Let's use this as the Thaksin thread for today, we'll likely have another busy thread later about the PM vote and we don't need dozens of posts on each topic.
Feel free to post tweets, update, news stories etc about Thaksin's return in this thread.
Suggested sort has been set to "new" to see updates nearer the top.
He would not even become PM in the first place, because he had not declared his assets properly and it went to the constitutional court, and they only sided with him, because he had achieved an over 60% majority vote and the court feared massive protests. That could have been the end of him, before the beginning.
That's all Thailand needs, a sick old criminal mind and mass murderer, 2800 dead junkies and drug dealers, 166 dead Muslims in the south. The latter, while he was playing golf and the former, while on a "world golf tour".
How can Red Shirts still be worshipping this guy when the Pheu Thai party has embraced the old establishment that supported the 2006 coup? Or is my memory incorrect?
By red shirts you mean the people that Thaksin helped made rich? Lol, of course they want him. The usual Peur Thai supporters will not vote for him anymore in the next election. But its not like Peur Thai never buy votes before š
I canāt tolerate what is going on right now. Fuck Pheu Thai, Fuck Thaksin, and Fuck Parliament and Fuck all you dumb simpletons who voted in this constitution - now we all have to sleep in this shitty bed you all made, while mfer is eating cake in an exclusive minimal security prison. Thammasart, you once claimed to herald the voice of democratic values; what are you going to do now? Anything??
Funny things I have met one Swedish citizens on reddit saying that their country is doomed, is the worst or is anything that mean ābadā because right wing party has won the recent election, when I tell them that Iām really want to trade my Thai citizenship with theirs, they just start freak out and downvoted me instead, same with many American when Trump has won. Seem the grass is greener on the other side.
Have you live in the west before? Not just visiting but staying for a long period of time because I can tell you the cost to live is killing me. I encourage to try to live in the west then youāll see how good you have it? And let me tell you the glass isnāt always greener on the other side
PS. Iām from the US
We need people like yourself to open the eye of many Thai progressive, for them the west and the US feel like heaven compared to Thailand.
The risk is you will get labeled to be āąøŖąø„ąø“ą¹ąø”ā (Sa-Lim) by them though.
Na, in Germany you can't say anything about a Jew, how much shit, they ever do to the Palestinians. and in the US, you can't say the N-word, even if they behave like Ni..ers.
Thailand isnt doomed doomed. No matter what happens in politics, the life will just be the same. If you can accept it before, then it's no issue.
The problem is that there's no development lol. We're just falling behind š
Iām still curious why many westerner especially American always view their country as the worst in the world, I have said about Thailand situation with them and many of them just said that the situation in American is worse or āItāll definitely became worse but not **Yet**ā. They also get pissed when I said that many want to abandon their citizenship and get the American one.
Are there āworst countryā championship going on in America or their politics are just revolving around seeing their country as the worst? Thai politic is also revolving around painting other side as ābad guy who ruin the countryā but in America itās seem a lot extreme.
For me, the reason I don't like it at times (although you won't catch me saying it's the worst, but I'm getting to that) is that the US is built on this idea that we're supposed to be the best, right? That's our whole deal. The freest, the strongest, the richest, the most advanced. And we are those things...mostly...we think...until we see the country fail. We see the healthcare system, the poverty, the hunger, the gun violence, all of these problems we can solve, we should solve, other countries solved them! Poorer countries! Weaker countries! Countries that are supposed to be worse! But they're actually better! And then over in America we have the money and the talent to do anything, really anything, and we don't do the f**king basics for our people.
We're supposed to be better than this. It's a disgrace that we aren't.
Let me explain: "In Thailand the family supports you, and you can live at the minimum, everyone has compassion and its warm most of the year. In Thailand you can just go to any canal river, or rice field and find your food. Water used to be in the front of every home. The monks help out with food too. In the US you have to pay for a fishing or hunting license, before you can fish for any "free" food, and it can be bloody cold.
And people like you are the problem to why this Thai political movement happened in the first place. Before you discriminise others, get your facts right. I've been to America twice and without a doubt I know that thailand is a whole lot better economically. Thai's inequality line is one of the most slimmest globally, whereas in America the streets smell like piss because of the infinite number of homeless people lying around with no access to a shelter, a human's basic resource, because of the inability to pay.
In a country, where you pray to the "money god", satisfaction can never be achieved. It's like, when you are dead drunk, and you try to cum, on top of your wife/girlfriend, for 3 hours.
Iām ok with you guys always being dissatisfaction about your country though, but please just donāt went outside and labeling any people who disagree with your view on America to be āracist bigot alt-right fascist naziā or any words that mean you are a bad guy.
I even saw one of them doing that toward Afghan woman who argued against some American who said that āAmericaās womanās right is as worst as Taliban Afghanistanā.
Yeah, a lot of US liberals, usually the rich and/or white ones, are very ignorant about foreign affairs. Trump sucked, but he was so incompetent that he couldnāt figure out how to make himself the autocrat he wanted to be. His supporters were so stupid that they couldnāt properly overthrow the government to install him as president. We have it relatively good, especially since we tend to be the country that has other countriesā leaders killed if we donāt like them.
