kamui Posted March 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 << In April 2009, Abhisit faced massive anti-government protests led by the pro-Thaksin red shirts which caused the Fourth East Asian Summit to be canceled and was followed by riots in Bangkok. Days after the Bangkok unrest was quelled by military force, gunmen ambushed Sondhi's car, a black Toyota Vellfire, at a petrol station. They shot out the tires, and fired over 100 M-16 and AK-47 assault rifle rounds at the car. The attackers escaped from the scene when Sondhi's followers in another car opened fire on them. Sondhi suffered a serious head wound but remained conscious, standing and lucid before being sent to a hospital for emergency surgery. Sondhi survived the surgery, which involved removing several bullet fragments embedded about half a centimetre deep in his skull. He was visited by relatives afterwards.. It is not certain who was behind the shooting, though Sondhi's son and PAD's spokesmen speculated that a faction of the military or police might have been behind it >> My link Do you really think Mr. T. will drive around in an ordinary Toyota? I guess he already has more than one armored, bulletproof, armor plated car in his garage. Like this one, driven by the German Federal President: Price: 270.000 EUR and more. Or a Toyota Landcruiser 200 armored, which looks quite ordinary from the outside: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFmM8qR13Gg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelgianBoy Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 thanks kamui for the poll, it has been ages since a poll.... BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I agree, maybe he can stay in Udon, but never in Bangkok, in the South or CM! I think he will return for his own funeral.... I agree with Bangkok and the South but Chiang Mai ? CM is where he is from and is his heartland, he would probably be safer there than any other province in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 As I recall, some yellow shirts killed some pro-reds in Chiang Mai a few years ago. Chiang Mai is safer for Takky, but not completely safe. Still, I remember the revered political leader early in his reign explaining that he had been misunderstood in some of his statements, since Thai "was not his native language". Jeez, my wife's first language is Kham Muang too, but all of her education from day one has been in Central Thai. All instruction in Thailand is in Central Thai, no matter where one lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Do you really think Mr. T. will drive around in an ordinary Toyota? I guess he already has more than one armored, bulletproof, armor plated car in his garage. Like this one, driven by the German Federal President: Price: 270.000 EUR and more. Or a Toyota Landcruiser 200 armored, which looks quite ordinary from the outside: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFmM8qR13Gg How would one of those hold up to a hit from an RPG? Plenty of RPGs are already in the "wrong hands" in LOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I don’t think Thaksin’s return would start a civil war. In order for there to be a civil war, both sides must have an organized armed military wing. Though it is obvious the UDD has some support among some factions of the Military, I don’t think the support goes far enough for an actual armed struggle. Launching random grenade attacks and taking potshots at military formations in order to provoke a response is about as far as they appear willing to go. This is nothing but a power struggle between elites with one side using a phony populist platform to enlist support from a select geographical region. I just don’t see the North and NE provincial godfathers that make up Thaksin’s core support base willing to support and fund an outright military uprising for him. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 I don’t think Thaksin’s return would start a civil war. In order for there to be a civil war, both sides must have an organized armed military wing. Though it is obvious the UDD has some support among some factions of the Military, I don’t think the support goes far enough for an actual armed struggle. Launching random grenade attacks and taking potshots at military formations in order to provoke a response is about as far as they appear willing to go. This is nothing but a power struggle between elites with one side using a phony populist platform to enlist support from a select geographical region. I just don’t see the North and NE provincial godfathers that make up Thaksin’s core support base willing to support and fund an outright military uprising for him. TH I don't think neither that they will be a civil war. But I think there will be severe power struggle and that Mr. T. and his cronies will take revenge. All of those who opposed Mr. T. and especially responsible for his ouster will be out of job or lose businesses sooner or later. And I guess some underlings involved in this will show a up dead... Nevertheless, since one part of the equation of Thai politics is becoming weaker every month, Mr. T.'s return will be one part of an ongoing power struggle and the situation might get worse in the years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 << This is nothing but a power struggle between elites with one side using a phony populist platform to enlist support from a select geographical region. >> Dead on target! All this nonsense about prai and amart is disgustingly two-face. By and large it is a struggle for power between different groups of extremely wealthy Chinese-Thai business families. They are the real amart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 I agree with Bangkok and the South but Chiang Mai ? CM is where he is from and is his heartland, he would probably be safer there than any other province in Thailand. At first sight it seems like that, but there're many muslims in CM and Mr T isn't popular with muslims at all - they regard him as Satan as a certain country. If he wants to hide he can do that in his big estate overlooking Hua Hin. My opinion is however that he will return as a hero and make public meetings. Then I agree with Flashermac about the outcome.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 I don't think neither that they will be a civil war. But I think there will be severe power struggle and that Mr. T. and his cronies will take revenge. All of those who opposed Mr. T. and especially responsible for his ouster will be out of job or lose businesses sooner or later. And I guess some underlings involved in this will show a up dead... Nevertheless, since one part of the equation of Thai politics is becoming weaker every month, Mr. T.'s return will be one part of an ongoing power struggle and the situation might get worse in the years to come. I’m afraid you have been reading way too much of western liberal media’s take on what is going on. Since they don’t take the time to actually figure it out, and even if they did it would be much too complicated to explain in a 2 minute video spot or a 3 sentence opening paragraph. The irony of what this struggle is actually about is that the UDD that is so beloved by the liberals as a grassroots organizations that is trying to upsurp the “Bangkok Elites†greedy undemocratic hold on the country, is in fact cynically supported and allowed to operate by the North and NE godfathers. The real struggle is between the growing middle class that is trying to break the power of the “chao pho†and have a real democracy. What has happened is the struggle to limit the power of the chao pho has been portrayed as anti-democratic. The true irony lies in the fact that the chao pho are the most undemocratic group of people in Thailand and if the stated ideals of the UDD were ever realized the main supporters of the UDD would lose their grip on the poor of Thailand which is what their opposition wants to do. Here a bit of reading on the chao pho. Organized crime, society and politics in Thailand TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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