Thailand’s Red Shirts, Thaksin, Military

I spent today with the TV running – which, though I hate it – I’ve found it invaluable to keep up with what’s going on with the red shirt protests in Thailand. TV news here has been dumbed down and is on a serious delay – hours or tens of hours in some cases.

Some say that the media is controlled by the Yellow shirts – who don’t have a real interest in reporting the red shirt protests except in a negative way – biased. I can go for that. The news I”m able to see on Thailand TV on ASTV, Asian News Channel and other Thai channels are pretty lame.

Twitter!
If you’re very interested in what’s going on in Thailand or even anywhere in the world you best shot at this is Twitter. Now is the time to get to know Twitter because it’s a hell of a news source. I’ll create another post somewhere and link to it from this one to show you how to use Twitter to follow the goings on – breaking news in Thailand -and you can generalize the info to apply it to finding out about ANY breaking news event in the world. It’s an AMAZING tool. The entire world should be using it. Anyway, more on that later.

Red Shirts
So – recently the red shirts have crashed the Royal Cliff Hotel in Pattaya and caused the leaders of Asian countries to escape by helicopter from the rooftop. They’ve parked gasoline trucks in residential areas with the idea that they would blow them up – I heard. Not sure if that’s true. If true that is more akin to terrorism than just protesting the government and wanting it to change.

They’ve hijacked about 30 city buses and parked them places to block the roads and set their tires on fire – some say to negate the effects of tear gas police might fire, others say – which I find much more likely, they ignite the fires to make it much harder for the police to move the buses.

Rumors!
Rumors run crazy in times like this – on Twitter I heard that the Thai government was ORDERING Americans to leave the country immediately. This same idiot on Twitter also said there was mass food poisoning in Singapore – though I found nothing about that on CNN, BBC, or elsewhere. I didn’t look again – that was about 6 hours ago.

So, everything that comes across Twitter is not the complete truth – like no news source is.

Thai Military
The military was promising to keep control of Bangkok, and so far that’s not been realized at 6:30pm Monday evening, the first day of Songkran, Thai New Year 2052.

The military was videotaped shooting at protesters – and military authorities said they were using blanks – packed paper bullets in that case. They were also seen firing their automatic weapons into the air – and they say – these were real bullets. Then there were seen on tv and in photos online (linked to from Twitter users) that show clearly some red shirt protesters with serious wounds – some said they were absolutely bullet wounds.

Expats in Thailand
Many foreigners have taken sides in the situation – most, surprising to me – seem to favor Thaksin and the red shirts. Apparently they can overlook the proven corruption and buying of votes and favors because in Thailand – that’s business as usual. It’s happened many times before Thaksin and his Thai Rak party and will happen many times in the future too. There may be 50 more years of corruption here before that kind of thing changes. Anyone think it can happen sooner?

The current government may or may not have a right to be in power. Another election isn’t going to resolve anything at all. There is no good alternative, nor will there be – for about 50 years in my guess. Why 50? I’m not sure, I think when the current crop of politicians all die off and the next generation, or the next is growing up in this amazing place – someway, somehow it’s all going to move toward less corruption. Maybe they’ve got another 100 years or more.

Thaksin
Thaksin was rumored to be staying in a resort on Ko Chang. I think that’s a rumor, who knows. I’d believe anything about him – he’s pretty resourceful. I think it’s more likely he’s pulling the strings from far away until he knows whether this red shirt effort will be successful. Most Thais I know and have talked to about this believe Thaksin is pulling out all the stops to try to save his 2 billion USD locked up in Thailand by the current government. Sounds like a good reason.

Will the country be better under Thaksin? No. The country is pretty seriously divided between those that hate him and those that love him. Way too divided to ever agree he should rule – even if by majority of the voting population he’s elected. The group that hates him wouldn’t let that stand. Looks like the group that loves him won’t let Abhisit stand as PM either. I’ve no affinity toward either one. Educated Thais seem to have taken the yellow shirts side, and support Abhisit. Many think he’s the best chance for the country. Maybe he’s the lesser of the two evils – but, in an election – would he be chosen?