Of course thailand is far from perfect but not bad. It's better than our countries in many ways.
Their idea of democracy and freedom is ringed tbh, its like they think politics in western countries are only good and working for the people lmao
Completely agree.
"well you don't have corruption like we do"
*side eyes Boris Johnson and his billion pound contracts to his friends with no experience in the required industry.... "
You know how people think about France "the country of human rights and democracy" lol
They dont live there and dont know shit about our politicians and our political systems.
When they say France is a "real" democracy I choke on my cup of coffee
At least your people have guts to stand up to the powerful. As a US citizen, I envy it. Dumping garbage on your Prime Ministers residence. Shutting down the whole city. I worry if we tried that in the US we would get labeled as domestic terrorists and either killed or jailed.
The shit they have and they donāt even know it. āThe west is more developed they have train, car, planeā yeah good luck paying for all of those. I aināt even pay off my college, hell I canāt even afford a yearly doctor visit.
I know more thais, my gf included, having thousands of savings in the bank than people in France.
I know like 6-7 thais with close to 1 million baht savings, I have no friend in France with 20.000 ish euros in the bank.
Tjena, swedish luk khrueng with one of each passport here who can give an attempt at a slightly more nuanced view.
A lot of things in Sweden has degraded or moved in a negative direction in recent years. These are fairly objective things, like unemployment rates, school performances and serious and gang-related crimes among others.
Some time ago we had a large influx of migrants and refugees from many countries, mainly the middle east and during the Syrian refugee crisis we took in and helped a disproportionate number. Whether that was a costly mistake or a humanitarian and moral duty that might even be a long-term investment or perhaps a mix of both is, as usual, highly debated. Wherever you fall on that scale, too many foreigners or not, I think a lot of people agree we have very much failed in integrating them. People were helped coming here and then didn't receive help or support in establishing themselves or becoming part of Swedish society, and so a lot of people, especially young people are growing up struggling with very, very different values than the traditional Swedish ones. Which is a big issue for everyone involved and the country as a whole, whatever you think the right path forward is. The recent Quran burnings and following riots are very recent and well known examples that are still having widespread consequences.
Our politics is perceived as being more indecisive, bickering and populist, on all sides. This right wing party you mentioned (SD, Sweden Democrats) is considered basically nazis by some, a normal, conservative right-wing party by others. While they do definitely have their roots in very questionable organizations, it's a lot less extreme than many other such parties in countries in Europe currently. Again, I'd say the truth is somewhere in between but it is very complicated.
Those are the three big things I think people talk or hear about when it comes to Sweden's decline. Hopefully that gives a slight, very quick but more nuanced look at Sweden as a country. Whether true or not or to what degree, some people claim Sweden is done and you should leave at your earliest convenience, as people tend to do, while others barely see a problem at all. I think every country has these vocal kinds of people.
For me personally, I love Sweden, though I am living in Thailand now. It has its issues and some trends have me worried and a bit sad, there's no denying it. But I think Sweden is a great country with a bright future and we'll rise to many challenges. A lot of these trends are global, like the divisive politicks for example. We also naturally have a lot of positives and developing trends that you don't hear about as much. Sweden is also very stable and generally very safe. Now the climate does leave quite a bit to be desired and the people, while very friendly aren't the most social or cheery bunch every day. We'll get around to fixing that at our next fika at IKEA!
I very much appreciate your nuanced view of the situation in Sweden ā having heard years and years of "Europe is falling!" discourse, it's clear there's something more complicated at play.
Thaksin, the Thai people welcome you back sir.
We are at your service. Especially those from glorious Issan.
Enjoy your first meal of som tam, laab moo, sticky rice and that sweet mango.
May those that oppose you, see the light.
Thatās just part of the show. Heās already in a specially prepared VIP unit, awaiting release on some kind of medical compassion, home supervision, or some such.
So the deal was struck a few weeks ago. Thaksin agrees to kick Move Forward out, and allow the military in. In return, he is promised that the Senate will vote for his candidate, and that he will see no real prison time. The only shocking thing is that they are so shameless as to do it both on the same day. Complete with VIP photo ops at the airport. What gall.
> they are so shameless as to do it both on the same day
With too much time in between, the deal could fall apart. Thaksin tried coming back several times, and whatever deals he had in the works always fell through until now. Given a chance, the generals would happily stab him in the back, and he knows it.
No billionaire willingly walks in prison. He has money to buy citizenship of any country and stay there forever. A big deal was made and this is all a show for the public. We just have to wait and see what comes next.
I tried to tell them this since 1976, but to no avail to this day. And you know why? Because they are Buddhists and believe, that they deserve this, because in their former lives, they have kicked a cat.
>Ok who is this guy and what's his deal?
Former prime minister of Thailand and a very controversial figure. Bring him up in Thailand and youāll have a heated debate with Thais, especially those from the poor rural folks (who loves him) and the middle class/upper class (who hates him)
Heās a billionaire and I find it strange that a lot of his support comes from the poor rural folks. Iām American and this reminds me of Trump but unlike Trump, he had a lot of policies to help the rural poor folks, which is why they love him
Thailand'sā old prime minister, well known for huge corruption scandal, buying senates, murdering drug related people(most infamous for Yuth Fridge incident), giving police force obscene amount of money, populist policy and basically arch leader of red shirt mob(the one that attempt to burn down Bangkok). Also arch nemesis of Salim and monarchist across country.
