Agree with Ian Baird. I found it amusing when he said that “Laos has few natural resources to bring it out of poverty.” He’s not heard of Sepon then?
Also, it was shot really well, but that’s about it.
Sounded like Zoe Daniel narrated the whole thing from an International Rivers report. Not that that’d ordinarily be a bad thing, but it’s foreign correspondent and she just seemed like a gawking tourist journalist. Should’ve pressed people (like Phoumsoupha) she had access to a lot more. Even a little more. Piecemeal.
“It is still early days for Gen Prayuth, but past experience with so much military power in the body politic does not bode well. The past has shown that powerful military cohorts do not return to the barracks voluntarily……..”
As if in response to Thitinan’s article above, a bomb explosion rocked Nontaburi about 6 pm today killing at least two persons (even though this province is still under emergency laws). Could it be done by factions opposed to Gen P, or even by Gen P’s own men so as to fulfill the Chiengmai MP’s prediction that he will stage a coup this month ?
This poor guy is faced with a tough choice to deal with the daily bombings — if he doesn’t act decisively, his foes will laugh at him; and if he does stage a coup, the whole world is ready to condemn him.
Hi superanonymous, I’m currently being censored on New Mandala even though none of my posts have – in any way – warranted censorship. I’m being censored because the questions I wish to ask are questions which they’re much rather not answer – despite of (or due to) their inherently obvious validity.
But the plus side is I get lots of interesting screenshots.
—————–
Thank you for the link to the well-known Section 230 case which was a valuable Win for Sanity in ways that have (so far) eluded Sanity’s grasp in the rest of the first world. It is important for website owners to be protected from frivolous civil lawsuits. Whilst it’s perfectly understandable that a layperson could get confused (the wording of Section 230 implies a relevance that does not exist); I assure you that it’s a great deal more complex than it appears. In any case, the CDA and Section 230 are irrelevant to this discussion.
You found a ruling which was an important one for US website owners, as a precedent which sets a base level of immunity from exposure to civil concerns.
Section 230 does not provide protection for online criminal acts, infringement, or violations of electronic privacy laws. This discussion on New Mandala involves criminal law – it has nothing to do with defamation or civil law.
Very few of us would argue in favour of the law itself. But that’s a different discussion. My point was – regardless of your opinion on the law itself, the simple fact is that very serious crimes in Thailand have been broken by the Prachatai owners. And no matter if you’re in Thailand or US, or Australia, or Japan, or the UK or Europe…in any nation where there is rule of law (for true freedom, hurry to Somalia)…the law….is. the. law. And if you break it knowingly as this lady has done (in flamboyantly outspoken activist manner), you do so at your own peril and risk being subjected to due process – which would only be a curiosity or a surprise if it did not occur.
I think 80% of laws are stupid. But what I think about the governments writing laws seeking to further impose their will onto my inalienable rights….doesn’t mean squat. Because if I break the laws I know are unjust, no matter how unfair or immoral or unjust the law/s I break are – I know if I do, I’m going to risk interaction with that nation’s due process. This is true whether I am in the US or Australia or the UK or Thailand.
This discussion – before my posts were censored in cowardly fashion – was heading in that direction. If in the US, I started posting death threats directed at President Obama on a forum, any webmaster who believes Section 230 protects him is going to be very unpleasantly surprised. If I’m in Europe and posting against the law (in contempt of court or defaming someone or breaking UK’s laws) and an activist webmaster refused to remove my posts, he would be treated far harsher than Jiranut. This is fact.
I’m living in Thailand and my freedoms here – even to the point where I could be accused of lese majeste – are not being trampled on. Almost no one’s freedoms are – anyone who is telling you otherwise is spinning nonsense for invested agenda purposes.
There are people in prison sure. You can call them political prisoners if you want. I don’t much care so long as they are kept away from their bombs and Molotov cocktails and out of throwing range of my home and family. There is evidence on YouTube showing them making speeches which incite violence and riots and revolution. They are criminals and terrorists.
