Message from Bangkok...

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

While I'm bunkered down out of town out of harms way a friend in the thick of it and unable to leave his condo sends me the latest..for what it's worth:
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Wow, I never thought I would EVER do this again. It has been an awfully long time since we sent a message to ALL our contacts. I realise that within these contacts are people who barely know us, but I ask you to read a couple of articles that I will list if you have ANY interest in what has just happened in Bangkok.

To most eyes the tragedy in Bangkok has been very visual on our screens, but most people here are as equally concerned as to the quality of reporting being offered by the BIG names in global media (BBC and CNN being the main culprits). To describe their work as amateur would be an insult to the greatest resource that we have used, and will continue to use, to remain safe - tweeters (a person who twitters or "uses twitter"). The information through this resource has been outstanding and has DEFINITELY saved lives. In direct contrast has been the lack of effort by both BBC and CNN. At one point during this situation the map being displayed on the BBC website to define areas as dangerous hadn't been updated in over 4 weeks and showed many areas as "safe" when in reality they were so dangerous that their own reporters would not go there. This kind of irresponsible reporting kills people and the BBC should be ashamed of themselves. Further to this we have noticed that neither of these channels has a clue about Thai history or politics. To understand all my statements more clearly please check out the following articles so you can understand this situation better. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOT ABOUT THAILAND. If these people can't report this situation properly should you be trusting them for your information on a day to day basis? Having lived right next door to a war-zone for the past week I would NEVER touch these people again for anything other than gossip and sport. Please consider the same boycott. This is about lives.


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia- ... 07126.html (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/05/2010519235927307126.html)

http://www.somtow.org/2010/05/dont-blam ... ivers.html (http://www.somtow.org/2010/05/dont-blame-dan-rivers.html)


Hopefully these articles will provide you with a better picture of the truth. One last point. About 2 weeks before Thaksin's ruling (that stripped him of his money) an army barracks was OPENLY raided for weapons by red shirts. 2 weeks later Thaksin has a stack of money taken away from him by the Thai government. 8 days later the red shirts arrived. Do you now think this was EVER a peaceful protest? No, people have been ripped off. The next link is of photos from yesterday. These are harrowing, but not the worst we have seen by any stretch of the imagination. The last photo says a thousand words about how badly some believers were ripped off. We truly feel for these people, they believed....right or wrong and now they are demons because of the action of a minority. Yesterday an end? Very likely not.


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/0 ... ngkok.html (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/crackdown_in_bangkok.html)

So, I'll leave you with that. If you find this informative then PLEASE PASS IT ON.

Much love to you all

Justin and Zoe

[Beachlover]

It's true... Twitter was the best source of info as it happened (obviously not for in-depth analysis etc. though)

CNN/BBC were relatively lacking... But I was very impressed with Al Jazeera... their man reporter, Wayne Hay (I think he's Australian) was exceptional... got to give this station more credit.

I think it's important to separate the "cause" from the "means". It's clear the red shirts were a right f*ck up... But I don't think this necessarily means they don't have a valid cause.

It's quite sad how duped and screwed over many of these protesters were. To actually believe theirs was a "peaceful protest" was ridiculous. There was no strong leadership. Just a collection of relatively dis-united mediocre leaders.

have to agree with you, I was quite impressed with Aljazeera's coverage. I will be visiting their website and live stream again. Also in agreement about CNN and BBC, and I have to add that the SMH and ABC from Australia arent much better.

I've deleted this post. I can't say that the tone of press in regards to support of the Thai government is getting better (though I note that I was quite happy with CNN reports (World News) I saw in the USA recently).

I wouldn't want to say anything that might worsen any situation.

Pon

[Thai Dyed]

While I'm bunkered down out of town out of harms way a friend in the thick of it and unable to leave his condo sends me the latest..for what it's worth:
*******************************

...In direct contrast has been the lack of effort by both BBC and CNN. At one point during this situation the map being displayed on the BBC website to define areas as dangerous hadn't been updated in over 4 weeks and showed many areas as "safe" when in reality they were so dangerous that their own reporters would not go there. This kind of irresponsible reporting kills people and the BBC should be ashamed of themselves. Further to this we have noticed that neither of these channels has a clue about Thai history or politics. To understand all my statements more clearly please check out the following articles so you can understand this situation better. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOT ABOUT THAILAND. If these people can't report this situation properly should you be trusting them for your information on a day to day basis? Having lived right next door to a war-zone for the past week I would NEVER touch these people again for anything other than gossip and sport. Please consider the same boycott. This is about lives.

Justin and Zoe

And you just found out that BBC and CNN present complete unadulterated shit which they call "news"? Sheesh!
Without a doubt Aljazeera's coverage of international events is today about as good as it gets.

[X] "We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us."

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/5602/92526144.jpg
EXERCISE "COBRA GOLD 2010"- Gulf of Thailand (Feb. 8, 2010) "The forward-deployed amphibious assault
ship USS Essex (LHD 2), the Royal Thai navy medium landing ship HTMS Surin (LST 722), the Republic of Korea
navy tank landing ship Seongin Bong (LST 685), the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67),
the forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and the forward-deployed amphibious
transport dock ship USS Denver (LPD 9) transit in formation in the Gulf of Thailand during exercise Cobra Gold 2010."

[X] "We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us."