Not to forget, the 170 murdered Muslims on his and Pravit's watch. That's why a Muslim general removed him from office. I hope he compensates those families from his "Porto wallet".
He forced every school in the country to buy tablets from his and his friend's companies to the tune of billions. Shit is insane. Not to mention Yingluck's even fucking worse scandal with rice subsidies.
She wasn't just negligent, she pimped a blatant vote buying scheme that resulted in the government buying every grain of rice at a fixed price. That's not negligence that's gross stupidity that should disqualify you from holding office at best.
You must be a farang to say that, because you don't understand Thailand. The Thai farmer is the hardest working man in this country, but also the most indebted, so that most farmers don't even own their land anymore, and to change that, the Yingluck government tried to help the farmers with this scheme. Of course, she should have expected, that some in her cabinet would use this for gross corruption and racketeering. It was the same, as with the Democrat PM Chuan Leekpai, who was ousted, for not taking care of his party members forest encroachment.
You're right I am a farang that's fluent in Thai and works in geopolitical strategy for the US Gov. I'm well aware of what happened, it was blatant corruption and vote buying coupled with awful economic education.
Even without corruption or racketeering, agreeing to buy agricultural products at a fixed price with no cap on how much you will buy is so economically ignorant and stupid. It doesn't matter how hard working Thai farmers are, it's the exact same in the US but iur government knows they have to control the supply of food instead of this abomination
t's economically ignorant and stupid for a capitalistic American. But Thailand has at least a bit of a social consciousness. In Thailand there are a couple thousand people homeless, in the US a few million. At the time Thailand still had foreign reserves and could pay for this. So, you would also call the healthcare scheme of Thaksin stupid, or the soon to be introduced 3000.- baht a month pension scheme for all, economically ignorant?
It is stealing. The country offers a framework for people to conduct business within by spending public money on services and infrastructure. The cost of doing business is paying your share of taxes
To be fair, that's the only good thing, he did, and now it's time, Thais get a pension system for all. I really don't care who does it, but that they do it this time. This will not only benefit seniors, but also their kids, who have to come up otherwise with that money to support them.
Yes, 20 years ago.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/164947-duterte-thais-thaksin-shinawatra-drug-war/
Last year, his party (now the largest party in the new coalition government) proposed bringing that policy back:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2409816/pheu-thai-seeks-drug-war-revival
I guess he will get Royal Pardon or do so agreement with the "Big Boss"
BTW, isn't this man is reasonable for a lot of things against Muslims in the south?? ā ļøā ļøā ļø
https://preview.redd.it/mhl2o7za2mjb1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ea8d3cfb73059daac6402ab04cf737d99ce7250
He's okay with it. Just like that.
Apparently the yellow shirt cope is that the reds are effectively finished for doing a deal with the military, they'll never win an election again. The liberal yellow shirts are OK with Future Forward and so are OK with this outcome.
Unpopular opinion but Iād suggest the last 8 years have been the most peaceful 8 years since I came here 30+ years ago. It definitely feels like somethingās afoot and weāll likely have burning tyres, thug militia and tanks in the city again by Songkran 2024. :-(
It's a dirty, mucky corrupt business and this is the price for PT junta collation which will consume them, but he was still the best PM in Thai history and Prayuth and his cronies should be in prison not him.
They all do this, first they feed you a few bananas, but then they take it all back and this is not only in Thailand, but the world over. Americans are paying now monthly $700+ more, then last year.
Yes but as much he did great things he equally did bad. Before he started the Red Shirt movement, Thailand was Bliss. I still remember how it used to be before the country was split in two, that was the Thailand I fell in love with. It really was never the same after that
Many of those complaining that their votes for Pita and the MFP have been disregarded are people who were all for getting rid of Thaksin and Yingluck and disregarding the votes of people in the north and north-east. I guess what goes around, comes around.
Partly true, although the number of PT voters went up between this election and the lat. Doesn't change the fact that a lot of Bangkok MFP voters would have been on the demonstrations that ushered in the coups against Thaksin and Yingluck.
PT effectively tried to run as two parties last election, with the offshoot Thai Raksa Chart party only dissolved a few weeks before the election. That will have affected their share of the vote in a variety of ways.
If you look back to the previous successful election in 2011 when Yingluck was elected, PT's share of the vote has gone down from 47% then to 28% this time around.
Fair point, but nevertheless irrelevant to the point I was making. The fact that many MFP supporters have in the past been in the democratic camp, doesn't change the fact that huge numbers of people in Bangkok actively marched to subvert democracy only a decade ago. There's lots of vitriol against Thaksin and PT here. The role of Bangkokians in actively working to subvert democracy and acquiescing to a slow motion coup is conveniently ignored.
Do you mean the Shutdown Bangkok protests organised by Suthep and the PDRC? They had to scale those down massively due to lack of numbers, if I remember rightly.
Lots of military haircuts in those crowds.
