Tarrin: I assumed our different outlooks must be down to my ethnocentric viewpoint because, after reading your opinion about ‘tax planning’, I could see that we were never likely to agree.
I would be surprised (and disappointed) if Obama or Brown used offshore tax havens and nominees in their tax planning, as I would be if they promote, condone or justify extra-judicial killing.
As for Philosopher kings, yes, I like Plato’s idea.
Marty> The Democrats are now in a similar situation to where they were in 1997, coming to power as a result of a crisis, dependent on unreliable, corrupt coalition partners and the economic situation likely, as before, to be much worse than anyone imagines. It will be hard for any government to look good in this situation. It will be interesting to see what PTP does and whether it remains largely Thaksin orientated in terms of its appeal and funding or not.
Now that the seeds have been sown there is clearly an opportunity within the next generation for reds or others to form a party that appeals to rural voters by offering genuine social reform and to urban voters by offering good governance and clearing out corruption in the police etc. Somehow I don’t see the mainstream PTP ever maturing into that role. Its vested interests run too deep and, if Thaksin stays abroad and fades into insignificance, it may just revert to its pre-Thaksin roots as a collection of bickering provincial chao phors.
The word “р╕кр╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓” is Jai Ungpakorn’s word. It’s uniquely his because Thais will use “р╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓р╕Чр╕▒р╣Йр╕Зр╕кр╕нр╕Зр╕Эр╣Ир╕▓р╕в”. His English root makes him sometimes use the Thai language in an English way. Jai Ungpakorn is very respectable and trusted among Thai intellectuals, so Thais just follow him even it sounds strange. Furthermore, Jai’s thinking is normally in the frontier. Thais usually choose side. To choose neither side is uniquely Jai thinking. We can see his “р╕кр╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓” on his YouTube post titled “Peoples Alliance for Fascism.”
I am a geologist and have studied and collected jade for 40 years beginning in Central America. I first noticed a problem with the jade on the medals from the pictures. Some called the stone nephrite The white jade for the 1st prize had a distinct jadeite appearance, so I began to do more research, and found that there are indeed records of Qinghai buying a large amount of white/clearish jadeite from Burma.
Jadeite is also found in Siberia Canada and Guatemala at least.
Who does Paul Handley think he is? He doesn’t know much what’s really going on in my country. Thaksin Shinawatra, the previous Thai P.M. who fled away from Thailand. He spent a large amount of money on 2 american lobbyists. He believes in his own propaganda. There are many obvious signs that he wants to destroy monarchy.Those lobbyists are behind all these to spread the bad influence and discredit Thai monarchy and People Alliance for Democracy(P.A.D.)
I beleive that sooner or later all the medias Thaksin are trying to buy by his corrupted money will bounce back and destroy him.I’m pround to be thai. The land that never been colonised. And the authour should be ashamed to be a part of this propaganda.Shame to you. and whoever involved. Our King is not like any others. He’s done a lot for our country, not just sitting on luxury paid by our tax.
Let’s get it straight,the local journalists(in fact all Thais) are under the oppressed lesse majeste law. They are forced to discuss behind closed doors. That’s the reason why I pay less attention to the local medias. What kind of wisdom can you expect from an oppressed society.
Here, here Portman.
I agree with nearly all you say.
Your thoughts are clear.
I also have “strong” family association with rural/farmer people from the North East.
They are not poor (by current Thai rural standards), but they could do better.
Further, their priorities are like those of people all over the world.
They want to care for their families, now/today – that’s number 1.
Number 2, they want to “build a better future” for all – especially their own children.
That they have voted for Thaksin/TRT and its now several incarnations doesn’t worry them – as long as the points just mentioned are attended (or seemingly attennded) to.
My family voted yesterday in the bi-elections. But, they didn’t vote for Thaksin – they voted for the party candidate who promised them hope, to attain these things.
In this way, I would say real democracy is moving forward, in the areas where it is most needed.
