Sondhi would have to amend the constitution first, unless he believes it’s meaningless and can be ignored. The constitution says power belongs to the people; the King exercises power through the elected government (and courts).
Section 3 [Council of State translation]: “The sovereign power belongs to the Thai people. The King as Head of State shall exercise such power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”
The clips you have posted are very useful for people everywhere to see what terrible things the Abhisit govt did on the 19th.
We also noticed the govt-controlled NBT TV station preferred not to zoom whatever photos or clips that Chatuporn showed during the no confidence debate last night. This may be a small thing but of course these NBT people wanted to protect their masters, or worse they were under strict order to do so by their supervisors. Anyway, the clips will be distributed to people in the form of CD’s soon.
As for the US apparently taking side with murderous govt, they may regret this decision when and if the people’s side decide to seek help from China. Remember “Big Chiew” went there just before the crack-down ?
I can access the English version but when I click the link to the Thai version I get CRES/CAPO’s nice message in big red letters (http://58.97.5.29/www.capothai.org/). (Using True.)
its interesting to see the email of your comment before it appears on the blog… so this comment on your comment might appear before yours is published (depending on moderation delay and recognition of order???)
I agree that the question of who the Black Shirts are, who they report to and their relationship with the Reds generally and UDD (a slightly smaller category) is important, it seems vitally important to the government as their case rests almost exclusively on their claim that the blacks are red related.
btw, I think its the military/top level elites/Prem(too old?) in charge and Abhisit/Suthep are the stories and excuses division, with some feedback effect on some decisions mainly from Suthep.
so the question is whether the military/top level elites “pursued a “policy” of shooting innocent, unarmed civilians”
and now the stories and excuse people are trying to provide cover
The whole concept of “life fire” zones is legally questionable, but I guess if I was a soldier under attack I would have approved of it without a blink.
Reds in Nick’s case came under live fire while trying to set up a barricade. I think it wasn’t the first time the shots were fired in that area that day, how many “warnings” did the reds need?
What did soldiers think of setting up that barricade? Innocent and harmless? Should they have waited until people with M79s manned it? Molotov cocktails are not that pleasant either, and they can load ping-pong bombs into slingshots, too.
Reds were just asking to get shot, imo.
I believe there was an earlier incident, perhaps just minutes earlier, when reds tried to commandeer a truck there. What for? Trucks where earlier used to ram the troops, among other things. Soldiers shoot the tires. Then there was a guy who was asked to drive the truck but he refused, someone else volunteered and got shot immediately.
How many warning shots did that volunteer need?
Yes, the soldiers might have broken Abhisit stated rules of engagement here and there but if people were throwing ping pong bombs or molotov cocktails at me, for hours on end, I would eventually shoot back, quite possibly indiscriminately, at anything that moves, Abhisit and his rules can go to hell.
Abhisit has said that of the 6 people shot at the temple, four were shot from a low level, implying “only” two were shot from above.
I wonder if this is the real picture, does the forensic result include recognition of the angle of the persons body when shot? Interesting to know how reliable this analysis would be and even more relevant is how accurate is Abhisit’s self-serving summary.
Another live question for me is the definition of “soldier”, ‘blackshirt”, “men in black” and other terms bandied around at the political and potentially at the legal level. I take some examples here primarily from practices that I understand applied in the Vietnam War times.
For example, when Suthep says “they were not soldiers”:
does he mean they were not people under the direct command (at the time) of a certain commander that is publicly admitted to be active in the field?
or might he mean they were under such direct command but they were designated special operatives on a deniable mission?
or he might mean they were under control of a different commander from the other soldiers on a secret mission and therefore deniable?
or, dare I say it, they were operating under direct orders from one or more of the top level elites at early morning meetings which cannot even be mentioned by Suthep at risk of lengthy prison term?
etc, etc
Given it appears that Anupong still denies there was (and is?) a secret rendition facility run for the US in Thailand even after it has been admitted by the US military its easy to believe that Suthep could be involved in semantic word games when answering questions put by the relatively naive public or its slightly less naive journalist and diplomatic representatives.
