So for some strange reason I was thinking lately ~ obviously not clearly ~ that, having vaguely accepted that the Thai military took over the country last spring and pretty well pushed aside the 99% of Thai politicians who are complete wankers, no-hopers, deeply inept (can one say: "Mrs Yingluck"?), up to their bad toupees in various levels of corruption, do-nothings, know-nothings, Thaksin-haters, Thaksin-lovers, megalomaniacals (can one say: "Mr Suthep" & alter-ego "Mr.Jatuporn"?) that there might actually be ~ on the part of Mr Prayuth ~ some kind of 'agenda' which would actually be focused on doing Good Things for the Good People of Thailand.

Eh, things come to mind, right?: E.G. the completion (no, forget that ... the start actually) of the massive infrastructure needed to assure that the Great Flood of 2011 would never be that devastating again; a serious attempt at stemming, then killing, Thailand's ridiculous level of corruption; a complete reform of the laughable Thai justice system; a focus on environmental issues ("Eh, "arai kup"? What's 'environmental'?); etc etc etc ... you know, shit like that.

But oh no, not the Army, not getting into that, better, more important things to do, (WHAT was I thinking?). No, numero uno in the Thai elite priority dialectic is a charmingly simple and seemingly never-ending gambit: forget all that other boring stuff, let's just have a good old fashioned Power Struggle shall we? It cleans out the sinuses. I learned that in Class #17.

" ... The military source, who requested anonymity, said the current Army might seem to be united but in fact potential conflict is brewing under the surface. This is because the Army is now controlled by three different and powerful figures.

The first person is Prayut, who was the previous Army chief and now serves as prime minister and leader of the NCPO. The second is General Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister and defence minister who commands Prayut's respect as his former boss and senior at the military academy. The third figure is Udomdej, the current Army chief.

Unlike his predecessors, Udomdej also serves in the government as deputy defence minister, and therefore is obliged to follow orders from the prime minister and the defence minister, who are his former boss in the Army and his ex-senior in the military school respectively.

The sources warned that conflict could stem from a contest to become the next Army chief between two leading candidates - Prayut's brother General Preecha Chan-o-cha and General Teerachai Nakwanich - who are both assistant Army commanders-in-chief. Teerachai is Udomdej's former classmate from the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School.

Preecha is from Class 15 while Teerachai is from Class 14.

The Army source said the Army chief would feel uneasy having to choose between his former classmate and the brother of his boss to become his successor ... " http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politic ... 51125.html


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