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May 19:  7 AM Bangkok.  Soldiers move in.  APCs rolling over the barricades.  & now the trash is being removed!

The Thai government is making short work of the clean-up.  .far right:  Dump truck que at Lupini Park!  (where did all the f'n tires come from?)

Nation, May 19: "As long as Thaksin does not get what he wants, he won't let this end so easily," said the source. "His latest condition is that he wants not only amnesty in the different cases against him, but also have his passports returned. Those conditions cannot be met by the government." Thailand English Language Newspapers .. 23 News Sources from Thailand w/ Thai Classified  . (regional papers below current events) Thailand's Leading English Language Newspaper:  Bangkok Post In my opinion, Thailand's Best English language Newspaper: The Nation

Damn curfew, everyone in my building is on / overloading the Wi-Fi internet connection .. 

Bangkok protest map  .. basically between the Night Market / Sala Daeng MRT ..  & MBK / Siam BTS exchange

May 15: The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) has reported that Thaksin's wife Poki-mom has withdrawn 800m Thb in cash. The huge amount of cash was transported in 2 vehicles from the bank.

• The CRES has now frozen the accounts of 106 persons .. including Square Head & Poki-mom + bank accounts of red-shirt leaders and former Thai Rak Thai executives

 

Panoramic View of  a deserted Siam Square .. unbelievable.

Spring 2010:  Some parts of Bangkok paralyzed by Red Shirt Protesters (Thaksin's supporters ) March 13. 500 pick-up trucks packed with red shirts left Udon Thani ( Northern Issan near Laos) cheered on by 1000s of supporters.  Smaller groups of red shirts left from Chiang Mai. Lampang, and Ubon Ratchathani.  23,569 Red Shirts were from the Northeast Issan), 11,127 from the North (Chiang Mai) , 4,190 from the central region (Khorat) , 3,667 from the East (Chon Buri) , 2,990 from the West and 834 from the South (Phuket / Hat Yai).  The 'official count' at the biggest 1,000,000 person rally: 46,377 people took part in the mass rally organized by the anti-government Thaksin cronies. Some 20 motorbikes tried to shut down the Asoke - Sukhumvet intersection .. they were almost run over & abandoned their intersection blockage after 1 (one) light change! April 4 - May 8: Red Shirts block Ratchaprasong Area, = Siam Square, MBK, Central World, Gaysorn Plaza, Big C, Siam Centre and Siam Discovery May 8:  The protests are potentially violent (both military & police have been murdered). IMHO, Civil war is a real possibility. My usually calm neighbor was forced to walk from MBK to the Prom Pong BTS,  in 37C / 99F heat, after he was trapped at MBK by the protestors.  I've never seen him anything but calm with a big smile .. not today, no Mai Pen Rai!

• Thailand Beach Resort Newspapers: Pattaya Mail, Pattaya People, Pattaya Daily News, Pattaya One, Phuket Gazette,  Phuket Post, Koh Samui Express, Krabi Post, Hua Hin Today, Hua Hin Observer

• Golden Triangle Newspapers: Chiang Mai Mail, Chiang Mai City Life, Pai Post

•  Issan Newspaper, Thailand Northeast: Korat Post

 

Thai Online English Language Magazines + News Summary Sites:  MCOT (Thai News Agency), Thailand News: News Headlines with links to articles & stories, Thailand Daily: A Thai "magazine like newspaper", The Economist: Thailand Financial News, Xpress South East Asia Newspapers: Vientiane Times (Laos News), Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia News), Shan News (Burma News / Myanmar News), Irrawaddy (Burma/Myanmar),  Saigon Times & Vietnam Net (Vietnam News), SEAPA (SouthEast Asia Press Alliance), Inquirer News, (Philippine Islands), Straits Times (Malaysia), Asia One (Singapore)

Google Thailand News Stories A summary of Thailand News Articles Not The Nation .. A Humorous View of Thai News & Thai Personalities.  LOL funny!

Lonely Planet Thailand Travel Forum Thai Government: Tourism Authority (TAT) News Voice of America Thailand New York Times Thailand Section:  A library of NY Times Thailand Stories.

