Thus we get distortions and lies about them in my propaganda pre$$:
"Protesters cut power to Thai leader’s compound" by Grant Peck and Sinfah Tunsarawuth | Associated Press, December 13, 2013
BANGKOK — Antigovernment protesters in Thailand cut off electricity to the prime minister’s office compound on Thursday while their leaders met with businesspeople to explain why they want to oust the caretaker government before upcoming elections.
The government and military both announced they will hold public meetings this weekend in attempts to find an end to the political crisis. But the protesters insisted they would stick with their demand.
The military Supreme Command said it would host a meeting Saturday at which the protest group would explain its goals and be questioned by invited guests from various walks of life.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban cast the meeting as a talk with top brass from the army, air force, navy, and police. However, the official announcement did not make clear whether they would attend.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra earlier announced in a televised address that the government would hold its own forum Sunday with representatives of all sectors of society to try to formulate proposals for reforming Thailand after the Feb. 2 polls are held.
Yingluck made the announcement from an undisclosed location.
She was not at her office, where protesters outside the gates cut off water and electricity and demanded that police leave the compound. The protesters have previously occupied and cut off electricity to official buildings to pressure the government.
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"Thai opposition party to boycott February elections" by Thomas Fuller | New York Times, December 22, 2013
BANGKOK — Thailand’s main opposition party said Saturday that it would boycott national elections scheduled for February, strengthening its alliance with the tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters who have rallied on the streets of Bangkok for the past month.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the leader of the Democrat Party, which is Thailand’s oldest political party and has its power base in the country’s old moneyed elite, said that politics was at a “failed stage” and that the elections would be the “same old power grab” by the governing party and its allies.
That's such a LIE!
Related: Thailand: "Occupy Bangkok" Begins
Hundreds of thousands of protesters, hundreds of vehicles permanently occupy intersections across Bangkok in opposition of Wall Street-backed regime
Must be "newly printed" money.
“The election on Feb. 2 is not the solution for the country,” Abhisit, a former prime minister, said after meeting with party leaders Saturday. “It will not lead to reform.”
The Democrat Party and the protesters are deeply frustrated by the electoral power and influence of Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon who founded the country’s most successful political movement and whose sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, is prime minister. They accuse Thaksin of subverting democracy through corruption and populist policies.
The government counters that the opposition is afraid of elections because it will lose, a calculation supported by many scholars who say the ruling Pheu Thai Party has created a strong base with its policies.
Chaturon Chaisang, the education minister and a senior member of the governing party, accused the Democrat Party of “setting conditions for a possible coup d’état.” The last time the Democrats boycotted elections was in 2006, another period of political turmoil, which culminated with a coup against Thaksin.
One the West doesn't want.
The current political crisis, which comes during the high season for tourism in Thailand and a fragile time for the Thai economy, has brought the military back to the forefront of politics. Protesters are openly asking for the military’s backing, and military leaders have helped arrange meetings between the government and its detractors.
The head of the army, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, said Friday that the crisis “must be solved through political means,” and warned of “battles between people” if political differences are not resolved.
The announcement of the election boycott came on the eve of a large demonstration planned for Sunday, the latest in a series of marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters. Organizers have also hinted they might try to disrupt the registration of election candidates, which begins Monday.
The protests, which started Oct. 31, have drawn crowds as large as 200,000 people. The government’s response has been mostly restrained, and Yingluck dissolved the lower house of Parliament earlier this month to try to end the crisis.
Certainly lets you know what side to which my propaganda pre$$ is sympathetic.
At the height of the protests several weeks ago, demonstrators took over some government buildings. They have since ceded control of the buildings but have not stopped the marches.
And yet they are absent from my printed paper for nine days.
The boycott builds on the protesters’ call for “reform before elections,” an ambitious plan beyond the scope of the Thai Constitution.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the charismatic leader of the protests, has called for the creation of an unelected legislature called a People’s Council that would be partly composed of citizens from various professions and partly appointed by Suthep and other protest leaders.
