Vichai N: The sad thing is that every side in thailand has done the same thing, the monarchy, the military (whatever faction), the police, the political parties. The lottery has always been seen as something to raid (remember, for instance, the 999 lottery miracle? Where did that come from?) and police bagmen, what’s new? people on every side are and have long been impervious to the law
I think one of the reasons that why the Myitsone Dam is so important to Kachin people and KIO/KIA is military strategically it is very important for controlling the areas of Northern Kachin State which is upstream areas of Irrawaddy River. KIA has controlled most of the areas that dam sits located upper the Irrawaddy river (Myisone) since the past time. KIA has No.1 battalion in the area and most of its post are station along the Malihka and N mai hka river side. Since there is the natural obstacle of the narrow, rocky and strong speed of flow the river the Burmese Military cannot easy reach to those areas.
But if there is the dam, more Burmese Troops will be deployed for the security reason which mean that the lose of control of KIA on those areas. Defiantly the level of water will be rising up for over a hundred foots high by the dam, and all of the KIA’s control areas and it’s military bases will be under the water in automatically. Then the government troops can be easily reached to all of the areas without any obstacles by the boats or warships. Therefore It is reasonable for KIA should be concerned over the control of their areas.
The Ushahidi platform has been used in many countries for election monitoring: Mexico, India, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Lebanon and Kenya among others. It has been developed in Kenya during the post-election violence of 2008. The goal was to quickly get reports on where the violence was happening.
But it has also been applied to other purposes. In Haiti it was used to get reports about people trapped under destroyed building after the earthquake for example. Aid agencies used the crowd-sourced reports to send rescue teams to the right locations…
I was curious about what you both think about the death of Fabio Polenghi, another foreign journalist who died in equally dubious circumstances. His death seems to almost have been forgotten by most commentators.
I remember some time ago I read an academic article complaining that the anthropological studies done in Thailand largely ignored the negative sides of village life like the roles of the nak laengs in favor of endless reports on merit making ceremonies. The argument went that foreigners were co-opted by the Thai friendly, sabaay, sanouk culture and turned a blind eye to the darker side of village life.
Also, for all the frustrations, long time foreign residents of Thailand want to either live here or at least return. There may be some paranoia involved.
There is also the question of being published. I have found these online discussions very helpful. The web has enabled me to see more truthful and honest analysis than has ever been possible previously.
I’ve ready both parts and so far I don’t find anything surprising but am pleasantly surprised that I was not the only one who thought the same of the situation at the time the cables were written. The only problem is I am like you and like the people who have written the cables a foreigner, and as Thais always remind me, I am not a Thai. Like you mentioned in your interview the love that Thai people have for their King is genuine. He is only king that 80% of the popluation know this is a concept that is alien to all foreigners and it cannot be compared to anywhere else. My view, like the view of Thailand like many other foreigners is skewed and it fails the moral litmus test time and time again. The only conclusion I can reach is that its just the way business and transactions have been done for hundreds of years and it won’t and cannot change. That being said I learnt a long time ago that Thais as a nation and people have excellent survival instincts and as difficult as the challenges may be I do believe that the country will somehow find its way out of its current morass.
“This forum doesnโt allow a different opinion. I canโt believe itโs a western site.”
Kate, if you take the trouble to actually look around it, you’ll see this site does allow plenty of different opinions. It thrives on them. In fact – to use a familiar English expression – it bends over backwards to include them.
You can’t believe it’s a “western site”? That seems to suggest that you’re more used to non-western (Thai?) sites where either the moderators do keep out opinions they don’t like or the other members just gang up on anyone who steps out of line to express a different opinion. That’s not the case here – it’s not a place for people to just call out “chaiyo!” to each other.
Say what you want – but make some kind of case for what you’re saying….. preferably with facts that can be checked. If that’s too much, I know that Facebook etc are far less demanding. Up to you na krub.
Last week I started to read Part I of Andrew M’s paper and thought I would not need to print it. But IT access probeelms have changed my mind and I have now printed out Parts I and II.
