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Police Confront Reds Near Don Muang Airport

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

About 2000 protestors in trucks and on motorcycles from the Saladaeng rally site were led by Red leader Kwanchai Phraiphana on a march to Talad Thai Market near Don Muang Airport to urge people to join the rally site. Hundreds of police fire rubber and live bullets in air but protestors sat on the highway and refused to budge until they were told by a Red leader to desist and return to the rally site.

Traffic is chaotic and Don Muang urged passengers to expect 3 hrs to 4 hrs for traveling to airport.

Local media reports police shooting rubber bullets and live ammunition in the air to stop protestors but CNN reports “gun battles” at more than one point which implies shooting on both sides. I’ll wait for local reports.

Kwanchai Phraiphana, the red-shirt leader, was arrested near the clash site at Don Muang (when Red Shirts ran into a gas station,) Thai Rath Online reported.

The paper said Kwanchai was arrested at 2:41 pm while was trying to flee back to Rajprasong.

The BBC is reporting that one soldier was killed by a shot to the head and 10 people injured.

The Matter of the Thai Monarchy

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Unspoken until now, in the background, is the matter of the Thai Monarchy.  The beloved king is old and sick and on his way out.  Many are wondering what will happen when he dies.  His son is unsuitable to replace him to say the least. The daughter is much loved…but it is questionable whether the people will accept a Queen.

The Yellows (Royalists) and current government support the Monarchy.  Those behind the Reds (and some academics)  speak of “modernizing” governance in Thailand. Traditionally, the King is the Head of State and is supposed to stay out of politics and the Prime Minister is the head of the government.

There are a myriad of rumors pointing to the self-exiled Thaksin who fled the country rather than accept a three year jail sentence for corruption and who is financing the Reds…ironically mostly made up of up-country farmers who Thaksin gave “nitnoy”  help  (little help) to while Prime Minister.

The government has now said they have uncovered a wide conspiracy to overthrow the King. The Reds deny it. Deputy PM Suthep says this morning that an arrest warrant for ex-General Chavalit (also rumored to be behind the “third hand” mercenaries who appeared with hi powered rifles and grenades on April 10 where 25 people were killed including 5 soldiers) will be issued if he refuses to testify in his involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the Monarchy. The investigation of the alleged plot may be a way of getting him out of the way.

Prime Minister Abhisit said today at noon that the Puea Thai Party filed a police complaint against the PM and CRES on defamation charges for accusing it of involvement in a movement to topple the Monarchy.

Seems the Monarchy has become politicized and the Red farmers and Red sympathizers from Bangkok rallying in the streets are being manipulated and used by all sides.

A journalist for TIME, an expat who has lived in Bangkok for 15 years, has this to say:

On may 19, I watched my adopted city burn. Plumes of thick black smoke rose amid deserted office buildings about 1.5 km from my Bangkok home as troops stormed the Red Shirt camp. There, chaos reigned: protesters set buildings ablaze, soldiers exchanged fire with black-clad gunmen, ambulances raced off with the dead and wounded. But farther south, near my home, there was no bloodshed, just shuttered shops and deserted roads. This unsettled me almost as much. I have lived in Bangkok for 15 years. What terrible force could empty the streets of this once vibrant city?

Fear, of course. The fighting and standoff of the past two months have claimed the lives of at least 70 people — mostly civilians, including foreigners — and injured hundreds. Thais pride themselves on unity. Now they are at one another’s throats, and the institutions that have always claimed to represent their best interests are too outdated and mired in crises to pull them apart. All countries weave myths about themselves, and here is Thailand’s: its people live in harmony, regardless of class, creed or ethnicity, their stability and prosperity assured by unblinking loyalty to King, country and religion — the so-called three pillars of Thai-ness. (See a TIME video on the violence in Thailand.)

The battle of Bangkok has shattered the myth of national harmony. Many Thais welcomed the crackdown. They regarded moderate Reds as dupes and militant Reds as terrorists and both as funded by fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown in a 2006 military coup. But others, including those who were sick of the protests, shuddered to see soldiers firing live rounds at people armed with rocks and slingshots, if armed at all. The last time that happened was a generation ago, in 1992, when at least 48 people were killed. Now Thais watch with horror as their fast-modernizing nation slips back into a darker era.

In 1992 it was Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s widely revered King, who intervened to halt the violence. But this time the ailing monarch, now 82, has remained silent. Other key institutions that might play a mitigating role are too busy wrestling with their own dysfunctions. The parliament barely functions; mobs have twice burst through its gates in recent years. The judiciary, which in 2008 toppled a government that Red Shirts helped elect, is widely viewed as partisan and unreliable. So are the media: free-to-air television channels effectively skew to the official line. The police are corrupt and incompetent, and in recent days they were conspicuously absent on Bangkok’s lawless streets. Thailand even has a crisis of faith: Buddhism is reeling from repeated scandals that Pope Benedict XVI might recognize. (See pictures of the showdown in Bangkok.)

These institutions need reform. But they are shielded from scrutiny and even well-meaning criticism by custom, taboo and — in the monarchy’s case — draconian lèse majesté laws. How can a country progress when its people cannot safely debate the very institutions that are central to their lives?

