BaronTT Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 [color:blue]http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/thanong/2010/06/05/entry-1[/color] Thaksin derails peace talks; in contact with rogue military officers Posted by Thanong , Reader : 1348 , 09:16:11 Print June 5, 2010 An article in WSJ has confirmed that Thaksin derailed the peace talks, JV C, my reader, has just alerted me. The article was written by James Hookway. I am glad that Mr Hookway is finally trying to do his job more responsibly. [color:blue]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704852004575257790134925082.html?mod=WSJ_World_LeadStory[/color] What is the truth today? Some excerpts: 1. “People on both sides of Thailand’s political divide with knowledge of the negotiations say that Mr. Thaksin’s interventionsâ€â€which they say included a number of new demands that ended up slowing the talks intended to end the political standoffâ€â€delayed an agreement for new elections that would have enabled the protesters to call off their months-long rally. His machinations prompted the most senior opposition Red Shirt negotiator to quit in frustration, according to these people.†2. “But in recent weeks Mr. Thaksin has kept in close contact with rogue military officers training a paramilitary “people’s army†to attack troops and turn Bangkok’s streets into a war zone, according to opposition members involved in the conflict.†3. “At a luxury hotel near the Red Shirts’ camp in central Bangkok, a team of Mr. Thaksin’s lawyers and advisers regularly conferred with protest leaders and other negotiators to ensure that Mr. Thaksin was kept in the loop over the past several weeks.†4. “People involved in both government and opposition camps say Mr. Thaksin urged hard-liners to come up with fresh demands that stalled the process, ultimately leading to the talks’ collapse.They say Red Shirt leader Veera Musikapong quit the negotiations in disgust. “He was questioning why they were bothering to talk when Mr. Thaksin was delaying any progress,†says one person involved in the mediations. Mr. Veera is in army custody and couldn’t be reached for comment.†**************************************************************** JV C has also drawn my attention to Prof Desmond Ball's interview in which he says that the Thai military operations against the red shirts were conducted professionally. Prof. Desmond Ball teaches at ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. He is a highly regarded expert on military and security affairs and has published over 60 books on nuclear strategy and defence and security in the Asia-Pacific region including “The Boys in Black: The Thahan Phran (Rangers), Thailand’s Para-military Border Guards†(White Lotus, Bangkok, 2004). He thinks that the military operations against the Red Shirts were conducted professionally. In the interview, he said: “Let me say that I’m not a person who normally supports army crackdowns of protesters. My sort of basic philosophy normally starts off from the other side, supporting protesters against army and security crackdowns. But in this case I think that the security authorities including both the police and the army acted by and large very professionally. I’m not sure whether I can see what other choices that they had , they had to finally move that Red Shirt encampment in that central business area of Bangkok . They did it in ways which I think really minimized the violence compared to what it could have been, we could have seen fatalities in the hundreds if they hadn’t been organized properly and conducted properly…..†You can see his full interview at the link below. He discusses lots of issues including who the “black shirts†are and the assassination of Seh Daeng. The quoted part above appears at around 11.30 minute mark. [color:blue] [/color] [color:red]Read the WSJ article and watch the interview on Youtube.[/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Any time I ever click on a WSJ article to read, I get a page telling me I need to be a subscriber to read it. Interesting, anyway, that mainstream press is now coming out with what has until now just been unsubstantiated rumor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaronTT Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 I read that link yesterday evening but couldn't post it at that time because Thai360 was having problems. Try this one, I took it from my browser's history... I hope it's nit just from the cache. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704852004575257790134925082.html?mod=WSJ_World_LeadStory#printMode Or, this is the text version.... MAY 21, 2010 Thaksin Still Stands Amid Thai Turmoil Exiled Opposition Leader Intervened to Thwart Peace Talks, Both Sides Say By JAMES HOOKWAY BANGKOKâ€â€If Thailand's leaders hope to stitch their country back together again, they will have to come up with a way to deal with the man they blame for masterminding weeks of bloody street protests: populist icon and billionaire deal maker Thaksin Shinawatra. Since being thrown out of power in a military coup four years ago and convicted of corruption, Mr. Thaksin has played a complex game to try to claw his way back to power in Thailand. From self-exile in Dubai and Montenegro, he sometimes cuts a statesman-like figure, calling on the United Nations to intervene to help negotiate an end to violent protests in Bangkok. At other times, he lashes out at the soldiers and royalist bureaucrats who toppled him from power, urging on his so-called Red Shirt followers to launch a full-blown revolt and regain control of Thailand. He regularly extols his followers via video links, Twitter and other media to take on the authorities. Government investigators go further and say he has provided significant financial support for Thailand's antigovernment movement. People on both sides of Thailand's political divide ith knowledge of the negotiations say that Mr. Thaksin's interventionsâ€â€which they say included a number of new demands that ended up slowing the talks intended to end the standoffâ€â€delayed an agreement for elections that might have enabled the protesters to call off their monthslong rally. His machinations prompted the most senior Red Shirt negotiator to quit in frustration, according to these people. In a statement last week, Mr. Thaksin denied orchestrating the violence, which has claimed at least 85 lives in clashes between protesters and troops in Bangkok over the past two months. The 60-year-old former prime minister has never specifically addressed charges that he has been financing the protests. But in recent weeks Mr. Thaksin has kept in close contact with rogue military officers training a paramilitary "people's army" to attack troops and turn Bangkok's streets into a war zone, according to opposition members. At a luxury hotel near the Red Shirts' camp in central Bangkok, a team of Mr. Thaksin's lawyers and advisers regularly conferred with protest leaders and other negotiators to ensure that the former premier was kept in the loop. "Mr. Thaksin couldn't go along with the deal because there was nothing in it for him. He would still be left in exile and powerless," says one government negotiator, Korbsak Sabhavasu, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's secretary-general. Mr. Thaksin's influence may encourage Thailand's leaders to maintain a hard line in coming weeks, restricting civil liberties further and postponing elections in order to prevent him from further destabilizing the country. Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, Korn Chatikavanij, secretary-general of Thailand's ruling Democrat Party and the country's finance minister, accused Mr. Thaksin of goading on the protesters "to beat a path for his triumphant return." He added, "If there's a lesson for Asia, it might be that open, competitive and relatively equal access to resources and opportunities is more important than the need to follow strict Western models of democracy." Prime Minister Abhisit, meanwhile, Sunday said he would only consider new elections to help resolve Thailand's political turmoil once tensions subside, and for now he aims to bridge the economic gulf between wealthy Bangkok and Thailand's poor hinterland – a gap that analysts say Mr. Thaksin deftly expoited for years. "It's now entirely up to me to see when is the most appropriate time to hold the election," said Mr. Abhisit, who by law must call a vote by the end of 2011. "At the moment, no one can tell when is the best time." The government also needs to find a way to deal with Mr. Thaksin himself. Mr. Abhisit and his government are portraying Mr. Thaksin as the mastermind behind the Bangkok riots, calling him a "terrorist" in the hope it will tarnish his reputation among his longtime supporters. Political analysts say it might not work, especially now that the Thaksin camp is trying to focus attention on the way army troops shot dozens of unarmed protesters. ----------------------- Page 2----------------------- "For the Red Shirts, Mr. Thaksin is a catalystâ€â€a funder and deliverer of a more-just society," says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "He casts a long shadow over much of what happens here." Thailand's army and conservative bureaucrats, seeing Mr. Thaksin as a threat to their hold on the country and the influence of revered monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2006 launched a bloodless coup that removed him from power. The Red Shirts then took shape as Mr. Thaksin's self-styled avengers before morphing into a broader-based pro-democracy group. On March 12, tens of thousands of them began flowing by boat, truck and bus into Bangkok, two weeks after Thailand's courts confiscated $1.4 billion of Mr. Thaksin's assets frozen in Thai bank accounts, ruling that it was corruptly earned. Mr. Thaksin regularly addressed the crowd by Internet video link, stoking the protesters' anger against a royal and military-backed establishment. The government, meanwhile, closely monitored bank and stock trading accounts linked to Mr. Thaksin as the protests progressed, and later shut many of the accounts. "We watched transactions where somebody would withdra a few hundred million baht [or millions of dollars] and then something bad would happen, grenades would be fired at government buildings and so on," said one senior official. Thai security forces also worried about close ties between Mr. Thaksin and a rogue general who had defected to the Red Shirts and was threatening to turn the antigovernment protest into a full-blown revolt. Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol said he answered directly to Mr. Thaksin. He was shot in the head by an unknown sniper on May 13 and died later in hospital. The final straw for the governmentâ€â€as well as moderate factions in the Red Shirtsâ€â€came earlier this month when the protesters and government negotiators failed to agree on a deal on that would have enabled the Red Shirts to go home in exchange for elections in November. People involved in both government and opposition camps say Mr. Thaksin urged hard-liners to come up with fresh demands that stalled the process, ultimately leading to the talks' collapse. They say Red Shirt leader Veera Musikapong quit the negotiations in disgust. "He was questioning why they were bothering to talk hen Mr. Thaksin was delaying any progress," says one person involved in the mediations. Mr. Veera is in army custody and couldn't be reached for comment. Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 "Mr. Thaksin couldn't go along with the deal because there was nothing in it for him. He would still be left in exile and powerless," says one government negotiator, Korbsak Sabhavasu, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's secretary-general. :alert: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jitagawn Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Its really hard to believe Thaksin has not been"removed" from this earthly reality. As some on you may remember (or not) my best best family type Thai friend used to run a large part of his business years ago. But, fearful of the type of person Thaksin was and what he saw happening, he quit and went to work to head up another large business.Leaving was not easy...In those days at parties and listening to events I saw for my own eyes what a nutcase Thaksin was. As some may agreee he is a very very dangerous person IMHO... just a whacko... Obviously money talks and (almost)no one walks when Thaksin is around...he seems to travel with impunity... Hes gotta go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Can I ask, what did you see that made you think so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jitagawn Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 An ego and sense of self that was way out of touch with reality. Shrewdly intuitive about manipulating others yet highly dillusional about himself. Its been about 5 years but hard to forget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 OK I hear you, but how could you tell that. What happened. What did you see -- was it (for example) body language, what he said, the way he said it, something he did, behavior...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 OK I hear you, but how could you tell that. What happened. What did you see -- was it (for example) body language, what he said, the way he said it, something he did, behavior...? It is a job lot. If someone does not think that this guy suffers from delusions of grandeur needs their eyes checked. For Thaksin, it is over, so he should get over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 OK I hear you' date=' but how could you tell that. What happened. What did you see -- was it (for example) body language, what he said, the way he said it, something he did, behavior...?[/quote']It is a job lot. If someone does not think that this guy suffers from delusions of grandeur needs their eyes checked. For Thaksin, it is over, so he should get over it. I think what Wendella is looking for is something in Takky's posture It's just a jump to the left 
And then a step to the right 
With your hands on your hips 
 You bring your knees in tight 
But it's the pelvic thrust 
 That really drives you insane 
 Let's do the Time Warp again 
Let's do the Time Warp again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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