Profile: Thailand's 'Commander Red' | ||
 Khattiya Sawasdipol was offering security advice to red-shirts this week Khattiya Sawasdipol, the renegade Thai general better known as Seh Daeng (Commander Red), sees himself as "security adviser" to the country's red-shirt opposition movement. He could be found training activists on the streets of central Bangkok just days before he was shot and seriously wounded on 13 May. A loyal supporter of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he is allied to the more radical wing of the broad protest movement but has frequently been disowned by the more political leaders, the BBC's Rachel Harvey reports from the Thai capital. Comparing himself this week to the Mel Gibson warrior character in the epic Hollywood film Braveheart, he nonetheless denied being involved in anti-government violence, saying he was concentrating on checking the protesters' street barricades. Photographs showed him in camouflage gear using a bamboo stick to teach red-shirt guards the correct distance to maintain between each other while on patrol, and to hit one guard's home-made shield in order to test its durability. Guards could be seen kneeling before the general, who enjoys cult status among some opposition supporters. Aged 58, he has been suspended from duty in the Thai army, where he has the rank of major-general, since January. An army source told the Bangkok Post on 8 May that he had subsequently been found guilty by a defence ministry panel of "repeatedly defying orders from his superiors to not get involved in political movements, particularly with the red-shirts". 'A warrior like me' Speaking before troops moved against the protesters' sprawling camp in a Bangkok shopping district, Seh Daeng told AFP news agency he was "always controlling the security".
"We want to check to make sure there are no weapons around and no-one comes to attack us," he said. "It's important that I'm here. Everyone is here because Seh Daeng is here." He rejected accusations of involvement in the numerous mysterious grenade attacks plaguing the Thai capital since the mass protests began in March. "People kept screaming my name but I had nothing to do with it," he told Reuters in another interview. "I have no guns but there may be others who want to help. Not just help the protesters, they want to help the country, but I don't know who they are." He told AFP that his fall-out with commanders went back to 2008 when he publicly criticised the head of the army and was reassigned to lead aerobics classes at a local market. "Everybody laughed at me," he said. "You don't assign a warrior like me to do a stupid thing like that. Do you know the Braveheart movie? Mel Gibson is the same as me." If Seh Daeng has antagonised the Thai military leadership, he has also been at odds with leaders of the opposition movement itself. Days before he was shot, he accused the movement's current leaders of "colluding with the government". | ||
Showing posts with label Redshirts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Redshirts. Show all posts
Thursday, May 13, 2010
COMMANDER RED
Do you know the Braveheart movie? Mel Gibson is the same as me 
Saturday, May 8, 2010
REVOLUTION THAILAND
The Redshirt leadership are about to set a date for withdrawal at Ratchaprasong and from their rallies elsewhere in Bangkok but a final decision is expected sometime very soon and authorized to be made public.
On Saturday morning, two policemen were killed with many others wounded in more M-79 grenade attacks and shootings in the business district of Bangkok. Blame is being apportioned to the militant wing of the Redshirts, who want total victory, now. Not all sections of the redshirts are happy with the compromise, particularly after losing so many comrades, to the Governments attack on April the 10th, in which which 26 people are believed to have lost their lives, including many Government soldiers. This is one of the primary factors that has delayed a date to end the rallies, so far.
A general election will be held on Nov 14. with a House dissolution in September. That is the compromise on the table in Thailand's political crisis, most parties favour it but there is a considerable section of the Redshirts reluctant to accept. The Royalists want martial law and the Redshirts suppressed ruthlessly, immediately.
One spokesperson has said there may be a hidden agenda within the compromise proposal and further attempts at dispersing the protesters, along with further intimidation by the corporate media mafia. The Royalist PAD are also suspected of being possibly behind the recent attack on the police to provoke a crackdown on the Redhirts. Like the conflict in occupied Ireland the politics are both complex and ugly with many provocateurs, sub-plots and departmental agendas. There are several players in the equation besides the Redshirts and the royalists.
Elite corporate interests, army, police factions, securocrats and feudal warlords are just some.Sondhi Limthongkul the leader of the royalist yellow-shirt PAD and New Politics Party is extremely unhappy with the compromise reached. The reason they are against an early house dissolution and an election in November, is that there is no way they can win, its too soon. If the Prime Minister finished his term, which ends in January 2012, the two years would give the yellows time to organize properly. They might then have a possible chance but six months is too soon.
If the Democrats win, it is a four year wait for the corporate/royalist party. The Prime minister and the new party, share primarily the same middle class base, so if the Prime minister triumphs in November, they will have effectively pushed the new royalist/corporate party into obscurity. If on the other hand the Redshirts win, the new party will be obliterated to oblivion. The corporate mafia media's role is critical in all of this.