There are publications being forced to close, sure. When their content is invariably extremist and violent and misrepresenting of reality (for dishonourable means). As Abhisit explained to the US media last week, “I’m not sure you’d allow an Al-Qaeda TV station or newspaper here….”
That’s the largely accurate comparison. Whether you care for it or not. I can provide New Mandala readers with millions of words ruthlessly lambasting the government and even outright criticism of lese majeste – millions of words published recently here in Bangkok in every newspaper and posted on every online portal. Unsuppressed. Free. By authors who don’t even realise the irony of their freely published and false rhetoric.
Don’t fall for the spin. You only accede the moral high ground if you compromise yourself by first wading through the mud. An example of which might be censoring corrections to completely incorrect posts; on a blog which claims no bias but which has, so far, been remarkably convincing in it’s portrayal as a one-sided mouthpiece for the enemy of democracy, of decency….of Thailand.
Sceptic # 16 :
yes indeed – another masterpiece from Thitinan.
He could have made the additional point about Suchinda’s Class 5
that it was an unusually large class. This enabled Anand to break it up, by exploiting rivalries and dissent within it.
Sam D#15, you’re right about the Pink Man series, although it’s been put in a rather difficult situation over the recent shift in Thai colour consciousness. It did rather depend on what Manit previously declared was the feeling that the colour was considered “bad taste, vulgar.” That is no longer true. In fact I don’t think anyone would dare make such a statement now; it could possibly result in LM charges! I notice that Pink Man has an exhibition, ‘Phenomena & Prophecies’, opening in Singapore on Oct. 7. The images in his publicity appear to be old ones, however.
It’s true that the work of Patravadi Theatre stands up well in the context of international performing arts, but it is not socially critical, & I can’t imagine anything coming out of that organisation discussing issues such as the jailing of political dissidents, ‘disappearances’, ‘murder by the state’, corporate – state corruption, the ineptness of government, etc., in the way that the theatre does in healthier & more intellectually competent societies. In South Africa, Eastern Europe, & Indonesia, theatre has been right at the forefront of social activism, although often forced ‘underground’. The current ‘reconciliation’ farce is a topic crying out for theatrical expression.
There is a vast visual arts scene in Thailand, not only creators, but also exhibition venues. Very little of what is produced, however, reflects the well-established undercurrents of social dissent, let alone those levels that are now right out in the light. Nor does it begin to express the cutting edge of dissent. Indeed, a great deal of it seems to be blindly supporting ‘reconciliation’ as it is manifesting. There is something deeply depressing, if not repugnant, about wandering through gallery after gallery crammed with cheerily competent flower paintings, temples, Buddha images, and dull representations of Royal figures, in a city which is in a state of social upheaval. I’m somewhat hesitant to use the word ‘paranoid’ to describe artists, because fear of dangers that are real is not paranoid, but there does seem to be an atmosphere of paranoia in the art scene, stemming from the very real threats, leading to some peculiarly obscure, convoluted, or closeted ‘passive-aggressive’ work, as well as outright denial, which does tend to divorce art from social thought, if not from the superficial smiling face of society in this age of ‘reconciliation’.
A notable exception is The Pridi Banomyong Institute, which occasionally has some interesting art exhibitions, although much (but not all) of the work seems to be by older artists, dyed-in-the-wool lefties, dishing up the same old stuff.
There are several points which raised my interest in Simpsons book:
1) He described how strangly the payment had been given to him, in the night, without witnesses, somewhere in the dark streets of London, and receiving a silver cigarette box.
2) Starting reporting the case he explains a view which could be seen as prejustice, i.e. he already believed in a murder case, before hearing / seeing the details. (Explaining how many murder cases happened in Siam aristocracy for example.)
3) Simpson describes how the death occurred without giving a source of his information. And finally on page 175 he is judging based on hear saying.
4) The first professor for forensic medicine in UK did not take into consideration, that the dead body could relax and fall back into the position he was found. After he was very fast with his diagnosis and judgement, proofing he was the right man for to get the right opinion from, he got the visit of a colleague from Siam, and he tried to cement the theory during 9 days of intensive discussions.