Perhaps we are entering a phase in Thailand’s long developing democracy, where social reforms are going to pick up pace and be of more substance.
That the new government is stating loudly, it will maintain and where needed, improve the “populist” policies of recent years, to me, is an indication of this. Let’s hope they do it.
But, more, this political wakening ( inadvertantly created by Thaksin) will eventually make it much harder for “Thakisn-style” politicians (of any colour) to rise to a position of such enormous power, once the social and democratic reforms get to a critical tipping point.
That, of course, is the hard part.
I agree with with Portman, the real development of a proper democatic social movement, really aimed at achieving these goals and not as the vehichle(s) of and for, self-serving politicians, head men and so on – as still appears,to often be the case – will make this move forward so much more effective. Only time will tell if this come about .
In the meantime, I think all us “outsiders” need to to be very carfeful not to back “paper horses” of any colour.
Whatsinanme (formerly Another David – but changed to avoid confusion……with “other” Davids!
I have to agree with you on the “sowing the seed” issue.
I was thinking before the By-election that if PTP actully won big it would just rollover as what we have now. I feel that the PTP will now have to rethink and possibly reorganize their party. They already have a good grass roots organization and if they can bring in the less militant parts of the Red movement they could prove to be very formidable in the next election. Being in the opposition is probably a good position to be in at the moment. The government will have huge pressure to do something about the economy and as it gets worse the factions in the coalition will be under even more pressure as the poor constituents in their ridings will start to gurmblwe more and more.
If not democracy then what form of governing system do you want? communist? facist?
Anyhow, neither you nor me have the right to say what is a “acceptable conduct” or “acceptable moral” code since people have different perception to set those bar, that is why we need democracy in the first place, to set the bar that is acceptable by majority.
And in regard to your statement
” Once his bad side was shown, and in the absence of any remorse or change, then in my eyes Thaksin became unsuitable for PM.
(irrespective of legal convictions, or whether his good side outweighs his bad side). ”
I still dont get what is this bad side is all about? you’ve made your point about tax evasion/nominee which I think any all of rich people is doing anyway. I dont see why it is such a sin to do tax planning since if you said that is enough to disqualify Thaksin as a PM, then no one is qualify, not even Obama or Brown.
thank you for your insightful look into Ngas raison d’etre…
like Nga I also have cause to wonder about the process when we end up with leaders such as Bush and Howard
I have previously commented about presidential systems where the president tends to accumulate power to his office to the detriment of the elected members of parliament… especially this is an issue where the president is not elected by direct vote as in the USA
whereas the UK, Australia, Canada operate an elected parliament and use an almost powerless figurehead royalty for signing off decisions of the parliament
in all of these “democracies” the influence of the industrial complex is strong, mostly through the media, and in the USA the military is also strong, through their (mis)use of their huge budget in employment and contracts management to influence voting
recognising all this it still seems that one-person one-vote democracy is the best way because it ensures all citizens have a right (in Australia, Canada, UK the requirement) to choose their government
and we seem to move between flavours of right wing rich/industrial oriented and centre left more humanitarian governments
I guess the military/rich families in Thailand still think they can achieve more straightforward control of the country and the majority of their slaves by weakening democracy rather than working with it…
the other significant feature in Thailand is the manipulation of the judiciary… all these other countries use juries to make significant criminal court decisions, I think this protects the judiciary as well as the community from this insidious old mans penchant for behind the scenes manipulation of judgements
I am hoping the Thai military/rich will learn from the example of these other countries and stop fiddling with the basic processes, especially the judiciary and just concentrate on making money by building the capability of Thailand overall rather than stifling most of its potential
(treating them as buffaloes and grassroots to be trodden on!)
by the ay I think Thaksin is in a different far better class than Bush/Howard, Thailand was fortunate for his leadership… and all the carry on about his “badness” is just that!
he wasnt bad, he just achieved moderate paradigm change, which the fat comfortable military/rich hate
Marty. I appreciate the explanation. The pictures are excellent but I felt a little uneasy about the angle of the commentary on the piece about the police action firing the copious explosive tear gas grenades at the PAD. On reading the red shirt piece here, this all fell clearly into perspective.
