After the army launched the assault wednesday morning against the “camp” of Red Shirts (6 dead officially)… all hell broke loose.
Some protesters were treated like “terrorists”, indeed. Those pictures give an “echo” to what we saw in the South…
Was it over ?
No.
Confusion. Rage. Protesters started to set buildings on fire (the big shopping mall Central World, the Stock Exchange, a TV station etc.). And rage extended to other cities.
The government decided a curfew in Bangok and 23 other provinces.
Abhisit has probably just earned a “place de choix” in History books…
Thailand Crisis 
This just marks another beginning – The Red will become a real terrorists and this will harm Thailand’s tourism. This is worse than protests of which can be known and confined. Now the terrorism can happen at anytime and anywhere. Who dare to come to Thailand?
wa are talking about revolution now
6 people dead? 600 looks more like it. Already 27 buildings burning (with people trapped inside). Abhisit is a textbook example of how not to handle a crisis.
Did anyone remember Jakrapob’s threats last year to bring in weapons from Cambodia for armed insurrection? There is a Reuters story right now with Thaksin “predicting” insurrection, and Seh Daeng openly admitted to the media that he had 300 armed ex-rangers to fight the government.
On April 10th it is undeniable that black clad gunmen were on the scene and basically ambushed the Thai army, killing the commanding officer.
Sean Boonpracong, UDD’s official spokesman admitted the gunmen were there to protect the protesters and now, even the New York Times admits that the Thai military is up against more than just unarmed protesters.
Finally, there is a clip on YouTube with Nattawut telling the red shirts to burn Thailand to the ground if they were caught. Seems they’ve taken the advice to heart.
First they were fighting for “elections” now in order to justify the violence, MSM is claiming they’ve been oppressed by elitists. With that I agree 100%, Thaksin, an elitist amongst elitists, certainly is exploiting them.
Fury, savagery, Red Shirts seems out of control…they spread out like mushrooms from every corner of Northeastern Thailand.
They are like injured animals…dangerous…angry…
Anybody who wonder what is going on with this people, please look at 60 years of IGNOBILE politics in Thailand:
PHRAI (poor people) threated as animals, as slaves, as beasts of burden, with nor rights whatsoever, constantly brainwashed, though every day in school, TV and anywhere they are inferior and ugly because they are dark and they are “Lao”.
60 years…
15 hours a day with this striking sun ,no pension, no social security, if they get sick they will kicked out from the hospitals because they have no money (I know HUNDREDS OF CASES, so i know what i am talking about,ok ?), all this for 150 BAHT A DAY.
In the land of smile, of the skycrapers, of the golf courts, of the 5 stars hotels ,of the luxury spas, limusines, etc…
Isn t that a shame ?
You still wonder what is going on ?
This rage, we call it savagery which is spurning out of control (shooting at fireworkers is IGNOBLE too)is a direct consequence of decades of terrible injustice.
If the reds are clever they should now start to really hurt the yellow shirts where they feel the biggest pain, not kicking their testicles but grabbing notes from their pockets.
A good start would be start a few fires in Hotels in Phuket and Pattaya. This would immediately remove 6% GDP. The reds still can sell there rice and live as usual, but the rest of the country will feel the pain that the Issan is feeling right now.
It would also show the world what Thailand is. Another inhumane banana republic with a greedy bloody elite and not the shining star of South East Asia.
By the way, heared that Apisit want to shut down the Internet tomorrow – how much effect will this have for all the foreign outsourced companies here if their most fundamental business communication is killed.
Aphisit is such a world class Looser.
Yes, TC, you are right.
Welcome to the new Burma!
suppress the Thai military, all these problems will go away
where did the snipers come from, where did the M79s come from, where did the men in black come from, where did Seh Daeng come from?
you got it
suppress the military, sack the 700 generals, cut their budget, ban them from any involvement in business and politics and any operations in Thailand including down south
instant improvement of Thailand for all Thai people
The outbreak of these fires in so many places seem to me to be a well-planned operation. I’m guessing the means to effect these fires were put in place long ago as a planned response to any military assault on the Red camp. “Don’t attack us or you’ll have chaos.”
However, once the Red leaders surrendered, this capability was “repurposed” by a more extreme Red group who saw no reason to give the establishment a relatively painless operation.
“We’re going down, we might as well push the button on our way out the door.”
Lots of talk about ‘terrorists’ and ‘ill-intentioned people’ lately. Lots of people at the Post and Nation wringing their hands and pretending they’re not a large part of the problem. It’s all humbug.
If you kick a dog often enough it will either be cowed or it will bite you. Dogs are not stupid, even after being cowed, they eventually learn that being docile does not stop the kicking, and then they bite.
