Sky News airs Bangkok Police Brutality in UK

This evening as I was doing my "cardio" in Fatness Fast in the City of London, Sky News briefly showed a Bangkok rozzer swinging a baton at some yellow clad "protestors" in Bangkok. Could it be that the Murdoch Media are ahead of the pack in the run up to the next coup? I never caught the commentary as I prefer to listen to Wagner when sweating.

[ceejay]

There's a short video on the BBC website of the police using tear gas against demonstrators - doesn't say where but I gather from the report it may be around police headquarters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7588114.stm

Take a look at this Bangkok Post article (http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/topstories.php?id=130133).


It's Saturday morning, 5.30am and there are heavy thunderstorms all over Bangkok.
Will this be sufficient to disperse the crowds?

The army has told the Government to negotiate with the demonstrators. :thumbright: And the police to mind their P's and Q's. That'll give Samak a clear enough signal that he's doomed.

The army has told the Government to negotiate with the demonstrators.

...and there you have the banana republic problem. It's my recollection that the current government was democratically elected. The Bangkok middle-classes include some of my dearest friends but PAD is asserting the "daddy knows best" mentality that all too many power centres of Thailand are willing to pick up, then drop when things are sorted from their own selfish perspective.

Someone (HC actually) said that Thailand's strength was that it had never been colonised. Frankly, I think it is Thailand's weakness. Whilst Asian perspectives have much to recommend them the period of European exploration and expansion brought a lot of useful system and order to much of the world and it is high time we saw that this had some beneficial consequences.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

"I never caught the commentary as I prefer to listen to Wagner when sweating."

that's likely to give you the heart attack your'e trying to avoid.

European exploration and expansion brought a lot of useful system and order to much of the world and it is high time we saw that this had some beneficial consequences.

Are you insane. It didn't and still isn't. There isn't a single region that was colonised that isn't also a total mess. The small scale tribal war fare and checks and balances were far better than most countries are today.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/2576434961_26b8479e39_o.jpg

The small scale tribal war fare and checks and balances were far better than most countries are today.Bring back cannibalism, I say

The small scale tribal war fare and checks and balances were far better than most countries are today.Bring back cannibalism, I say

Nothing like dining on a nice boy-rump, is there, Dr. Lecter?

Whilst Asian perspectives have much to recommend them the period of European exploration and expansion brought a lot of useful system and order to much of the world and it is high time we saw that this had some beneficial consequences.

tell that to the people in Myanmar - another fine example of British colonialism

Live on Thai TV. PAD attempted to pull down the front gate of Police Headquarters. Police responded by firing tear gas.

The Thai version is that the PAD drove a truck into the police cordon, then threw a tear gas canister into the police HQ which a policeman picked up and threw back.

Cedric:
Are you insane. It didn't and still isn't. There isn't a single region that was colonised that isn't also a total mess.

So why do you choose to live in the HK SAR, whose systems were set up by the British. They haven't even dismantled the mechanism by which the kids of middle and senior civil servants get sent to English boarding schools. The London gay scene is full of the ones who chose not to go home after Uni.

I'lll tell you why you live in the SAR before you come out with a load of disingenuous clap trap. Because things work better there because the BRITISH put in Communication, Education, and Administration and anti-corruption systems that are second to none.

While the Brits may have imposed a useful civil service structure in some of the colonies, they also subjugated and brutalised the populations, and stripped the wealth of those colonies, the whole point of colonialism.

And the Brit tactic of partition has left permanent strife in it's wake in many parts of the world.

It is simply a lie to suggest that partition of the sub-continent was a British tactic. We bent over backwards to leave India intact but Jinnah insisted on having his separate state.

So why do you choose to live in the HK SAR, whose systems were set up by the BritishI think you'll find that Young Master Cedric rather enjoys the knowledge that he possesses the passport of a democratic country and can leave Hong Kong behind the moment it starts treating him like a local

[thrillbill]

Cedric:
Are you insane. It didn't and still isn't. There isn't a single region that was colonised that isn't also a total mess.

So why do you choose to live in the HK SAR, whose systems were set up by the British. They haven't even dismantled the mechanism by which the kids of middle and senior civil servants get sent to English boarding schools. The London gay scene is full of the ones who chose not to go home after Uni.

I'lll tell you why you live in the SAR before you come out with a load of disingenuous clap trap. Because things work better there because the BRITISH put in Communication, Education, and Administration and anti-corruption systems that are second to none.
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When I worked in Africa, (18 years ago), in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire at the time) the conversations at social gatherings would get to the political problems of Africa... True, Africa was sliced up like a pie --sections "given" to differnet European countries without the consideration of the tribal areas or "who" really owned the land before the "white saviors" arrived.... BUT one fact/ opinion that would always arise in these repeated conversations would be if you were an African country and was colonized, you were one of the luckier ones if you were colonized by the British. Heaven forbid if you were colonized by the Portuguese, the Belgiums, or Italians--left with nothing after independence. Today the only hope for most African countries is to have an "outsider" come in , such as Switzerland!!!!, and have them run the African countries with efficiency and trust. Tribalism still exists there and that is the problem... blaming "colonialism" is an excuse in 2008.
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The sad part about PAD demonstrators is that they probably are correct to accuse the government of corruptness but they have to realize they need to educate the masses before the next election...not to put their energy in bringing down the government and create chaos everytime a Bozo is elected in.

Today the only hope for most African countries is to have an "outsider" come in , such as Switzerland!!!!, and have them run the African countries with efficiency and trust. Tribalism still exists there and that is the problem... blaming "colonialism" is an excuse in 2008.
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Thrillbill Im fascinated that you worked in the Congo, what where you doing there and how come you're alive to tell the tale?

Yes I think you can still blame the colonisers for a lot of Africa's problems. While some got basic infra structure very few inherited a working economy save perhaps for Zimbabwe and South Africa. This is like being left a car without an engine. All the commerce and trade was one way, straight into the coffers of Queen Victoria and her subjects on that slimy green swamp England.

What they had before the arrival of the British was functional they had been happily doing it for thousands of years.

What they had before the arrival of the British was functional they had been happily doing it for thousands of years.And they are trying to return there at a rate of knots

While the Brits may have imposed a useful civil service structure in some of the colonies, they also subjugated and brutalised the populations, and stripped the wealth of those colonies, the whole point of colonialism.

And the Brit tactic of partition has left permanent strife in it's wake in many parts of the world.

It is simply a lie to suggest that partition of the sub-continent was a British tactic. We bent over backwards to leave India intact but Jinnah insisted on having his separate state.

I said "in many parts of the world", and did not mention India, so please don't read into my words something that is not there Let's take two as an example: Palestine, and Ireland. There are other examples too, if you care to look.

You seek to make generalisations, highly judgemental ones, from carefully selected instances. There can be no useful discourse from such prejudiced premises.

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