The new party demands the prime minister resign for his failure to annihilate the Redshirts. Maj Gen Chamlong has recommended military commanders declare martial law, without seeking permission from the government. Fighting talk and highly reactionary words, hence a suspicion for possible responsibility for the attacks on the police Saturday morning. However to directly connect the attack without proof would be irresponsible. However even if the Government and Redshirts are able to compromise and the Redshirts vacate Bangkok along with parliamentary dissolution and the election, it does not automatically mean there will be peace. What it could mean, is that there will be reactionary elements and new havoc created, similar to formerly Franco Spain.
At the end of the day, this is all about strategy, in a deadly power game. There may be a compromise called but a the peace road map, cuts through a jungle of lions, tigers, bears and hunters in black. For now it is colour coded Reds, Yellows, Multi-colours along with the greens of the army with a new chief in September.Then there is Newin Chidchob's blues who have been quiet and yet to make their play. This mix is what Hillary Clinton referred to as "Thai spicy politics" on her most visit last year.
Thailand abolished slavery less that a century ago, fifty years after the British realized it was more expensive to support a slave rather than an employee and abolished it 50 years previously. Society in Thailand today is still feudal in many respects, hence the importance of Buddhism and the Monarchy for its traditional form of stability. Further discussion of this matter is not permitted under penalty of lengthy prison sentence and of course with rampant censorship along with the British corporate media mafia in occupied Ireland and the UK, it is not possible to report the matter objectively presently there either.
The attack on Saturday involved assassins on a motorcycle opening fire on a group of policemen guarding a bank. They hit three policemen and two civilians. One of the police died later at a hospital. In the other attack killing another policeman, spokesperson Pol Lt Gen Pongsatat Pongcharoen said police believe the grenades were again M79. He said the two attacks were by the same group.
Handling buttless homemade copies of M79 grenade launchers on motorbikes, with only one hand, demonstrating quite a degree of versatility and cool 3 warheads being launched from motorbikes, is reminiscent once again, of the latter stages of the present troubles, on the border in occupied Ireland. There have also been plenty of heavy weapons seized from army depots in the troubled south of Thailand, with cross border smuggling and captures made in confrontation with fighters trained by Al Qaeda.
"Things may get more tense in the coming days," a source has confided.
On Saturday morning, two policemen were killed with many others wounded in more M-79 grenade attacks and shootings in the business district of Bangkok. Blame is being apportioned to the militant wing of the Redshirts, who want total victory, now. Not all sections of the redshirts are happy with the compromise, particularly after losing so many comrades, to the Governments attack on April the 10th, in which which 26 people are believed to have lost their lives, including many Government soldiers. This is one of the primary factors that has delayed a date to end the rallies, so far.
A general election will be held on Nov 14. with a House dissolution in September. That is the compromise on the table in Thailand's political crisis, most parties favour it but there is a considerable section of the Redshirts reluctant to accept. The Royalists want martial law and the Redshirts suppressed ruthlessly, immediately.
One spokesperson has said there may be a hidden agenda within the compromise proposal and further attempts at dispersing the protesters, along with further intimidation by the corporate media mafia. The Royalist PAD are also suspected of being possibly behind the recent attack on the police to provoke a crackdown on the Redhirts. Like the conflict in occupied Ireland the politics are both complex and ugly with many provocateurs, sub-plots and departmental agendas. There are several players in the equation besides the Redshirts and the royalists.
Elite corporate interests, army, police factions, securocrats and feudal warlords are just some.Sondhi Limthongkul the leader of the royalist yellow-shirt PAD and New Politics Party is extremely unhappy with the compromise reached. The reason they are against an early house dissolution and an election in November, is that there is no way they can win, its too soon. If the Prime Minister finished his term, which ends in January 2012, the two years would give the yellows time to organize properly. They might then have a possible chance but six months is too soon.
If the Democrats win, it is a four year wait for the corporate/royalist party. The Prime minister and the new party, share primarily the same middle class base, so if the Prime minister triumphs in November, they will have effectively pushed the new royalist/corporate party into obscurity. If on the other hand the Redshirts win, the new party will be obliterated to oblivion. The corporate mafia media's role is critical in all of this.
The new party demands the prime minister resign for his failure to annihilate the Redshirts. Maj Gen Chamlong has recommended military commanders declare martial law, without seeking permission from the government. Fighting talk and highly reactionary words, hence a suspicion for possible responsibility for the attacks on the police Saturday morning. However to directly connect the attack without proof would be irresponsible. However even if the Government and Redshirts are able to compromise and the Redshirts vacate Bangkok along with parliamentary dissolution and the election, it does not automatically mean there will be peace. What it could mean, is that there will be reactionary elements and new havoc created, similar to formerly Franco Spain.
At the end of the day, this is all about strategy, in a deadly power game. There may be a compromise called but a the peace road map, cuts through a jungle of lions, tigers, bears and hunters in black. For now it is colour coded Reds, Yellows, Multi-colours along with the greens of the army with a new chief in September.Then there is Newin Chidchob's blues who have been quiet and yet to make their play. This mix is what Hillary Clinton referred to as "Thai spicy politics" on her most visit last year.