5) First he shortly explains on page 176, that the prosecution claimed, that the pistol was laying outside the mosquito-net, while eye-witnesses said, that the pistol was inside the net.
6) He said, that the blood spots proofed, that the head was on the pillow while the king was shot and that the bullet also proofed that he had been shot while laying. But the pillow had been buried because too much blood was on it. And some days later the pillow had been again digged out of the earth. It was certainly not easy to use this evidence in this period of time. And further on the prsecution said, that the bullet had been placed into the mattress and not the original bullet. So how can this be used as evidence for the position of the head?
7) He later noted, that the procedure was long and full of delaying tactics. Which is another proof of prejudgement because he was so sure from the beginning.
8) At the end of his report he mentions, that his counterpart, Dr. Niyomson, who was certainly important for the prosecution to underpin their arguments, had been promoted to become the first forensic professor in Thailand (like he in the UK).
Sorry I not used the same words as native speaker, because I translated back from my book where I translated the arguments into German. And I was too lazy to go back to the sources.
I am not saying that Stephen Duthy is necessarily a bad person. I just hadn`t heard of him when I read the quote attributed to him. He was simply identified as an environmental scientist. So, I simply googled his name and found that he has been working for NT2 for a number of years in different capacities. It seemed to me that it would have been appropriate to have identified him as an employee of a dam company. Also, I do believe that the many problems with NT2 need to be more explicitly acknowledged by the company. I don`t think that one has to see the whole documentary to comment on a quote and the identifier of a person who made it. Also, I acknowledge that this may well be the documentary-maker`s mistake, not Stephen Duthy`s.
It is not an ad hominem attack to describe a public figure in both negative and positive terms, both lists of which have been evidenced by the public record and thoroughly discussed. If anything is superficial, it’s the reduction of complex situations to single, “only” problems. Thaksin’s threat to the elite power structure is not being argued here, but your reduction of him to that component alone certainly is.
@Christoffer Larsson
Good point re: productivity (income of course depends on both price and quantity).
On the data, hopefully this works: http://www.price.moc.go.th/en/Default5.aspx (then follow the links)
The crux of the matter:
“In Collins v. Purdue University, 2010 WL 1250916 (N.D. Ind. March 24, 2010), a federal court held that under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, the newspaper could not be held liable for the online comments posted by third parties.”
No, that wasn’t the only problem with Thaksin. Just because the system is corrupt doesn’t absolve Thaksin of personal corruption. Additionally, he was authoritarian, vengeful, nepotistic, hostile to the free press, negligent on human rights, and callously opportunistic.
I understand about corrupted system doesn’t absolve personal corruption, but again, ad hominem attack on a person characteristic is a bit superficial here. Even if the person is a clean as a tissue paper but if the tissue is in the toilet then the is as clean as the toilet itself.
I know I’m old fashioned but I reckon it’s better to watch a show first before hurling brickbats. We might even hope for bouquets. Foreign Correspondent 8pm Tuesday night, ABC 1. Should be viewable on the website http://www.abc.net.au/foreign from mid-evening Australian time both within the wide brown land and around the world. First outing is on Australia Network Wednesday night.
“The only problem with Thaksin is that he is representing the progressive force within the elite…”
No, that wasn’t the only problem with Thaksin. Just because the system is corrupt doesn’t absolve Thaksin of personal corruption. Additionally, he was authoritarian, vengeful, nepotistic, hostile to the free press, negligent on human rights, and callously opportunistic.
But he was not a republican, a traitor to national sovereignty, a destroyer of “Thai values”, an election thief beyond normal practices, or any more corrupt than most heroes of the monarchist right.
Let’s not fight a smear with a whitewash. The side with the simplest answers is usually the least correct.
==
Another good observation from Thitinan today:
“When such a concentrated command structure took place in the past, as with Class Seven and Class Five or the Ratchakru clan and Si Sao Theves group, it invariably led to political trouble.”
Is it just me, or are the Post and Nation both batting above average lately?