Yes, it is blocked here, I can confirm that too. But there are proxies for those that wish to continue this discussion. I think this thread has veered far from its topic – Nick’s experience being shot at – but I guess its all related to the bigger picture which many of you have been discussing. It does seem rather polarized to me, most people here are either pro- or anti-government. Surely its all a bit more complicated. I personally do not think the government has pursued a policy of shooting innocent, unarmed civilians, and there is a distinction between what they are ordered to do and what they do. That doesn’t make it right, but it helps to be aware of this before simple generalizations are given about the government. It seems that censorship has been a staple of most governments in such a time of unrest though, so I wouldn’t take this to mean the government must be guilty of shooting innocents and therefore are trying to cover up. It is a very sensitive issue and time. This is Asia. Thailand’s “democracy” is still fragile and young and in my view hasn’t really got off the ground yet. Let’s be aware of that and see that this whole mess is part of this growing period, bloody as it sometimes is. I’d like to get to the truth of the matter re. the Black Shirts since I think their links with the Red Shirts is rather important in assessing the authenticity of the movement. Maybe we can have a dedicated thread that invites people to post solid sources and evidence either way.
It seems people are missing that Sonthi was talking about temporarily managing the country while the new system, I assume “new politics”, is being set up.
He thinks the power should be transferred to the King for the period though it’s obvious the King himself is not going to exercise it.
This doesn’t make his proposal to institute new politics in a top-down manner any more attractive, though.
Nor does it change the fact parliamentary way of “fixing” the country is not working either, as evidenced by the current censure debate. At least it’s less violent, Abhisit would argue in return.
“Does anyone know how many of the dead civilians were armed, either alleged or confirmed? (Possession of a slingshot doesn’t count as armed in my personal point of view, but any information is useful.)”
I think this a good question and Nick has provided one answer.
Nick, I am interested in any details of the armed blackshirt, who was he? what arms? who was he associated with?
Meanwhile Nick implies that none of the other dead that he saw were armed, how many and who were they?
There were comments made in some of the video reports that “none” of the dead were armed (in those particular cases)
Presumably you can assume that the medicos, ambulance people and Journalists (except someone like Michael Yon?) that were shot were unarmed. The people shot at the temple seemed to be unarmed, at least the nurse.
I expect the government with its vast resources could compile this sort of detail but, unless they are collecting to be ready to know where they might be politically vulnerable, they are very selective in collecting and even more selective in publishing.
In 1985 or 1986, HRH Princess Siridon paid one of her frequent royal visits to Burma and on her return to Thailand Burmese dictator General Ne Win saw her off at the Rangoon Airport.
Next day all the newspapers published on the front pages the full page photo of HRH princess whispering something into Ne Win’s ears by the stairs to her Thai Airways plane on the tarmac.
Within days that photo pages torn from the papers but with a rather nasty caption were all over Rangoon.
The caption said, “Thanks Uncle, you are doing a great job on Burmese. My father said that in your previous life as a Thai prince you have vowed to be reborn as a Burmese to revenge for the destruction of our Ayuhtaya!”
I repeat: “By now there should have been already lots of photos/clips on the internet showing unarmed ‘innocent’ protesters getting shot at by the troops during the crackdown. But so far none – NONE!”
Thomas Hoy already apologized. To any other NM readers please feel compelled to submit your overdue apologies at NM, or elsewhere.
Thomas Hoy: there were lots of video clips and photos (mostly damning shots against the Reds) before and during the crackdown . . . so quite obviously there were many who were not ‘running and hiding’.
Dear all,
Just to let you know: this thread is blocked in Thailand with True Internet since this morning, 1. June.
The “GESTAPO”…. sorry “CAPO” Page is displayed instead
CRYPTIC Chris: My ‘have I missed something?’ question was concerning David Brown’s ‘news flash’ that the black shirts aren’t connected to the UDD, that the M-79 bombings are a Newin/Sonthi ‘spoiling operation’, and that because an article on the black shirts appeared in Asia Times Online, it is some how a fabrication.
