Amazing red shirts

red-shirt-monkey

Fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra red shirt supporters are getting the reputation of being amazing. The amazement comes not from their grasp of reality, the amazement comes from them being consistently so far off the mark.

When you do a side by side comparison with the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) red shirts and the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) yellow shirts, the differences are amazing. The PAD had clear goals and what they were looking to do was connected with reality of the situation. The PAD were looking to protect the Constitution from Thaksin and his cronies, and at the same time oust the self serving government from power. They also recognized that the lesser educated Thais that make up Thaksin’s power base were not educated enough to make the right choices. Because of their huge numbers they could influence the election outcome and move Thailand backwards. Another key comparison is the people who attend PAD rallies did so because they love their country and their King, and did not want to see Thaksin take Thailand for himself.

As for the DAAD and the red shirts, the differences are amazing. The red shirts attended rallies because there was financial gain for them. In short they were paid to go. They also were not shy about violence. The PAD often found themselves defending themselves from red shirt attacks. However what is shaping up to be their new signature, is the so called reason they are having their rally being so far off the mark.

If you take the face value of why the DAAD is having a rally, it becomes obvious even to a blind deaf mute that they are off the mark. Take for example the so called silent coup. The simple fact was there was no coup. What happened democracy worked together with the powerful new Constitution. However because the outcome was not to their liking, the silent coup was invented. Keep in mind here the lesser educated Thais that would actually believe that and want to join the rally to fend off this silent coup.

The next far off the mark is the issue, is about the new Foreign Minister’s comment about the PAD rally at the airport being fun. If taken out of context as the DAAD has done, it may be an issue if you twist and bang at it enough with a 10 kg sledge hammer. The fact is the PAD rallies were fun with plenty of entertainment between the red shirt attacks. The local media often showed Thai mothers with their young children in tow heading to a rally to enjoy the day. The rally at the airport was no different, all the fun entertainment followed from the Government House rally to the airport.

Because of this far off the mark conclusion the DAAD seems to have, they are promptly ready to piss off all the countries in the Asean Summit. Seeing as all this is trackable back to Thaksin, and knowing Thaksin’s habits about dealing with others, the thought has come to mind as to how many of the Asean countries have refused Thaksin entry based on his fugitive status, and how many more will deny him entry if the DAAD disturb the Summit. At any rate if the DAAD go through with their plans there will be fallout for Thaksin when it comes to him moving about.

If you have been reading along, you will have seen Connecting the Dots likes to make predictions. Our accuracy is roughly 4 out of 5 correct. However when it comes to reading the DAAD, Connecting the Dots has not studied their leaders in any great depth thus far. So our DAAD predictions would naturally be less accurate. The constants thus far are the DAAD is not shy about resorting to violence, and they are far off the mark when it comes to their alleged reasons to rally. Their goals are much less defined and have phantom substance. The DAAD also seem to not think things out very well and act on impulse more than logic.

So as for making a prediction on what will happen on January 21 when the DAAD will hold their next rally, it is hard to say. The only sure thing is they are hurting themselves more than others at this point. Their credibility is starting to slip significantly. They are also hurting the chances of a significant make over the Pheu Thai wants to make for themselves. It is the guilt by association thing all over again as they are both closely tied to Thaksin.


2 Responses to Amazing red shirts

  1. With regards to the far-fetched conclusions that the DAAD have on several subjects – and the fact that their actions can be traced back to Thuggie – it’s nontheless unfortunate that many foreign and domestic press still choose to ignore the truth, and report otherwise. Much of this is undoubtedly the work of certain lobbyist companies and cyberspace hired-guns. That is why so many are still having the wrong impressions on PAD.

    As for ‘studying the DAAD leaders’? Good luck on that one, Richard! You said it yourself.. ‘their goals have phantom substance’. They’re even fighting when to be – and not to be – the ‘leader’ , much depending on what’s to gain in showing that ‘leadership’ quality.

    I can’t wait to see the day their existence slip away, along with their creditability. But before that happens, I hope whatever damage they’re capable of can be stopped in time!

  2. A side by side comparison between the DAAD (red shirts) and the PAD (yellow shirts) really is amazing. The DAAD was looking to protect Democracy from the Elite in Thai Society and at the same time oust the self serving government from power. Abhisit is PM not by an electoral process but by virtue of a series of events which can be traced back to an illegal military coup in 2006, including the seizure of government house, a TV station and the two airports by the PAD, which Abhisit supported. Even Sondhi, leader of the PAD said that there is more corruption now than when Thaksin was in power.
    The DAAD recognized that the non-democratic people of Thailand (which includes the PAD) called them uneducated wanted to take away their vote. Because of their extremist views and hate the PAD could overthrow a democratically elected government and move Thailand backwards democratically.

    Another key comparison is the people who attend PAD rallies because of financial gain for them. In short they were paid to go. They also were not shy about violence. Typical of fascists, the PAD often went around in groups beating up red shirts. However what is shaping up to be their new signature, is the so called reason they are having their rally being so far off the mark.

    When you remove an elected government from power it is a coup. Whether it is a military coup or a judicial coup (silent coup), coups are not democratic. In 2006 the army’s ruling junta tore up the 1997 constitution – Thailand’s most democratic – and foisted a clearly undemocratic new constitution on the Thai people. No one is allowed to campaign against the “referendum” that brings in the new constitution and the army organize the “yes” campaign. The 2006 constitution was brought in to reposition the army back into the center of Thai politics after their mistake of giving too much power to the parliament in 1997. It also curtailed the powers of future Prime Ministers making it easy for the parliament to remove them, so that they would never again challenge them with popularity.

    Also, military spending is now enshrined in the constitution, tying the hands of future parliaments if they try to reduce the power of the hundreds of Generals. It also made the upper house completely appointed again, and in the lower house 80 of the 400 representatives are also appointed – hardly a democracy. It also absolved those who enacted the coup from any wrong doing, therefore guaranteeing the army’s right to carry out a future coup.

    But don’t tell the less educated Thais this.

    As for the PAD Foreign Minister’s comment about the PAD rally at the airport being fun, it may have been fun for the PAD but it wasn’t fun for the passengers involved and it wasn’t fun or good for the Thai economy. Tourism has never been the same. The airport takeover ended in December 2008. The Thai economy actually shrunk 2.3% in 2009. Tourists don’t tend to go to countries whose airports are taken over by protesters.

    And as for other PAD rallies being fun for “Thai mothers with their young children,” what kind of mothers take their young children to where drugs and prostitution are commonplace and where speeches are made about beheadings, violence, and black magic with used sanitary pads?

    The PAD wants everybody to believe that Thaksin is the root cause of everything bad that ever happened to Thailand (and the UNIVERSE). Tiresome and Pathetic. I’m no Thaksin fan nor do I believe I would ever vote for Pheu Thai but it wouldn’t matter if they were baby-eating Satanists with a manifesto to have Barry Manilow records played at all times in all public spaces, if that’s who the Thai people vote for, that’s what the Thai people should get.

    You have elections. You respect the results of those elections. The army and judiciary butt out and shut up and let the politicians do whatever they were elected to do. If it’s a disaster, you vote them out at the next election. That’s how democracies tend to work.

    If you subvert the democratic process by way of a coup (military or judicial) then much of the population feels disenfranchised. This results in severe political instability like we have seen in Thailand since 2006.

    BTW – I find it very bigoted of the PAD saying the poor in Thailand are too uneducated to vote. If they really felt that way then why don’t they try educating them democratically through election campaigns?