I congratulate AMM on the time and effort he has taken. If I could suggest something, it is that the work would impress more if he wrote more narrative and comment rather than quoting chunks of Handley/ Stevenson etc.
That being said, I look forward to reading Parts III and IV, and the book that I hope will be forthcoming. Of course it will be banned in Thailand. And he is probably on the blacklist already, so no more holidays in Phuket. He deserves the support and encouragement of all of us, for making the sacrifices that he has in the interests of freedom of expression.
Wow, ASTV just told their viewers to focus on disbanding Phuea Thai instead. Calling it a meatier subject.
Seems that the Vote No campaign is going badly for them. They needed around 5 million votes to actually keep the country from going forward. Which is ironic that the number of petitions that the Red shirts submitted for Thaksin’s Amnesty was around that (and more).
This proves once again that the yellows are a sad minority. If the reds wanted to destroy the country, they can do it in no time flat. It’s that simple.
I used to have my comment not posted once, and I read it again and found that it was not very constructive. Thus I tried to be as constructive as I could afterwards.
Constructive comment is one which is academic; one needs to study both sides of the story before taking a stance. When one takes a stance that they favour one side over another, they should explain their viewpoint, back it up with facts and evidence. They also have to consider the opposition’s view, talk about it, but use logic, theory, and evidence to convince their readers that their views are better.
Kate, the reason I hardly reply to your posts so far is because it is quite obvious you rarely have studied the viewpoint which is opposite to yours in great detail. You parrot what the elites tell the Thai people on TV in this forum, and leave it at that point. You have not argued against the viewpoint of many academics here (which are very well-argumented and well-reasoned) by using logic, theory, or principles. Thus I really see no point to engage in a discussion with you because it is obvious you have not really studied the topic in discussion in detail (which means you study the story of both sides, analyse, and make your a well-informed decision on which stance you would choose to take based on your own logic, not parroting the viewpoint the elites feed Thai people on TV word by word).
I will simply take an example here where you parrot the officials saying that the Reds ‘burned the city’. I would like to ask you to present a strong evidence that the Reds committed an arson on CTW building. Can you do that? You are welcome to bring evidences the elites give you on TV and parrot those evidences here. Now, consider these evidences of 74 photos before CTW was set ablaze, which are evidences which have been withheld by the DSI themselves, which have been leaked to public
So who did it? All the Red protesters I saw in these 74 photos are those who are injured, barely able to walk. Can these people set a fire on this gigantic mall? I doubt it. But I saw a lot of black shirted people, with weapons. Who gave them the weapons? Why were they there? Who ordered them to be there? We don’t know, and until the investigation has been conducted by an impartial third party we will never know. Parroting the Thai TV that the ‘Reds’ did it, is not only unacademic (as it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt), but it is repetitive, unconstructive, and extremely boring for people like me who have seen these unproven assertions being repeated million times. This is just one example of the viewpoint you make. I could scritinise your other posts in a similar way, but I’ll stop. I’ll just offer a tip for you:
“a real academic does not listen to one side of the story. He listens to both sides. He will not avoid listening to the story from the side whom he does not want to hear. Instead, he would listen to what those people say very carefully, so that he can notice if there is any flaw or hole in the argument, so that he can point them out and prove them wrong.”
Thailand’s political crisis is much complicated than you think, I tell you. I must admit that it is much more complex than what I really think. In fact, I think that the more I know, the more I realise how little I actually know.
What want-to-be Marxist or Fascist wouldn’t be fascinated by the report, especially if they missed Orwell along their path to the Nirvana of oppressive and manipulative politics? The good Colonel neglects to mention the penultimate action to their cunning plan, namely simply gunning the reds down like the dogs these aspiring elite believe they are.
Wholesale murder is such a tacky term for…wholesale slaughter, policing action or establishment of lawful order have a far nicer ring. In fact throws up heroic images of well armed khaki fearlessly again exterminating the unarmed…perhaps another victory monument should be in order.