It’s amazing to me that Thaksin, with more money than god – can have the poorest people in the entire country fighting in his name. The corruption, the payoffs – are all known at this point. They don’t matter to those that love him because he DID make their lives better. For once someone at least pretended to care about farmers and poor in the northeast region. They didn’t forget it – they’re ready to die for this cause – many are saying on TV.

You can be sure that, if Thaksin gets another chance at an election and actually WINS – he’s going to solidify his position there. He’ll buy the military, police, all he needs to make sure he’s never ousted again. The guy is a brilliant player in Thai society – you’ve gotta give him that.

So – that’s the situation. I don’t side with either group – any group. I don’t see anyone that deserves to rule the country at this point. I don’t see anyone – any person or any group that has Thailand’s best interests at heart. That’s what Thailand needs. Not more of the same corrupt politicians.

Do you see anyone that’s fit to rule Thailand?

Joe, an American inside Suvarnabhumi, Joins PAD

I’m watching some American clown on Thai PAD TV named Joe. A “marine” from Boston, Mass. in the states. Quoting John F. Kennedy… telling PAD at Suvarnabhumi Airport they should continue to fight for Democracy and independence.

Apparently he’s the only foreigner in the airport – and he just stood up in front of the whole group on a microphone to tell them he loves Thai’s and he loves the King. A woman asked what he wanted to say to HM the King…I cringed… he said, POM LA RAK Si Luang or something like that. Nobody said a word. He tried again. Silence. The woman told the audience what he said…

He’s wearing a yellow shirt and headband.

One of first things he said to the crowd that he has been “sleeping with all you people”. He then went on to explain he’s been talking with many people there at the airport about the corruption in government and that Thaksin was the head of it. He went on and on… warning them against violence…

Then he said, there’s only 2 ways he’s leaving the airport:

1. He gets dragged out, forcibly removed.

2. The airport opens. He is NOT leaving until he can fly out of the Suvarnabhumi Airport he insists.

Jesus… It’s time like these that you’ve gotta question Americans getting involved in things they don’t understand. The guy doesn’t speak Thai – though he tried, so he’s not been in-country long enough to not make an idiot out himself… Oh well. He sat down now – almost 10 minutes standing up making the whole group uncomfortable. I thought it was a teacher, “Mark” that I worked with at one time – that would have been great.

Why is it always an American?

Is Bangkok Dangerous?

Many people are writing to ask me if Bangkok is dangerous at this point.

That’s a big – YES.

Should you continue with your plans to come to Bangkok during 2008? At this point I’d say no, just cancel plans, it’s too dangerous. If you’re going to lose your life savings – then up to you. Bangkok isn’t a playground without danger lately and most say it will get worse as PAD has upped the ante with a takeover of the other Bangkok Airport – Don Muang as of midnight last night. Bangkok airports are dangerous now.

Maybe later the train station and bus stations will be affected too? Whose to say? Anything can happen at this point in Bangkok as it gets more and more dangerous.

Bangkok isn’t dangerous in the sense that you’re going to be sought-out as a specific target for pro- or anti-government protestors (PAD) but, the possibility of being in the wrong place at a dangerous time does exist.

Bangkok is the capital of Thailand and as such this is where demonstrations are held between groups that wish to sway the government or replace the government as is the present movement’s goal.

Is being in Bangkok dangerous for those of you passing through on the train or buses? I’d still have to say – yes, right now – it’s a bit dangerous. Maybe Chiang Mai is dangerous too. A pro-government group there pulled a radio station owner out of his car and executed him – presumably for allowing anti-government talk on his station. Chiang Mai was dangerous for him.

The chance of being caught in cross-fire or a stampede if the military or police are forced to take action isn’t anything you probably want to experience.

Bangkok is dangerous through 2008 as far as I can see. Cancel your plans through December, wait and see if January is going to be any better.

For a current state of the country – see the ultimate Thailand Guide – Thai Black Book – your guide to staying safe in Thailand

Thai Black Book information site- >

Next Page »