Thread: Thailand Politics
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05-19-09 01:51 #1129
Posts: 395Originally Posted by Old Thai Hand
Regrettably, we have to adjust to the sad fact that we will never be able to run it for them (and for us…). Mind you, we do not really need to run the entire country. A few international concessions like in the China of the ‘30s in the areas we hold dearest (Pattaya, Phuket, Samui, Hua Hin perhaps) would be more than enough, I guess.
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05-18-09 14:50 #1128
Posts: 1391Originally Posted by Old Thai Hand
My concern is the possibility of being treated like the Jews in Nazi Germany after 1933. You know ... a knock at the door in the middle of the night. I can abide a few double standards and prejudices, but not the loss of my life or property.
Actually, from my persepctive, I'm treated pretty well right now as a Farang.
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05-18-09 14:06 #1127
Posts: 2102Originally Posted by Daddy07
But, it is interesting that regardless of the current govt.'s hatred of Taksin, they have reversed none of his draconian policies regarding visa regulations and in fact, successive govt.s since he was deposed have made staying here even tougher for us than he ever did.
It really doesn't matter who's in charge, we'll always be at best, merely tolerated, and largely remain victims of various double-standards and prejudices. All Thais are brainwashed xenophobes, institutionally conditioned by the ruling Thai Nazis to be protectionist, suspicious, ultra-right-wing nationalists.
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05-18-09 11:46 #1126
Posts: 1762New Video on Thai PM Vejjajiva on CNN, he's smooth.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video...bhist.thai.cnn
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05-18-09 08:22 #1125
Posts: 1391Originally Posted by Opebo
Ruling classes ... they are all the same, regardless of political persuasion.
We have but one major concern with the coming transition: How will the Farang be treated?
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05-18-09 08:06 #1124
Posts: 1641Originally Posted by Seydlitz
If you look at what happened with the red-shirts - just a brief display of opposition and then rapid caving in to the man with the gun - I think we can see that Thais simply fear power. It is ingrained in them, and probably all the successor(s) will have to do is a few weeks show of brutality to get things in line. Of course I could be wrong - one always has the shining example of 1917 to remind us that the ruling class does not win every time. (A more apt comparison than Iran 1979 I think - what do you gents think?).
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05-17-09 23:34 #1123
Posts: 915Originally Posted by Carmex
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=FF3zqBK_gNU
Times are clearly so desperate nowadays that one of the very few politicians who was capable of navigating Thailand away from it's impending abyss has been trashed by the latest mob of unsavoury incumbents .
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05-09-09 07:47 #1122
Posts: 915Originally Posted by Old Thai Hand
We can only hope and pray that things don't descent into civil war.
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05-09-09 04:32 #1121
Posts: 2102A losing battle
Just as the Thai govt. is failing in its attempt to muzzle the Internet, and in particular any site deemed "a threat to national security" (i.e. sites critical of the monarchy, critical of the govt., or which show Thai women in an unfavourable light), this "open letter", which has been making the rounds is at best an unconvincing critique aimed not just at The Economist, but the international media, in general in a feeble attempt at shoring up a disintegrating status quo.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009...n_30102294.php
The Thai press falls lock-step into place behind the establsiment's attempt to maintain the now very thin veneer of respect for the monarchy. While the Thai elite, the Thai govt. and the Thai press continue to try to convince everyone that the much-loved King and the monarchy are one-in-the-same, the truth is quite different.
As the now, much-less-visible King becomes increasingly frail, and stares into the rapidly approaching abyss of his own mortality, the appologists for the monarchy, (which has been, since the 1960s nothing more than a symbolic umbrella to protect the vested interest of the few) are becoming increasingly strident and unconvincing in their arguments. With the recent unrest, major cracks are forming in the shell of blind obedience that has protected the powerful for far too long. For the first time, the royal family, and especially the queen are being criticized by large segments of the disenfranchised populace, something that would have been unthinkable even a couple of years ago.
The more visible street battles of the yellows and the reds are merely the tip of the iceberg. Many other, unreported protests and disturbances occur on a weekly basis that, while not directly related to the main battles are more significantly an indication of an ongoing, wide-spread malaise and dissatisfaction with the lot in life of the vast majority of Thais.
The band-aid still largely holding the pieces all together, however precariously is the image and myth of the King, and to a much lesser extent, the institutional, feudalistic brainwashing to which most Thais still obediently subscribe.
When the King dies, it will all come crashing down, despite the lame attempts of people like the author of the above "open letter" to maintain the self-serving and false illusions needed by those in power to justify their continual plundering and oppression of the country.
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05-08-09 09:03 #1120
Posts: 132Patpong Get Wild
Originally Posted by Fon Tok
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05-08-09 06:24 #1119
Posts: 1058Silom Road: Significant Military Presence
I went for a walk in the Silom neighborhood early this morning and I was amazed at the number of soldiers and police guarding the Dusit Thani Hotel where an ASEAN health summit is underway. Didn't see very many lethal weapons, though.
The Abhisit government is obviously taking no chances after the ASEAN debacle in Pattaya last month.
It looked like a potential war zone out there, but funny thing, there was not a protester in sight.
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04-22-09 01:53 #1118
Posts: 915Originally Posted by Old Thai Hand
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04-21-09 06:34 #1117
Posts: 2102Originally Posted by Seydlitz
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04-20-09 10:37 #1116
Posts: 395Originally Posted by Old Thai Hand
It is obvious that we all have a lot to fear as this reign is coming to an end, but IMHO the worst case scenario is not the most probable. Or at least that is what I want to believe…
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04-20-09 04:41 #1115
Posts: 3116I have heard and read what many econmic experts have been predicting for some time even before Obama came to office when it comes to the dollar versus the baht. The U.S. is printing too much money and once it is circulated it will de-value the dollar not only in Thailand but throughout the world. If Thailand wasn't having problems like the rest of the world the dollar versus the baht might be 25/1 so at 35/1 and being on a budget I'm just happy it's not even 31/1 as it was last year!
Aside from the above I will do as OTH, and defer back to Giotto for his comments if any.
LBM