The Chinese influence in Thailand has existed for decades and even though they hold Thai surnames they control most of the economy.
They may be viewed as a culture within a culture. Wealthy Sino/Thai will claim to be Thai yet still hold onto their cultural background assuming a sense of superiority over the indigenous classes of their host country.
Chinese disporas and their influence throughout South East Asia has seen past cival unrest due to the nature of how this group centralise their business practices. Indigenous populations are left at their mercy as elite indigenous leaders work in collusion with those that control the wealth as seen in Indonesia and most recently the Solomon Islands.
That the USA fears Chinese influence in the country is ridiculous as the influence has already existed for many decades.
So much has been written on the political and social problems that have plagued Thailand but yet very few commentators actually look at the economic and social history of the kingdom and the influence of the Chinese dispora that has been given the opportunity to build the economy as it stands today.
Both the economic and social history of Thailand are closely alingned to its’ feudal past. The Sino/Thai of Chinese origin operate their businesses in closed family units alongside elite indigenous Thais who are backed by the military and police forces.
Western governments know only too well that these structures exists and ultimately profit from them as is the nature of the capitalist beast. The Thai system of corrupt patronage has its’ vestiges in it’s feudal past inwhich its’ present democracy has ultimately formed.
China itself a supossed Communist regime is a great example of where a small percentage of the population are wealthy while the rest work for a fraction of their masters income.
Many will say this is just racial stereotyping but there is ample literature on how Chinese disporas within South East Asia have created not only disparity but also debased and eroded indigenous social and historical culture. The notion of to “be Rich is to be Glorious” can be so aptly applied to Thailand as everyone from the lower classes to that of the elites now crave for a kind of wealth that is attained by any means.
You can bet those paragons of freedom and democracy the the DUHmerican CIA (sarcasm) is right in the middle of this and likely responsible. Until DUHmerica built that $1 billion monstrosity in Baghdad the US Embassy in BKK was the largest DUHmerican Embassy in the world. Doubtful the DUHmericans are going to allow things contrary to DUHmerica’s interest.
Go read The King Never Smiles, it’s stated there quite clearly that at, as I recall, a reception for foreign diplomats Bhumibol stated his opposition to the democracy movement in Burma
Oh, I’m really sorry to post so many comments here. But I just found “these videos”. Warning, extreme graphic content!, filmed by a foreign journalist. I’m really grateful in what he did.
Note, the guy at 3:33 minute explained about how the soldier shot people, even 17 years old boy, a pregnant woman.
and this is a summary from Al Jazeera, the reason I post these clips to this topic is, even a Muslim TV like Al Jazeera, still closely report to this Thailand crisis, and the U.S. Government is just sitting down, doing nothing and turn eye blinded, or just some blame to the Red Shirt for burning buildings, from State Department?
Again, I found these video clips that are very useful, they are not so related to the topic here, my apology. But, I just want to share with all NM readers to consider.
This one is a clip clearly showing the soldiers were on the sky train track aiming and shooting to the people inside the temple on crackdown day. It’s from Khao Sod, Thailand local newspaper.
and this one is a clip that Jutuphon Phromphan, a UDD leader as a member of Parliament, just showed at the Parliament, just moment ago. I just found it on the internet, some of you may have seen already. But I just discovered and found it’s really shameful for Thai soldier and the Government.
Sad thing is, in the comments, many say “That kicking is too little for the red”.
Also, relating to this topic, the Thai Ambassador to U.N., Mr. Sihasak, issued a statement against the earlier statement made by UNHCR, saying the Thai Government is doing every things to heal the wounded. Also, he said, the Thai Government is willing to take any responsibility to its actions.
But, from my point of view, the Thai Government is flaming those arrested and prospected leaders as terrorist, enemy of the state.