After the dog has bitten, there is no point calling it a terrorist. No point wringing your hands and complaining about the dog being faithless because you fed it every day. No point shedding crocodile tears.
If the dog bites its because of the mistakes of the owner.
This owner is a disgrace, a tragedy, a mockery, a travesty.
Imho, the dog was right to bite. it would have bitten long ago but for the repression, the repressive culture (shaped by exploiters to enable better exploitation), the repressive and cynically mendacious propaganda.
The owner should feel lucky the dog did not kill it as many would have done, and contemplate that there may yet be time if the kicking does not stop.
I know how it feels like when treated unfairly. The reds have been waiting for so long for their vengeance. Bangkok people in general are proud, selfish and look at other people as rubbish.
Loather. I think the current government does not care about tourism. the pad did closed the airport, a tourist lifeline. the coup makers removed a guy that was promoting tourism and industry. after the coup the government launched several campaigns to remove so called visa loopholes, another chopping of tourism.
Some government guys talked about how to get the farangs out of Thailand, and if it is legal for farangs to own beer bars.
David Brown, you have summarized it all…
The thai army is the main thai problem.
Now, thailand is second Burma and leaded by Army government. it is the bad country in asean country in 2010 for governance…
Until the outbreak of complete mayhem yesterday when the UDD leaders surrendered, I understand that the official death toll was 36 since the previous Thursday, 35 of whom were civilians. I simply don’t believe it, and, I guess, many others won’t either. Throughout those five days I was hearing on audio and video reports an almost constant background of gunshots which sounded more like the distinctive crack of high velocity rifle fire than the firing of rubber bullets or firework explosions.
It will be interesting to hear what the official additional death toll is after yesterday afternoon – for a start, nine dead bodies of civilians were recovered from inside the Pathumwanaram Temple.
Hey folk, have a look at the last article in the Bangkok Post.
In two words, they say the government has been too tollerant and not violent.
They say anywhere else in the world, from EEUU to UK , the governments wouldn t have been so pacific and tollerant against the protesters as the patient Thai government was.
I am afraid they missed a point, a fundamental point: nowhere in these countries the society is so undemocratic, so unfair, so corrupt as in this country.
Nowhere in these countries millions of people worth less than animals and are threated as sub-humans.
Another article praises the “flawless democratic steps taken by this Government” and regard as brutal terrorist the Red Shirt’s action.
They never mention the Yellow Shirts barbaric acts against an ELECTED GOVERNMENT, nevertheless they regard as terrorists the people who winners of 4 elections who protests against PUTSCHIST and ILLEGAL government.
I mean, who is do damn stupid and ignorant to believe to this lies ?
There is no justification in the world to save these gullibles.
They are as culprits as the government.
As posted previously this is what I feared would happen, the government sending in the army firing. I can see how it would have been seen by Abbhisit as end to the problem, but suspect the Red leaders were wanting just this.
To inspire people into an insurgency you need a rally call and that is what the government has delivered. The Thai media is pushing this as a terrorist suppression and by the damage done later they are partly right, however the reds will never see it that way, it is martyrdom.
Neither side can win this, essentially the country is now fucked. If the reds follow the Mohammedans then the country will be ungovernable, the government were fools to fall into this trap, but suspect there were orders from above. Taksin’s revenge – ongoing civil war.
Currently in Chiang Mai, schools and banks are closed, soldiers are on the streets, roads are closed. Welcome to the Land of Smiles.
COUP ALERT AS ALL TV STATIONS SHOWING PANDA CHANNEL
http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=905
The playing of panda footage has often signaled the beginning of a military coup in Thailand.
.
.
ARMY CAN’T EVEN SPELL
http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=902
Distraught Abhisit admits country lacks any semblance of grammatical principles
.
.
GOVERNMENT WARNS OF SEVERE TIRE SHORTAGE
http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=906
BANGKOK – Finance Minister KornChatikavanij warned today that the Kingdom was facing a severe shortage of cheap, used tires following the red-shirted protests.
.
.
AN ACTOR BRINGS THAILAND TO ITS SENSES
http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=903
BANGKOK – Actor Pongpat Wachirabanjong has pulled Thailand back from the brink with his incredibly insightful acceptance speech during an awards show.
Sadly, even if there are no civil war or guerilla war in the near future, smile and harmony have been replaced with hatred and conflicts. What else can I say?
Thailand will not fully recover from this event.
The road towards a true democracy will be long and difficult. A low-level protracted civil war will gradually sap the country’s finances and energy over the next 10-30 years. Thailand’s days as the leading Asian Tiger are now well & truly over. Vietnam must be so impressed – lots of new business opportunities knock on their door every day.