Look forward to more insights from the Colonel. I love it when a turkey shoot acquires academic deification for those holding the guns.
One prominent aspect of this election that seems to get little coverage is that ten years after Thaksin started using modern marketing and PR techniques in a Thai election, the Democrats still have learned to employ them. Every PTP policy is known as it is packeged so well, repeated so often and in a simple soundbite way. Very few people even know the democrat policies (they do have some). Yingluck versus Abhisit is another complete defeat for the Democrats in this area.
Getting beyond the Dems and PTP and forgetting the emotive stuff for a while, there are two things that the establishment have not learned after all these years:
1. The old medium sized and small parties they can divide and conquer thing no longer works. Thailand is ready for a two party system. Thaksin/red whatever you want to call them are all united in one party and everyone knows if you support Thaksin or the red or the local PTP man that is who you vote for. That also means you can spend all your time campaigning on policies and such like. On the kind of anti-Thaksin, anti-Red, we might not work with them, we are centrist, we swing each way etc etc group there are a multitude of parties all with their own leaderships, desires, hatreds, a few policies and they compete with each other as much as the PTP. Even allowing for PTP and Thaksin being overly popular right now the mish mash of also rans including the Democrats are never going to be able to challenge precisely for these reasons. While many go on about the Dems being the established party of Thailand, this misses that in spite of all the attacks on it PTP is really the only large modern party that covers every region (assuming they will do something in the deep south) while the Democrats are effectively outcasts in swathes of Thailand to the point where a counter to PTP that for a vibrant democracy is a must will have to be born from from scratch. Back pre-coup, and even for some time after this was not the situation, now the Democrat party and all the other ones are a hindrance to formation of a two party system.
2. The establishment listened to Abhisit tell them he would win an election. Even at the time you could hear the groans creaking from Newin and Banharn, but they listened, believed (because they wanted to believe?) and went with it. Now as Thitinan says…..
The PTP could well come out of this with an overall majority. If they do, one can only hope they stick with their (inexperienced, but fresh) PM candidate and dont delve into dodgy ex police generals with the initial P to satisfy the establishement, after all that is what the people will have voted for. Excluding coalition allies if they win big will also reflect will of the people. And finally if this scenario of a big PTP win does come about the establishment will likely have time to rue that they have actually managed to discredit virtually every check and balance and helped to assist what will likely be the opposition in not only discrediting themsleves but asssiting in the creation of almost unbridgeable divides at a political level. This potentially leaves a majority government almost unchecked with anything that can check them compromised. I would guess this is a situation the establishment didnt exactly want to find themselves in.
They get paid 1.5 million baht by the US government. Period. What’s worse is that Prachatai doesn’t disclose the fact that they receive money from a foreign government on their website, and instead claim to be “independent,” while they plea for donations and play the victim when the Thai government shakes them down. Seems they even have you fooled. Last time I checked, taking money from a foreign government to undermine your own was treason.
Furthermore, if you look at the Endowment’s Board of Directors you will find people like Francis Fukuyama, Zalmay Khalilzad, Frank Carlucci (2002), Will Marshall, and Vin Weber. These are not men interested in independent journalism, democracy, or human rights. In fact they are some of the best examples on earth of those working against such ideals.
I don’t expect an apology, and I don’t even particularly blame you for not looking into it. Yes it does sound crazy that Prachatai is receiving money directly from the planet’s most notorious cabal of war criminals. It also happens to be the truth. Apparently you spent some time with them and they gained, and betrayed your trust. Please realize, that out of everyone posting here, and at Prachatai, I am the only one presenting REAL verifiable evidence. Not dubious “cables” depending on the word of equally dubious diplomats. At least do me the favor of reexamining my other “conspiracy theories,” you may just yet really “revolutionize” your understanding of Thailand and the world.
I was trying so hard to communicate with you but was banned (twice). This forum doesn’t allow a different opinion. I can’t believe it’s a western site. ๐
Police in Malaysia arresting “Bersih” people for wearing T shirts!
The T-shirts with the words “Bersih” on it were declared illegal by the home minister.
