Former Third World Leader May Be Dodgy

There are several givens in the Third World. It's hot. Traffic is bad. The cops will shake you down and... believe it or not, the leaders are dodgy. Having experienced almost a decade of Third World heat, traffic, shake downs and dodginess I am always amazed at how blissfully oblivious the true hearts of the West are of the absolute degree of dodginess that exists. They will with good intent send food clothing and so forth to "help the poor". Those items will be either taken by who ever has the pistols and or sold in markets around a given area. Go to one of these markets and marvel at the number of t-shirts that were clearly donated by various Church groups and helpful types.

That brings us to ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin. It would appear that he's "suspected" to be involved in last weekends ultra-violence which the halfwits in the Western Media has repeated misnamed a "protest" by "pro-democracy activists". As others in the region have noted this was really a staged rampage by drunken Thai taxi drivers and other paid thugs and riff-raff coordinated and organized by Thaksin's former party the Thai Rak Thai party. In the aftermath of the event of course they are denying any involvement but unfortunately the local TV news teams have plenty of footage of the mob chanting "Thai Rak Thai" in unison as they pelted the Police with bricks that were torn up from the sidewalks.

A long Thaksin arm?

A connection between outsted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and last Sunday's violent anti-coup protests is highly possible, Thailand's junta leader Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin thinks.

"Based on an analysis of their preparation process, we are fairly sure that there is a connection between Mr. Thaksin and the violent protests," the Council for National Security (CNS) chairman said on Tuesday in an exclusive interview with Modernine's morning news programme.

However, during the TV Channel 9 broadcast he did not confirm wide speculation that Mr Thaksin was the main financial supporter for the protest."There have been many news reports suggesting that the former PM provided them with financial assistance," Gen Sonthi said, "but there has not been any confirmation."

Thaksin has used excessive violence throughout his rule. 2,500 people were shot dead with no due process by plains clothed Police during his bogus "War on Drugs". He originally attempted to buy the Manchester United Football Team using public funds and so on. Then there is the new Bangkok Airport... This was a graft cash cow beyond imagination. Guess who's friends got the juicy contracts. Guess what Airport is plagued with problems? (I would suggest you only bring carry on)

from July 1st...

Man City’s Thai tycoon faces arrest

The former Thai prime minister who is poised to buy Manchester City football club could be extradited from Britain to face corruption charges in his home country. The Thai embassy in London has confirmed that a warrant will be issued for the arrest of Thaksin Shinawatra if he refuses to return to Thailand.

Thaksin, who was overthrown by a military coup in September, is understood to be only days away from taking control of the Premiership club in a deal valued at £81m. He is said to be lining up Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England coach, as the club’s new manager.

Inquiries by The Sunday Times have established that the financing of the deal is far from straightforward. The main shareholder in the company buying Manchester City is an obscure Bangkok property firm that is said to be “controlled” by Thaksin and his family, although he has no significant stake in it.

Thaksin has been jaw-boning in English on the Western Media about how he's retired from politics however he has been appearing via internet feed to speak to his massed supporters. He has also distrubted multiple slickly produced video CDs to the rural areas that outline his claims of innocence and blame the Coup on intricate conspiracies that even Fox Mulder couldn't have strung together. These are the same "Dark Influences" he was bantering on about back during the "War on Drugs".

The current leadership has been losing some popularity by passing intrusive laws, trying to crack down and censor the internet and not having a clue how to handle the economy. That being said the violence last weekend in Bangkok only reminded the majority of people why they celebrated when they found out that the Coup was ousting Thaksin.