He hopes that such a council would pass new electoral laws, end the longstanding practice of vote buying, overhaul the police force, allow any citizen to bring corruption charges against government ministers and other senior officials, and abolish the populist policies that have made Thaksin’s political movement so popular in the northern half of the country.
If they were truly popular there would not be any protests.
“When everything is settled,” Suthep said last week, “we will go back to elections.”
The prime minister, who called the February elections this month in an attempt to end the protests, has rejected the demands.
Earlier on Saturday, she proposed a “reform assembly,” so far vaguely defined, that would be formulated after the elections.
Yingluck has spent most of the past week in election mode, visiting the populous northern and northeastern parts of the country. Many voters, especially the less affluent, are grateful for policies such as universal health care and an increase in the minimum wage.
Oh, NO KIDDING!? Voters like UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE and an INCREASE in the MINUM WAGE!?
And all you Amurkns got is crappy Obummercare and a poverty pay rate of $7.25!
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Next item not on web site:
"Thai Protesters Push Again to Stop Elections" by JINDA WEDEL & GRANT PECK / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS| Monday, December 23, 2013
BANGKOK — Buoyed by an election boycott called by Thailand’s main opposition party, the head of the country’s anti-government protest movement vowed Sunday to hound caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra “until she is dead or until she leaves” office.
Addressing supporters after a day of rallies and marches all over Bangkok involving more than 100,000 people, Suthep Thaugsuban issued a series of threats to try to achieve his group’s goal of forcing Yingluck to step down and make way for a non-elected interim government before a snap election she has called for Feb. 2. The main opposition Democrat Party announced Saturday that it would boycott the polls.
Suthep’s so-called People’s Democratic Reform Committee says forcing Yingluck from office is necessary to purge corruption and money politics.
I think we need a Suthep here, Americans.
The protest movement, launched in late October, has effectively returned Thailand to a state of political instability, a condition from which it has fitfully suffered since 2006, when Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed as prime minister by a military coup after large street demonstrations accusing him of corruption and abuse of power.
Could history repeat itself?
“Because Yingluck clings to her prime minister’s seat, we must come out to chase her,” Suthep told supporters Sunday night. “We will keep chasing her until she is dead or until she leaves.”
A group of protesters demonstrated briefly outside Yingluck’s Bangkok home earlier Sunday, but she was not home. She has spent recent days in Thailand’s north and northeast, her political strongholds.
Suthep called for his followers to gather outside the stadium where election candidates are supposed to register starting Monday. He hinted strongly that the group would try to disrupt the process.
“After we finish eating, we will prepare ourselves to sleep in front of the election registration areas starting tonight,” he said. “Wherever they relocate the registration site to, we will follow to express our opposition.”
While he said the protesters would stay outside the actual registration venues and not attack anything, he declared to would-be candidates, “If you want to apply for candidacy, you must walk past our feet first.”
The group applied a similar approach several weeks ago when its mobs forced their way into government office compounds. In several cases, they waged pitched street battles with police, with bloodshed avoided only when the government decided to give ground and allow the premises to be temporarily occupied.
Suthep vowed that if the election still goes ahead on Feb. 2, “We will shut down the entire country and no one will vote.”
If the state Election Commission fails to act according to his group’s demands, he said, “They are the same as the Thaksin regime.” The protesters say Yingluck is a proxy for Thaksin and that Thai politics are hopelessly corrupt under Thaksin’s continuing influence.
Thaksin’s supporters say he is disliked by Bangkok’s elite because he has shifted power away from the traditional ruling class.
I'm tired of that lie.
Suthep called Yingluck “shameless,” accusing her of having “no legal or political legitimacy.”
Dismissing her claims to legally running the government, Suthep declared, “If you continue to say this, I will condemn you every day until you are forced to hide in a toilet.”