I am also sympathetic to the plight of the rural poor and have some close connections in the rural Northeast as well as but I find it too hard to stomach the low quality and self serving nature of the Thaksinite politicians and the man himself. They don’t have the flavour of people who care about the ordinary people at all but rather seem to view them as a resource to be manipulated for their personal benefit. I don’t see anything resembling a social democratic movement in Thailand that is genuinely interested in social reform. Ironically, Thaksin may inadvertently have sown the seeds for this to happen in the future, since he raised the stakes surrounding the rural vote. However, he and his crony capitalists would certainly hate to see the logical result of this in form of higher and more rigorously collected taxes for the rich, including estate tax; better education for the masses; better labour rights and generally an enhanced return on labour at the expense of the return on capital; and finally rule of law applied uniformly to the wealthy and influential on the scale achieved by South Korea, meaning an end to easy corruption and no further raison d’etre for Thai Rak Thai, Prachachon Thai, Peua Thai or any of their future ugly sprogs.
You plugged your book again? Jeez man. Does your book talk about you getting kicked out of Rhodesia for painting swastikas on Jewish grave stones? Are you sure those are your past beliefs? Your youtube channel also talks about American resistance groups. Are you sure this is all good press coverage for KNLA, who you are so passionately (and one-sidedly) involved with? I think you’re more concerned with selling books than helping the Burmese.
I was asked by my Burmese compatriots to find out information about you. They told me that you were walking around Mae Sot telling everyone who would listen that you had a “CIA greenlight,” and a vast store of stinger missiles. I was told this by more than one Burmese person. I know for a fact that you have neither a “CIA greenlight,” a vast store of stinger missiles, nor a purpose for said pretend stingers. You’re making this cause look like a joke.
I appreciate the need to feel like you belong somewhere, but you’ve pretty effectively cut your ties here. Do yourself a favor and quit now.
To Susie Wong. Sorry I don’t get it. You could equally argue that Aung San Suu Cyi is a fascist because her father sided with the Japanese in the Second World War.
Anyway I see Thaksin having far more ideological similarities with Pibul than with Pridi, e.g. de-empasis of the monarchy and emphasis himself, his power and personal financial benefits; control of the media to stifle all opposition; extrajudicial killings and disappearances as tools of government policy etc. If he had been around in the 40s, it is most unlikely that he would have been posing as a champion of democracy, risking an undignified end in a ditch, and much more likely that he would have been busy downplaying his Chineseness like Pin Choonhaven and trying to get aboard the Pibul bandwagon.
the no to two camps position is a political position that some people took, often for different reasons. They, like me, probably got there by their own logic and in conversation. As for the term “р╕кр╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓” I do not know who originated the term, but to patent it would be like patenting “no to Thaksin” or “no to the CNS”.
I’ll try again:
Once his bad side was shown, and in the absence of any remorse or change, then in my eyes Thaksin became unsuitable for PM.
(irrespective of legal convictions, or whether his good side outweighs his bad side).
ditto re Bush & Howard.
I recognize in a democracy I only have one vote, and ultimately if more voters think differently than me, then I am on the losing side.
It is when those differences are more than mere political differences, but go against my *acceptable conduct code, then I have difficulty respecting democracy.
* I’ve had this discussion on here before, and I think I once used the term morals, but that opens up a whole other can of worms, so I now refer to it as acceptable conduct.
I cannot speak for Dr Connors and have no idea of his feelings towards USA, however I doubt he would care who is acknowledged with being the originator of the term “no to the two camps”.
(I also suspect he would cringe at being linked with a mere hobbyist like me).
Not that it is even relevant to this blog, but I am unsure how you came to the conclusion that I am against the US – I admit I don’t agree with all US foreign policy initiatives, does that make me against the US? – I suppose if I was a US citizen american, you would consider me un-american?
