This shows every sign of people at very high levels trying to re-run 1976 – when Pramoj’s conservative government fell out with the military.
There are SO MANY political dinosaurs running Thailand into what HMK has called “ruin” now – I can n’t see “Thailand” lasting. Hence the now alarmed Embassy warnings.
You guys must be paranoid. That Chatham House Rules were not really applied – I didn’t see anyone looking particularly worried on the ground that they were going to be filmed. This goes all the way to the panel, the guys and girls who asked the questions, and members of the audience. Of related note, there’s a misunderstanding that those who were critical or hostile to the panellists (as viewed by this blog author) were a united front of the “red shirts”. From what I saw the questions were raised from various corners of the hall. It didn’t seem like the questioners knew each other and planned their critical take on the panel together. They were individuals genuinely concerned about Thailand’s political situtation. I think what emerged in Thai society after the September 2006 coup is a split that cut deeper than socio-economic class or villages vis-a-vis urban towns. It grouped those, Thais as well as non-Thais, who care about democracy, no matter where they’re from into one camp, and those who don’t mind other forms of political system, into another.
Forget an opinionated, yet limiting report like this one. The first two are more informed. At least they were written by reporters who seem to know Thailand a bit better. If the blogger really likes what Duncan MacCargo said or wrote, I suggest he blogs about the man separately. Don’t mix something as serious as Thailand’s political future with some trivial words of a professor.
In General Anupong and his general’s press conference, a visual supposedly of the circuit boards inside the GT200 device was displayed as “proof” that the GT200 is not an “empty plastic box” but a piece of “hi-tech sophisticated equipment”.
It has now been discovered by various bloggers that the visual of the circuit boards used in the General’s press conference was actually a visual of a Nvidia GT200 graphics card which is used in computer game devices and is not part of the GT200 so-called Bomb Detector device at all!
StanG – But those comments were made by someone called “Stan” – maybe you momentarily forget who and where you were and started trolling on your own blog? These sort of things have happened before.
There’s a great picture on the Bkk Post homepage today. The first para quoted below is the caption. The 2nd para is the caption from the same pic, on the linked article. The heading on the homepage is “If at first you don’t detect…” (I don’t know how to transfer the photo to this post. Maybe someone more IT-savvy can do it.)
“Now that the GT200 has been discredited and the red shirts are mocking it, the government is considering whether to purchase different, more expensive equipment including one named Fido that supposedly can smell. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)”
“Red shirts ridicule GT200 A member of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship shows amock-up of the GT200 bomb detector, with a message ridiculing the ineffective and costly device. The mock-up was shown at the red shirt rally outside the Bangkok Bank headquarters on Silom Road yesterday. APICHART JINAKUL”
A few weeks ago on, I think, Channel 3 news, I saw Dr. Porthip Rojanasunan taking to task the Chulalongkorn academic ( sorry, I can’t recall his name) who had said the GT 2000 was a fraud.
She cited her own experience in the restive South and asked him what ‘on the ground’ experience he had on the matter. None as it turned out.
She stated very clearly she had worked with the Thai army using this device in the field and had seen some very impressive results.
The academic was so upset by her vehement rubbishing of his unsubstantiated claims that he reappeared a few days later on TV, almost in tears, to defend his previous comments.
Now, Dr. Rojanasunan has never been one to simply follow the party line. She has, as far as I know, always been a harsh critic of what she believes to be a mishandling of a situation by government – the tsunami and the Tak Bai killings spring to mind – so, I’m interested to know why her comments haven’t been made more public.
Was she just wrong, or are there other reasons for her later silence. I can’t find anything on the web in English. Is there anything in Thai on this?
Did she make these comments, is there anything in this, or is my mind deceiving me?
“it would have been pretty unrealistic on my part to expect that everyone would like it” >> Exactly. So, no need to worry about a single voice of dissent, while everybody else seems to like it. Thanks for the additional info from one publisher. Not sure whether he/she is a little too sensitive (however, I am not a legal expert, nor do I know how serious the aphichon take such books).
