A day after the worst violence on the streets of Bangkok in 16 years, what did we wake to this morning? An 'uneasy calm', intoned the Associated Press. Well, of course. How predictable. What about the headline? 'Calm returns to Bangkok after deadly rioting'. Let's make it more interesting. - Three government MPs were denied the right to board a Thai Airways International Airline flight this morning, after the captain said he did not want to admit MPs who hurt the public. -Thailand is a resilient society, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat told 80 foreign diplomats, called to the Foreign Ministry for a briefing. The government assured them that yesterday's violence was not as serious as it looked. -The door is still open to negotiations with protest group People's Alliance for Democracy, the PM said. As far as the government is concerned, it's business as usual. PAD protesters, who late last night retreated to a bastion close to parliament after a day of fighting, condemned the 'killer government' for attacking its supporters with 'war weapons'. Police went on the offensive after 5000 PAD supporters surrounded parliament and attempted to stop the government from conducting its business. A brief recap: -PAD protesters barricaded the building and trapped lawmakers inside for several hours. -PAD -sympathisers cut access to power and water at parliament as prime minister Somchai attempted to read to the House a policy statement, which the government must present before it can start its work. He read it at speed, as...

Matichon reports that the head of the Police Hospital has confirmed that her HM the Queen has made a donation of 200,000 baht to the Police Hospital in order to assist the police who suffered injuries from dispersing the protesters (เพื่อช่วยเหลือเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจที่ได้รับบาดเจ็บเหตุการณ์สลายการชุมนุมที่บริเวณรัฐสภาทำให้มีเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจบาดเจ็บหลายนาย). BP : For days the Manager has displayed prominently other donations although this one doesn't seem to rate a mention, even in their breaking news section (which has a new article every 5 minutes - I checked back 5 pages worth and nothing in any headline but they could have buried the news in another article.) Yesterday, Sondhi L was riling against Anupong for siding with the tryant government for providing assistance to the murderous police. Will he be commenting now

I also like the photo on page 1B of The Nation with a guy waving a bloodless stump and claiming to be back to protesting less than 24 hours after losing his hand. I spoke to a friend with military experience who said that someone losing a leg would have blood shooting everywhere and a sheet white face from loss of blood. His verdict was 100% that this was a old injury. But it should be pretty easy to prove it. The media should find the guy. He either has a healed over stumb or a catastrophic injury. I can't imagine it would to too hard to figurte out which one it is

It's hard for me to comment on the ongoing crises as so many other bloggers do it much more promptly, often I would be simply recycling their own links and comments. That's why I tend to stick to longer, more thoughtful blogs where I can at least add my own considered opinions into the matter. It seems to be a generally accepted fact in Thailand - even more so than elsewhere - that politics is played out behind the scenes, while the general public just get to see small parts of the script. Whilst there seems to be a large debate concerning excessive police force and the possibility of grenades being used, I see this as - in one sense at least - specious. Don't get me wrong, I abhor violence and violent people. Yet the fact is this - the protesters knew what was coming. They had been warned and they responded by surrounding themselves with arms and security guards. Regardless of whether the PAD are right or wrong, the fact is they knew that their ideology and demands meant they had to challenge the police and receive a police response. Still, the guy who drove that car at the policemen should be locked up. A more intriguing question for me lies in the thoughts and actions of General Chamlong. Nobody can doubt he knew he would be arrested but what were the circumstances? Were the police tipped off (if so, by which side?) or did they follow him?...

In Thailand the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) are making use of their secret weapon to win the war. Unfortunately the PAD can only use their secret weapon during a battle, and as a result it can’t be deployed everyday. The goal of the PAD is to rid Thailand of the influence of the fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra and his cronies. The People Power Party (PPP) is being controlled by Thaksin and they are the immediate target of the PAD. So far the PAD have only made significant advancements when they use their secret weapon. When it is not being used it tends to be a stalemate. The secret weapon the PAD uses against the PPP, is the PPP itself. Ever since the PPP took power early in the year, all their wounds have been self induced. So every time the PAD engages the PPP one way or another, the PPP shows their true colors to the world. They show that they have no morals or ethics. They also show they are self centered and clearly not doing what is in the best interests of the Thai people. That display extends below the educational attainment threshold and erodes the PPP voter base. Although the PPP supporters may be of limited education, they do have morals and ethics. The lower the education the more likely the voters in Isaan will vote for the PPP. Every time the PPP show they have no morals or ethics, they lose a few more reelection votes....