Yingluck on Saturday formally proposed a plan for making political reforms following the election. It included having election candidates take an oath to support the creation of a reform council immediately after taking office; having the council’s representatives come from all walks of life at local and national levels; and mandating that the council finish its work within two years.
The Democrats, who are closely allied with the protest movement, also led an election boycott in 2006 that helped pave the way for the coup against Thaksin.
Thaksin’s opponents and followers have vied for power since the coup, sometimes violently. But Thaksin and his allies have won every national election since 2001, thanks to his support from the urban and rural poor who benefited from his populist programs.
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Why bother with this anymore when it lie after lie repeated and repeated?
"Thai commission urges election delay; Police officer killed in clash with protesters" by Chris Brummitt | Associated Press, December 27, 2013
BANGKOK — Thailand’s election commission on Thursday called for the upcoming election to be delayed as street battles between security forces and protesters seeking to disrupt the ballot killed a police officer and injured nearly 100 people, dealing fresh blows to the beleaguered government.
The government quickly rejected the call. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra wants the Feb. 2 parliamentary vote to occur as scheduled, believing she would win handily and renew her mandate.
The street violence adds to pressure on her to take a tougher line against the protesters, who are trying to force her from office, risking more chaos and possible army intervention.
Almost as if she were provoked, huh?
The hours-long unrest took place outside a Bangkok sports stadium where election candidates were gathering to draw lots for their positions on ballots.
Protesters threw rocks as they tried to break into the building to halt the process, while police fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
So much for government restraint.
Police said protesters fired live bullets, one of which killed the officer.
Or it was a government sniper making protesters look bad. Saw that in Egypt.
Four election commissioners left the stadium by helicopter to escape the violence, some of the sharpest since a long-running dispute between Thailand’s bitterly divided political factions flared anew two months ago, pitching the Southeast Asian country into fresh turmoil.
The protest movement regards the Yingluck administration as corrupt, illegitimate, and a proxy for her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by a 2006 military coup. It is demanding that the elections be delayed until Yingluck leaves office and reforms are implemented.
The election commission said in a statement that it was urging the government to consider postponing the elections, citing the security situation. Commission head Somchai Srisutthiyakorn denied the body was ‘‘involving itself in politics’’ by urging a delay in the polls. ‘‘We have good intentions and want to see peace in this country,’’ he told reporters.
Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said the government was unable to change the date of the polls.
‘‘Feb. 2, 2014, was set as the election date in the royal decree dissolving Parliament, and there is nothing within the constitution or the law that gives the government the authority to change this date,’’ he said.
He reiterated that the government was willing to discuss reforms with the protesters.
According to the constitution, elections must be held 45 to 60 days from the date that Parliament is dissolved.
The antigovernment protests began in late October, but Thursday’s violence was the first in nearly two weeks.
At least 96 people were injured from both sides as protesters armed with sling shots and wearing gas masks fought with police. An officer was struck by a bullet fired by the protesters, police said at a news conference. He died after being airlifted to a hospital, said police Colonel Anucha Romyanan.
Later in the day, protesters stormed a government building, vandalized cars, and blocked a road to the smaller of Bangkok’s two airports.
Police have made no move to arrest the protest movement’s ringleader, Suthep Thaugsuban, who is demanding the country be led by an unelected council until reforms can be implemented. The authorities have to tread carefully, as a crackdown would likely provoke greater violence and chaos. That could give the military, which has staged 11 successful coups in the past, a pretext to intervene again.
In a speech to supporters Thursday night, Suthep said he regretted the violence but denied that the protesters were responsible, instead blaming infiltrators or supporters of Yingluck. He vowed that the protesters would succeed in toppling the government.
Otherwise known as AGENT PROVOCATEURS. He knows it, I know it, the whole world knows it.
Thailand has been wracked by political conflict since Thaksin was deposed seven years ago. The former prime minister now lives in self-imposed exile to avoid jail time for a corruption conviction, but he still wields influence in the country.
