Thailand Coup

[wayout]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/22/world/asia/thailand-martial-law/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Hope everyone is safe....

[boiworship]

Not a surprise given the constitutional court's unprecedented removal of the Prime Minister last week and the implacable differences between the two main political parties.

[RA1]

boiworship-

You ARE talking about Thailand, aren't you?

Best regards,

RA1

[TotallyOz]

Reading the story on how the General decided to take over from the Bangkok Post reporters was interesting. During the negotiations between the 2 parties the General asked the Prime Minister and all cabinet members to resign. There were armed guards the prohibited either party from leaving. When the government leaders refused, the General said, 'then, from now on, I will take control of the government." All parties were whisked away under armed guard and the general and his men took control.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/410724/army-declares-martial-law

[boiworship]

boiworship-

You ARE talking about Thailand, aren't you?

Best regards,

RA1

Yes. The Economist has been closely covering the Thai crisis for weeks. The just ousted PM's brother was the real power behind her.

[Guest Paragon]

Although I support the yellow shirts, and thus the coup, I do think the rich could give the poor a better share of the wealth. Unfortunately, the red shirts have sold out to the corrupt Thaksin family, and all they want to do is break Thailand down into subparts and sell them off. As of now, they have bought off the poor for their votes at bargain basement prices.

[Guest PasadenaCA]

It never happens the other way 'round: you never see politicians storm onto a base announcing that they're now generals and in charge.

[TotallyOz]

I would not support the yellow shirts as they believe the people do not deserve a vote. They do not want a democracy. They want to rule based on their god given right to rule and not by popular vote. I don't care what the reason is behind a victory, but in a democracy, when an election occurs you must let the winners rule. This is the opposite of what the yellow shirts wish to happen.

Read some of the things these yellow shirts say about the red shirts: they are dogs, subhuman, ignorant.

[TotallyOz]

Military Coup Update: Thai Military is cutting off all media (Radio and TV) at 10PM each night. Even BBC, CNN and heaven forbid HBO. I guess the train of thought is that they are worried that HBO will be showing reruns of Game of Thrones and the people will be demanding Trial by Combat?

[Guest PasadenaCA]

Military Coup Update: Thai Military is cutting off all media (Radio and TV) at 10PM each night. Even BBC, CNN and heaven forbid HBO. I guess the train of thought is that they are worried that HBO will be showing reruns of Game of Thrones and the people will be demanding Trial by Combat?

Have they banned Anna and the King of Siam? All the warnings about the corrupting influence of the West were right there.

[wayout]

Military Coup Update: Thai Military is cutting off all media (Radio and TV) at 10PM each night. Even BBC, CNN and heaven forbid HBO. I guess the train of thought is that they are worried that HBO will be showing reruns of Game of Thrones and the people will be demanding Trial by Combat?

I don't get it...not that anything has to be logical in a military coup I suppose....but what are they afraid will be on the air or be seen by more people after 10pm than before? Does something magical happen in Thailand at 10pm?

[TotallyOz]

I don't get it...not that anything has to be logical in a military coup I suppose....but what are they afraid will be on the air or be seen by more people after 10pm than before? Does something magical happen in Thailand at 10pm?

No, they did this in order to let everyone cool off. No one on streets. No one outside in groups of 5 or more. No TV. No Radio. Actually, there is both but only one photo with notice and patriotic music.

Not sure how long this will last but I figure for a few days or a week.

It was really eerie how quiet the streets were in Bangkok yesterday. I went to mall and back and there was zero traffic. We were in movie but the mall was dead. We ate in my favorite pizza place that is usually packed. We were only customers throughout the meal.

On the way back, taxi stopped at only 2 lights. Usually a 40 min commute at rush hour took us 10 min. I gave him an extra 100 baht as I knew he has to finish his shift by 8PM and no more money to be made.

It is interesting here but odd.

[MsGuy]

Although I support the yellow shirts, and thus the coup, I do think the rich could give the poor a better share of the wealth.

I have no doubt that helping the poor is at the top of the Yellow Shirt agenda.

... the red shirts have sold out to the corrupt Thaksin family

As opposed to the honest and upright leaders of the Yellow Shirts?

... all the Thaksins want to do is break Thailand down into subparts and sell them off.

Really? You don't think that's just a teensy bit over the top?

As of now, they have bought off the poor for their votes at bargain basement prices.