“previously made-up mind” >> Not at all. I started reading it with a great degree of curiosity (after all, Federico is a new voice in the very small circle of foreign academics who regularly write on Thai politics). It was only in the process of reading that my opinion gradually formed, and became critical. “The book is a powerful and provocative statement” >> See first paragraph.
“Care to back up that statement with specific examples?” >> I merely wanted to state my overall impression.
Dangerous times and dangerous sentiments. Any talk of breakaway or secession is a non starter. There is far, far too much at stake, far, far too much too lose for those in control.
Thailand is a business, the majority of her people merely the worker pawns embroiled in the power plays of the established elite and those who are, apparently, urging democratic change.
Unfortunately, the key motive for all the key players, irrespective of their so-called politcal stripe, is not the welfare or development of the people and the country.
It’s all about personal gain, power and money. Some wish to preserve what they have, while the rest want more.
Censorship is what it is. Let the man have his say.
I can only support Talen’s view here. Argue with StanG, or ignore him as you wish, but don’t censor.
However, StanG, you also have a clear responsibilty. Please don’t use this forum simply to pontificate and windbag on simply for the sake or sheer devilment of it.
Believing in something is wholly admirable, but when your evidence is either wrong or seriously flawed, and you know that it is, then it’s time to rigorously review your approach to the subject under discussion.
What is the Thai Army procurement procedure? Who got the kickback? How could the Army procure weapon related materials without having ever seen any independent testing?
According to Not The Nation, Feb 20th, 2010, “The BBC has revealed that the Gt200 scanners are in fact a fraud with no actual bomb-detecting technology inside its main circuit board. And according to a BBC investigation, the profit margin on just one Gt200 is as high as 1.3 million baht, giving it an unprecendented 99.5% kickback margin.”
a surprisingly interesting article in The Nation on the tension between Prime Minister Abhisit and General Anupong brought out in the two conflicting press conferences……..
Yes, three cheers for Abhisit for holding his press conference to announce the GT200 device is a fraudulent device with no scientific basis and that his “government” recommends the device no longer be used.
But shocking that within 24 hours of Abhisit’s press conference…….
General Anupong should not only hold his own press conference in Bangkok but bring all of his top generals to sit with him in this press conference as per the photo above and state that, in direct contradiction to the Prime Minister (and a plethora of scientific evidence to the contrary), the GT200 device in fact “works” and that the Thai Army would continue to use hundreds of these devices.
Thereby making abundantly clear for all persons watching these two press conferences, that:
General Anupong does not feel any obligation whatsoever to follow the orders of Prime Minister Abhisit, nor does,
General Anupong have the training, ability and competence to understand that the scientific evidence showing that the GT200 device is a complete fraud from a technical point of view is irrefutable.
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Army defiance
This shows every sign of people at very high levels trying to re-run 1976 – when Pramoj’s conservative government fell out with the military.
There are SO MANY political dinosaurs running Thailand into what HMK has called “ruin” now – I can n’t see “Thailand” lasting. Hence the now alarmed Embassy warnings.
An alternative take on the SOAS event
You guys must be paranoid. That Chatham House Rules were not really applied – I didn’t see anyone looking particularly worried on the ground that they were going to be filmed. This goes all the way to the panel, the guys and girls who asked the questions, and members of the audience. Of related note, there’s a misunderstanding that those who were critical or hostile to the panellists (as viewed by this blog author) were a united front of the “red shirts”. From what I saw the questions were raised from various corners of the hall. It didn’t seem like the questioners knew each other and planned their critical take on the panel together. They were individuals genuinely concerned about Thailand’s political situtation. I think what emerged in Thai society after the September 2006 coup is a split that cut deeper than socio-economic class or villages vis-a-vis urban towns. It grouped those, Thais as well as non-Thais, who care about democracy, no matter where they’re from into one camp, and those who don’t mind other forms of political system, into another.