This is worse than Thailand and not a whimper from any “Western” countries???
I find it very upsetting that the elites distort and dramatize the Temple of Preah Vihear incident so much that it makes the brainwashed and credulous Thais believe that Thaksin is ‘giving away’ Temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia, and thus he is a betrayer of Thailand who gives a slice of Thailand to foreigners (in Thai they use the word ัโะัโโัโะฒัโะัโโัโะฅัโโค (khai-chart), which is a term which I still have no idea what it really means, and I bet those brainwashed parrots who are addicted to official media don’t know its true meaning either). Many still believe that Temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Thailand, and that the ICJ decision is not binding. Some Thais are making claims that ‘only the temple itself belongs to Cambodia, but the land still belongs to Thailand’.
How silly and credulous can they be!
The Temple of Preah Vihear has been ruled by the International Court of Justice to belong to Cambodia. No right of appeal is possible unless there is new evidence. Full stop. Anybody can go read the judgment on the ICJ website where they clearly explain reasons why they think the temple belongs to Cambodia.
I feel so upset that the establishment takes this irrelevant issue and distort it to attack their opponents. It is incredibly uncivilised. What’s worse, many Thais fell for it. Every time I hear people say Thaksin is khai-chart because he gives Temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia, I just can’t believe that my fellow countrymen are this stupid. Who should we blame for all of this?
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Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
Vichai N: The sad thing is that every side in thailand has done the same thing, the monarchy, the military (whatever faction), the police, the political parties. The lottery has always been seen as something to raid (remember, for instance, the 999 lottery miracle? Where did that come from?) and police bagmen, what’s new? people on every side are and have long been impervious to the law
New war in Kachin State?
I think one of the reasons that why the Myitsone Dam is so important to Kachin people and KIO/KIA is military strategically it is very important for controlling the areas of Northern Kachin State which is upstream areas of Irrawaddy River. KIA has controlled most of the areas that dam sits located upper the Irrawaddy river (Myisone) since the past time. KIA has No.1 battalion in the area and most of its post are station along the Malihka and N mai hka river side. Since there is the natural obstacle of the narrow, rocky and strong speed of flow the river the Burmese Military cannot easy reach to those areas.
But if there is the dam, more Burmese Troops will be deployed for the security reason which mean that the lose of control of KIA on those areas. Defiantly the level of water will be rising up for over a hundred foots high by the dam, and all of the KIA’s control areas and it’s military bases will be under the water in automatically. Then the government troops can be easily reached to all of the areas without any obstacles by the boats or warships. Therefore It is reasonable for KIA should be concerned over the control of their areas.
Crowd-sourcing the Thai election
The Ushahidi platform has been used in many countries for election monitoring: Mexico, India, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Lebanon and Kenya among others. It has been developed in Kenya during the post-election violence of 2008. The goal was to quickly get reports on where the violence was happening.
But it has also been applied to other purposes. In Haiti it was used to get reports about people trapped under destroyed building after the earthquake for example. Aid agencies used the crowd-sourced reports to send rescue teams to the right locations…
Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
Nick Nostitz, Andrew Marshall
Yes it was terrible what happened to Hiro.
I was curious about what you both think about the death of Fabio Polenghi, another foreign journalist who died in equally dubious circumstances. His death seems to almost have been forgotten by most commentators.
Any thoughts?
Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
RE: Nick # 96
I remember some time ago I read an academic article complaining that the anthropological studies done in Thailand largely ignored the negative sides of village life like the roles of the nak laengs in favor of endless reports on merit making ceremonies. The argument went that foreigners were co-opted by the Thai friendly, sabaay, sanouk culture and turned a blind eye to the darker side of village life.
Also, for all the frustrations, long time foreign residents of Thailand want to either live here or at least return. There may be some paranoia involved.
There is also the question of being published. I have found these online discussions very helpful. The web has enabled me to see more truthful and honest analysis than has ever been possible previously.
Thank you all for your contributions.
Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
I’ve ready both parts and so far I don’t find anything surprising but am pleasantly surprised that I was not the only one who thought the same of the situation at the time the cables were written. The only problem is I am like you and like the people who have written the cables a foreigner, and as Thais always remind me, I am not a Thai. Like you mentioned in your interview the love that Thai people have for their King is genuine. He is only king that 80% of the popluation know this is a concept that is alien to all foreigners and it cannot be compared to anywhere else. My view, like the view of Thailand like many other foreigners is skewed and it fails the moral litmus test time and time again. The only conclusion I can reach is that its just the way business and transactions have been done for hundreds of years and it won’t and cannot change. That being said I learnt a long time ago that Thais as a nation and people have excellent survival instincts and as difficult as the challenges may be I do believe that the country will somehow find its way out of its current morass.
Election advice
c12
“This forum doesnโt allow a different opinion. I canโt believe itโs a western site.”
Kate, if you take the trouble to actually look around it, you’ll see this site does allow plenty of different opinions. It thrives on them. In fact – to use a familiar English expression – it bends over backwards to include them.
You can’t believe it’s a “western site”? That seems to suggest that you’re more used to non-western (Thai?) sites where either the moderators do keep out opinions they don’t like or the other members just gang up on anyone who steps out of line to express a different opinion. That’s not the case here – it’s not a place for people to just call out “chaiyo!” to each other.
Say what you want – but make some kind of case for what you’re saying….. preferably with facts that can be checked. If that’s too much, I know that Facebook etc are far less demanding. Up to you na krub.
Malaysia: Yellow is the new Black
Malaysia’s royal colour just became taboo? Who is waging war against the King now?
Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
Last week I started to read Part I of Andrew M’s paper and thought I would not need to print it. But IT access probeelms have changed my mind and I have now printed out Parts I and II.
I congratulate AMM on the time and effort he has taken. If I could suggest something, it is that the work would impress more if he wrote more narrative and comment rather than quoting chunks of Handley/ Stevenson etc.
That being said, I look forward to reading Parts III and IV, and the book that I hope will be forthcoming. Of course it will be banned in Thailand. And he is probably on the blacklist already, so no more holidays in Phuket. He deserves the support and encouragement of all of us, for making the sacrifices that he has in the interests of freedom of expression.
Crowd-sourcing the Thai election
seems excellent innovation,
anyone know anything similar in other countries?
Election advice
Wow, ASTV just told their viewers to focus on disbanding Phuea Thai instead. Calling it a meatier subject.
Seems that the Vote No campaign is going badly for them. They needed around 5 million votes to actually keep the country from going forward. Which is ironic that the number of petitions that the Red shirts submitted for Thaksin’s Amnesty was around that (and more).
This proves once again that the yellows are a sad minority. If the reds wanted to destroy the country, they can do it in no time flat. It’s that simple.
Election advice
I used to have my comment not posted once, and I read it again and found that it was not very constructive. Thus I tried to be as constructive as I could afterwards.
Constructive comment is one which is academic; one needs to study both sides of the story before taking a stance. When one takes a stance that they favour one side over another, they should explain their viewpoint, back it up with facts and evidence. They also have to consider the opposition’s view, talk about it, but use logic, theory, and evidence to convince their readers that their views are better.
Kate, the reason I hardly reply to your posts so far is because it is quite obvious you rarely have studied the viewpoint which is opposite to yours in great detail. You parrot what the elites tell the Thai people on TV in this forum, and leave it at that point. You have not argued against the viewpoint of many academics here (which are very well-argumented and well-reasoned) by using logic, theory, or principles. Thus I really see no point to engage in a discussion with you because it is obvious you have not really studied the topic in discussion in detail (which means you study the story of both sides, analyse, and make your a well-informed decision on which stance you would choose to take based on your own logic, not parroting the viewpoint the elites feed Thai people on TV word by word).