Thaksin or his allies have won every election since 2001 thanks to strong support in the north and northeast of the country. His supporters say he is disliked by Bangkok’s elite because he has shifted power away from the traditional ruling class, which has strong links to the royal family.
On Wednesday, Yingluck announced a proposal for a national reform council to come up with a compromise to the crisis, but it was rejected by the protesters.
So says my pro-government Globe.
The country’s main opposition party, which is allied with the protesters, has announced it is boycotting the elections.
Yingluck then can not claim legitimacy.
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"Army chief urges calm in Thailand" by Jinda Wedel | Associated Press, December 28, 2013
BANGKOK — Thailand’s powerful army chief on Friday issued his strongest call yet for the nation’s political rivals to overcome their bitter divide, refusing to rule out the possibility of a military coup as long as the conflict threatens to tear the country apart.
General Prayuth Chan-ocha made the comments one day after protesters trying to stop February elections battled with police in Bangkok in clashes that left two people dead and injured more than 140, one of the most violent days since the conflict began two months ago.
The crisis has seen Thailand wracked by political tensions in which demonstrators have sought to overthrow the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The army has staged 11 successful coups in the country’s history — the last against Yingluck’s brother in 2006 — so Prayuth’s words carry great weight.
Asked whether a military takeover was possible, Prayuth said simply, “That door is neither open nor closed . . . it will be determined by the situation.”
Protesters have lobbied for the army to intervene in the crisis, and their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, has called on the military to take sides.
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That is a nice way of telling her she needs to leave.
"Thai protesters target early election" Associated Press, January 13, 2014
BANGKOK — Antigovernment demonstrators began to occupy major intersections in Thailand’s capital on Sunday in what they say is an effort to shut down Bangkok, a plan that has raised fears of violence that could trigger a military coup.
The protesters are trying to force caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign and have her government replaced by a nonelected interim administration to implement reforms they say are needed to stop corruption and money politics. They want to scuttle an early general election called by Yingluck for Feb. 2.
Since November, the demonstrators have engaged in street battles with police, cut off water and electricity to national police headquarters, and occupied, for a time, the compounds of other government agencies. At least eight people, including a police officer, have died in violence associated with the political unrest.
The protest leaders said last week that the demonstrators would occupy seven key intersections Monday in Bangkok, a teeming city known for its debilitating traffic jams. They are also threatening to occupy government office compounds.
It is what you have to do if you want freedom.
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"Protesters flood Bangkok commercial district; Rally is boldest act yet in bid to oust prime minister" by Thomas Fuller | New York Times, January 14, 2014
BANGKOK — Antigovernment protesters swarmed Bangkok’s commercial district Monday as part of an attempt to paralyze the city, a largely peaceful demonstration that cut most traffic to Thailand’s costliest real estate and most prestigious addresses.
Aren't those the people that support them? The old money as it were? Or was all that stuff above a f***ing lie?
The protest was the boldest move in two months of protests against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Protesters frustrated with what they say is a dysfunctional political system have issued some of the most radical political demands seen in Asia in recent years: the scrapping of elections scheduled for February, a hiatus for democracy, and the formation of an alternative form of government involving an unelected “people’s council” that would replace Parliament.
People are the same all over the world!
“We need to shut the capital to tell people that this government has lost its legitimacy,” said Uracha Trairat, a businessman who flew from the southern island of Phuket to join the protests. “The government is now destroying itself.”
It is the same in AmeriKa.
Yingluck has proposed to meet Wednesday with various groups — including her opponents — to discuss a recommendation from the Election Commission to postpone the elections, the Associated Press reported, quoting Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana.
I was told no way they could postpone!
There was no immediate response from demonstrators, but protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said, ‘‘you cannot mediate with this undertaking, you cannot compromise with this undertaking,’’ the AP said.
