<p>Late one night at the end of last month &ndash; an April night in which the scent of blood from the impending crackdown threatened to fill the air &ndash; a woman in her seventies made her way awkwardly through the crowd of demonstrators. She sat down among them before pulling out a bag containing a slingshot and glass marbles, which she had kept hidden underneath her top, to the delight of her aged friends sitting nearby.</p>

<p>The deteriorating Thai political situation has made the &ldquo;land of smiles&rdquo; the object of constant curiosity among friends and colleagues in Britain. Thailand also has begun to trend online and it is now the international press&rsquo;s favorite country to talk about. It is right up there with the likes of the New York bomb plot and the fiscal crisis in Greece. One has to only pick up a copy of The Economist to realize that they now run articles on the crisis in Thailand on a weekly basis. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Right now, the heart of Bangkok has become a war zone.&nbsp;</p> <p>The noise of gunfire is deafening, soldiers are lining up and shooting to disperse protestors. The protesters flee in all directions, then respond by lighting homemade rockets, firecrackers, and aim their slingshots at the soldiers.</p> <p>Today (14 May) the clashes between soldiers and the red shirts took place in many areas. The first of these was around Lumphini Park, Saladaeng intersection, and Wireless Road underneath the Thai-Belgium overpass. Then the clashes spread to Bon Kai intersection, the area in front of the Lumphini police station, Ratchaprarop and Pratunam.&nbsp;</p> <p>News came almost immediately of the rapidly increasing number of casualties.&nbsp;</p> <p>Nobody can say when the war in central Bangkok will end.</p>

<p><em>Somsak Jeamtheerasakul&rsquo;s analysis and observations of the current situation. &nbsp;Translated and shortened by Prachatai English.</em></p> <p>The government&rsquo;s use of force to crack down on the red shirts at Rajprasong now seems practically inevitable, as does the collision course taken by Thaksin and the red-shirt leaders, including the possible use of the black-clad men who are the latter&rsquo;s secret weapons.</p>

<p>Since 2006, Thai politics has witnessed mounting popular mobilisation and a deepening political crisis. As so-called &lsquo;yellow shirts&rsquo; and &lsquo;red shirts&rsquo; have taken their protests to the international airport, the national government, and the city streets of Bangkok, Thailand has also seen the articulation of ultra-royalist versus (alleged) anti-royalist sentiments.</p>

<p>Matichon Weekly has in its latest edition, 23 April 2010, an article entitled <em>&lsquo;Suppose PM Abhisit Vejjajiva today faced an Opposition Leader named Abhisit Vejjajiva&rsquo;</em>. &nbsp;Since Abhisit became Prime Minister and has had to deal with the red shirts, what has most undermined his credibility are his own words and principles when he was Opposition Leader, the article says.</p>

<p><em>(A shortened version by Prachatai English)</em></p> <p>After the Saturday clashes, the red shirts are confident that they have gained the upper hand over the government; so they do not bother to negotiate or give a thought for the common good.&nbsp; They have only one goal: seizing the country, changing the form of government and overthrowing the monarchy.</p>

<p>Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva addressed the nation in the afternoon of Monday April 11, 2010 stating that &ldquo;terrorists&rdquo; have infiltrated the red-shirt movement seeking to bring about a &ldquo;major change&rdquo; to Thailand.</p>

<p>Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva addressed the nation on television on Thursday evening, a day after the state of emergency was declared, to defend the government&rsquo;s censorships of red-shirt media by stating that by doing so he has succeeded somewhat in stopping &ldquo;the spread&rdquo; of &ldquo;distorted information&rdquo;, and is &ldquo;in expectation that there will be a gradual reduction of hatred&rdquo;.</p>

<p>An understanding should have been made among the red shirts beforehand that this is not &lsquo;the last battle&rsquo;, and the goal should have been to sound out their opponents. &nbsp; The red shirts should be aware of the fact that their force, which has just been rebuilt after the devastating defeat during Songkran last year, is not yet strong enough to finish the war once and for all.</p>

<p>(14 March 2010)&nbsp;It is hard to know what is going on in a town like Bangkok. Like everyone else, I was curious what was really going on with the Red Shirt rally. The tourism authority is saying everything is fine, but you should stay away from Sanam Luang, Khao San Road, and even Victory Monument. If you don&rsquo;t mind knowing the news a day after it happens, then the Bangkok Post and Nation are great.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p> <p>On 12 March, the red shirts began their rally at 6 spots around Bangkok. &nbsp;They chose to perform major rituals at two places which have significant political implications for their struggle; the Laksi Circle and the King Taksin Monument.</p>