(or if I was Thai, would you consider I no longer understand ‘thainess’ because I seek alternative sources of information which make my mind become ‘degenerate, in decline, abnormal/unhinged’)
Portman I’ll defend Nick a bit as I don’t think he will.
I’ve known him for a few years and both he and I probably feel more comfortable in the company of people like the people the Reds draw their protesters from. Part of that comes from our marriages to ladies from upcountry and the vibrant relationships with their families and friends. When I’m in Canada most of my friends are Doctors and upper middle class but in Thailand most of my true acquaintances are middle class at best a lot are just dirt poor, I’m know it’s the same for Nick.
This makes it a lot easier to get the dirt from the bottom up but it also makes you have an empathy for the poor that people who don’t actually put themselves into the situation may not have to the same degree.
I know Nick has mentioned here on another post that he never feels 100% comfortable when he covers the PAD. Only Nick can answer why but sometimes you just don’t feel comfortable in a situation and don’t really know why. People are people and they all have their preferences. I know Nick’s preferences but he tries his utmost to report neutrally.
To Portland: I am simply explaining the current action of Kraisak Chunhawan as the instrument of Germany-Japan’s objectives in the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean). In the realm of security, strategic intention matters most, regardless of ideological leaning. I think the countries in the region understand.
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The red army at the gates of parliament
Tarrin: I assumed our different outlooks must be down to my ethnocentric viewpoint because, after reading your opinion about ‘tax planning’, I could see that we were never likely to agree.
I would be surprised (and disappointed) if Obama or Brown used offshore tax havens and nominees in their tax planning, as I would be if they promote, condone or justify extra-judicial killing.
As for Philosopher kings, yes, I like Plato’s idea.
Red shirts and civil disobedience
Marty> The Democrats are now in a similar situation to where they were in 1997, coming to power as a result of a crisis, dependent on unreliable, corrupt coalition partners and the economic situation likely, as before, to be much worse than anyone imagines. It will be hard for any government to look good in this situation. It will be interesting to see what PTP does and whether it remains largely Thaksin orientated in terms of its appeal and funding or not.
Now that the seeds have been sown there is clearly an opportunity within the next generation for reds or others to form a party that appeals to rural voters by offering genuine social reform and to urban voters by offering good governance and clearing out corruption in the police etc. Somehow I don’t see the mainstream PTP ever maturing into that role. Its vested interests run too deep and, if Thaksin stays abroad and fades into insignificance, it may just revert to its pre-Thaksin roots as a collection of bickering provincial chao phors.
The red army at the gates of parliament
Ethnocentrism eh… if that’s the case then I dont have much to say to you.
Anyway I hope when you say you preferred Philosopher kings, I hope you really mean what you said.
The red army at the gates of parliament
The word “р╕кр╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓” is Jai Ungpakorn’s word. It’s uniquely his because Thais will use “р╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓р╕Чр╕▒р╣Йр╕Зр╕кр╕нр╕Зр╕Эр╣Ир╕▓р╕в”. His English root makes him sometimes use the Thai language in an English way. Jai Ungpakorn is very respectable and trusted among Thai intellectuals, so Thais just follow him even it sounds strange. Furthermore, Jai’s thinking is normally in the frontier. Thais usually choose side. To choose neither side is uniquely Jai thinking. We can see his “р╕кр╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓” on his YouTube post titled “Peoples Alliance for Fascism.”
More on Burmese jade
I am a geologist and have studied and collected jade for 40 years beginning in Central America. I first noticed a problem with the jade on the medals from the pictures. Some called the stone nephrite The white jade for the 1st prize had a distinct jadeite appearance, so I began to do more research, and found that there are indeed records of Qinghai buying a large amount of white/clearish jadeite from Burma.
Jadeite is also found in Siberia Canada and Guatemala at least.
