absolutelyBangkok archive · Politics
Originally published Nov. 26, 2008
No live-blogging and updating today. It was the probably busiest day of my life. And sorry for the good-hearted Southerners who tried to do good deeds and were therefore commanded by PAD chief demagogue Sondhi Limthongkul today for having “temporarily left their jobs, farms and homes to help support the PAD movement.”
Without those Southerners not much would have happened this week, as Bangkokians have deserted the PAD already in large numbers. But there in the South they found some good-hearted people and trucked them in; mostly elderly, always smiling and constantly hand-clapping people — maybe they’re about to realize what they’re manipulated into.
Sorry for this beautiful country to having become a tragic laughing stock in the eyes of the world. We all here know there must be a reason that the army and police let the escalation happen. We all know that it borders on the supernatural that the PAD is allowed to do whatever they want to do without its core leaders fearing any harm nor being arrested for a, well, longer list of misdeeds.
But you doubters and political die-hards out there: Right, the end justifies the means. Still defending the mayhem in the name of democracy. But realize this one thing: I’m not an admirer of the great absentee. He’s a demagogue on the same level as the PAD’s leaders. But with what is happening right now in the kingdom, be assured that support for Thaksin Shinawatra becomes stronger and stronger.
Everyone’s trapped right now, everyone in Thailand is suddenly involved in this unspeakable mess. So did Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat do the right thing by assuring the kingdom tonight that his position is unimportant? That the nation and democracy are important? That he will neither resign nor dissolve the house?
Your’s the understudy. Somchai fights. For now, as Thailand crashes & burns. If the powers that be overthrow him, then better have mercy with Thailand because there will be war for sure, Reuters quotes a senior member of the government-loyal Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship.
We’ll soon see! Expect some collateral damage. Ending a “peaceful” protest… Some more collateral damage doesn’t really matter anymore, does it. Time for some clean-up.
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