If the information that Ian Baird has put forward is correct… ABC seems to be a propaganda outfit worthy of a broadcasting deal with the Thai military stations.
Readers may be interested in this September 18 posting in Thai to Matichon Online. In it, Suphot Dantrakul’s son, Don, discusses the new Royal biography, One King Under the Constitution. It appears the book continues to smear Pridi for the Ananda “regicide conspiracy” and claims to contain “new evidence” on the Ananda death case. Don Dantrakul points out it’s just same same old, tired evidence.
It saddens me that mere Thai ‘politics’ had inflicted a deep wedge between Thaksin and his voodoo brother-mentor Newin . . . to the extent that one would hire expensive assassins to settle scores.
And these two used to be so very close . . . and sticky together like drying voodoo blood. The hired assassin was said to be very expensive . . . Baht 20 million or so for the hit . . . because very special skills (and bullets too) are required considering the voodoo armor protecting the target.
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“The Amazon of Asia” – Laos and the Mekong on ABC TV
Agree with Ian Baird. I found it amusing when he said that “Laos has few natural resources to bring it out of poverty.” He’s not heard of Sepon then?
Also, it was shot really well, but that’s about it.
Sounded like Zoe Daniel narrated the whole thing from an International Rivers report. Not that that’d ordinarily be a bad thing, but it’s foreign correspondent and she just seemed like a gawking tourist journalist. Should’ve pressed people (like Phoumsoupha) she had access to a lot more. Even a little more. Piecemeal.
I don’t know. Maybe it was informative.
General Prayut on his new job
“It is still early days for Gen Prayuth, but past experience with so much military power in the body politic does not bode well. The past has shown that powerful military cohorts do not return to the barracks voluntarily……..”
As if in response to Thitinan’s article above, a bomb explosion rocked Nontaburi about 6 pm today killing at least two persons (even though this province is still under emergency laws). Could it be done by factions opposed to Gen P, or even by Gen P’s own men so as to fulfill the Chiengmai MP’s prediction that he will stage a coup this month ?
This poor guy is faced with a tough choice to deal with the daily bombings — if he doesn’t act decisively, his foes will laugh at him; and if he does stage a coup, the whole world is ready to condemn him.
Prachatai manager arrested
Hi superanonymous, I’m currently being censored on New Mandala even though none of my posts have – in any way – warranted censorship. I’m being censored because the questions I wish to ask are questions which they’re much rather not answer – despite of (or due to) their inherently obvious validity.
But the plus side is I get lots of interesting screenshots.
—————–
Thank you for the link to the well-known Section 230 case which was a valuable Win for Sanity in ways that have (so far) eluded Sanity’s grasp in the rest of the first world. It is important for website owners to be protected from frivolous civil lawsuits. Whilst it’s perfectly understandable that a layperson could get confused (the wording of Section 230 implies a relevance that does not exist); I assure you that it’s a great deal more complex than it appears. In any case, the CDA and Section 230 are irrelevant to this discussion.
You found a ruling which was an important one for US website owners, as a precedent which sets a base level of immunity from exposure to civil concerns.
Section 230 does not provide protection for online criminal acts, infringement, or violations of electronic privacy laws. This discussion on New Mandala involves criminal law – it has nothing to do with defamation or civil law.
Very few of us would argue in favour of the law itself. But that’s a different discussion. My point was – regardless of your opinion on the law itself, the simple fact is that very serious crimes in Thailand have been broken by the Prachatai owners. And no matter if you’re in Thailand or US, or Australia, or Japan, or the UK or Europe…in any nation where there is rule of law (for true freedom, hurry to Somalia)…the law….is. the. law. And if you break it knowingly as this lady has done (in flamboyantly outspoken activist manner), you do so at your own peril and risk being subjected to due process – which would only be a curiosity or a surprise if it did not occur.
I think 80% of laws are stupid. But what I think about the governments writing laws seeking to further impose their will onto my inalienable rights….doesn’t mean squat. Because if I break the laws I know are unjust, no matter how unfair or immoral or unjust the law/s I break are – I know if I do, I’m going to risk interaction with that nation’s due process. This is true whether I am in the US or Australia or the UK or Thailand.