The King Never Smiles?
Who does Paul Handley think he is? He doesn’t know much what’s really going on in my country. Thaksin Shinawatra, the previous Thai P.M. who fled away from Thailand. He spent a large amount of money on 2 american lobbyists. He believes in his own propaganda. There are many obvious signs that he wants to destroy monarchy.Those lobbyists are behind all these to spread the bad influence and discredit Thai monarchy and People Alliance for Democracy(P.A.D.)
I beleive that sooner or later all the medias Thaksin are trying to buy by his corrupted money will bounce back and destroy him.I’m pround to be thai. The land that never been colonised. And the authour should be ashamed to be a part of this propaganda.Shame to you. and whoever involved. Our King is not like any others. He’s done a lot for our country, not just sitting on luxury paid by our tax.
This book is such an ungly distortion.
The red army at the gates of parliament
Tarrin: Let’s just put our different opinions down to my ethnocentrism!
As for my preferred system of government:
Philosopher kings 🙂
Defending the taboo – the royal response
More from the Democrats on lese majeste: Thai minister vows to get tough on royal critics
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37357920090109?sp=true
Chang Noi on the knowledge industry
Let’s get it straight,the local journalists(in fact all Thais) are under the oppressed lesse majeste law. They are forced to discuss behind closed doors. That’s the reason why I pay less attention to the local medias. What kind of wisdom can you expect from an oppressed society.
Red shirts and civil disobedience
Here, here Portman.
I agree with nearly all you say.
Your thoughts are clear.
I also have “strong” family association with rural/farmer people from the North East.
They are not poor (by current Thai rural standards), but they could do better.
Further, their priorities are like those of people all over the world.
They want to care for their families, now/today – that’s number 1.
Number 2, they want to “build a better future” for all – especially their own children.
That they have voted for Thaksin/TRT and its now several incarnations doesn’t worry them – as long as the points just mentioned are attended (or seemingly attennded) to.
My family voted yesterday in the bi-elections. But, they didn’t vote for Thaksin – they voted for the party candidate who promised them hope, to attain these things.
In this way, I would say real democracy is moving forward, in the areas where it is most needed.
Perhaps we are entering a phase in Thailand’s long developing democracy, where social reforms are going to pick up pace and be of more substance.
That the new government is stating loudly, it will maintain and where needed, improve the “populist” policies of recent years, to me, is an indication of this. Let’s hope they do it.
But, more, this political wakening ( inadvertantly created by Thaksin) will eventually make it much harder for “Thakisn-style” politicians (of any colour) to rise to a position of such enormous power, once the social and democratic reforms get to a critical tipping point.
That, of course, is the hard part.
I agree with with Portman, the real development of a proper democatic social movement, really aimed at achieving these goals and not as the vehichle(s) of and for, self-serving politicians, head men and so on – as still appears,to often be the case – will make this move forward so much more effective. Only time will tell if this come about .
In the meantime, I think all us “outsiders” need to to be very carfeful not to back “paper horses” of any colour.
Whatsinanme (formerly Another David – but changed to avoid confusion……with “other” Davids!
Red shirts and civil disobedience
I have to agree with you on the “sowing the seed” issue.
I was thinking before the By-election that if PTP actully won big it would just rollover as what we have now. I feel that the PTP will now have to rethink and possibly reorganize their party. They already have a good grass roots organization and if they can bring in the less militant parts of the Red movement they could prove to be very formidable in the next election. Being in the opposition is probably a good position to be in at the moment. The government will have huge pressure to do something about the economy and as it gets worse the factions in the coalition will be under even more pressure as the poor constituents in their ridings will start to gurmblwe more and more.
The red army at the gates of parliament
To nga
If not democracy then what form of governing system do you want? communist? facist?
Anyhow, neither you nor me have the right to say what is a “acceptable conduct” or “acceptable moral” code since people have different perception to set those bar, that is why we need democracy in the first place, to set the bar that is acceptable by majority.