Thaksin is one of the richest men on the planet.  Thaksin was fighting asset seizure involving Thb 76,000,000,000. (billion) .. Thaksin has already been found guilty in 1 case & sentenced to prison in absentia .. a few years in Bangkok's Bang Kwang (Bangkok's infamous prison) is not a pretty picture. Thaksin's wife, Potjaman AKA Poki-mom, was convicted in the summer of 2008 of tax evasion involving Thb 546,000,000.  She fled Thailand while out on bail .. she returned to Thailand without arrest December 6, 2008.Thaksin's daughter holds the most stock in the Thai stock market of any individual 2009: The UK revoked Thaksin's Visa for his criminal acts.

Thailand Historical Maps (pre-colonial to WWII)      Thailand Road Maps       Thailand Train Routes w/ schedules

Aussie,  Brit  & Danish Newspapers warn of a Thai airport scam known as a Thai Zig-Zag.  Recommendation: Do not even go into / near a Thai Airport Duty Free Shop!

• King Power, the Airport's primary duty free contractor, has been associated with false claims of theft & Airport police with corruption.

• Latest: A couple was arrested before boarding their outbound flight for theft even though no Duty free item was found in their possession.  They were forced to pay a US$12,000. (₤8000) to leave Thailand!  About half the £8,000 was for bail, while the rest were "fees" going to a "helpful Thai individual" for the arranging the bail.

  • Letters of complaint to the Thai newspapers make it clear that passengers are regularly detained at the airport for alleged shoplifting, and then made to pay middlemen to win their freedom

• Aussie press reports 150 cases of tourists being arrested for theft & forced to pay huge fines to leave Thailand.

• This scam is referred to as "a classic Thai scam called the zig-zag".  If you choose to fight the case you will remain in a squalid Thai prison for months ..or pay a fine + the help fee to go home immediately.

• As tourism falls (due to the world economy, H1N1 + Thai political issues) more & more crime on tourist with police involvement is being reported.

  • An Aussie lady was held in a Phuket jail for 4 days for stealing a 'bar mat', she alleged that her friend put the plastic bar mat in her purse(??).  After 4 days in a cramped Thai jail she gladly paid a fine & was allowed to return to Oz-tralia.

The Thai political fiasco in a few words:  The Red Shirts are mostly rural Thai that support exiled PM Thaksin The vote buying allegations, that resulted in the Thai Rak Thai party being ruled corrupt by a Thai court, occurred mostly in rural areas. Another  criminal warrant has been issued for former PM Thaksin for encouraging violence. Reports of exiled former PM Thaksin paying the rural Red Shirts up to 1000Thb per day for demonstrating. The Yellow Shirts are mostly the educated middle class in Bangkok. April 15, 2009:  Thaksin's passport voided.

Yellow Shirt Leader Shot by heavily armed assassins.  Over 100 rounds fired.  Sondhi in stable condition.

April 23: Ammunition linked to the Thai Army (M-16 issued to 9th Infantry) used in the Sondhi assassination attempt!

In Thailand Anarchy, Chaos, Fiasco & Democracy same same.

• April 16: The Nation is reporting that Interpol has issued a "red" notice" on Thaksin which amounts to an international arrest warrant.

• Interpol web site on "red notice".  "Interpol's role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition."

• April 16: The Age (Australia) is reporting that Thaksin is calling for more violence from his Dubai safe haven.  The Government of Australia is warning of Thaksin instigated violence in tourist areas.  To this point the tourist areas of Bangkok have been safe.

• Thaksin has been avoiding arrest in Dubai, UAE.  Now the UAE promises to arrest.

• April 16: The Nation is reporting Dubai has deported Thaksin & Thaksin is now in an undisclosed African nation.

• April 16: Thaksin has been issued a diplomatic passport by Nicaragua.  Nicaragua will issue anyone with $40,000 a diplomatic passport & thus potential immunity from prosecution .. or traffic / parking tickets.