This discussion – before my posts were censored in cowardly fashion – was heading in that direction. If in the US, I started posting death threats directed at President Obama on a forum, any webmaster who believes Section 230 protects him is going to be very unpleasantly surprised. If I’m in Europe and posting against the law (in contempt of court or defaming someone or breaking UK’s laws) and an activist webmaster refused to remove my posts, he would be treated far harsher than Jiranut. This is fact.
I’m living in Thailand and my freedoms here – even to the point where I could be accused of lese majeste – are not being trampled on. Almost no one’s freedoms are – anyone who is telling you otherwise is spinning nonsense for invested agenda purposes.
There are people in prison sure. You can call them political prisoners if you want. I don’t much care so long as they are kept away from their bombs and Molotov cocktails and out of throwing range of my home and family. There is evidence on YouTube showing them making speeches which incite violence and riots and revolution. They are criminals and terrorists.
There are publications being forced to close, sure. When their content is invariably extremist and violent and misrepresenting of reality (for dishonourable means). As Abhisit explained to the US media last week, “I’m not sure you’d allow an Al-Qaeda TV station or newspaper here….”
That’s the largely accurate comparison. Whether you care for it or not. I can provide New Mandala readers with millions of words ruthlessly lambasting the government and even outright criticism of lese majeste – millions of words published recently here in Bangkok in every newspaper and posted on every online portal. Unsuppressed. Free. By authors who don’t even realise the irony of their freely published and false rhetoric.
Don’t fall for the spin. You only accede the moral high ground if you compromise yourself by first wading through the mud. An example of which might be censoring corrections to completely incorrect posts; on a blog which claims no bias but which has, so far, been remarkably convincing in it’s portrayal as a one-sided mouthpiece for the enemy of democracy, of decency….of Thailand.
Can Malaysia trust Najib?
And now for something completely different: ‘Mahathir the Musical’. Greg, sorry to be off-topic, but please do a post on this.
General Prayut on his new job
Sceptic # 16 :
yes indeed – another masterpiece from Thitinan.
He could have made the additional point about Suchinda’s Class 5
that it was an unusually large class. This enabled Anand to break it up, by exploiting rivalries and dissent within it.
Red art: Democracy Monument April 12 2010
Sam D#15, you’re right about the Pink Man series, although it’s been put in a rather difficult situation over the recent shift in Thai colour consciousness. It did rather depend on what Manit previously declared was the feeling that the colour was considered “bad taste, vulgar.” That is no longer true. In fact I don’t think anyone would dare make such a statement now; it could possibly result in LM charges! I notice that Pink Man has an exhibition, ‘Phenomena & Prophecies’, opening in Singapore on Oct. 7. The images in his publicity appear to be old ones, however.
It’s true that the work of Patravadi Theatre stands up well in the context of international performing arts, but it is not socially critical, & I can’t imagine anything coming out of that organisation discussing issues such as the jailing of political dissidents, ‘disappearances’, ‘murder by the state’, corporate – state corruption, the ineptness of government, etc., in the way that the theatre does in healthier & more intellectually competent societies. In South Africa, Eastern Europe, & Indonesia, theatre has been right at the forefront of social activism, although often forced ‘underground’. The current ‘reconciliation’ farce is a topic crying out for theatrical expression.
There is a vast visual arts scene in Thailand, not only creators, but also exhibition venues. Very little of what is produced, however, reflects the well-established undercurrents of social dissent, let alone those levels that are now right out in the light. Nor does it begin to express the cutting edge of dissent. Indeed, a great deal of it seems to be blindly supporting ‘reconciliation’ as it is manifesting. There is something deeply depressing, if not repugnant, about wandering through gallery after gallery crammed with cheerily competent flower paintings, temples, Buddha images, and dull representations of Royal figures, in a city which is in a state of social upheaval. I’m somewhat hesitant to use the word ‘paranoid’ to describe artists, because fear of dangers that are real is not paranoid, but there does seem to be an atmosphere of paranoia in the art scene, stemming from the very real threats, leading to some peculiarly obscure, convoluted, or closeted ‘passive-aggressive’ work, as well as outright denial, which does tend to divorce art from social thought, if not from the superficial smiling face of society in this age of ‘reconciliation’.