And in regard to your statement
” Once his bad side was shown, and in the absence of any remorse or change, then in my eyes Thaksin became unsuitable for PM.
(irrespective of legal convictions, or whether his good side outweighs his bad side). ”
I still dont get what is this bad side is all about? you’ve made your point about tax evasion/nominee which I think any all of rich people is doing anyway. I dont see why it is such a sin to do tax planning since if you said that is enough to disqualify Thaksin as a PM, then no one is qualify, not even Obama or Brown.
The red army at the gates of parliament
thank you for your insightful look into Ngas raison d’etre…
like Nga I also have cause to wonder about the process when we end up with leaders such as Bush and Howard
I have previously commented about presidential systems where the president tends to accumulate power to his office to the detriment of the elected members of parliament… especially this is an issue where the president is not elected by direct vote as in the USA
whereas the UK, Australia, Canada operate an elected parliament and use an almost powerless figurehead royalty for signing off decisions of the parliament
in all of these “democracies” the influence of the industrial complex is strong, mostly through the media, and in the USA the military is also strong, through their (mis)use of their huge budget in employment and contracts management to influence voting
recognising all this it still seems that one-person one-vote democracy is the best way because it ensures all citizens have a right (in Australia, Canada, UK the requirement) to choose their government
and we seem to move between flavours of right wing rich/industrial oriented and centre left more humanitarian governments
I guess the military/rich families in Thailand still think they can achieve more straightforward control of the country and the majority of their slaves by weakening democracy rather than working with it…
the other significant feature in Thailand is the manipulation of the judiciary… all these other countries use juries to make significant criminal court decisions, I think this protects the judiciary as well as the community from this insidious old mans penchant for behind the scenes manipulation of judgements
I am hoping the Thai military/rich will learn from the example of these other countries and stop fiddling with the basic processes, especially the judiciary and just concentrate on making money by building the capability of Thailand overall rather than stifling most of its potential
(treating them as buffaloes and grassroots to be trodden on!)
by the ay I think Thaksin is in a different far better class than Bush/Howard, Thailand was fortunate for his leadership… and all the carry on about his “badness” is just that!
he wasnt bad, he just achieved moderate paradigm change, which the fat comfortable military/rich hate
Red shirts and civil disobedience
Marty. I appreciate the explanation. The pictures are excellent but I felt a little uneasy about the angle of the commentary on the piece about the police action firing the copious explosive tear gas grenades at the PAD. On reading the red shirt piece here, this all fell clearly into perspective.
I am also sympathetic to the plight of the rural poor and have some close connections in the rural Northeast as well as but I find it too hard to stomach the low quality and self serving nature of the Thaksinite politicians and the man himself. They don’t have the flavour of people who care about the ordinary people at all but rather seem to view them as a resource to be manipulated for their personal benefit. I don’t see anything resembling a social democratic movement in Thailand that is genuinely interested in social reform. Ironically, Thaksin may inadvertently have sown the seeds for this to happen in the future, since he raised the stakes surrounding the rural vote. However, he and his crony capitalists would certainly hate to see the logical result of this in form of higher and more rigorously collected taxes for the rich, including estate tax; better education for the masses; better labour rights and generally an enhanced return on labour at the expense of the return on capital; and finally rule of law applied uniformly to the wealthy and influential on the scale achieved by South Korea, meaning an end to easy corruption and no further raison d’etre for Thai Rak Thai, Prachachon Thai, Peua Thai or any of their future ugly sprogs.
Volunteering to fight in Burma
You plugged your book again? Jeez man. Does your book talk about you getting kicked out of Rhodesia for painting swastikas on Jewish grave stones? Are you sure those are your past beliefs? Your youtube channel also talks about American resistance groups. Are you sure this is all good press coverage for KNLA, who you are so passionately (and one-sidedly) involved with? I think you’re more concerned with selling books than helping the Burmese.