A job well done to Abhisit – The Barbaric, Bloody Butcher of Bangkok. He now has more blood on his hands than Suchinda’s previous record. Is this is what Eaton & Oxford training do to a man? Perhaps it’s the Biology lessons where they carve up small creatures? Perhaps Mark Vejj was bullied at school? Perhaps his buying his way out of military service made him think that bullets were preferable to truncheons? Who knows.
He has entered the Hall of Shame for his total ineptitude & lack of leadership skills, preferring to instead send in soldiers with live ammunition & overwhelming force, to disperse what began as a peaceful demonstration. This is a hollow victory, devoid of any accolades, except from the royalist, fascist elements in BKK society. This murderer will spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder, and rightly so.
I wonder how the Baht is rising against all cuurencies.
It rose against Asian currencies in the past few weeks, Singapore dollar, Taiwanese dollar and all others.
This THB is a real mistery, rising like crazy even during an almost-civil war.
Thai products are crazy expensive compared to other asian competitors due to the grossy overvalued Baht.
Since the Saudis bought all rice fields , the value of the Baht hasn’t been allowed to drop.
But it is true that in the short term, the big surpluses has helped this situation and the international reserves have even grown.
In some terms, it is really amazing how Thailand manage to be competitive with all this sh.. happening.
Airports taken, Bangkok on fire, massacres after massacres, bombs,…. 2 weeks later: hotels full again of tourists and discos and clubs at full work.
Is the sex appeal and the exotic beauty of Thai women to keep this country afloat despite all its trouble ?
I am convinced of this. Really.
It is interesting that sophonrith says about Burma. because some 18 months ago TC was saying :
“The nightmare is : take the current situation, and just… invert it. Yellow become Red, and Red become Yellow… We can assume that the Red would launch some “campaigns”, a la PAD. ”
I (then as Hoktula) replied to him:
““Reds” might try to do same as PAD… in reality though – they stand no chance! because they do not have such as support of
ALL Thai elite and rich guys… as long as they lack such support of “ultra-right” – they will always loose.”
to which TC responded:
“Unless Thailand becomes Burma, it would be always difficult to shoot those people. I know it happened in 1992… seems so far away… But now, I believe the situation has changed…. We are far away from the arrogance of all those people shown in the past… ”
and my reply was :
“about “Reds can inflict a lot of damages..” don’t kid yourself! UDD/DAAD/”Reds” can NEVER enjoy such impunity and IMMUNITY as PAD ! Anupong and even police will NOT be oh so shy with anyone else than PAD! you wanna bet?
as soon as UDD try ANY attempt remotely similar to PAD – they will be BRUTALLY suppressed. mark my words. as it has been not so long ago – in 2006/ 2007
“Unless Thailand becomes Burma” – well, it is not so far. if not has already happened.”
then of course Black Songkran Apr 2009 happened (but army cleverly hid all corpses), and now in May 2010 repeat of that, only on larger scale and this time army didn’t bother to hide bodies, just used “terrorists” excuse.
so, looks like what we were talking about that time in Nov 2008 has now materialized as a reality, and sophonrith rightly summed it up :
“Now, thailand is second Burma and leaded by Army government. it is the bad country in asean country in 2010 for governance… ”
funny how predictable things can be, huh ?
You are wondering why the THB does hold ? That’s the not good question.
The good question is : where are the currencies that are not manipulated ?
😉
THB is nothing compared to USD, to EUR…
Nothing make any sense in the currencies market. Massive distorsion, everybody lying, cheating…
So in the middle of this galatic bordello, the THB well is just a tiny part.
Common sense does not apply anymore. So tanks could open fire in Bangkok’s street or Abhisit could strip naked on TV… the THB wouldn’t move. Maybe. Or maybe not. 😉
Last but not least : maybe the THB is crashing… but since all the other fiat currencies are running toward the bottom too…. well you are not able to see it.
Everything is relative in the money market.
😉
Hi Thaicrisis,
Over one month without a blog entry… I really like your blog and regularly come here to check your views on the Thai economy and Thai politics. So I hope you’re OK, just on holidays or doing some other things and that you will blog
again soon.
Bye for now.
Hey, TC whatever happened to you?
Where did you go? Would like some analysis on the SET and 9% money growth since PAD took power. What’s up, dawg? Don’t worry – Aby and Korn are paper tigers. Kit Tung Mak. Miss your commentary.
To my beloved readers ;-), I’m here. Just here. I mean not in Thailand, but around.
Not dead, not even sick.
Just extremely busy. Painfully busy.
I’m waiting. For the right moment.
The Thai crisis will resume. Inevitably.
It will resume on the economic front, once the collective hallucination will end (remember the “Green Shoots” ? Seem so far away, already ?)… and of course on the political front.