A notable exception is The Pridi Banomyong Institute, which occasionally has some interesting art exhibitions, although much (but not all) of the work seems to be by older artists, dyed-in-the-wool lefties, dishing up the same old stuff.
Thailand’s hungry military – an update
I added a bit more for good measure.
The Devil’s Discus – in Thai
There are several points which raised my interest in Simpsons book:
1) He described how strangly the payment had been given to him, in the night, without witnesses, somewhere in the dark streets of London, and receiving a silver cigarette box.
2) Starting reporting the case he explains a view which could be seen as prejustice, i.e. he already believed in a murder case, before hearing / seeing the details. (Explaining how many murder cases happened in Siam aristocracy for example.)
3) Simpson describes how the death occurred without giving a source of his information. And finally on page 175 he is judging based on hear saying.
4) The first professor for forensic medicine in UK did not take into consideration, that the dead body could relax and fall back into the position he was found. After he was very fast with his diagnosis and judgement, proofing he was the right man for to get the right opinion from, he got the visit of a colleague from Siam, and he tried to cement the theory during 9 days of intensive discussions.
5) First he shortly explains on page 176, that the prosecution claimed, that the pistol was laying outside the mosquito-net, while eye-witnesses said, that the pistol was inside the net.
6) He said, that the blood spots proofed, that the head was on the pillow while the king was shot and that the bullet also proofed that he had been shot while laying. But the pillow had been buried because too much blood was on it. And some days later the pillow had been again digged out of the earth. It was certainly not easy to use this evidence in this period of time. And further on the prsecution said, that the bullet had been placed into the mattress and not the original bullet. So how can this be used as evidence for the position of the head?
7) He later noted, that the procedure was long and full of delaying tactics. Which is another proof of prejudgement because he was so sure from the beginning.
8) At the end of his report he mentions, that his counterpart, Dr. Niyomson, who was certainly important for the prosecution to underpin their arguments, had been promoted to become the first forensic professor in Thailand (like he in the UK).
Sorry I not used the same words as native speaker, because I translated back from my book where I translated the arguments into German. And I was too lazy to go back to the sources.
“The Amazon of Asia” – Laos and the Mekong on ABC TV
I am not saying that Stephen Duthy is necessarily a bad person. I just hadn`t heard of him when I read the quote attributed to him. He was simply identified as an environmental scientist. So, I simply googled his name and found that he has been working for NT2 for a number of years in different capacities. It seemed to me that it would have been appropriate to have identified him as an employee of a dam company. Also, I do believe that the many problems with NT2 need to be more explicitly acknowledged by the company. I don`t think that one has to see the whole documentary to comment on a quote and the identifier of a person who made it. Also, I acknowledge that this may well be the documentary-maker`s mistake, not Stephen Duthy`s.
General Prayut on his new job
Tarrin@17:
It is not an ad hominem attack to describe a public figure in both negative and positive terms, both lists of which have been evidenced by the public record and thoroughly discussed. If anything is superficial, it’s the reduction of complex situations to single, “only” problems. Thaksin’s threat to the elite power structure is not being argued here, but your reduction of him to that component alone certainly is.
The Devil’s Discus – in Thai
Readers might also like this post and the link to pathologist Simpson’s chapter: http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/ananda-mahidols-death/
Producer prices and Thaksin’s economic good fortune
@Christoffer Larsson
Good point re: productivity (income of course depends on both price and quantity).
On the data, hopefully this works: http://www.price.moc.go.th/en/Default5.aspx (then follow the links)
Prachatai manager arrested
It turns out Jonny(#14) was misinformed about legal liability in the United States for comments posted on a website. For a detailed examination, see:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/05/cda-protects-newspapers-from-liability-for-libelous-comments132.html
The crux of the matter:
“In Collins v. Purdue University, 2010 WL 1250916 (N.D. Ind. March 24, 2010), a federal court held that under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, the newspaper could not be held liable for the online comments posted by third parties.”