I was asked by my Burmese compatriots to find out information about you. They told me that you were walking around Mae Sot telling everyone who would listen that you had a “CIA greenlight,” and a vast store of stinger missiles. I was told this by more than one Burmese person. I know for a fact that you have neither a “CIA greenlight,” a vast store of stinger missiles, nor a purpose for said pretend stingers. You’re making this cause look like a joke.
I appreciate the need to feel like you belong somewhere, but you’ve pretty effectively cut your ties here. Do yourself a favor and quit now.
Red shirts and civil disobedience
To Susie Wong. Sorry I don’t get it. You could equally argue that Aung San Suu Cyi is a fascist because her father sided with the Japanese in the Second World War.
Anyway I see Thaksin having far more ideological similarities with Pibul than with Pridi, e.g. de-empasis of the monarchy and emphasis himself, his power and personal financial benefits; control of the media to stifle all opposition; extrajudicial killings and disappearances as tools of government policy etc. If he had been around in the 40s, it is most unlikely that he would have been posing as a champion of democracy, risking an undignified end in a ditch, and much more likely that he would have been busy downplaying his Chineseness like Pin Choonhaven and trying to get aboard the Pibul bandwagon.
The red army at the gates of parliament
For the record:
the no to two camps position is a political position that some people took, often for different reasons. They, like me, probably got there by their own logic and in conversation. As for the term “р╕кр╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Ар╕нр╕▓” I do not know who originated the term, but to patent it would be like patenting “no to Thaksin” or “no to the CNS”.
The red army at the gates of parliament
Susie Wong has missed my point entirely.
I’ll try again:
Once his bad side was shown, and in the absence of any remorse or change, then in my eyes Thaksin became unsuitable for PM.
(irrespective of legal convictions, or whether his good side outweighs his bad side).
ditto re Bush & Howard.
I recognize in a democracy I only have one vote, and ultimately if more voters think differently than me, then I am on the losing side.
It is when those differences are more than mere political differences, but go against my *acceptable conduct code, then I have difficulty respecting democracy.
* I’ve had this discussion on here before, and I think I once used the term morals, but that opens up a whole other can of worms, so I now refer to it as acceptable conduct.
I cannot speak for Dr Connors and have no idea of his feelings towards USA, however I doubt he would care who is acknowledged with being the originator of the term “no to the two camps”.
(I also suspect he would cringe at being linked with a mere hobbyist like me).
Not that it is even relevant to this blog, but I am unsure how you came to the conclusion that I am against the US – I admit I don’t agree with all US foreign policy initiatives, does that make me against the US? – I suppose if I was a US citizen american, you would consider me un-american?
(or if I was Thai, would you consider I no longer understand ‘thainess’ because I seek alternative sources of information which make my mind become ‘degenerate, in decline, abnormal/unhinged’)
Red shirts and civil disobedience
Portman I’ll defend Nick a bit as I don’t think he will.
I’ve known him for a few years and both he and I probably feel more comfortable in the company of people like the people the Reds draw their protesters from. Part of that comes from our marriages to ladies from upcountry and the vibrant relationships with their families and friends. When I’m in Canada most of my friends are Doctors and upper middle class but in Thailand most of my true acquaintances are middle class at best a lot are just dirt poor, I’m know it’s the same for Nick.
This makes it a lot easier to get the dirt from the bottom up but it also makes you have an empathy for the poor that people who don’t actually put themselves into the situation may not have to the same degree.
I know Nick has mentioned here on another post that he never feels 100% comfortable when he covers the PAD. Only Nick can answer why but sometimes you just don’t feel comfortable in a situation and don’t really know why. People are people and they all have their preferences. I know Nick’s preferences but he tries his utmost to report neutrally.
Red shirts and civil disobedience
To Portland: I am simply explaining the current action of Kraisak Chunhawan as the instrument of Germany-Japan’s objectives in the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean). In the realm of security, strategic intention matters most, regardless of ideological leaning. I think the countries in the region understand.