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/5602/92526144.jpg
EXERCISE "COBRA GOLD 2010"- Gulf of Thailand (Feb. 8, 2010) "The forward-deployed amphibious assault
ship USS Essex (LHD 2), the Royal Thai navy medium landing ship HTMS Surin (LST 722), the Republic of Korea
navy tank landing ship Seongin Bong (LST 685), the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67),
the forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and the forward-deployed amphibious
transport dock ship USS Denver (LPD 9) transit in formation in the Gulf of Thailand during exercise Cobra Gold 2010."

Was this yet another occasion when the famous Thai aircraft carrier stayed in port?

The whole Country is waiting for the King to make a statement, as he has not, does it speaks volumes on its own ?

[thrillbill]

When I was working in the Middle East during the Bush campaign to get rid of Saddam...I thought CNN International was not falling for the propaganda (and because of this, Americans thought it was too anti-American). Now, working in Thailand, I was amazed how CNN didn't tell the whole story. CNN and BBC wanted to make it a Poor vs. the Rich story. None of the suffering by the hard working Bangkokians prior to the military crack down was mentioned. None of the "cracks" of the party were totally focussed...just the poor rural Isaan people fighting for democracy.

The whole irony of it, is that we expats that live or travel overseas know that Aljazeera , an Arab TV station, had the best coverage. The interview with Thaksin's lawyer, the scum-bag Mr. Amsterdam, was very direct and made the guy look like an idiot. CNN or BBC 's anchor person would not have had the "balls" to ask such quetions without being afraid to offend some interest group.

When I was working in the Middle East during the Bush campaign to get rid of Saddam...I thought CNN International was not falling for the propaganda (and because of this, Americans thought it was too anti-American). Now, working in Thailand, I was amazed how CNN didn't tell the whole story. CNN and BBC wanted to make it a Poor vs. the Rich story. None of the suffering by the hard working Bangkokians prior to the military crack down was mentioned. None of the "cracks" of the party were totally focussed...just the poor rural Isaan people fighting for democracy.

The whole irony of it, is that we expats that live or travel overseas know that Aljazeera , an Arab TV station, had the best coverage. The interview with Thaksin's lawyer, the scum-bag Mr. Amsterdam, was very direct and made the guy look like an idiot. CNN or BBC 's anchor person would not have had the "balls" to ask such quetions without being afraid to offend some interest group.


Couldn't agree more.....

Was this yet another occasion when the famous Thai aircraft carrier stayed in port?
http://www.navy.mi.th/cvh911/file-picture/filepic-month/upweb-march/Untitled-85.gif

"The Chakri Naruebet has participated in training, and in disaster relief after the 2004 tsunami. The carrier's main role is Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) surveillance and search and rescue. The Chakri Naruebet is the smallest serving aircraft carrier in the world." http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pGOnGM04xgk/SN8it5AKyiI/AAAAAAAAByc/MvsT9Y8G7jE/s1600-h/HTMS_Chakri_Naruebet-3.jpg

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics ... er_carrier (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Helicopter_carrier)
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics ... sault_ship (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Amphibious_assault_ship)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTMS_Chakri_Naruebet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(LHD-2)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fJrheEH5GMA/ScRpnY-MWMI/AAAAAAAAAjU/WrU8KUnsGB4/s320/DSCF1167_resize.JPG
[X] Yes: http://www.navy.mi.th/cvh911/

"The dangerous GT200 devices and the grounded airship are putting heat on the government and the military. But authorities must not be allowed to wave off these scandals as an untimely coincidence. A major reason for the immense public interest in the fake bomb detectors and failed flights by the airship is the long history of such poorly thought out purchases. The list is long but includes the country's greatest white elephant ever, the multi-billion-baht aircraft carrier purchased from Spain during the height of the country's economic growth in the late 20th century.

But if the mothballed and virtually useless HTMS Chakri Naruebet is the all-time biggest boondoggle, there have been plenty more. The list must include the vertical takeoff jets bought with the carrier, which have never effectively flown in combat or war exercises. To them, add the equally ground-bound Alpha jets purchased against massive public opposition, and the recent Gripen fighter purchases. The purchase of the Ukrainian armoured cars was another expensive exercise in poor military judgement. After years of being turned down, it now appears the Royal Thai Navy is actually closer to getting permission to purchase submarines than ever.

These and many other equally questionable purchases by the military, virtually without any public oversight, have naturally raised suspicions. The almost completely opaque purchasing system appears to actually favour the buying of useless items like the GT200s rather than potentially useful defence items such as anti-explosive armour for bomb squads, and better weapons for the low-ranking troops sent out every day against one of the world's most deadly and persistent insurgencies in the deep South." http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... g-shake-up (http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/34073/military-needs-big-shake-up)

It is worth noting that the core Cobra Gold exercise scenario тАУ multilateral peacekeeping operations and humanitarian and disaster responses in a coalition environment тАУ reflects international realities that multi-national responses to crises are now the norm."┬аU.S. Ambassador Eric G. John at Cobra Gold 2010 Opening Ceremony

Thailand is one of our closest friends and partners in Asia, as well as being our oldest ally in Asia," said Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander, U.S. Army, Pacific.

http://www.usarpac.army.mil/cg10/images.asp
http://www.clwp.navy.mil/CARAT2010/thailandphotos.html