absolutelyBangkok archive · Politics
Originally published Feb. 10, 2011
Thai politics make the venerable
The Onion once again green with envy. The weirdest minds couldn’t come up with what Thai politicians, nationalists and saviors delight the world with. Even red shirts are not sure any longer if they should wear a yellow shirt or vice versa.
Squarehead aka opposition leader Thaksin Shinawatra assured naive outsiders: “I don’t know them” — them = red shirts. The man’s right. Who would want to be associated with pseudo-Marxists burning down a capital and spurning the legitimate aspirations of the faithful.
Shrunkhead aka fascist leader Chamlong Srimuang, more than ever convinced of being god-send, publicly asks for his arrest! “Come and arrest us, we are not afraid. Losing our freedom is better than losing our territory.” And the airport terrorist still walks free. Any only mildly responsible government would have long fulfilled the man’s wish for his own safety. Hey he’s longing for violence.
And then there’s drama queen Jatuporn Prompan with his utter nonsense coup talk. The man deserves to be crowned King of Incredibility, but can you believe it, his coup-assurances were still quoted and analyzed! Utter kibosh.
And then there is Robbie Amsterdam, willing to distort any fact and truth for the sake of a good pay. Or as a Tony Cartalucci writes here, Robbie provides a “lesson in intellectual dishonesty and international meddling.” Read the whole thing about Amsterdam’s “hopeless causes,” even though, please don’t compare Khodorkovsky with Thaksin.
The Russian suffers Siberian labor camp. Our hero was even given enough time to flee and now jets around the globe from dubious friends to dubious governments and invests in, yes, blood gems.
And then we have the mighty Thai army, as Fonzi says:
“Can’t control the south. Can’t control the cities. Can’t control the border.
What good is the army for except coups and stealing from the tax payers?”
Fonzi goes on saying that “the army will try to manufacture a nationalist crisis to turn attention away from other troubles and try to unite the country around a phony war with Cambodia.” Wouldn’t go that far.
The recent border escalation was also to please and at the same time quiet Mr. Shrunkhead. And observers still wonder who fired the first shot. It’s a pretty simple game perfidiously played by the aggressor pretending to be the victim. And you thought the old days of the bigger richer natio bullying the smaller poorer are over. One can only hope Hun Sen gets them humiliated for all the world to see when the U.N. Security Council debates the pseudo war. A throughout “manufactured crisis,” as the Asia Sentinel states. All Chamlong is proving is they’re no Buddhists.
Thai villagers at least, the heart and soul of the nation, know what’s going on: “You have created the war. You troubled us. We don’t welcome you,”
said a 46-year-old of the PAD, of those hyper-patriotic yellow shirts who want to bring food and supplies and support to the poor villagers, nowhere near realizing that they bring even more harm than good. Villagers despise them. Because it’s not a country of sheep where everyone’s easily manipulated. More and more people manage to think for themselves.
Last but not least there’s talk the prime minister’s an involuntary spy because, being born in the U.K., he could hold dual citizenship. I’d rather call it a security risk if the leader of this glorious nation is Thai only…
But there is hope — quoting from the WSJ:
“(Red) protesters were calling for early elections, and some analysts say even now elections would help resolve Thailand’s problems and restore Mr. Abhisit’s standing.
Although analysts have long believed supporters of Mr. Thaksin would easily win a national election, some have begun to question that assumption. Thailand stabilized following last year’s protests and posted strong economic growth in the second half of the year, which could improve Mr. Abhisit’s chances.”
Abhisit sees his coalition “slightly ahead”:
For peace and stability elections alone will not do. The fascists belong behind bars. The losers must accept defeat. Wishful thinking, you say. There’s no way out of the elite’s craving for power.
Maybe we live in different places suffering different hallucinations. Institutionalized suppression? Just to mention Northern Africa. Much much much of the complaining and finger pointing around here is a luxury pastime.
The place is nowhere near perfect. The fascists though, they face a similar “luxury problem” by abusing the Thai people’s generosity and flexible freedoms in extremis.
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