Connecting the Dots

When the present Red Shirt protest started in Bangkok Thailand, for the most part it was political at least on the concept of double standards. But after hearing a near endless stream of reports from the mouths of Red Shirt protesters Connecting the Dots is forced to conclude it has evolved into something entirely different.

This report is entirely based on comments from Red Shirt protesters that attended the Red Shirt Rally. We have deliberately ignored counter propaganda for this report. In general to paint a picture, many of the rally attendees were payed to attend, although not all of them. For the most part anyone that used chartered transportation was paid to attend. For the most part that is about 90% of the people from Isaan and some lesser percentage from the north.

The pay was anyplace from 300 Baht per day on up to several thousand if they were armed with weapons. The most common complaint we heard was failure to get paid and that some middle man was deciding who that was. With the need to sign in every day at the rally site to get paid, you start to see it was far from what you would expect at a genuine political rally.

Other stories we have heard involved threats if you did not attend. For the most part those reports came from Isaan and carried significant weight as the ability of the government to protect a person is very limited in Isaan. So under duress many are forced to attend because they have signed on to attend for ‘x’ number of days to get the higher pay. So if they lost their stomach for the violence, it is simply tough luck for them.

Connecting the Dots has also reported that several Cambodian nationals with forged Thai ID cards are also at the rally. This information comes from 3 independent sources so we believe it to be credible information.

So as the rally wore on and the true nature of the Red Shirts emerged, many Thais simply lost their stomachs for what was going on. So as time progresses refinement occurs and only the hard core and violent prone remain at the rally. So what is occupying downtown Bangkok is essentially a group of payed mercenaries seeking to bring Thailand to its knees.

We are certain the government and military is seeing this as well, and that would support the seemingly endless reluctance to move on the Red Shirts. Waiting for just the violent core group to remain makes it easier for someone in the military to fire live ammunition because they will feel a sense of duty that they are defending King and country from hired mercenaries and not shooting at poor Thai farmers.

Connecting the Dots is doing our best to get past the propaganda. The contents of this entry are citing personal observations bypassing the media and third parties. In short when a Red Shirt protester tells you what they have seen with their own eyes from inside the rally site and it is repeated by several, we simply feel this is the real inside information.  Looking at barricades that are 8 to 10 meters high in some places, it no longer looks like a rally site. It is in the true sense of the word it is an armed camp of mercenaries.