On April 10, 2010 in Bangkok Thailand, there was an attempt to disburse and illegal pro Thaksin rally with unarmed soldiers. During that attempt 20+ people died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and body. The initial shots originated from pro Thaksin shooters who were not shy about shooting their own.
The Thai government claims of terrorism are well founded. If you look at history you will see similar examples of terrorism particularly if it is premeditated. The occasional disgruntle employee who may return to work with a gun and unload it into co-workers is really not terrorism. That is most likely the result of one too many of their buttons being pushed together with the sense of being singled out.
In the case of the April 10 shootings, there is clear evidence this was premeditated and the shooters were pro Thaksin. Seeing that Thaksin will do anything to see his goals happen, killing some people and trying to place the blame on another is clearly within Thaksin signature moves. The only difference is this appears to be the first time both those signature moves have appeared on the same line. But seeing the desperate situation Thaksin is in, it most certainly is feasible and highly likely they would be married.
Comparatively speaking Thaksin and Osama bin Laden have similar if not identical methods. Both are never at the scene but both fund the event. Both call the shots and decide on targets in general. Even without getting more specific, that certainly is enough to properly classify Thaksin as a terrorist. If Thaksin only funded the terrorist, he would be just classified as such. But the fact he is calling the shots puts him exactly where he does not want to be.
Needless to say Thaksin has objected to this new title added to his resume, and has filed legal action against officials in the Thai government for pointing that out. But there are deeper and more serious ramifications for Thaksin if he is globally identified as a terrorist.
First off if Thaksin is seen by the USA as a terrorist and possible threat to American interests, his whole world suddenly gets a lot smaller. The USA has significant influence on bank accounts linked to terrorists and very regularly locks them down to stop the funding of terrorist activities. They also have significant influence on countries as all inter bank money transfers go through the USA. Simply put the USA has the ability to take an entire country off the grid.
So countries that host Thaksin are subject to this pressure from the USA and that pressure is much more potent than what Thailand could ever muster. Seeing that the USA is already very closely watching the Thaksin related events unfold in Thailand, they may not need to be told that Thaksin is now associated with terrorism. The USA can clearly see that themselves no matter how much Thaksin objects.
Combine all of this with Thaksin’s chosen high profile path verses Osama bin Laden’s hide in the hills path, Thaksin very quickly will discover that hide or jail are his only remaining choices. In either case, it tends to offer significant relief to Thailand’s political turmoil as for the most part Thaksin will have been taken out of the picture as his pile of passports and private jet essentially become worthless.
