By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>A co-producer of the banned Thai film "Shakespeare Must Die", which has been construed as a criticism of Thaksin Shinawatra and the red shirts, said he will launch a petition campaign to overturn the Film Board's April 3 decision to outlaw screenings of the work.</p>
<p>Red shirts and democracy advocates should question Thaksin Shinawatra, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and the Pheu Thai Party whether their priority is to bring Thaksin home or to help those red shirts who are in jail, said Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a Thammasat lecturer and political commentator, on his Facebook page.</p>
By Juan Kim |
<p>With the overwhelming win of the Pheu Thai Party in the July 3 elections and as Yingluck Shinawatra is headed to become the first ever female Prime Minister in Thailand, it is eerie to see the parallels between the recent developments in Thailand’s political history centered around the figure of Thaksin Shinawatra and the period of the late General Juan Domingo Peron’s influence in Argentina, particularly during the 1960’s and 70’s.</p>
By Gerrard Winstanley |
<p>Tony Cartalucci has <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/04/exposing-international-arbiters.html">written</a> prolifically on the political turmoil in Thailand. His writing focuses on the International dimension; the foreign interference in Thailand. While there is no doubt that no nation is an island and foreign groups with their own agendas interfere in all nations for their own personal ends, Tony has been very selective in which foreign groups he writes on, what their intentions are and who they work with in Thailand.</p>
By Jim Taylor |
<p>As heard among many red shirts: “We are ready and waiting for the word”, ready for bringing about regime change through a democracy “revolution” (การปฏิวัติ), inspired by the recent events in Tunisia. The problem to most red shirts is that there are few real options remaining in the current repressive situation created by the governing regime. A “democratic revolution” is a mass movement which wishes to replace undemocratic and unelected regime with a democratic system of governance.</p>
<p>It is up to each country that Thaksin Shinawatra visits to decide whether to extradite him or not, and extradition can be done either on a reciprocal basis or under an existing extradition agreement. But countries are concerned that extradition must not be carried out for political reasons. Thaksin has been involved in both political and criminal cases, and this makes it difficult to see the difference. We have tried to explain that our extradition requests are based on criminal grounds, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya told reporters on 28 Dec. </p>
<p>A Bangkok Democrat MP has urged police to press charges against Thaksin Shinawatra for hiring Robert Amsterdam to publish the ‘White Paper’, which he says is offensive to the monarchy and the courts. </p>
<p>Prachatai talked to Thaksin’s lawyer Robert Amsterdam in about mid-August. The transcription below has been edited and some parts are missing, as the interview was done over the phone.</p>
<p>Nai In stores have stopped selling <em>Khabuankan Lom Chao</em> (Movement to Topple the Monarchy), part of the ASTV/Manager network. The yellow camp media argue on academic grounds that the book has not been spiced up as a smear. </p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>The disconnect between the mainstream media and the red shirts has become even starker after the February 26 court ruling on former PM Thaksin Shinawatra's so-called ill-gotten wealth, leading to the seizure of Bt46 billion of his assets.</p>
<p>‘Don’t use a coup to solve the problems of corruption. That will destroy the legitimacy of the whole justice system. It’s really a high price to pay,’ Kasian Techaphira, political science lecturer at Thammasat University, told Matichon reporters in an interview after the court ruled on the Thaksin assets case. </p>
By Thaksin Shinawatra |
<p>Today [26 Feb] has marked a history of Thailand’s justice system. The seized asset of more than 40,000 millions was done on a claim that I benefited from higher stock prices due to my being Prime Minister. The surplus was interpreted as wrongdoings, and was entirely seized. This must be a joke to the world. Stock rising as a result of my being Prime Minister? When stocks rise, the entire market does.</p>