Well, true those clinics, schools and roads for the rural North seem to have been affordable but the exorbitant rice subsidy for the farmers ain't anybody's bargain basement bribe. It's wrecked the budget; basically an insane price that's impossible to sustain.

[paulsf]

I feel bad for all the people that work nights. Bangkok is close to being a 24 hour city. I just got back Tuesday, so just missed the curfew. But I figure I spend 90% of my money after 8pm. I hit up the 7-11 across the street from the apartment where I stay almost every night when I come in between 12 and 2am. The place is packed. They have to be taking big hits. I just talked to my boy and he said he has not made a dime all week, as there are just no customers. Fortunately for him, I left him with enough money to get thru a couple months.

[Guest Paragon]

MsGuy, what did Taksin do with the Thai phone company? Research that!

[Guest Paragon]

Oz: "Read some of the things these yellow shirts say about the red shirts: they are dogs, subhuman, ignorant. "

That's really beneath you, Oz. People say all kinds of things in political fights,but that's a low blow.

[MsGuy]

MsGuy, what did Taksin do with the Thai phone company? Research that!

LOL, he made a ton of money on its sale to foreign interests, of course! Not to mention acquiring his personal interests in telecom companies under murky circumstances in the first place (under prior governments; the Thaksins have been politicians for several generations now.) But objectively speaking and comparing scores by NGOs on Thailand's transparency and corruption indices, Thaksin's own government was pretty much business as usual for Thailand.

The Thaksins are paid up members of the western educated Thai governing elite. The only real gripe the Yellow Shirts have against them is that they and their faction hit on a novel way to jump from 2nd or 3rd tier pols to the top by breaking ranks and appealing to the rural rice farming majority through rural development programs (& lately that insane rice subsidy).

Get real, Paragon. The Yellow Shirt pols are no more honest and no less consummate scumbags than the Thaksins. They just don't see any need to squander public funds on those subhuman, ignorant village dogs when they could be pocketing it for themselves and their business friends.

[Guest Paragon]

Get real, indeed. If the red shirts prevail, the country will be run by the uneducated and those who sold their votes to the most corrupt politician in Thai history. The yellow shirts may include their share of corrupt individuals, but as a whole they are the most educated people Thailand has ever seen. Why is it that university professors overwhelmingly support the yellow shirts?

It's a fact that most bar boys come from the uneducated north, and thus probably told their customers to support the red shirts in the first election. Now they are wiser, having seen the corruption.. But I wouldn't let bar boy make decisions for the future of the country. The yellow shirts do include the wealthier segments of Thai society, All the more reason to support good government so they don't lose their accumulated wealth- that part that they would be allowed to keep as honestly earned should Paragon become King.

And then there is the military. Why they did support the yellow shirts too? Why is that? Because they, too, don't want the corrupt Thaksin family selling their country to the highest bidder. And the family is corrupt. The sister used her position to try to get an amnesty for this exiled crook.

So, MsGuy, as you sit in your rocking chair in one of the most illiterate and corrupt states in America, it may be tempting to support the same kind to lead Thailand, but why not visit there a few times and get a feel for what works best? You didn't do much research on the sale of the Thai phone company, I'd hope that you would work harder if you were actually there, a bar boy on each night telling you how scared he is for his future under Thaksin.

[Guest PasadenaCA]

I think the whole thing is overblown. I had dinner in Jitlada last night, sure there were a few guys with short hair wearing green, but everything was normal. The food was great too. The real coup is that restaurant.

[Guest Paragon]

Oz: "Read some of the things these yellow shirts say about the red shirts: they are dogs, subhuman, ignorant. "

That's really beneath you, Oz. People say all kinds of things in political fights,but that's a low blow.

Sorry, and apologies to OZ. I realize now that he was not saying these things himself but was quoting what he may have heard yellow shirts say about the red shirts. I am glad to have re-read that post because it surprised me that Oz himself would say such things. Quotation marks would have been helpful.

No doubt both sides call each other names. But Oz and I won't. Of that I am sure.

[TotallyOz]

I wonder if the professors are yellow shirts as most are middle class?

In a society that really does not give those that grow up poor the ability to move into another class there must be a reason for this. The main reason is superiority. They believe they are superior to the other class. Even when a poor person has education and a lot of it, they are looked down on by the elite as they don't have the blood pedigree.

Yes, the red shirts are often poor, but is there vote not the same as everyone else? It should be and I shudder to think that anyone would advocate that the poor can't vote or should have a say in their government.