• President Daniel Ortega had "asked the foreign ministry to accredit him (Thaksin) as an ambassador of Nicaragua on a special mission"  Why does banana republic cross my mind?  Is this out of a Woody Allen script?

April 13:  The BBC is reporting that Coup ousted PM Thaksin (AKA Toxin) is directing the dissidence from exile.

Asean Summit canceled due to lawlessness in Pattaya, Thailand.

Saturday April 11: The 4 Pattaya English language newspapers linked to above all have front page stories with pictures.

The site of the conference The Royal Cliff Resort is located at the end of Pra Tamnuk (Hill) Road .. 2 roads provide all access to the 6 star resort .. should have been easy to secure.  Inexcusable incompetence.

The protestors are the "red shirts" that support ousted former Thai PM Thaksin as opposed to the "yellow shirt" haters of Thaksin that took over the Bangkok airport in late 2008. Pattaya is a dirty crime infested beach town.  Known for prostitution and tourist robberies. Pattaya beach is the only beach that has water so dirty I would not get in! We have recommended for 5 years that Pattaya be avoided.  The summit planners should have read our Thai beach resorts page. Protesting has become a cottage industry.  Reports of both Red & Yellows being paid 1000Thb per day. The Thai government endangering the lives of ASEAN leaders is inexcusable.  All summit dignitaries have been safely helicoptered out. Saturday AM we tried to drive to Pattaya to see first hand .. check points in both directions, almost no traffic southbound / Pattaya bound, mass exodus north bound / fleeing Pattaya & several taxis full of red shirts to the side surrounded by the boys in brown (police).  We tried some back roads but they were check point blocked also.  We ended up in Bang San north of Pattaya & enjoyed a nice prawn lunch.

Sunday April 12:  The Red Shirt / Thaksin demonstrations have expanded to Bangkok & Chiang Mai

• Red Shirts have blockaded streets near Victory Monument causing huge traffic congestion.  There are several hospitals in this area & TV is reporting nurses & doctors & critical medical supplies unable to get through the blockades.

• TV also reports the Red Shirts are blocking the Tae Pae Gate in Chiang Mai..

• This is Songkran Weekend & there are some upset Thai.  More worried about the traditional festivities than the closing of the airport by the Yellow shirts or disrupting the ASEAN Summit by the Reds.

• A new group the Blue Shirts (REALLY) are protesting the Red & Yellow protests .. in some cases  the Blues are violently protesting the Reds.

• The Plaid Shirts are neutral! (not really .. but I will be searching my storage room for old & faded Madras shirts)
• The gogo girls must be apolitical .. the no shirts. 
• & white shirts = students

PM Abhisit's driver after the PM's car was attacked

The Thai Army has mobilized .. & I'm thinkin' tanks against taxi cabs, tanks gotta win ,, nooo, TIT, the protestors have now seized a tank & an armored troop carrier! The PM's car was attacked .. TV video shows the police standing near by ..that's right, standing near by. TV is also reporting the reds seizing buses & using them to block critical intersections..  How long before the airport is targeted.

Sunday PM:  We went to the Villa Market Sukhumvit Soi 49 for Sonkran stuff (flour & water guns) .. the wife & her brother are insisting on their traditional Sonkran water gun event! .. I suggested red shirt & yellow shirt teams but was ignored. .. then repeatedly & vigorously squirted On Sukhumvit, in Villa & on Thong Lor you'd never know there was anything unusual going on ..  except Sonkran water guns spraying everything that moved .. & The Soi dogs are nowhere to be seen! The first government action after the violence ended was to extend Sonkran 'til Friday. Between April 10 & April 14 (Sonkran) 220 people were killed & 2658 injured in alcohol related road accidents.

2009: The (reputed) Thai CIA Torture Compound ( Black Ops Site) is back in the news

• April 24, 2009.  NY Times reports Abu Zubaydah was water boarded / tortured over 80 times by CIA agents in a secret Thailand prison.

• March, 2009:  The US CIA reports to US Congress that 92 "torture tapes" held in Thailand were destroyed.