I will simply take an example here where you parrot the officials saying that the Reds ‘burned the city’. I would like to ask you to present a strong evidence that the Reds committed an arson on CTW building. Can you do that? You are welcome to bring evidences the elites give you on TV and parrot those evidences here. Now, consider these evidences of 74 photos before CTW was set ablaze, which are evidences which have been withheld by the DSI themselves, which have been leaked to public
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.180108842000909.46332.100000053834445
The DSI later admitted that they withheld this evidence. See this news here as proof:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/210368/dsi-claims-jatuporn-photos-show-nothing-new
So who did it? All the Red protesters I saw in these 74 photos are those who are injured, barely able to walk. Can these people set a fire on this gigantic mall? I doubt it. But I saw a lot of black shirted people, with weapons. Who gave them the weapons? Why were they there? Who ordered them to be there? We don’t know, and until the investigation has been conducted by an impartial third party we will never know. Parroting the Thai TV that the ‘Reds’ did it, is not only unacademic (as it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt), but it is repetitive, unconstructive, and extremely boring for people like me who have seen these unproven assertions being repeated million times. This is just one example of the viewpoint you make. I could scritinise your other posts in a similar way, but I’ll stop. I’ll just offer a tip for you:
“a real academic does not listen to one side of the story. He listens to both sides. He will not avoid listening to the story from the side whom he does not want to hear. Instead, he would listen to what those people say very carefully, so that he can notice if there is any flaw or hole in the argument, so that he can point them out and prove them wrong.”
Thailand’s political crisis is much complicated than you think, I tell you. I must admit that it is much more complex than what I really think. In fact, I think that the more I know, the more I realise how little I actually know.
Intelligence operations against the Red Shirts
What want-to-be Marxist or Fascist wouldn’t be fascinated by the report, especially if they missed Orwell along their path to the Nirvana of oppressive and manipulative politics? The good Colonel neglects to mention the penultimate action to their cunning plan, namely simply gunning the reds down like the dogs these aspiring elite believe they are.
Wholesale murder is such a tacky term for…wholesale slaughter, policing action or establishment of lawful order have a far nicer ring. In fact throws up heroic images of well armed khaki fearlessly again exterminating the unarmed…perhaps another victory monument should be in order.
Look forward to more insights from the Colonel. I love it when a turkey shoot acquires academic deification for those holding the guns.
Can the Democrats make it six in a row?
One prominent aspect of this election that seems to get little coverage is that ten years after Thaksin started using modern marketing and PR techniques in a Thai election, the Democrats still have learned to employ them. Every PTP policy is known as it is packeged so well, repeated so often and in a simple soundbite way. Very few people even know the democrat policies (they do have some). Yingluck versus Abhisit is another complete defeat for the Democrats in this area.
Getting beyond the Dems and PTP and forgetting the emotive stuff for a while, there are two things that the establishment have not learned after all these years:
1. The old medium sized and small parties they can divide and conquer thing no longer works. Thailand is ready for a two party system. Thaksin/red whatever you want to call them are all united in one party and everyone knows if you support Thaksin or the red or the local PTP man that is who you vote for. That also means you can spend all your time campaigning on policies and such like. On the kind of anti-Thaksin, anti-Red, we might not work with them, we are centrist, we swing each way etc etc group there are a multitude of parties all with their own leaderships, desires, hatreds, a few policies and they compete with each other as much as the PTP. Even allowing for PTP and Thaksin being overly popular right now the mish mash of also rans including the Democrats are never going to be able to challenge precisely for these reasons. While many go on about the Dems being the established party of Thailand, this misses that in spite of all the attacks on it PTP is really the only large modern party that covers every region (assuming they will do something in the deep south) while the Democrats are effectively outcasts in swathes of Thailand to the point where a counter to PTP that for a vibrant democracy is a must will have to be born from from scratch. Back pre-coup, and even for some time after this was not the situation, now the Democrat party and all the other ones are a hindrance to formation of a two party system.
2. The establishment listened to Abhisit tell them he would win an election. Even at the time you could hear the groans creaking from Newin and Banharn, but they listened, believed (because they wanted to believe?) and went with it. Now as Thitinan says…..