Thailand abolished slavery less that a century ago, fifty years after the British realized it was more expensive to support a slave rather than an employee and abolished it 50 years previously. Society in Thailand today is still feudal in many respects, hence the importance of Buddhism and the Monarchy for its traditional form of stability. Further discussion of this matter is not permitted under penalty of lengthy prison sentence and of course with rampant censorship along with the British corporate media mafia in occupied Ireland and the UK, it is not possible to report the matter objectively presently there either.
The attack on Saturday involved assassins on a motorcycle opening fire on a group of policemen guarding a bank. They hit three policemen and two civilians. One of the police died later at a hospital. In the other attack killing another policeman, spokesperson Pol Lt Gen Pongsatat Pongcharoen said police believe the grenades were again M79. He said the two attacks were by the same group.
Handling buttless homemade copies of M79 grenade launchers on motorbikes, with only one hand, demonstrating quite a degree of versatility and cool 3 warheads being launched from motorbikes, is reminiscent once again, of the latter stages of the present troubles, on the border in occupied Ireland. There have also been plenty of heavy weapons seized from army depots in the troubled south of Thailand, with cross border smuggling and captures made in confrontation with fighters trained by Al Qaeda.
"Things may get more tense in the coming days," a source has confided.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
THAIRISH
From Ireland their first colony to India to Pakistan, to the Middle-East, to the war ravaged continent of Africa, the Eton legacy with centuries of fostered division and conquest, of the people of no property, the peasants, on racial and religious grounds by the Rifles of Eton and British imperialists still cause mayhem on a daily basis as their heirs the Americans carry on the tradition of the Butchers Apron under a flag of the same colours and design.
Friday, April 23, 2010
ONE DAY & ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK - Thailand
LINK TO THAI VOICES of THE STREET
Comfort the Disturbed, Disturb the Comforted
DOG is something spelt backwards, like LIVE for example. DOG can organize, he ran a highly profitable team of international fraudsters in South-East Asia, until he was chased into hiding by hit-men. With hardly any human contact and only a white crow for company, Dog survived only on paranoia and old memories.Now he's back, he's still alive and desperate for life, real life. He's had time to re-evaluate his own life and realizes that he doesn't relate to most people's normality but is addicted to the lure of the buzz, the money, the power but the bullshit is too much: He wants to get his old team together again for one last throw of the dice. He's back on the case, putting together another massive scam. We're there to witness it on camera, in details so accurate, it's almost a beginners guide to fraud! Will this latest night in Bangkok provide him with enough illusions he needs to believe it himself?
"If the government accepts and is open to the talks, we are ready to disperse to restore peace in the country. But the government has to stop threatening people and show responsibility for what has happened," he says a Redshirt leader.
The offer to the government iincludes an implicit demand that the Redshirts are not attacked during peace negotiations, and a full independent inquiry is held into the violence that left 26 dead. "If the government accepts and is open to the talks, we are ready to disperse to restore peace in the country. But the government has to stop threatening people and show responsibility for what has happened," he said.
Redshirt leaders offered to call off a street rebellion that has crippled Thailand's capital Bangkok for six weeks offering a peaceful solution to the country's crisis instead of revolution. One of the leaders of the Redshirts, Veera Musikapong offered the olive branch if the government agrees to dissolve parliament in 30 days, with elections to be held within three months.
Previously, the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva offered to hold elections by the end of the year but the offer was rejected. Now a government spokesperson, Panitan Wattanayagorn said the prime minister had received the offer, saying; "The prime minister attended a meeting on the matter and the government has always been open to talks."
Before the offer to resume talks, Thailand appeared to be heading for civil war. The Redshirts, behind their street barricades built of bamboo and tyres, said they would not leave until the government stepped down.The Reshirts are principally people of no property who say the Abhisit government is just a puppet of the Bangkok elite and the Thai military.
The army appears to be reluctant to move against the Redshirts again, after an earlier failed attempt to clear them from the streets with tanks and guns in the bloodshed of April10. The army chief, Anupong Paochinda says an election is the only solution to Thailand's political crisis. Many soldiers in the lower ranks secretly support the Redshirt's cause being from the people of no property themselves. Royalists and the middle-class elite call them "watermelon soldiers", with green uniforms on the outside and red empathy within. The principal vitriol comes from the nouveau riche, insecure about clinging onto their new wealth and limited privileges.
There are more than 10,000 thousand troops currently on the street with machine guns, and riot police still in battle mode. Royalist and the right wearing yellow shirts have held counter-protests against the Redshirts with bottles and rocks just been fired so far. Now as the wheeling and dealing of politicos begins its a question of replacing bullets with ballots, holding the power of the street and challenging institutional power with gains for the masses as opposed to gains for just a few.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
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