• March 4, 2009: The Bangkok post reports that suspected al-Qaeda operatives were flown to Thailand for the purpose of  advanced interrogation, including "waterboarding"

  • In 2003 there were reports of Sadam being held & interviewed in Thailand.

  • in June 2003, Thai officials insisted that the US had shut down the advanced interrogation facility. The two terrorists admittedly held in Thailand were moved elsewhere.

• March 4, 2009: Thai Army commander, Gen Anupong Paochinda, has responded by stating that there are (currently, 2009)  no secret interrogation centers at the Udon Thani Air Base.  Earlier reports had the 'advanced interrogation site to be at Bang Dung not the Udon Thani Air Base!    DOH!

• Udon Thani Air Base comprises .001% of Thailand.  The General made no mention of US torture chambers in the other 99.999% of Thailand.

The US rewarded Thailand / Thaksin

•  .. "torture for freedom" cooperation placed the Thai-US free trade agreement ahead of other (more moral) trading partners ..

• the US rewarded "torture for freedom" with with favored trading partner  status.

• It can be argued that Thailand's loyalty & cooperation with the US was a major component in Thailand's prosperity during the past 5 years.

PAD Wins!    Thaksin's PPP declared Illegal by Thai Court

December 15, 2008: Democrat Abhisit Vejjajiva Elected PM.  235 - 198 for a solid Democrat majority coalition .. Thaksin / TRK / PPP / Pheua Thai / corruption voted Out ... Thank You, PAD! December 22:  The new cabinet has been installed & it includes Pornthiwa Nakasai, coalition partner Phum Jai Party, whose resume includes being Mamasan of the upscale "fishbowl soapy massage parlor" Poseidon & Ranongrak Suwanchawee whose resume includes being a Registered Nurse.

• PPP's PM Somchai is Thaksin's brother-in-law.

• 1st Thaksin's TRK party was ruled illegal, TRK reformed as the PPP, then PPP was declared illegal & reformed as Pheua Thai ..

• December 11, 2008: Thaksin's Pheua Thai is offering 55,000,000 Thb ($1,570,000 or EU 1,170,000) to each defector from PPP to join the Pheua Thai coalition.

  • Thb 5m to change party, Thb 25m when their change is approved & a final Thb 25m when they vote for the Pheua Thai PM candidate.

  • The election for the new PM is tentatively scheduled for Monday Dec. 15.  The caretaker PM, Chaovarat Chanweerakul, has threatened to dissolve the House of Parliament which the new (2008) constitution apparently allows him to do.

• December 12: King Rama IX has issued a Royal Decree calling for an extraordinary session of Parliament to choose a new PM.  Rama IX based his decision on the facts that the PM has been vacated by Judicial order & 1/3 of the members of Parliament signed a petition requesting his Royal Decree.

  • Friday December 12: Pheua Thai has about 200 votes & 219 are required for a majority.

  • If Pheua Thai is successful in purchasing enough votes PAD is ready to resume demonstrations .. which will probably get violent this time.  Thb 55,000,000 is a huge amount of cash for a politician from rural Issan to refuse!

• "Do you know how many countries there are in the world? There are 197. And only 17 have an extradition treaty with Thailand," Thaksin smirks "Better still, only 10 of those treaties are active. So, don't you worry about me, I still have many places to stay..."

November 12, 2008:  Thaksin divorces Poki-mom, his wife of 32 years .. no immediate reaction from Thaksin's Mai Noi Ka Lydia.

Ousted & exiled PM Thaksin, aka square head, is a funny guy. Thaksin owns the Manchester City Professional Football Team (England & not Man United) . Thaksin is trying to make British professional football players bow to him .. bow Thai style!

Thaksin has been in exiled since the September 19, 2006.  Military Coup D' Etat  & has convicted in absentia of multiple criminal offenses in 2008.

In Thailand it is very important to respect the customs, wishes and traditions of the Thai people.