Sondhi’s statement simply reflects the lack of options the Yellow camp has given the ultimate power of the ballot box they fear. His proposal is just the logical extension of “New Politics” thinking. In 2005, King Gyanendra of Nepal similarly restored full monarchial powers in an attempt to resolve political crisis. Within three years he faced 15-day ultimatum to leave the Royal Palace for good. A resurgent pro-democracy movement and reinstated assembly, controlled by the people, voted to void the Hindu monarchy in 2008. Nepal is now a Republic. Mr. Sondhi, as they say, “Be careful what you wish for…”
Facebook 
Twitter 
Soundcloud 
Youtube 
Rss
Sondhi – return parliamentary powers to the king
Sondhi would have to amend the constitution first, unless he believes it’s meaningless and can be ignored. The constitution says power belongs to the people; the King exercises power through the elected government (and courts).
Section 3 [Council of State translation]: “The sovereign power belongs to the Thai people. The King as Head of State shall exercise such power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”
Strategic alignment: Thailand and the US
Athita, # 9 and # 10,
The clips you have posted are very useful for people everywhere to see what terrible things the Abhisit govt did on the 19th.
We also noticed the govt-controlled NBT TV station preferred not to zoom whatever photos or clips that Chatuporn showed during the no confidence debate last night. This may be a small thing but of course these NBT people wanted to protect their masters, or worse they were under strict order to do so by their supervisors. Anyway, the clips will be distributed to people in the form of CD’s soon.
As for the US apparently taking side with murderous govt, they may regret this decision when and if the people’s side decide to seek help from China. Remember “Big Chiew” went there just before the crack-down ?
Surely, it’s just a coincidence
I can access the English version but when I click the link to the Thai version I get CRES/CAPO’s nice message in big red letters (http://58.97.5.29/www.capothai.org/). (Using True.)
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
BlackOnBlackIWantMyBabyBack
its interesting to see the email of your comment before it appears on the blog… so this comment on your comment might appear before yours is published (depending on moderation delay and recognition of order???)
I agree that the question of who the Black Shirts are, who they report to and their relationship with the Reds generally and UDD (a slightly smaller category) is important, it seems vitally important to the government as their case rests almost exclusively on their claim that the blacks are red related.
btw, I think its the military/top level elites/Prem(too old?) in charge and Abhisit/Suthep are the stories and excuses division, with some feedback effect on some decisions mainly from Suthep.
so the question is whether the military/top level elites “pursued a “policy” of shooting innocent, unarmed civilians”
and now the stories and excuse people are trying to provide cover
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
The whole concept of “life fire” zones is legally questionable, but I guess if I was a soldier under attack I would have approved of it without a blink.
Reds in Nick’s case came under live fire while trying to set up a barricade. I think it wasn’t the first time the shots were fired in that area that day, how many “warnings” did the reds need?
What did soldiers think of setting up that barricade? Innocent and harmless? Should they have waited until people with M79s manned it? Molotov cocktails are not that pleasant either, and they can load ping-pong bombs into slingshots, too.
Reds were just asking to get shot, imo.
I believe there was an earlier incident, perhaps just minutes earlier, when reds tried to commandeer a truck there. What for? Trucks where earlier used to ram the troops, among other things. Soldiers shoot the tires. Then there was a guy who was asked to drive the truck but he refused, someone else volunteered and got shot immediately.
How many warning shots did that volunteer need?
Yes, the soldiers might have broken Abhisit stated rules of engagement here and there but if people were throwing ping pong bombs or molotov cocktails at me, for hours on end, I would eventually shoot back, quite possibly indiscriminately, at anything that moves, Abhisit and his rules can go to hell.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
Abhisit has said that of the 6 people shot at the temple, four were shot from a low level, implying “only” two were shot from above.
I wonder if this is the real picture, does the forensic result include recognition of the angle of the persons body when shot? Interesting to know how reliable this analysis would be and even more relevant is how accurate is Abhisit’s self-serving summary.