The PTP could well come out of this with an overall majority. If they do, one can only hope they stick with their (inexperienced, but fresh) PM candidate and dont delve into dodgy ex police generals with the initial P to satisfy the establishement, after all that is what the people will have voted for. Excluding coalition allies if they win big will also reflect will of the people. And finally if this scenario of a big PTP win does come about the establishment will likely have time to rue that they have actually managed to discredit virtually every check and balance and helped to assist what will likely be the opposition in not only discrediting themsleves but asssiting in the creation of almost unbridgeable divides at a political level. This potentially leaves a majority government almost unchecked with anything that can check them compromised. I would guess this is a situation the establishment didnt exactly want to find themselves in.
Election advice
2 of my comments on this topic were banned, weren’t they ?
Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
Nick Nostitz, what do you mean “out to lunch” regarding Prachatai’s foreign funding?
It is right on the official US National Endowment for Democracy website….
http://ned.org/where-we-work/asia/thailand
They get paid 1.5 million baht by the US government. Period. What’s worse is that Prachatai doesn’t disclose the fact that they receive money from a foreign government on their website, and instead claim to be “independent,” while they plea for donations and play the victim when the Thai government shakes them down. Seems they even have you fooled. Last time I checked, taking money from a foreign government to undermine your own was treason.
Furthermore, if you look at the Endowment’s Board of Directors you will find people like Francis Fukuyama, Zalmay Khalilzad, Frank Carlucci (2002), Will Marshall, and Vin Weber. These are not men interested in independent journalism, democracy, or human rights. In fact they are some of the best examples on earth of those working against such ideals.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/neo-cons-for-human-rights.html
I don’t expect an apology, and I don’t even particularly blame you for not looking into it. Yes it does sound crazy that Prachatai is receiving money directly from the planet’s most notorious cabal of war criminals. It also happens to be the truth. Apparently you spent some time with them and they gained, and betrayed your trust. Please realize, that out of everyone posting here, and at Prachatai, I am the only one presenting REAL verifiable evidence. Not dubious “cables” depending on the word of equally dubious diplomats. At least do me the favor of reexamining my other “conspiracy theories,” you may just yet really “revolutionize” your understanding of Thailand and the world.
Election advice
Banned twice? How does that work?
Election advice
@ WLH/Tarrin
I was trying so hard to communicate with you but was banned (twice). This forum doesn’t allow a different opinion. I can’t believe it’s a western site. ๐
Malaysia: Yellow is the new Black
Police in Malaysia arresting “Bersih” people for wearing T shirts!
The T-shirts with the words “Bersih” on it were declared illegal by the home minister.
This is worse than Thailand and not a whimper from any “Western” countries???
Can the Democrats make it six in a row?
@Luecha na Malai
I find it very upsetting that the elites distort and dramatize the Temple of Preah Vihear incident so much that it makes the brainwashed and credulous Thais believe that Thaksin is ‘giving away’ Temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia, and thus he is a betrayer of Thailand who gives a slice of Thailand to foreigners (in Thai they use the word ัโะัโโัโะฒัโะัโโัโะฅัโโค (khai-chart), which is a term which I still have no idea what it really means, and I bet those brainwashed parrots who are addicted to official media don’t know its true meaning either). Many still believe that Temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Thailand, and that the ICJ decision is not binding. Some Thais are making claims that ‘only the temple itself belongs to Cambodia, but the land still belongs to Thailand’.
How silly and credulous can they be!
The Temple of Preah Vihear has been ruled by the International Court of Justice to belong to Cambodia. No right of appeal is possible unless there is new evidence. Full stop. Anybody can go read the judgment on the ICJ website where they clearly explain reasons why they think the temple belongs to Cambodia.
I feel so upset that the establishment takes this irrelevant issue and distort it to attack their opponents. It is incredibly uncivilised. What’s worse, many Thais fell for it. Every time I hear people say Thaksin is khai-chart because he gives Temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia, I just can’t believe that my fellow countrymen are this stupid. Who should we blame for all of this?