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1990640,00.html#ixzz0ogOJhzVm

U.S. Consulate Info Meeting In Bangkok

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Before I left Bangkok, this last Monday Bob, who was in BKK for the weekend, and I attended a meeting in the Merriott Hotel Ballroom called by the U.S. Consulate for U.S. passport holders to update us on the current ... [Continue reading this entry]

Offer Refused By Thai PM-Reds Expect Crackdown

Saturday, April 24th, 2010
   So talks are off and Reds say they are expecting a crackdown within 48 hours. Apparently military watermelons are leaking information to the Reds about military build-up and movements. Apparently the military said they have to wait for the ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Pull Back From The Brink?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
The Reds who have been holding Bangkok hostage for six weeks have given the government an offer today with the following conditions:
  •  That the government stop threats and harassment
  •  That an independent body will undertake an investigation into recent violence.
  •  That the  Abhisit ... [Continue reading this entry]

BTS And Parts of MRT Closed In BKK

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
It's 6pm Friday and Bob just called that he couldn't get on the skytrain at Nana to get to Asoke.  All of sky train closed down. And this morning the subway was closed between Asoke and the Thailand Cultural Center ... [Continue reading this entry]

Panel Discussion On Thai Conflict At FCCT

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Six weeks have passed since the mostly upcountry Reds launched protests in Bangkok and two since the occupation of Ratchaprasong intersection. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has not wavered in his resolve to stay on as premier amidst calls for him ... [Continue reading this entry]

Reds And Anti-Reds Clash AT Sala Deang

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Pro Government Protestors had grouped around the Saladaeng sky train station on Silom Road beginning Monday night as a response to the Red's second rally site at the Silom/Rama IV intersection across the road from the station. The Reds had been ... [Continue reading this entry]

Stand-Off Photos At Silom

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
bangkok-reds-jpg-lo-821.jpgCourtesy again of my friend Gary Jones, British journalist based in Hong Kong.  This way I can just stay holed up in my hotel room! lol bangkok-reds-jpg-lo-60.jpgbangkok-reds-jpg-lo-88.jpg[Continue reading this entry]

Stand-Off AT Silom And Ratchaprasong

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Yesterday, I went to the Silom business district to pick up some pharmaceuticals. I knew the Reds were threatening to take over the area around the Bangkok Bank there that has ties to the Democrat Party, but didn't realize ... [Continue reading this entry]

Songkran In Bangkok

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Photos courtesy of Gary Jones, British journalist based in Hong Kong who is staying down the street from my hotel. bangkok-songkran-13.jpgbangkok-songkran-15.jpgbangkok-songkran-24.jpgbangkok-songkran-1.jpg[Continue reading this entry]

What Went Wrong?

Saturday, April 17th, 2010
The Nation online What went wrong? Probably, nothing was right from the very beginning. Arisman Pongruangrong and other red-shirt leaders on a wanted list could not be apprehended when they were in full public view in the middle of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Reds Increase Pressure

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
The leaders of the Reds have announced today they will vacate their 30,000 plus rally site at the Phanfa Bridge and convene all together with the 20,000 thousand who are already at the rally site at the Ratchaprasong intersection near ... [Continue reading this entry]

Happy Songkran Everybody!

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Well, the political crisis hasn't stopped Thais from celebrating the first day of their most important holiday when water is splashed on everyone to wash their sins from the last year.  Let's hope it works this year! As for me, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Political Analysis Shows Complexity

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
The Nation Bangkok April 13, 2010 BANGKOK: -- Don't hold your breath if you wish for a speedy resolution to the political predicament following the bloodbath on Saturday. When blood got into the eyes of the opposing sides, common sense just flew ... [Continue reading this entry]

Rogue Elements At Bangkok Protest?

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Update 2: Hmmm.  I just looked at the picture again. If he is so innocent why did he think to put on plastic gloves which would be for the purpose probably of keeping fingerprints off the gun? Well, either way, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bangkok Not A War Zone!

Monday, April 12th, 2010
This makes me furious!  The NYT today had a decent article but the video in the sidebar said "City Like A War Zone."  The Reuters's reporter in the video repeats the term. The city is not a war zone!  ... [Continue reading this entry]

April 10 Bangkok-English Narration

Monday, April 12th, 2010
This took place at the Democracy Monument near Phan Fa Bridge which is very close to Khaosan Road, the backpacker street.  It scared the bejesus out ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bangkok Democracy Monument April 10

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

Bangkok Democracy Monument April 10

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

Thailand’s Colors…and Red Shirts and Watermelon Soldiers

Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Taken from an article in Time In Thailand, people literally wear their politics on their sleeves. The nation has been locked for years in a paralyzing political showdown between two camps. There are the red shirts, who support [Continue reading this entry]

Does The Government Do Anything Right?

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
I think the folks that argue that the the government can't do anything right  should voluntarily give up all their tax supported services. I found this on a personal blog on the web: This morning I was awoken by my ... [Continue reading this entry]