Thailand

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four_five_one

Infinition
BBC latest:
Government sent everyone a text message saying: "Terrorists attacking authorities, protesters, journalists & general public. Urge all to leave."

Naturally, no journalist can confirm this. Unless they're, of course, referring to their own soldiers as "terrorists", which would probably be a more accurate description.
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
A wise head speculates: "5 options left: Annihilate reds, PM resigns, House dissolves, King intervenes, or Coup...one of these before Friday"
 
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scottdisco

rip this joint please
big up your chest four_five_one.

can i say i quite agree w your retweet (just got back onto Twitter) that Michael Yon should stick to embeds in Afghanistan...
 
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hob

Member
wicked stuff four_five_one. i lived in BKK for 12 months from 2008-2009 - just off Ratchaprarop by Petburi, where it appears to be kicking off. There's definitely a huge and concerted attempt on behalf of the elites to spread propaganda. when you spoke to taxi drivers, what were they saying? unforunately, i reckon the govts going to go all out here. the system is being challenged - could be a civil war - the inequalities definitely their.
 
dd528

dd528

Well-known member
Thanks four_five_one, and everyone else who's posted in here.

I know virtually nothing about Thailand and I've been struggling to get my head around the basics of what's going on out there. I've been pretty disappointed in news coverage of the events actually. My faith in the ability of mainstream TV and online news outlets to provide sophisticated and analytical coverage was riding at a bit of a high after seeing some very good reports on the European economic situation, but since this Thai stuff started to hit the headlines I seem to get more confused every time I turn on the television.

Seems that a dingy backwater of the internet is the best place to get a bit of clarity, as usual.
 
sufi

sufi

lala
TruthToday100507-10CivilWar.jpg


Yesterday, at the height of the rioting in Bangkok, a group of older cleaning ladies were in my office. They were all from the provinces as most of the physical laborers are in Bangkok. When they saw MCOT running on a TV with various government figures and commentators, they started telling me how these people were no good and were all going to be killed soon. They they kept pointing to the government men on TV and then making the "slit throat" gesture with their fingers.

Events of recent years have unleashed a huge amount of partisan information and unbridled hate into the political system that will likely challenge the Thai political system for years to come. However, it is important to contrast the distant and fearful international view of what is happening (such as CNN coverage that is focusing on violent events on the ground) with the background detail of what is propelling events and how they might play out....
Click to expand...
continues at: http://2bangkok.com/10/100516CivilWar.shtml
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
Thanks for that pdf Hob. I hadn't seen that. This site covers much of the immediate background: http://khikwai.com/blog/2008/12/ - the piece I linked on the first page best describes the differences between the two sides "Orange Revolution". Also, this obviously: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008–2010_Thai_political_crisis & maybe this: http://data4.blog.de/media/866/1618866_ac8f0faaae_d.pdf

The last piece is written by Thai socialist Gi Ungpakorn (giving his version of events here at SOAS last year). He is in exile in the UK because he's wanted for the crime of lesse majeste, which carries up to 15 years in jail, and you can more or less be sure you won't get a fair trial since no one can actually quote what you said without committing the crime themselves. Giles didn't actually say anything about the King, he just cited this banned work in his book (linked above). Often lesse majeste is used for political reasons, not just for people explicitly insulting the King, info here: http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/

The yellow shirts who invaded the airport were an explicitly violent fascist movement - their leader Sondhi said while at the airport: "We will not open our doors to police. If they storm in to shoot at us, we'll shoot back. We'll be ready to die". They killed two cops and the police were more afraid of them than vice versa. Yet the same people that are calling for a vicious crackdown to "restore order" now, were up in arms when the police used tear gas against the yellow shirts when trying to remove them from government house. Double standards are one of the things red shirts are really angry about.

Good analysis here:
btw Hob I've seen one picture today of a "black shirt" with a gun, but the gun looks like something made in the first world war. Someone said the gun might be able to injure at a range of 20m or less.
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
Michael Yon is definitely a retard. Night before last he reported "thousands of rounds and grenades were coming in at him" whilst he was trapped in a hotel. Then in the morning he admitted he'd exaggerated greatly. He also said he believes "without any evidence" that the red shirts were behind the grenades launched at this hotel & that the red shirts have "proven they're brave guys, now they need to go home. come on guys, you won't lose any face." If you don't have any evidence, don't say dumb shit intended to provoke when thousands of people are reading it.

This is when he'd been in Bangkok about a day ;P and reckoned it was worse than Afghanistan had been...

I believe Michael Yon is reporting by watching CNN in his luxury suite and exaggerating out of all proportion. But I have absolutely no evidence for that. Quote from twitter: "Michael Yon is waiting for his balls to be FedEx'd to him from Kabul".
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
dd528, unfortunately TV in Bangkok is censored by the regime, so most Thai's that want an idea of what's really going on are forced to turn to the BBC or CNN. Chances are it's even more confusing for those in Bangkok, the conflict is still focused in a fairly small area, so people are unlikely to witness it first hand, and the TV either shows events favorable to the government (which are few and far between), or cartoons and Korean soaps.

A middle class friend of mine who doesn't really support the red shirts, has turned completely against the government after weeks of lies & propaganda plus the aforementioned censorship. He says "twitter or Facebook being blocked would see me joining the mob". You're right that the best way to get accurate reports is on the internet, with citizen journalists, bloggers, protesters and international journalists all posting their side of the story. Abhisit actually said that "social media has become a big problem for Thailand", guess it's a problem because it means that he can't stop pictures of state sanctioned murder from circulating?
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
Thai soldiers must immediately stop firing live ammunition into several large areas in Bangkok where anti-government protesters are gathered, Amnesty International said today.

"Eye-witness accounts and video recordings show clearly that the military is firing live rounds at unarmed people who pose no threat whatsoever to the soldiers or to others," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Thailand specialist. "This is a gross violation of a key human right--the right to life".

"Deliberately firing live ammunition at unarmed people, whether they be protesters or otherwise and who pose no credible threat to anyone else, is unlawful", said Zawacki.

http://uk.asiancorrespondent.com/ba...litary-must-halt-reckless-use-of-lethal-force
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
Open letter from "Thaksin" to international news media:

"As journalists reporting in Thailand, you have the inherent professional duty to demand the blood of the dark-skinned Khmer terrorists, and remind us of what a unique menace Thaksin presented to society and how the Red Shirts want to bring him back and make him the Head of State. Or at least have the self-decency to not comment on politics at all.

We are really upset at how you have not only failed to do this, but have sank to the depths of publishing images and stories about unarmed terrorists being shot by soldiers carrying the latest in sophisticated assault rifles and heavy body armour, when the terrorists were clearly holding foot clappers and saying VERY BAD THINGS about our KING!!!!!!!"

http://codsbeenhere.com/Cod/?p=50

Hopefully people are starting to smarten up and realize what they're seeing on TV simply isn't commensurate with what international media are reporting: http://uk.asiancorrespondent.com/bangkok-pundit-blog/is-cnn-s-coverage-really-biased
 
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four_five_one

Infinition
Must see Al-Jazeera debate betw. red shirts & government supporters:
(note the red shirt is cool as a cucumber. who's being hot-headed here lol...)
 
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