Forget an opinionated, yet limiting report like this one. The first two are more informed. At least they were written by reporters who seem to know Thailand a bit better. If the blogger really likes what Duncan MacCargo said or wrote, I suggest he blogs about the man separately. Don’t mix something as serious as Thailand’s political future with some trivial words of a professor.
Ferrara et al, at the FCCT
Benny – the crisis has not yet reached this stage, but this is where it is heading. Michael – try to refrain from abuse.
An alternative take on the SOAS event
If true, why was the Thai embassy allowed to film at this event ?
Army defiance
In General Anupong and his general’s press conference, a visual supposedly of the circuit boards inside the GT200 device was displayed as “proof” that the GT200 is not an “empty plastic box” but a piece of “hi-tech sophisticated equipment”.
It has now been discovered by various bloggers that the visual of the circuit boards used in the General’s press conference was actually a visual of a Nvidia GT200 graphics card which is used in computer game devices and is not part of the GT200 so-called Bomb Detector device at all!
http://www.pattayadays.com/2010/02/the-graphics-card-bomb-detector/
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2790/4370424674_e12be05f84.jpg
What you see on New Mandala
StanG – But those comments were made by someone called “Stan” – maybe you momentarily forget who and where you were and started trolling on your own blog? These sort of things have happened before.
Ferrara et al, at the FCCT
chris beale #1 – I join Benny #3 in asking you to ‘piss or get off the pot’, as we say in Oz.
Army defiance
There’s a great picture on the Bkk Post homepage today. The first para quoted below is the caption. The 2nd para is the caption from the same pic, on the linked article. The heading on the homepage is “If at first you don’t detect…” (I don’t know how to transfer the photo to this post. Maybe someone more IT-savvy can do it.)
“Now that the GT200 has been discredited and the red shirts are mocking it, the government is considering whether to purchase different, more expensive equipment including one named Fido that supposedly can smell. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)”
“Red shirts ridicule GT200 A member of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship shows amock-up of the GT200 bomb detector, with a message ridiculing the ineffective and costly device. The mock-up was shown at the red shirt rally outside the Bangkok Bank headquarters on Silom Road yesterday. APICHART JINAKUL”
http://www.bangkokpost.com/ & http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/33188/govt-mulls-new-bomb-scanners Sat. 20/02/2010
Army defiance
Abhisit has given them enough rope, and now the top brass are hanging themselves. What a relief for the country!
Army defiance
Sometimes, I think my mind deceives me.
A few weeks ago on, I think, Channel 3 news, I saw Dr. Porthip Rojanasunan taking to task the Chulalongkorn academic ( sorry, I can’t recall his name) who had said the GT 2000 was a fraud.
She cited her own experience in the restive South and asked him what ‘on the ground’ experience he had on the matter. None as it turned out.
She stated very clearly she had worked with the Thai army using this device in the field and had seen some very impressive results.
The academic was so upset by her vehement rubbishing of his unsubstantiated claims that he reappeared a few days later on TV, almost in tears, to defend his previous comments.
Now, Dr. Rojanasunan has never been one to simply follow the party line. She has, as far as I know, always been a harsh critic of what she believes to be a mishandling of a situation by government – the tsunami and the Tak Bai killings spring to mind – so, I’m interested to know why her comments haven’t been made more public.
Was she just wrong, or are there other reasons for her later silence. I can’t find anything on the web in English. Is there anything in Thai on this?
Did she make these comments, is there anything in this, or is my mind deceiving me?
An alternative take on the SOAS event
“Maybe Professor McCargo can say more?” >> Hopefully, he can, and will…
Getting published in Thai Studies
“it would have been pretty unrealistic on my part to expect that everyone would like it” >> Exactly. So, no need to worry about a single voice of dissent, while everybody else seems to like it. Thanks for the additional info from one publisher. Not sure whether he/she is a little too sensitive (however, I am not a legal expert, nor do I know how serious the aphichon take such books).