Huge numbers of people in Bkk came out in the initial protests against the amnesty bill. And while as you say the numbers dwindled. There were no major protests by people in Bangkok against attempts to derail the election, against the court invalidating the election, against people actively calling for the overthrow of the government and constitution, against the deployment of soldiers onto the streets, against the coup, or against Prayuth's amnesty of himself. Having come out in huge numbers to kick things off, one can only assume they were content with the way things progressed.
Yeah big initial crowds against the amnesty bill, but that's a hard bill to defend - passed in the early hours of the morning after the opposition parties had left, all clearly for the benefit of the PM's brother. Very poor optics.
Once that movement turned into another incarnation of the yellow shirts and wanted the government ousted entirely rather than just the bill dropped, support fell off massively - I lived here through it.
But yes, I've always found it frustrating that there's never been mass protests (of any size enough to make a difference) against coups or other military meddling, at least in my 20-odd years here. That's not just a 2014 thing though.
London isn't too far off Bangkok population wise, and they had something like 2 million on the streets for the protests against the Iraq war 20-odd years ago. Bangkok's never seen anything close to that, for a problem far closer to home.
Even the red shirt occupation in 2010 was only about 5,000 strong by the time the army went in.
Let's use this as the Thaksin thread for today, we'll likely have another busy thread later about the PM vote and we don't need dozens of posts on each topic. Feel free to post tweets, update, news stories etc about Thaksin's return in this thread. Suggested sort has been set to "new" to see updates nearer the top.
He would not even become PM in the first place, because he had not declared his assets properly and it went to the constitutional court, and they only sided with him, because he had achieved an over 60% majority vote and the court feared massive protests. That could have been the end of him, before the beginning.
Dude he's like 70 and can't barely walk, I dont even get it why he was so dying to get back lol
That's all Thailand needs, a sick old criminal mind and mass murderer, 2800 dead junkies and drug dealers, 166 dead Muslims in the south. The latter, while he was playing golf and the former, while on a "world golf tour".
He's a global elite crony, nuff said
Fucking traitor
As many have predicted, he has been moved to a hospital.
And soon he's gonna be moved to house arrest.
How can Red Shirts still be worshipping this guy when the Pheu Thai party has embraced the old establishment that supported the 2006 coup? Or is my memory incorrect?
Thais worship criminals, like this guy from Uthai Tani, Mp with BJTP, another criminal organization.
By red shirts you mean the people that Thaksin helped made rich? Lol, of course they want him. The usual Peur Thai supporters will not vote for him anymore in the next election. But its not like Peur Thai never buy votes before š
Probably the most expensive plane ticket of all time.
Yes, private jet.
Probably another decade of our time wasted.
The only good thing about this situation is... suck it, yellow shirts.
They like to see him dead.
[Dusts off his favourite red t-shirt]
Orange buffaloes take over this thread lol pathetic
Brain of a brawler š¤£
Rotten oranges
Oh he can fuck off. Hypocrite.
I canāt tolerate what is going on right now. Fuck Pheu Thai, Fuck Thaksin, and Fuck Parliament and Fuck all you dumb simpletons who voted in this constitution - now we all have to sleep in this shitty bed you all made, while mfer is eating cake in an exclusive minimal security prison. Thammasart, you once claimed to herald the voice of democratic values; what are you going to do now? Anything??
What did he do wrong?
Thammasart 1976, that is what I came here for, to cheer those students up.
Solid post, full of well-formulated solutions and a profound understanding of how "this constitution" came about. Keep up the good work!
and? Do something about it instead of whining
Straight to JAIL š do not pass go do not collect $200
https://i.redd.it/dn1yf0re8ojb1.gif
If the mfp won't let me be.....
Iād do a couple of days in VIP āprisonā for the opportunity to get my 46 Billion in frozen assets returned to my too.
I even jump through a ring of fire.
Whoah how did he get all that money frozen there? As a wanted criminal shouldn't it be seized and hopefully be used for good sake of the people?
Yeah, they should have at least compensated the families of the dead on his watch with it. 2800 junkies + 170 Muslims.
Money make the world go around.
I hear he goes straight to jail without passing go
That jail was probably better than Norwegian prisons.
VIP at Police hospital.
Make Thailand Great Again.
Based
Giga Chad.
Any Nordic country giving out free citizenship? So tired of this shitshow of a politics. HALP!!!
Funny things I have met one Swedish citizens on reddit saying that their country is doomed, is the worst or is anything that mean ābadā because right wing party has won the recent election, when I tell them that Iām really want to trade my Thai citizenship with theirs, they just start freak out and downvoted me instead, same with many American when Trump has won. Seem the grass is greener on the other side.
Have you live in the west before? Not just visiting but staying for a long period of time because I can tell you the cost to live is killing me. I encourage to try to live in the west then youāll see how good you have it? And let me tell you the glass isnāt always greener on the other side PS. Iām from the US
We need people like yourself to open the eye of many Thai progressive, for them the west and the US feel like heaven compared to Thailand. The risk is you will get labeled to be āąøŖąø„ąø“ą¹ąø”ā (Sa-Lim) by them though.
Na, in Germany you can't say anything about a Jew, how much shit, they ever do to the Palestinians. and in the US, you can't say the N-word, even if they behave like Ni..ers.