Paragon, you see Mr. Thaskin as corrupt. OK. The rest of the country may agree with you. But, the people put him in power knowing this. Why? He did things for them, subsidies, free health care, education, etc. that no one had ever done. I don't doubt he lined his pockets like every other politician in Thailand. But, that does not negate the good he did.

When Bush was elected to the 2nd term after taking us into war, who do you think elected him? The same segments of society that votes for the yellow shirts in Thailand. The rich, who want to keep their money, and the poor idiots that follow what their preachers tell them. Can you see any similarities? Did Bush's friends line their pockets the same as Thaskin's friends?

My two boys are not political. They see the bigger picture as both are intelligent and educated. Still who do they support? Not the yellow shirts. Why? The yellow shirts want to keep the country ignorant and uneducated and it be only those with big money that can afford university. Why? They want to have control and it is easier to control the uneducated than the ones with knowledge. I also wonder how many of your professors that support the yellow shirts are from Bangkok? I bet the vast majority.

Lastly, you are right in that those were not my words but they were the words of Miss Thailand. That is how they really feel about the poor farmers. I can't support any system that discriminates so much and they do feel that way.

[Guest Paragon]

My comments were all prefaced with the idea that the yellow shirts should be more into sharing the wealth. The idea that one has a station in life, from which one can never rise, appalls me. I'll bet many yellow shirts agree, and the ones who don't will realize that this is one change that is required before peace will come to Thailand.

To say that Thaksin is just another crook ignores the serious depth of his corruption. He would plunder the whole country if given enough time.

We are all generalizing on who is a red shirt and who is a yellow shirt. Some of the kindest people I know are Republicans. I just don't understand it. There are Democrats whose views are far from mine. The idea is to find common ground, to bring the country together. Lots of opinions will have to go by the wayside to make that happen.

[MsGuy]

Harrow, Oxford, pedigree runs to 1066;

favorite quote: 'They have not bread? Why then let them eat cake."

LOL, born to rule!

=====

So, MsGuy, as you sit in your rocking chair in one of the most illiterate and corrupt states in America, it may be tempting to support the same kind to lead Thailand...

My dear Paragon, it is precisely my experience in a poor, corrupt and ignorant backwater here in America that leads me to view the Yellow Shirt propaganda in Thailand with a bit of skepticism. The "better class of people" who rule my state use a set of arguments indistinguishable from from those being brandished against the Red Shirts.

One more time: I have no use for the Thaksin family, scumbags one and all, for sure. But that is not at all the same thing at all as buying into the crap the Yellow Shirts spout. As to prefacing your support for the Yellow Shirts with the pious wish that they act a bit less nasty toward the benighted rural folk...hahahahahahahahaha ...

[Guest Paragon]

Don't be so sure of that. Something has to give in Thailand or they will forever face military rule.

As to prefacing your support for the Red Shirts with the pious wish that they act a bit less nasty toward the benighted rural folk...hahahahahahahahaha ...they actually had their chance and did almost nothing!

No One is going to give money away until they are forced to. Coup, anyone?

[MsGuy]

Don't be so sure of that. Something has to give in Thailand or they will forever face military rule.

I said a while back in another thread I was afraid that Thaksin had broken the social consensus in Thailand like Humpty Dumpty.

As for the Reds doing "almost nothing"....

And I suspect that the overwhelming majorities the Reds poll up North are a tad more rational than you credit:

"Let's see...we can have arrogant corrupt scumbags who steal tons of money but who pave some of our roads, build us some clinics, improve our kids education and subsidize us. OR We can have arrogant corrupt scumbags who steal tons of money and who wouldn't piss on us to put out the fire if we were burning alive. Hmm..such a difficult choice."

Paragon, what you're over looking is that Thailand, like many Asian and South American countries, operates under a kind of crony capitalism where access to political support is a major factor in who is successful and who fails. If you ask me who would do a better job of running the Thai economy, I probably pick the Yellow Shirts but only because the last collapse of the SE Asian economies in the late 90's burned the hell out of those crony capitalists they represent, making them a bit skittish of dumb-ass economic policies.

Thailand is a major rice exporter (or was before those goofy rice subsidies came into play). Under the Yellows the hard currency earnings from those exports went into commercial and industrial development, mostly around Bangkok (plus a spot of corruption but what's a few baht amoung friends?). Precious little found its way back to the Northern heartland. But then what do the educated, better class of folk care about those rural piss pots?

If you want an American parallel, think Huey Long.