

 

The reds have abandoned their bivouac in the old city and have all moved over to shut down the malls again. Less open space and thus harder to get them out.

 

Also, the army has requested that everyone who stole or found a military weapon please turn it in to the army. Somebody must be in the dog house for losing them.

 

 

 

[Wallenda]

Update time:

 

The reds have abandoned their bivouac in the old city and have all moved over to shut down the malls again. Less open space and thus harder to get them out.

 

Also, the army has requested that everyone who stole or found a military weapon please turn it in to the army. Somebody must be in the dog house for losing them.

 

 

How do we know that soldiers really did lose weapons? We saw some machine guns, but did any objective 3rd party witness them being taken from soldiers? My strong gut feeling is that what happened on Saturday was planned. And if it was, it would mean there's a good chance the whole missing weapons story was part of that plan. Provides a nice cover. Rather than a devious operation to create an incident made to look like a massacre, the lost weapons gives it all a nice chaotic feeling.

 

[Flashermac]

Uh, no ... nice and simple but wrong. Several soldiers wounded at Kok Wua were dragged away by their comrades leaving their M16s behind. The reds also seized an M16 and a pistol from Suthep's bodyguard when they broke into the parliament compound. Several "ronin" (says Seh Daeng) were photographed with their AK-47s (a crap weapon but good at short range).

 

So you say it was all planned. To benefit whom? To make the army look incompetent? Do you really think the army would kill one of its most respected colonels to "prove something"? The reds planned it? (Conceivable if bizarre ... )

 

 

 

Attibai hai fang si ...

 

 

[Wallenda]

Uh, no ... nice and simple but wrong. Several soldiers wounded at Kok Wua were dragged away by their comrades leaving their M16s behind. The reds also seized an M16 and a pistol from Suthep's bodyguard when they broke into the parliament compound. Several "ronin" (says Seh Daeng) were photographed with their AK-47s (a crap weapon but good at short range).

 

So you say it was all planned. To benefit whom? To make the army look incompetent? Do you really think the army would kill one of its most respected colonels to "prove something"? The reds planned it? (Conceivable if bizarre ... )

 

Attibai hai fang si ...

 

Ok sounds like it's wrong about the weapons acquisitions, fair enough. I'm outside Thailand, dont' get the news the way you do. My suspicions are of who benefited by it, and who obviously would benefit by it, Mr T and the reds. Well they didn't make the bombs on the spot. So it had to have been planned. The black uniforms worn by many also strongly suggest it was organized. The fact no one is identifying who they were is also reason to suspect. If the reds were seriously concerned about remaining peaceful, they should have been very upset about these guys showing up with weapons. But they weren't. And they're not cooperating with finding them, tho surely some in their ranks know who they are. If red leaders saw them as troublemakers, they would turn them over. We're talking about murderers here. Do you see Thaksin or any red leader calling for witnesses to come forward? Opposite, more like. This was done almomst surely with reds and T's knowledge and consent, I think.

 

THink about how it would be to try to pull this off. How could you do it and it not be a suicide mission? You would need to have the knowledge that your side wouldn't turn on you. And that no one could possibly know it was you, or else it'd be easy later to get you. These guys knew they would not be turned over. It means they're part of a conspiracy.

 

Am I sure? Hard to be 100% without clear evidence, but it has all the signs.