PAD Thai - Here we go again!

PAD here being the People’s Alliance for Democracy . . splutter, cough! . . . and not fried noodles.

News this morning that the claret is starting to flow on the streets of Bangkok, with at least 4 protesters dead and 22 injured after pro-Samak protestors clashed with PAD.

Great article by a very credible Thai academic.

Christ what a shitshow. Clearly the forces opposed to democracy are just too powerful in Thailand, where the political system is nothing more than a relic of the falling dominoes of the Vietnam era. They need to get the army and the old elites off the political stage, but there’s little hope of that, unfortunately.

HG

Yeah, democracy’s a bitch- you get your nice middle-class articulate English-speaking revolution on CNN, and then the ignorant fucking peasants in the bush vote for the populist promising them fertilizer and clean water instead of the party that’s going to build a new ring-road and a new international conference centre in the capital.

At least it all ensures plenty of willing workers for the tourism (wink-wink) industry!

Like Canadian pedophiles?..

Sadly, yes, although willing is possibly not the right word.

HG

Is PAD aligned with the People’s Judean Liberation Front?

What do you see happening, HGC?

And will Britain kick Thaksin out?

I reckon they’ll have to dissolve the parliament and try again. Samak’s crew will evolove into something else that the predominatly rural vote (and especially northerners) will elect again and again all these anti-democratic clowns will hit the streets. More depressingly, what I see eventually is civil war. I’d say sometime after the King kicks it.

HG

the PAD alienated thier own supporters this time, they clearly took it too far. I expect a few words from the King any day now to ease the tensions. The only one that both sides will listen to is the king. Sadly, he is almost too old to even do much, and will soon be moving on.

The Foreign Minister, considered a “neutral” in all this has resigned and those close to the palace seem to be expecting a coup. Another victory for the feudal forces of a country increasingly irrelevant to the rest of the world, aside for a shag and a splash at a decent beach. What a pity.

HG

A marsupial wrote: [quote]More depressingly, what I see eventually is civil war.[/quote]

You’re an evil SPLITIST!

Speaking of the Chinese bastards in Peking, I wonder if China will one day - during a time of turmoil - need to come to the aid of besieged Sons of the Yellow Emperor in the Land of Smiles.

If Beijing hasn’t considered this option then they’re not nearly half as good as we reckoned. Still, I think it will take a bit of time until they’re cocky enough to claim their need to intervene in their “sphere of influence.” It will come, though.

Oish! I need a drink.

HG

Ordered to resign over appearing on a cooking show! That’s gotta be a first.

Nipped down to BKK to catch the family. I’d sort of wondered why the missus was quiet about the demos. Turns out she was in the thick of it and sprained an ankle fleeing the shooting that killed some chap when Samak’s thugs tried to break up a PAD rally. That’s the second time she’s been shot at attending demos. The first was back in the coup of 1992.

All I can say is that the word “sanuk” is all you need to know about the Thais. It means fun, and not fun is “mai sanuk.” Getting the blood up and slashing away with weapons is “sanuk.” Getting hurt doing it is “mai sanuk”, but kind of (insert teethy smile).

HG

. . . and again . . .

Cops tried to break up a PAD demo yesterday and this morning, the list of injuries following it are almost comical if not for the severity. Protestors have shot at least three cops, and stabbed several with the sharpened end of flag poles they’ve been waving, and at least two demonstrators have lost legs and two killed in what is suspected to have been home made bombs thrown by the cops. Then of course a car bomb went off. Oh Thailand. Why?

I can;t understand all the intrigue, but there is some talk the Queen is behind this one in an attempt to shore up her position for when the King drops off the twig. The middle ages were probably quite similar.

HG

Tell a Thai that and they’d want to lynch you.

The amount of mind control they are under with regards to the royal family is terrifying.

Despots would be in awe of the way they’ve made out the elite there as demi gods…

That one was whispered to me by the missus, herself a King fearing Thai. I’d love to ween her off monarchy, but I;m afraid what you’d have left would be something akin to Pol Pot.

HG

Yeah, the monarchy seems weird and anti-democratic to outsiders, but up until now has been a fairly stabilising force. In future years, it looks like that will be less and less the case, and various royals will actually contribute to the strife. Ouch; not good.

Thailand should submit to the suzerainty of the American empire. That would solve everything.

Didn’t Hartzell launch a lawsuit in the US claiming Thailand is really an unincorporated overseas territory of the United States? So what’s keeping the national guard from restoring order? And how many electoral votes does Thailand get?