Another live question for me is the definition of “soldier”, ‘blackshirt”, “men in black” and other terms bandied around at the political and potentially at the legal level. I take some examples here primarily from practices that I understand applied in the Vietnam War times.
For example, when Suthep says “they were not soldiers”:
does he mean they were not people under the direct command (at the time) of a certain commander that is publicly admitted to be active in the field?
or might he mean they were under such direct command but they were designated special operatives on a deniable mission?
or he might mean they were under control of a different commander from the other soldiers on a secret mission and therefore deniable?
or, dare I say it, they were operating under direct orders from one or more of the top level elites at early morning meetings which cannot even be mentioned by Suthep at risk of lengthy prison term?
etc, etc
Given it appears that Anupong still denies there was (and is?) a secret rendition facility run for the US in Thailand even after it has been admitted by the US military its easy to believe that Suthep could be involved in semantic word games when answering questions put by the relatively naive public or its slightly less naive journalist and diplomatic representatives.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
Yes, it is blocked here, I can confirm that too. But there are proxies for those that wish to continue this discussion. I think this thread has veered far from its topic – Nick’s experience being shot at – but I guess its all related to the bigger picture which many of you have been discussing. It does seem rather polarized to me, most people here are either pro- or anti-government. Surely its all a bit more complicated. I personally do not think the government has pursued a policy of shooting innocent, unarmed civilians, and there is a distinction between what they are ordered to do and what they do. That doesn’t make it right, but it helps to be aware of this before simple generalizations are given about the government. It seems that censorship has been a staple of most governments in such a time of unrest though, so I wouldn’t take this to mean the government must be guilty of shooting innocents and therefore are trying to cover up. It is a very sensitive issue and time. This is Asia. Thailand’s “democracy” is still fragile and young and in my view hasn’t really got off the ground yet. Let’s be aware of that and see that this whole mess is part of this growing period, bloody as it sometimes is. I’d like to get to the truth of the matter re. the Black Shirts since I think their links with the Red Shirts is rather important in assessing the authenticity of the movement. Maybe we can have a dedicated thread that invites people to post solid sources and evidence either way.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
Dear Human,
that’s strange. I’m with True Internet and it seems to be working fine.
Sondhi – return parliamentary powers to the king
It seems people are missing that Sonthi was talking about temporarily managing the country while the new system, I assume “new politics”, is being set up.
He thinks the power should be transferred to the King for the period though it’s obvious the King himself is not going to exercise it.
This doesn’t make his proposal to institute new politics in a top-down manner any more attractive, though.
Nor does it change the fact parliamentary way of “fixing” the country is not working either, as evidenced by the current censure debate. At least it’s less violent, Abhisit would argue in return.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
superanonymous // May 31, 2010 at 4:09 pm #242
“Does anyone know how many of the dead civilians were armed, either alleged or confirmed? (Possession of a slingshot doesn’t count as armed in my personal point of view, but any information is useful.)”
I think this a good question and Nick has provided one answer.
Nick, I am interested in any details of the armed blackshirt, who was he? what arms? who was he associated with?
Meanwhile Nick implies that none of the other dead that he saw were armed, how many and who were they?
There were comments made in some of the video reports that “none” of the dead were armed (in those particular cases)
Presumably you can assume that the medicos, ambulance people and Journalists (except someone like Michael Yon?) that were shot were unarmed. The people shot at the temple seemed to be unarmed, at least the nurse.
I expect the government with its vast resources could compile this sort of detail but, unless they are collecting to be ready to know where they might be politically vulnerable, they are very selective in collecting and even more selective in publishing.
Good luck in getting more detailed information.
Water shortages in Burma
In 1985 or 1986, HRH Princess Siridon paid one of her frequent royal visits to Burma and on her return to Thailand Burmese dictator General Ne Win saw her off at the Rangoon Airport.
Next day all the newspapers published on the front pages the full page photo of HRH princess whispering something into Ne Win’s ears by the stairs to her Thai Airways plane on the tarmac.