Monday’s protest had echoes of a protracted demonstration three years ago that closed off some of the same areas of Bangkok and ended with a military crackdown that left dozens of people dead.
There were no reports of violence from the protest areas, and some observers said the demonstration resembled a car-free festival more than a serious threat to the government.
The insult $ays it all!
But a radical and aggressive faction of the protesters threatened to take over the country’s stock exchange and air traffic control system if Yingluck’s government did not step down by Wednesday.
The terminology tells you all you need to know as far as where the propaganda pre$$ of AmeriKa stands.
In making that threat, one of the leaders of the faction, Nitithorn Lamlua, said protest leaders had already been charged by the government with rebellion, so they “could not lose.”
“We will fight until we win,” he said.
The International Crisis Group, a research organization, said Monday the “scope for peaceful resolution is narrowing” and the campaign to stop elections “raises prospects of widespread political violence” that could provoke a military coup.
They get quoted a lot by my jew$paper.
During two months of demonstrations on Bangkok’s streets, protesters have raided the Finance Ministry and other key government offices.
They have also temporarily cut power to police headquarters, and blocked the registration of candidates for the election.
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"Thai leader vows not to resign amid protests" by Thomas Fuller | New York Times Syndicate, January 15, 2014
BANGKOK — As antigovernment protesters continued their occupation of key parts of Bangkok’s main commercial and business districts, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday that she was “protecting democracy” and would not resign.
Then they are going to have to kill you.
“Democracy belongs to the entire Thai people,” she said in a Twitter message, a day after the leaders of the protests began what they called a shutdown of Bangkok.
Translation: she is in hiding.
Although Yingluck’s party is despised by many southerners and members of the Thai elite, it remains very popular in the northern half of the country and is widely expected to win scheduled elections.
So we are told. No doubt they will be rigged.
The leader of the protests, Suthep Thaugsuban, who has been charged by the authorities with rebellion, threatened Tuesday to “close all government offices” if Yingluck did not step down in the coming days.
“And if she remains stubborn, we will take custody of the prime minister and all ministers,” he said to a cheering crowd at a Bangkok intersection blocked by protesters.
Suthep advised government ministers to “send their wives and children to somewhere so that they can escape when the emergency takes place.”
Protesters are demanding the “eradication” from politics of Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a business tycoon and former prime minister.
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"Thai protests continue ‘shutdown’ into third day" by THOMAS FULLER | New York Times, January 16, 2014
BANGKOK — With no sign of resolution to Thailand’s debilitating political power struggle, antigovernment protesters marched through Bangkok Wednesday pledging to stop elections next month while the government vowed that they would take place.
It was the third day of the “Bangkok shutdown,” a campaign by protesters to block major intersections and show that the government has lost legitimacy.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who called elections last month in a failed attempt to defuse the crisis, presided over a political forum Wednesday meant to be a concession to her opponents to discuss the possibility of postponing the election.
In a sign of the fractious political atmosphere, protest leaders, the opposition Democrat Party, and the Election Commission did not take part.
Yingluck said it was regrettable that the Election Commission “refused to show up” although the secretary general of the organization attended as an observer. The governing party has accused the commission of lacking independence and being overly politicized.
Phuchong Nutawong, secretary general of the Election Commission, is “ready to arrange” the election on Feb. 2.
Yingluck’s party would probably win. The Democrat Party, which has not won an election in more than two decades, is boycotting and has allied itself with the protesters.
Thirayuth Boonmee, one of few prominent scholars to back the protests, said a “tsunami of corruption” had created anarchy in Thai society.
Thirayuth said the driving force behind corruption in Thai society is Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister and Yingluck’s brother.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the protest leader, wants an unelected “people’s council” to reform the political system.
Thus he can't be any good.
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Related: Yingluck Runs Out in Thailand
Also see: Goodluck Running Out in Nigeria
You are out of luck now, readers, because I'm done for today. Sorry.
