Play, Travel, Writing

Thailand Update

Quite a few people have expressed their concern for me, and I wanted to set you minds at rest. I am safe where I am in Thailand, I don’t stay in Bangkok.

For those who don’t know – The government has been ousted in a coup by the military here in Thailand. There’s a night-time curfew between 10pm and 5am. Assemblies of more than five people are prohibited in public places. The Police have been taken over by the Navy in one town in Thailand.

Thailand has had many coups, this one as far as I’m aware has gone down peacefully so far. On average they seem to have one every seven years or so, so the country was due for one.

I don’t closely follow politics, but my understanding is that always it’s the opponents of their elected government that cause these problems. I find it unusual because in the UK, we just generally accept the elected government as part and parcel of the democratic system. However, not my place to judge.

Speaking to long term ex-pats here in Thailand, these coups normally go down peacefully and the foreigners here are generally safe. It would be devastating for the Thai tourist economy if foreigners were harmed and I’m fairly sure the people in control here understand this.

I am taking some extra precautions, in case things escalate. I’m not planning any unnecessary trips, and will generally stay at home most of the time.  Apart from going to the beach to take photos of sunsets of course, and a little shopping for supplies.

I have five cartons of cigarettes, so can live for a month or more on ramen noodles and water if worst came to worst. Hopefully it’ll never come to that !

This isn’t a thread to discuss the situation here in Thailand, please do that elsewhere. It’s just an announcement to reassure those who were worried about my safety – once again, I am safe, and intend to stay that way.

For those who are planning to travel to Thailand, I would advise doing your own due diligence on the situation before travelling, a postponement if possible may be a wise choice. The “Thai Visa” website has a news email that keeps one abreast of current news, and is recommended.

Warm regards

Don Charisma

Resources & Sources

Thailand Emblem – Wikipedia

Notes for commenters:

Don Charisma Warning Improvised Writing

Comments are invited. BUT you are reminded that this is a public blog and you are also reminded to think before you press the “post comment” button. 

Good manners are a mark of a charismatic person – so please keep comments civil, non-argumentative, constructive and related, or they will be moderated. If you feel you can’t comply, press the “unfollow” button and/or refrain from commenting.

I read ALL comments but can’t always reply. I will comment if I think there’s something that I can add to what you’ve said. I do delete without notice comments that don’t follow rules above. For persistent offenders I will ignore you permanently and/or report you.

Most decent people already know how to behave respectfully. Thank you for your co-operation on the above.

Warm regards, Don Charisma

83 thoughts on “Thailand Update”

  2. well I really don’t follow politics at all so I dont know whats going on in Thailand. Anyways, be safe 🙂

    Reply

  3. But to fully understand just why the Thai military sees the need to move so decisively against Thaksin Shianwatra and his political machine entrenched in Thailand’s political landscape for over a decade, one must consider the extensive list of sovereignty-usurping capitulations the regime has made to its Western sponsors, as well as its systematic, serial abuses in both terms of human rights and of its legal mandate:

    In the late 1990’s, Thaksin was an adviser to notorious private equity firm, the Carlyle Group. He pledged to his foreign contacts that upon taking office, he would still serve as a “matchmaker” between the US equity fund and Thai businesses. It would represent the first of many compromising conflicts of interest that would undermine Thailand’s sovereign under his rule.

    Thaksin was Thailand’s prime minister from 2001-2006. Has since dominated the various reincarnations of his political party – and still to this day runs the country by proxy, via his nepotist appointed sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

    In 2001 he privatized Thailand’s resources and infrastructure including the nation’s oil conglomerate PTT – much to Wall Street’s delight.

    In 2003, he would commit Thai troops to the US invasion of Iraq, despite widespread protests from both the Thai military and the public. Thaksin would also allow the CIA to use Thailand for its abhorrent rendition program.

    Also in 2003, he initiated what he called a “war on drugs.” Nearly 3,000 were extrajudicially murdered in the streets over the course of just 90 days. It would later turn out that more than half of those killed had nothing to even do with the drug trade. In this act alone, Thaksin earned himself the title as worst human rights offender in Thai history, and still he was far from finished.

    In 2004, he oversaw the killing of 85 protesters in a single day during his mishandled, heavy-handed policy in the country’s troubled deep south. The atrocity is now referred to as the “Tak Bai incident.”

    Also in 2004, Thaksin attempted to ramrod through a US-Thailand Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) without parliamentary approval, backed by the US-ASEAN Business Council who just before the 2011 elections that saw Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra brought into power, hosted the leaders of Thaksin’s “red shirt” “United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship” (UDD) in Washington DC.

    Throughout his administration he was notorious for intimidating the press, and crushing dissent. According to Amnesty International, 18 human rights defenders were either assassinated or disappeared during his first term in office. Among them was human rights activist and lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit. He was last seen in 2004 being arrested by police and never seen again.

    Also throughout Thaksin’s administration, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) claimed in its report, “Attacks on the Press 2004: Thailand” that the regime was guilty of financial interference, legal intimidation, and coercion of the press.

    Since the 2006 coup that toppled his regime, Thaksin has been represented by US corporate-financier elites via their lobbying firms including, Kenneth Adelman of the Edelman PR firm (Freedom House, International Crisis Group,PNAC), James Baker of Baker Botts (CFR, Carlyle Group), Robert Blackwill (CFR) of Barbour Griffith & Rogers (BGR), Kobre & Kim, Bell Pottinger (and here) and currently Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners (Chatham House).
    In April of 2009 gunmen would fire over 100 rounds into the vehicle of anti-Thaksin activist, protest leader, and media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul in a broad daylight assassination attempt. He was injured but survived.
    On April 10, 2010, heavily armed professional militants deployed by Thaksin Shianwatra and his “red shirt” front targeted and assassinated Colonel Romklao Thuwatham who was at the time commanding crowd control operations near Bangkok’s Democracy Monument. Thaksin’s “red shirts” would go on to clash with the military for weeks before ending their riot with mass city-wide looting and arson.
    In August of 2013, businessman and outspoken Thaksin opponent Ekkayuth Anchanbutr was abducted and murdered.
    http://altthainews.blogspot.de/2014/05/thailands-operation-valkyrie.html

    Santi Asoke Buddhism and the Occupation of Bangkok

    Click to access ASEAS_3_1_A3.pdf

    Reply

      3. If it weren’t I’d catch first flight and take you here in spaghetti-lambrusco land! 😛

  13. Pleased that you’re safe. Many of the Aussie tourists interviewed on TV last night commented that it appears that foreigners are being treated well.

    Reply

    1. Thanks and yes of course, it’s warm all year round, near the sea and they have durians here 😀 I actually originally came to do some scuba diving, but stayed because I like it here …

      Reply

      6. I come back from time-to-time have some interests in the UK … but climate and lifestyle is preferable in Thailand (even with the coup) … and yes I’m from UK …

      8. Thought I asked you to nurse … nice joke though … bwahahahaha …. and in point of fact it was the orderlies that brought me here, because I wouldn’t eat my dinner, you know I only eat pizza … solitary confinement’s no fun you know, all I did was bite that nutter’s finger off !

      1. Just like my husband. If he has his cigarettes and his jack daniel he’s pretty much good in any situation 🙂

  21. Good to hear that you are okay and have enough smokes to last the crisis. Stay safe dude.

    Reply

      5. No. not at all for me. and if. Thailand is such a big Country. I just go to a beautiful island or seaside somewhere. and for you business as usual?

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