Within days that photo pages torn from the papers but with a rather nasty caption were all over Rangoon.
The caption said, “Thanks Uncle, you are doing a great job on Burmese. My father said that in your previous life as a Thai prince you have vowed to be reborn as a Burmese to revenge for the destruction of our Ayuhtaya!”
Enemies, foreign and domestic
I repeat: “By now there should have been already lots of photos/clips on the internet showing unarmed ‘innocent’ protesters getting shot at by the troops during the crackdown. But so far none – NONE!”
Thomas Hoy already apologized. To any other NM readers please feel compelled to submit your overdue apologies at NM, or elsewhere.
Thomas Hoy: there were lots of video clips and photos (mostly damning shots against the Reds) before and during the crackdown . . . so quite obviously there were many who were not ‘running and hiding’.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
Dear all,
Just to let you know: this thread is blocked in Thailand with True Internet since this morning, 1. June.
The “GESTAPO”…. sorry “CAPO” Page is displayed instead
р╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╣Ар╕Вр╣Йр╕▓р╕Цр╕╢р╕Зр╕Вр╣Йр╕нр╕бр╕╣р╕ер╕Фр╕▒р╕Зр╕Бр╕ер╣Ир╕▓р╕зр╕Щр╕╡р╣Й р╕Цр╕╣р╕Бр╕гр╕░р╕Зр╕▒р╕Ър╣Ар╕Ыр╣Зр╕Щр╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╕Кр╕▒р╣Ир╕зр╕Др╕гр╕▓р╕з
р╣Вр╕Фр╕вр╕нр╕▓р╕ир╕▒р╕вр╕нр╕│р╕Щр╕▓р╕Ир╕Хр╕▓р╕б
р╕Юр╕гр╕░р╕гр╕▓р╕Кр╕Бр╕│р╕лр╕Щр╕Фр╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╕Ър╕гр╕┤р╕лр╕▓р╕гр╕гр╕▓р╕Кр╕Бр╕▓р╕г
р╣Гр╕Щр╕кр╕Цр╕▓р╕Щр╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╕Ур╣Мр╕Йр╕╕р╕Бр╣Ар╕Йр╕┤р╕Щ р╕Ю.р╕и. р╣Тр╣Хр╣Фр╣Ш
р╕Хр╕▓р╕бр╕Др╕│р╕кр╕▒р╣Ир╕Зр╕Вр╕нр╕Зр╕ир╕╣р╕Щр╕вр╣Мр╕нр╕│р╕Щр╕зр╕вр╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╣Бр╕Бр╣Йр╣Др╕Вр╕кр╕Цр╕▓р╕Щр╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╕Ур╣Мр╕Йр╕╕р╕Бр╣Ар╕Йр╕┤р╕Щ
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone
CRYPTIC Chris: My ‘have I missed something?’ question was concerning David Brown’s ‘news flash’ that the black shirts aren’t connected to the UDD, that the M-79 bombings are a Newin/Sonthi ‘spoiling operation’, and that because an article on the black shirts appeared in Asia Times Online, it is some how a fabrication.
Strategic alignment: Thailand and the US
The Chinese influence in Thailand has existed for decades and even though they hold Thai surnames they control most of the economy.
They may be viewed as a culture within a culture. Wealthy Sino/Thai will claim to be Thai yet still hold onto their cultural background assuming a sense of superiority over the indigenous classes of their host country.
Chinese disporas and their influence throughout South East Asia has seen past cival unrest due to the nature of how this group centralise their business practices. Indigenous populations are left at their mercy as elite indigenous leaders work in collusion with those that control the wealth as seen in Indonesia and most recently the Solomon Islands.
That the USA fears Chinese influence in the country is ridiculous as the influence has already existed for many decades.
So much has been written on the political and social problems that have plagued Thailand but yet very few commentators actually look at the economic and social history of the kingdom and the influence of the Chinese dispora that has been given the opportunity to build the economy as it stands today.