General Prayut on his new job
WLH – 16
No, that wasn’t the only problem with Thaksin. Just because the system is corrupt doesn’t absolve Thaksin of personal corruption. Additionally, he was authoritarian, vengeful, nepotistic, hostile to the free press, negligent on human rights, and callously opportunistic.
I understand about corrupted system doesn’t absolve personal corruption, but again, ad hominem attack on a person characteristic is a bit superficial here. Even if the person is a clean as a tissue paper but if the tissue is in the toilet then the is as clean as the toilet itself.
“The Amazon of Asia” – Laos and the Mekong on ABC TV
I know I’m old fashioned but I reckon it’s better to watch a show first before hurling brickbats. We might even hope for bouquets. Foreign Correspondent 8pm Tuesday night, ABC 1. Should be viewable on the website http://www.abc.net.au/foreign from mid-evening Australian time both within the wide brown land and around the world. First outing is on Australia Network Wednesday night.
General Prayut on his new job
Tarrin@12:
“The only problem with Thaksin is that he is representing the progressive force within the elite…”
No, that wasn’t the only problem with Thaksin. Just because the system is corrupt doesn’t absolve Thaksin of personal corruption. Additionally, he was authoritarian, vengeful, nepotistic, hostile to the free press, negligent on human rights, and callously opportunistic.
But he was not a republican, a traitor to national sovereignty, a destroyer of “Thai values”, an election thief beyond normal practices, or any more corrupt than most heroes of the monarchist right.
Let’s not fight a smear with a whitewash. The side with the simplest answers is usually the least correct.
==
Another good observation from Thitinan today:
“When such a concentrated command structure took place in the past, as with Class Seven and Class Five or the Ratchakru clan and Si Sao Theves group, it invariably led to political trouble.”
Is it just me, or are the Post and Nation both batting above average lately?
“The Amazon of Asia” – Laos and the Mekong on ABC TV
If the information that Ian Baird has put forward is correct… ABC seems to be a propaganda outfit worthy of a broadcasting deal with the Thai military stations.
Another side of Thai political life
#9
It doesn’t sadden me. I have always hoped these two scumbags would fall out.
The Devil’s Discus – in Thai
Readers may be interested in this September 18 posting in Thai to Matichon Online. In it, Suphot Dantrakul’s son, Don, discusses the new Royal biography, One King Under the Constitution. It appears the book continues to smear Pridi for the Ananda “regicide conspiracy” and claims to contain “new evidence” on the Ananda death case. Don Dantrakul points out it’s just same same old, tired evidence.
р╕Вр╣Йр╕нр╣Вр╕Хр╣Йр╣Бр╕вр╣Йр╕Зр╕Бр╕гр╕Ур╕╡р╕кр╕зр╕гр╕гр╕Др╕Хр╣Гр╕Щр╕лр╕Щр╕▒р╕Зр╕кр╕╖р╕н р╣Ар╕нр╕Бр╕Бр╕йр╕▒р╕Хр╕гр╕┤р╕вр╣Мр╣Гр╕Хр╣Йр╕гр╕▒р╕Рр╕Шр╕гр╕гр╕бр╕Щр╕╣р╕Нр╕п
р╣Вр╕Фр╕в р╕Фр╕нр╕б р╕Фр╣Ир╕▓р╕Щр╕Хр╕гр╕░р╕Бр╕╣р╕е
http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1286090533&grpid=01&catid=
Another side of Thai political life
It saddens me that mere Thai ‘politics’ had inflicted a deep wedge between Thaksin and his voodoo brother-mentor Newin . . . to the extent that one would hire expensive assassins to settle scores.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/199608/newin-former-boss-wants-me-dead
And these two used to be so very close . . . and sticky together like drying voodoo blood. The hired assassin was said to be very expensive . . . Baht 20 million or so for the hit . . . because very special skills (and bullets too) are required considering the voodoo armor protecting the target.