[QUOTE=Giotto; 1211908]I try to understand what kind of political game this could be. If I remember correctly Bangkok voted approx. 50/50 (red / yellow) in the last elections.
Background info about Bangkok's water drainage system:
[url]http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/263836/drainage-system-not-up-to-task[/url]
New York Times (30. 10. 2011) : Bangkok Resisting Floods (So Why Isn't Everyone Happy?)
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/world/asia/31iht-thailand31.html?_r=2[/url]
While I would also appreciate an explanation from the BMA why this socalled "window of opportunity" to allow more water to run-off into the river / Gulf of Thailand was missed. It is after the 21. 10. 2011 (Invocation of the Disaster Law) still in the responsibility of the PM / FROC. So what?
May be the flood protection system of Bangkok was designed wrongly. May be the FROC / BMA / RID cannot handle it correctly. All possible. But if you look at the structure of the system. There are these flood walls in the North of the city. The reason that they exist is to protect the city against a flood coming from the North! Now it is of course bad luck if you live on the wrong side of the wall. But it is still the system which somebody has designed years ago.
What happens if you break flood walls can also easily be understood reading that piece:
"Some flood barriers had been destroyed under mysterious circumstances in recent days, despite the deployment of what the military said were 50, 000 troops to guard and maintain them. A nighttime breach near the city's domestic airport, Don Mueang, last week contributed to waters' pouring onto the tarmac of the airport and inundating thousands of nearby homes and businesses. (The main international airport, Suvarnabhumi, is still operating normally.) The surge of water also forced the government on Saturday to move its crisis-management unit, Flood Relief Operations Center, which had been based at Don Mueang." (NYT)
Yingluck has made her position in regards of a possible flooding of Bangkok very clear:
'If we let the flood wall collapse or if the sluices fail, the water will burst into Bangkok, the capital of our nation, ' she said. 'Foreigners will lose confidence in us and wonder why we cannot save our own capital. ' (NYT)
I don't see major problems between red and yellow right now. I see problems between the people living on either side of the flood walls!
[URL]http://lockerz.com/s/151736744[/URL]
Location of Klong Sam Wa:
[URL]http://twitter.com/#!/chorong_bkk/status/130678240519004160/photo/1[/URL]
What's going on right now (ex twitter) : "10. 59pm Protesters now destroying Klong Sam Wa water gate with huge hammers".
Giotto.
PS: Watch this:
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQN4X1tt1S4[/URL][/QUOTE]As a long time lurker with nothing of interest to report but hopeful that one day I will get to experience, first hand, the delights of Bangkok and, specifically, Livingstones Lodge, I would like to applaud Giotto's efforts to keep forum members informed of the travails of Bangkok. As has already been pointed out, he beats all the news channels hands down!