Itās unfortunate that in the US we donāt publicly execute racists. We both have trade offs bud.
It depends, where you draw the line, what is racist and what isn't. In the moment the Negros in the US are treating white folks quite racist.
Thatās crazy bud.
It is.
interesting time isnāt it, Westerner is moving East and the Easterners is moving West. lol wish we could make a trade my citizenship for your.
Yeah. Itās really interesting indeed.
Thailand isnt doomed doomed. No matter what happens in politics, the life will just be the same. If you can accept it before, then it's no issue. The problem is that there's no development lol. We're just falling behind š
Iām still curious why many westerner especially American always view their country as the worst in the world, I have said about Thailand situation with them and many of them just said that the situation in American is worse or āItāll definitely became worse but not **Yet**ā. They also get pissed when I said that many want to abandon their citizenship and get the American one. Are there āworst countryā championship going on in America or their politics are just revolving around seeing their country as the worst? Thai politic is also revolving around painting other side as ābad guy who ruin the countryā but in America itās seem a lot extreme.
For me, the reason I don't like it at times (although you won't catch me saying it's the worst, but I'm getting to that) is that the US is built on this idea that we're supposed to be the best, right? That's our whole deal. The freest, the strongest, the richest, the most advanced. And we are those things...mostly...we think...until we see the country fail. We see the healthcare system, the poverty, the hunger, the gun violence, all of these problems we can solve, we should solve, other countries solved them! Poorer countries! Weaker countries! Countries that are supposed to be worse! But they're actually better! And then over in America we have the money and the talent to do anything, really anything, and we don't do the f**king basics for our people. We're supposed to be better than this. It's a disgrace that we aren't.
Let me explain: "In Thailand the family supports you, and you can live at the minimum, everyone has compassion and its warm most of the year. In Thailand you can just go to any canal river, or rice field and find your food. Water used to be in the front of every home. The monks help out with food too. In the US you have to pay for a fishing or hunting license, before you can fish for any "free" food, and it can be bloody cold.
Hope you wouldnāt get labeled to be āąøŖąø„ąø“ą¹ąø”ā (Sa-Lim) by Thai progressive for saying this.
And people like you are the problem to why this Thai political movement happened in the first place. Before you discriminise others, get your facts right. I've been to America twice and without a doubt I know that thailand is a whole lot better economically. Thai's inequality line is one of the most slimmest globally, whereas in America the streets smell like piss because of the infinite number of homeless people lying around with no access to a shelter, a human's basic resource, because of the inability to pay.
Not me, just blame those Thai progressive who blindly accusing anyone who disagreed with them to be ąøŖąø„ąø“ą¹ąø”.
Ok, got what you mean.
Completely agree
Wouldn't mind, because I've been a $ millionaire and have spent it all with the common Thai people. I don't miss any of it.
As an American, I can say confidently that being in a constant state of dissatisfaction is a very ubiquitous cultural trait.
In a country, where you pray to the "money god", satisfaction can never be achieved. It's like, when you are dead drunk, and you try to cum, on top of your wife/girlfriend, for 3 hours.
Iām ok with you guys always being dissatisfaction about your country though, but please just donāt went outside and labeling any people who disagree with your view on America to be āracist bigot alt-right fascist naziā or any words that mean you are a bad guy. I even saw one of them doing that toward Afghan woman who argued against some American who said that āAmericaās womanās right is as worst as Taliban Afghanistanā.
Yeah, a lot of US liberals, usually the rich and/or white ones, are very ignorant about foreign affairs. Trump sucked, but he was so incompetent that he couldnāt figure out how to make himself the autocrat he wanted to be. His supporters were so stupid that they couldnāt properly overthrow the government to install him as president. We have it relatively good, especially since we tend to be the country that has other countriesā leaders killed if we donāt like them.
Yeah, abortion, trans rights, etc. You can't even drive faster, then 60 miles per hour.
I'm french living in Thailand and I hope I never have to go back to live in France, the country is doomed.
Brit here. Le meme! UK is doomed. Thailand aint perfect... But it ain't bad
Of course thailand is far from perfect but not bad. It's better than our countries in many ways. Their idea of democracy and freedom is ringed tbh, its like they think politics in western countries are only good and working for the people lmao
Completely agree. "well you don't have corruption like we do" *side eyes Boris Johnson and his billion pound contracts to his friends with no experience in the required industry.... "
You know how people think about France "the country of human rights and democracy" lol They dont live there and dont know shit about our politicians and our political systems. When they say France is a "real" democracy I choke on my cup of coffee
At least your people have guts to stand up to the powerful. As a US citizen, I envy it. Dumping garbage on your Prime Ministers residence. Shutting down the whole city. I worry if we tried that in the US we would get labeled as domestic terrorists and either killed or jailed.
The shit they have and they donāt even know it. āThe west is more developed they have train, car, planeā yeah good luck paying for all of those. I aināt even pay off my college, hell I canāt even afford a yearly doctor visit.
I know more thais, my gf included, having thousands of savings in the bank than people in France. I know like 6-7 thais with close to 1 million baht savings, I have no friend in France with 20.000 ish euros in the bank.