• Harry Nicolaides is an Australian author of a book VERISIMILITUDE ~excerpts~  (50 copies were printed and seven sold) has been jailed for 5 months for lèse-majesté. ..  "my cell is 12 meters long and just over four meters wide, holding 50 or 60 prisoners"

  • The book contains 103 words that references rumors about the “romantic entanglements and intrigues” of the family of the Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, and particularly his son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn

  • Feb.21, 2009:  Mr. Nicolaides was granted a pardon by King Rama IX & has returned to Australia.

• Lèse-majesté charges against a BBC reporter who stated at a conference on the 2006 coup,   "The King is 79 years old and in uncertain health. His son, the Crown Prince, does not enjoy the same affection that his father does, and many Thais feel he cannot fill his father's shoes. These concerns are well-known in Bangkok; less so in the countryside" ... this statement was translated to ‘the Crown Prince does not have the same happiness and affection as His Majesty the King does' & the phrase ‘he cannot fill his father's shoes' was interpreted in his Thai translation as meaning ‘he cannot succeed to [his father's] throne'.

  • Charges were filed on April 8 against Jonathan Head and committee members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), alleging that they had committed the offence at a seminar entitled ‘Coup, Capital and Crown' on December 13, 2007.

• 2009: There are currently 32 new cases of Lèse-majesté under investigation.  The penalty is 15 years.

Bottom Line:  Be very careful & 100% respectful in any statement made regarding the Thai Royal Family .. out of context, poor translation & / or misinterpretation can result in horrendous consequences!

Yellow Shirts worn by PAD protesters represent loyalty to King Rama IX Rama IX is the planet's longest reigning monarch .. since 1946. Rama IX is the planet's richest monarch. Rama IX was too ill to give his expected birthday eve speech on December 4.  The King turned 81 on December 5. Thailand has a strictly enforced law against lèse-majesté (offending the monarchy) which outlaws even the mildest discussion / criticism / humor concerning the King.  Dozens of westerners have been jailed for not showing proper respect to the king. January 2009: Thailand has blocked access in Thailand to over 2000 web sites that are less than respectful of the monarchy. One of the first things I learned after moving to Thailand was the level of regard & love the Thai people have for the King. Protecttheking.net set up to ensure no one can disparage Rama IX The 2006 Military Coup D' Etat was the 15 coup during Rama IX's 62 year reign.

Twice courts have declared partys associated with Thaksin to be illegal & twice now they have simply renamed them selves. The Democrat Party supported by PAD contends that it has garnered a majority coalition. If the Democrats lose the PM election in Parliament expect PAD to again protest. Venus, Jupiter & the moon align over Bangkok December 2. 350,000 tourists stranded   Somchai forced to step down & remain out of politics for 5 years! All partys associated with the PPP, Thaksin, Somchai coalition ordered to disband. PAD demonstrations against Thaksin preceded the September 19, 2006.  Military Coup D' Etat  .. & The Thai Army is now calling for new elections. Reports of Thaksin's PPP offering Viagra for votes!   "stand up for PPP"

 

Thailand Hotels .. beach huts from 200Thb .. island villas 50,000Thb .. 60 Hotels with free WiFi

The Thai political situation boiled down to as few words as possible ..

• Thailand is a parliamentary democratic system + is a constitutional monarchy.  Voters cast their ballot for a party not a PM.  In parliamentary democracy parties build coalitions to select the PM.

  • The above simplified synopsis of parliamentary democracy is covered by text books in the library.

• The current PM represents the PPP a replacement for the outlawed Thai Rak Thai party of ousted PM Thaksin.

  • Thaksin was exiled by the September 19, 2006.  Military Coup D' Etat  & convicted in absentia of multiple criminal offenses in 2008.  Thaksin  is making daily statements for Somchai to use force against PAD.

  • Nov 20, '08:  The UK revoked Thaksin's Visa for his criminal acts.

  • "Do you know how many countries there are in the world? There are 197. And only 17 have an extradition treaty with Thailand," Thaksin smirks "Better still, only 10 of those treaties are active. So, don't you worry about me, I still have many places to stay...

  • Ousted PM Somchai is Thaksin's brother-in-law & was appointed by the majority coalition,  PPP.

• In my apartment building (& at work) most of us, expats & white collar Thai, support PAD .. ??