Both the economic and social history of Thailand are closely alingned to its’ feudal past. The Sino/Thai of Chinese origin operate their businesses in closed family units alongside elite indigenous Thais who are backed by the military and police forces.
Western governments know only too well that these structures exists and ultimately profit from them as is the nature of the capitalist beast. The Thai system of corrupt patronage has its’ vestiges in it’s feudal past inwhich its’ present democracy has ultimately formed.
China itself a supossed Communist regime is a great example of where a small percentage of the population are wealthy while the rest work for a fraction of their masters income.
Many will say this is just racial stereotyping but there is ample literature on how Chinese disporas within South East Asia have created not only disparity but also debased and eroded indigenous social and historical culture. The notion of to “be Rich is to be Glorious” can be so aptly applied to Thailand as everyone from the lower classes to that of the elites now crave for a kind of wealth that is attained by any means.
Strategic alignment: Thailand and the US
You can bet those paragons of freedom and democracy the the DUHmerican CIA (sarcasm) is right in the middle of this and likely responsible. Until DUHmerica built that $1 billion monstrosity in Baghdad the US Embassy in BKK was the largest DUHmerican Embassy in the world. Doubtful the DUHmericans are going to allow things contrary to DUHmerica’s interest.
Water shortages in Burma
Go read The King Never Smiles, it’s stated there quite clearly that at, as I recall, a reception for foreign diplomats Bhumibol stated his opposition to the democracy movement in Burma
Strategic alignment: Thailand and the US
Oh, I’m really sorry to post so many comments here. But I just found “these videos”. Warning, extreme graphic content!, filmed by a foreign journalist. I’m really grateful in what he did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29yTzrj_bdA&feature=related
and this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXyeOk8G3EY&feature=related
Note, the guy at 3:33 minute explained about how the soldier shot people, even 17 years old boy, a pregnant woman.
and this is a summary from Al Jazeera, the reason I post these clips to this topic is, even a Muslim TV like Al Jazeera, still closely report to this Thailand crisis, and the U.S. Government is just sitting down, doing nothing and turn eye blinded, or just some blame to the Red Shirt for burning buildings, from State Department?
Strategic alignment: Thailand and the US
Again, I found these video clips that are very useful, they are not so related to the topic here, my apology. But, I just want to share with all NM readers to consider.
This one is a clip clearly showing the soldiers were on the sky train track aiming and shooting to the people inside the temple on crackdown day. It’s from Khao Sod, Thailand local newspaper.
http://www.khaosod.co.th/view_newsonline.php?newsid=TVRJM05UTXhPVFF4TXc9PQ==
and this one is a clip that Jutuphon Phromphan, a UDD leader as a member of Parliament, just showed at the Parliament, just moment ago. I just found it on the internet, some of you may have seen already. But I just discovered and found it’s really shameful for Thai soldier and the Government.
Sad thing is, in the comments, many say “That kicking is too little for the red”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7VOuCMYWuI&feature=related
Also, relating to this topic, the Thai Ambassador to U.N., Mr. Sihasak, issued a statement against the earlier statement made by UNHCR, saying the Thai Government is doing every things to heal the wounded. Also, he said, the Thai Government is willing to take any responsibility to its actions.
But, from my point of view, the Thai Government is flaming those arrested and prospected leaders as terrorist, enemy of the state.
Sondhi – return parliamentary powers to the king
Sondhi’s statement simply reflects the lack of options the Yellow camp has given the ultimate power of the ballot box they fear. His proposal is just the logical extension of “New Politics” thinking. In 2005, King Gyanendra of Nepal similarly restored full monarchial powers in an attempt to resolve political crisis. Within three years he faced 15-day ultimatum to leave the Royal Palace for good. A resurgent pro-democracy movement and reinstated assembly, controlled by the people, voted to void the Hindu monarchy in 2008. Nepal is now a Republic. Mr. Sondhi, as they say, “Be careful what you wish for…”