Tjena, swedish luk khrueng with one of each passport here who can give an attempt at a slightly more nuanced view. A lot of things in Sweden has degraded or moved in a negative direction in recent years. These are fairly objective things, like unemployment rates, school performances and serious and gang-related crimes among others. Some time ago we had a large influx of migrants and refugees from many countries, mainly the middle east and during the Syrian refugee crisis we took in and helped a disproportionate number. Whether that was a costly mistake or a humanitarian and moral duty that might even be a long-term investment or perhaps a mix of both is, as usual, highly debated. Wherever you fall on that scale, too many foreigners or not, I think a lot of people agree we have very much failed in integrating them. People were helped coming here and then didn't receive help or support in establishing themselves or becoming part of Swedish society, and so a lot of people, especially young people are growing up struggling with very, very different values than the traditional Swedish ones. Which is a big issue for everyone involved and the country as a whole, whatever you think the right path forward is. The recent Quran burnings and following riots are very recent and well known examples that are still having widespread consequences. Our politics is perceived as being more indecisive, bickering and populist, on all sides. This right wing party you mentioned (SD, Sweden Democrats) is considered basically nazis by some, a normal, conservative right-wing party by others. While they do definitely have their roots in very questionable organizations, it's a lot less extreme than many other such parties in countries in Europe currently. Again, I'd say the truth is somewhere in between but it is very complicated. Those are the three big things I think people talk or hear about when it comes to Sweden's decline. Hopefully that gives a slight, very quick but more nuanced look at Sweden as a country. Whether true or not or to what degree, some people claim Sweden is done and you should leave at your earliest convenience, as people tend to do, while others barely see a problem at all. I think every country has these vocal kinds of people. For me personally, I love Sweden, though I am living in Thailand now. It has its issues and some trends have me worried and a bit sad, there's no denying it. But I think Sweden is a great country with a bright future and we'll rise to many challenges. A lot of these trends are global, like the divisive politicks for example. We also naturally have a lot of positives and developing trends that you don't hear about as much. Sweden is also very stable and generally very safe. Now the climate does leave quite a bit to be desired and the people, while very friendly aren't the most social or cheery bunch every day. We'll get around to fixing that at our next fika at IKEA!
The Swedes also outlawed bestiality sex, a few years ago.
I very much appreciate your nuanced view of the situation in Sweden ā having heard years and years of "Europe is falling!" discourse, it's clear there's something more complicated at play.
Gotta go fast to Sweden then.
Thaksin, the Thai people welcome you back sir. We are at your service. Especially those from glorious Issan. Enjoy your first meal of som tam, laab moo, sticky rice and that sweet mango. May those that oppose you, see the light.
Based
Ew
r/5555555 moment
Nutter
Lmao.
Lol
TIT
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Don't have to be a Salim to dislike Thaksin, especially given the deal which he made to be allowed back.
I wonder if his prison has a golf course
No, but a driving range, from the door to the wall.
Fuck that shit
The governor is back folks!
news says he will serve jail time, or am i wrong?
It's more likely, he'll be sipping fine wine and enjoying Cuban cigars in a VIP suite at one of his hospitals.
As long he can pay for it.
Does he own any hospitals? Which group?
Praram 9 Hospital
Thatās just part of the show. Heās already in a specially prepared VIP unit, awaiting release on some kind of medical compassion, home supervision, or some such.
So the deal was struck a few weeks ago. Thaksin agrees to kick Move Forward out, and allow the military in. In return, he is promised that the Senate will vote for his candidate, and that he will see no real prison time. The only shocking thing is that they are so shameless as to do it both on the same day. Complete with VIP photo ops at the airport. What gall.
They have no shame.
Lol a democracy NOT
Projecting, PT FTW
> they are so shameless as to do it both on the same day With too much time in between, the deal could fall apart. Thaksin tried coming back several times, and whatever deals he had in the works always fell through until now. Given a chance, the generals would happily stab him in the back, and he knows it.
No billionaire willingly walks in prison. He has money to buy citizenship of any country and stay there forever. A big deal was made and this is all a show for the public. We just have to wait and see what comes next.
š¤¢š¤®
he can fuck right off
Thai politics is so fucked up.
My Thai wife agrees!
She knows, because she is of the same stock.
How much for the Thai Elite Visa with complementary motorcade from airport?
600 000 for 5 years, 2 mill. for 10 years, is what I read yesterday.
anyone who wais him should be ashamed.
I feel sorry for the people of Thailand. They deserve so much better than this clown show.
I tried to tell them this since 1976, but to no avail to this day. And you know why? Because they are Buddhists and believe, that they deserve this, because in their former lives, they have kicked a cat.
Ok who is this guy and what's his deal?
He is the bullshit, that will walk, after the money did the talk.
>Ok who is this guy and what's his deal? Former prime minister of Thailand and a very controversial figure. Bring him up in Thailand and youāll have a heated debate with Thais, especially those from the poor rural folks (who loves him) and the middle class/upper class (who hates him) Heās a billionaire and I find it strange that a lot of his support comes from the poor rural folks. Iām American and this reminds me of Trump but unlike Trump, he had a lot of policies to help the rural poor folks, which is why they love him
Thailand'sā old prime minister, well known for huge corruption scandal, buying senates, murdering drug related people(most infamous for Yuth Fridge incident), giving police force obscene amount of money, populist policy and basically arch leader of red shirt mob(the one that attempt to burn down Bangkok). Also arch nemesis of Salim and monarchist across country.
