Thai Junta reminding Red Shirts what they want to forget

Since Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s Government came to power in 2011, the Red Shirts have been doing their best to bury their violent past. But because the Junta is not playing politics and they too were victims of Red Shirt violence, the Junta is mincing no words when it comes to talk about the Red Shirt’s behavior and the upcoming trials in criminal court related to the 2010 Red Shirt riots.

For people who are not politicians, hearing straightforward talk coming from someone running a Government is very refreshing. Very few politicians in the world come straight out and say what must be said with absolutely zero political correctness and dead on target. On that very short list there is Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in the United States the Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie. Both of them quickly shut down any spin meant to politicize the issue at hand. Russia’s Vladimir Putin style although close does not match. His style is more arrogant and ego driven and can apply significant political spin, so it is just not the same.

The Red Shirts have been doing everything to shift the blame about the 2010 riots, even going so far as to work towards distort the independent findings with other Thaksin supporters so that leaders of the Government charged with ending the riots were indicted on murder charges.

There was no mention of Red Shirt wrong doing and they were bold enough to say show us the evidence. Needless to say that all abruptly ended when about an hour of some previously unreleased footage showing Red Shirts having a grand time smashing, looting and burning downtown Bangkok.

The Junta is absolutely not shy to point these things out and let the Thai people conclude for themselves. Back stepping a few steps, it was the Red Shirts who electively ignored a court supported Government order to disburse. Had they followed those legal and justified orders, there would have been no burning, looting or killing at that downtown rally site. So essentially what ever happened after failing to follow that order places blame on the Red Shirts despite what side pulled the trigger that lead to loss of life. The Junta is not harping on this, they are just pointing out the known facts, and that is not sitting well with the Red Shirts.

Until now Connecting the Dots has lumped all Red Shirts into a single group. But now because of changes over the past year, we can now say there are different shades of Red Shirts. Some Red Shirts did listen to the Government and left for home when the Government disbursal order was given. For the most part, all but the most violent Red Shirts left. If the Red Shirts were classified in 5 shades of red, 3 of the 5 left before the violence started leaving only the deepest and darkest of reds behind.

Add to the fact that Thaksin had hired Cambodians and other non Thai nationals to attend the Red Shirt rally to pump up the numbers, much of the rally goers were financially motivated and the risks outweighed staying, hence the departure of the majority before the mayhem started.

In the end it looks like the Red Shirts will need to face the music no matter how much they want to place the blame on others for their own actions.


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