“previously made-up mind” >> Not at all. I started reading it with a great degree of curiosity (after all, Federico is a new voice in the very small circle of foreign academics who regularly write on Thai politics). It was only in the process of reading that my opinion gradually formed, and became critical. “The book is a powerful and provocative statement” >> See first paragraph.
“Care to back up that statement with specific examples?” >> I merely wanted to state my overall impression.
Ferrara et al, at the FCCT
Dangerous times and dangerous sentiments. Any talk of breakaway or secession is a non starter. There is far, far too much at stake, far, far too much too lose for those in control.
Thailand is a business, the majority of her people merely the worker pawns embroiled in the power plays of the established elite and those who are, apparently, urging democratic change.
Unfortunately, the key motive for all the key players, irrespective of their so-called politcal stripe, is not the welfare or development of the people and the country.
It’s all about personal gain, power and money. Some wish to preserve what they have, while the rest want more.
It’s simply too naive to think otherwise.
What you see on New Mandala
Censorship is what it is. Let the man have his say.
I can only support Talen’s view here. Argue with StanG, or ignore him as you wish, but don’t censor.
However, StanG, you also have a clear responsibilty. Please don’t use this forum simply to pontificate and windbag on simply for the sake or sheer devilment of it.
Believing in something is wholly admirable, but when your evidence is either wrong or seriously flawed, and you know that it is, then it’s time to rigorously review your approach to the subject under discussion.
Army defiance
What is the Thai Army procurement procedure? Who got the kickback? How could the Army procure weapon related materials without having ever seen any independent testing?
According to Not The Nation, Feb 20th, 2010, “The BBC has revealed that the Gt200 scanners are in fact a fraud with no actual bomb-detecting technology inside its main circuit board. And according to a BBC investigation, the profit margin on just one Gt200 is as high as 1.3 million baht, giving it an unprecendented 99.5% kickback margin.”
Army defiance
a surprisingly interesting article in The Nation on the tension between Prime Minister Abhisit and General Anupong brought out in the two conflicting press conferences……..
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/02/20/politics/Uneasy-calm-between-govt-and-military-30123029.html
Getting published in Thai Studies
Getting it translated into Thai is a great idea – drop me a line at [email protected] if anyone is interested to translate it.
Army defiance
Yes, three cheers for Abhisit for holding his press conference to announce the GT200 device is a fraudulent device with no scientific basis and that his “government” recommends the device no longer be used.
But shocking that within 24 hours of Abhisit’s press conference…….
General Anupong should not only hold his own press conference in Bangkok but bring all of his top generals to sit with him in this press conference as per the photo above and state that, in direct contradiction to the Prime Minister (and a plethora of scientific evidence to the contrary), the GT200 device in fact “works” and that the Thai Army would continue to use hundreds of these devices.
Thereby making abundantly clear for all persons watching these two press conferences, that:
General Anupong does not feel any obligation whatsoever to follow the orders of Prime Minister Abhisit, nor does,
General Anupong have the training, ability and competence to understand that the scientific evidence showing that the GT200 device is a complete fraud from a technical point of view is irrefutable.
Army defiance
Three cheers for Abhisit! He has had the guts to expose the military top brass as a bunch of superstitious dupes.
What you see on New Mandala
Yeah, Anonymous1 reminded me – I binned two comments, they came from the same person in a space of one minute.
StanFU
[email protected]
****** 2010/01/29 at 2:01am
Stan.
Your blog is utter bollocks.
Stan
StanFU
[email protected]
***** 2010/01/29 at 2:02am
Stan
I notice that no comments have been left on your blog – anywhere.
Do you just block anyone who criticises your very obvious garbage?
Then you troll on everyone else’s blog?
Stan