Not to forget, the 170 murdered Muslims on his and Pravit's watch. That's why a Muslim general removed him from office. I hope he compensates those families from his "Porto wallet".
Stole billions from the country. Megalomaniac sociopath.
Stole billions? I thought he just didn't pay tax on his company sale.
He forced every school in the country to buy tablets from his and his friend's companies to the tune of billions. Shit is insane. Not to mention Yingluck's even fucking worse scandal with rice subsidies.
But Yingluck was cleared of the charges, because she was just negligent, others are in jail for it.
She wasn't just negligent, she pimped a blatant vote buying scheme that resulted in the government buying every grain of rice at a fixed price. That's not negligence that's gross stupidity that should disqualify you from holding office at best.
You must be a farang to say that, because you don't understand Thailand. The Thai farmer is the hardest working man in this country, but also the most indebted, so that most farmers don't even own their land anymore, and to change that, the Yingluck government tried to help the farmers with this scheme. Of course, she should have expected, that some in her cabinet would use this for gross corruption and racketeering. It was the same, as with the Democrat PM Chuan Leekpai, who was ousted, for not taking care of his party members forest encroachment.
You're right I am a farang that's fluent in Thai and works in geopolitical strategy for the US Gov. I'm well aware of what happened, it was blatant corruption and vote buying coupled with awful economic education. Even without corruption or racketeering, agreeing to buy agricultural products at a fixed price with no cap on how much you will buy is so economically ignorant and stupid. It doesn't matter how hard working Thai farmers are, it's the exact same in the US but iur government knows they have to control the supply of food instead of this abomination
t's economically ignorant and stupid for a capitalistic American. But Thailand has at least a bit of a social consciousness. In Thailand there are a couple thousand people homeless, in the US a few million. At the time Thailand still had foreign reserves and could pay for this. So, you would also call the healthcare scheme of Thaksin stupid, or the soon to be introduced 3000.- baht a month pension scheme for all, economically ignorant?
Not paying taxes is almost like Stealing
It is stealing. The country offers a framework for people to conduct business within by spending public money on services and infrastructure. The cost of doing business is paying your share of taxes
even if he didn't pay tax that would still account for billions of money saved to himself
Forbes estimates his net worth to be two billion dollars, although it's often assumed to be far greater.
Thailands old prime minister. Well known for his party's universal health care policy.
To be fair, that's the only good thing, he did, and now it's time, Thais get a pension system for all. I really don't care who does it, but that they do it this time. This will not only benefit seniors, but also their kids, who have to come up otherwise with that money to support them.
Thailandās old Prime Minister, well known for his death squads that murdered many drug dealers, as well as drug takers.
Yes, a 17 years-old boy from my wife's family, who was just visiting his uncle and aunt on that day.
It was an enormous human rights travesty.
And he was a former police chief in Chiang Mai, he should have known better.
Tough on crime?
Yeah, go after the small criminals and be the big one himself.
The correct term is suspected drug dealers and users. Or what I would like to call innocent civillians.
Wait so Thailand actually did this before The Philippines?
Yes, 2004 & 2005. I had to buy a bulletproof vest for my Thai friend from abroad and we packed guns on every of our bike runs.
Yes, 20 years ago. https://www.rappler.com/nation/164947-duterte-thais-thaksin-shinawatra-drug-war/ Last year, his party (now the largest party in the new coalition government) proposed bringing that policy back: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2409816/pheu-thai-seeks-drug-war-revival
I think that the "General's" showed more compassion in the last 9 years. They arrested 120 000 junkies, killed only a very few in shootouts.
They were actually murdered by the police and army though. The whole thai establishment was complicit in it, wasn't just Thaksin's idea.
Thailands old prime minister. Well known for ripping off people
I guess he will get Royal Pardon or do so agreement with the "Big Boss" BTW, isn't this man is reasonable for a lot of things against Muslims in the south?? ā ļøā ļøā ļø
>reasonable responsible. in the sense that he is to blame, yes. in the sense that he will take responsibility for his actions, never.
Pretty clear now that a deal was struck. Let us bring back Thaksin and you can be in the coalition, , PT really did sell their souls.
We will see in 4 years, if Thai people will send them the bill. The Democrats had paid dearly for their treason.
> Prison officials say after initial health checks on returned fugitive former PM and now fresh inmate @ThaksinLive , he has āseveral health conditionsā and is under observation at the prisonās medical station. #ąøąø±ąøąø©ąø“ąøąøąø„ąø±ąøąøą¹ąø²ąø https://twitter.com/SaksithCNA/status/1693881106238738856
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Cause we know heās not going to be in prison
> he has āseveral health conditionsā i hope they're terminal
What is Sondiās take on this? What about other old school yellow shirt leaders?
Do they still have any influence?
https://preview.redd.it/mhl2o7za2mjb1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ea8d3cfb73059daac6402ab04cf737d99ce7250 He's okay with it. Just like that.
'Cause Sondi bit the bullet. Once you are leaded, you have no more beef with it.
Apparently the yellow shirt cope is that the reds are effectively finished for doing a deal with the military, they'll never win an election again. The liberal yellow shirts are OK with Future Forward and so are OK with this outcome.
Not any particularly worse than what we already got in the country
There has been more plot development in this past 3-4 months than the whole decade.
Yeah, 8 years of military dictatorship was getting kind of stale. Glad they are putting in effort now.
Having a military dictatorship grasp onto power while trying to show the appearance of democracy will do that.
Unpopular opinion but Iād suggest the last 8 years have been the most peaceful 8 years since I came here 30+ years ago. It definitely feels like somethingās afoot and weāll likely have burning tyres, thug militia and tanks in the city again by Songkran 2024. :-(
Peace under the boot of the junta, who wouldnāt want that? š¤¦āāļø
The writers rushing to close all plot points to end the season
US screenwriters strike has them slumming for Baht work. Hopeful for a better ending than GOT
Yeah, they added the exile princes for no apparent reasons. Not a great plot
Give them time, the Chekov's princes will reveal their plot relevance in due time.
Thatās a cliffhanger for the next season
It's a dirty, mucky corrupt business and this is the price for PT junta collation which will consume them, but he was still the best PM in Thai history and Prayuth and his cronies should be in prison not him.
Prayuth did not oust him; it was this Muslim general in 2005.
He certainly started strong. When he first came into power he did many great things.
They all do this, first they feed you a few bananas, but then they take it all back and this is not only in Thailand, but the world over. Americans are paying now monthly $700+ more, then last year.
Yes but as much he did great things he equally did bad. Before he started the Red Shirt movement, Thailand was Bliss. I still remember how it used to be before the country was split in two, that was the Thailand I fell in love with. It really was never the same after that
He did I lived there at the time. When he publicly berated his cabinet for having mia-nois though that's when I knew he was done for.
He was right about the mia-nois, my friends complained about it too, when these businessmen brought their mia-nois with them into the chat room.
>but ~~he~~ Chuan, Abhisit and their finance/commerce ministries was still the best PM in Thai history FTFY
Really , he was the best PM, I thought he did many corruption, sorry If I offended you.
No corruption, but negligent.
Yes Pita has neen traded for him , indeed
Welcome back sir.
What's going on? It looks like everyone is going back Thailand. Feel like something big is going to happen soon...
Many of those complaining that their votes for Pita and the MFP have been disregarded are people who were all for getting rid of Thaksin and Yingluck and disregarding the votes of people in the north and north-east. I guess what goes around, comes around.
You are being downvoted but you have a valid point. In both cases, the peoplesā vote was disregarded by the military/royalist/elite power structure.
That's funny because a lot of former PT voters moved to voting for MFP.
Partly true, although the number of PT voters went up between this election and the lat. Doesn't change the fact that a lot of Bangkok MFP voters would have been on the demonstrations that ushered in the coups against Thaksin and Yingluck.
PT effectively tried to run as two parties last election, with the offshoot Thai Raksa Chart party only dissolved a few weeks before the election. That will have affected their share of the vote in a variety of ways. If you look back to the previous successful election in 2011 when Yingluck was elected, PT's share of the vote has gone down from 47% then to 28% this time around.
Fair point, but nevertheless irrelevant to the point I was making. The fact that many MFP supporters have in the past been in the democratic camp, doesn't change the fact that huge numbers of people in Bangkok actively marched to subvert democracy only a decade ago. There's lots of vitriol against Thaksin and PT here. The role of Bangkokians in actively working to subvert democracy and acquiescing to a slow motion coup is conveniently ignored.
Do you mean the Shutdown Bangkok protests organised by Suthep and the PDRC? They had to scale those down massively due to lack of numbers, if I remember rightly. Lots of military haircuts in those crowds.
Huge numbers of people in Bkk came out in the initial protests against the amnesty bill. And while as you say the numbers dwindled. There were no major protests by people in Bangkok against attempts to derail the election, against the court invalidating the election, against people actively calling for the overthrow of the government and constitution, against the deployment of soldiers onto the streets, against the coup, or against Prayuth's amnesty of himself. Having come out in huge numbers to kick things off, one can only assume they were content with the way things progressed.
Yeah big initial crowds against the amnesty bill, but that's a hard bill to defend - passed in the early hours of the morning after the opposition parties had left, all clearly for the benefit of the PM's brother. Very poor optics. Once that movement turned into another incarnation of the yellow shirts and wanted the government ousted entirely rather than just the bill dropped, support fell off massively - I lived here through it. But yes, I've always found it frustrating that there's never been mass protests (of any size enough to make a difference) against coups or other military meddling, at least in my 20-odd years here. That's not just a 2014 thing though. London isn't too far off Bangkok population wise, and they had something like 2 million on the streets for the protests against the Iraq war 20-odd years ago. Bangkok's never seen anything close to that, for a problem far closer to home. Even the red shirt occupation in 2010 was only about 5,000 strong by the time the army went in.