Protests over

I see Suthep has conseeded defeat and is closing down the protest sites. Nothing to do I suppose withe the head of the army making it clear earlier in the week that he is there to defend to Constitution not to organise a coupe. Not to mention Red Shirts more actively defending Yingtong in Bangkok. Thats the thing with bullies isnt it - stand up to them and all there bluster goes away.

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[Smiles]

For now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/world ... ngkok.html

I see nothing in any of the few news articles regarding this new development that Suthep is "conceding defeat". That in fact will never happen, if only because it is quite impossible for Suthep to publically acknowledge losing that much face in one 'defeat' announcement. The spin will be somewhat different I'm sure.

[scottish-guy]

...the head of the army (made) it clear earlier in the week that he is there to defend the Constitution not to organise a coupe...

Quite right too - Hertz or Avis would be a far better bet for organising one of those.

[Smiles]

For the last three months at least Hua Hin CableTV has lovingly provided us with 2 channels of Yellow Shirt activity (busy!) and 1 channel of Red Shirt stuff (pretty tame).
These channels delivered the never-ending shreakings and Hollywood hair-pulling of Thailand's top megalomaniacs (i.e. Mr Suthep and Mr Jatupon) 24/7. I must say that Mr Suthep was unbeatable this time around ... Mr Jatuporn being a small shadow of his usual self.
All 3 channels have now disappeared as of this morning. (Not sure if this is throughout Thailand ... all I am aware of is this local cable channel)

This is just my speculation, but I have a feeling that Mr Prayuth, the head of Thailand's Army, had a wee tete-a-tete with Mr Suthep yesterday and made it quite clear to him that enough is enough.
Apparently, Mr Suthep, knowing full well where The Power lies, agreed.

Round 2 coming up, at a theatre near you ...

[christianpfc]

I was with a Thai friend yesterday and she watched these declarations on TV and translated for me: they will clear most protest and focus their forces in Lumpini park (maybe even Silom/Rama4 gets cleared and all traffic back to normal).

[Smiles]

I was with a Thai friend yesterday and she watched these declarations on TV and translated for me: they will clear most protest and focus their forces in Lumpini park (maybe even Silom/Rama4 gets cleared and all traffic back to normal).

Yes, camping out at Lumphini Park gives provides Mr Suthep with the face-saving gesture he so badly needs right now: a 'loss', 'not-a-loss'.
In the other camp, I would not be surprised if Mrs Yingluk resigns as head of the Puea Thai Party (and thus the PM-ship) within a reasonable length of face-saving time as well. It would be in the Party's interest to choose a new leader who is not so fused to the hip of Thaksin. Whether they even have a person like that is not at all clear.

Since there probably isn't going to be a military coup we can now expect a judicial coup as has happened several times recently. If a government institutes a foolhardy spending programme in my country they can get turfed out at the next election. In Thailand apparently the courts deal with them. But then, any pretence that Thailand is a democratic country in any sense other than that it periodically holds elections (as the Soviet Union did) must be well and truly be gone by now.

[Oliver]

I agree with that.
Suthep's failure to instigate an army coup with his rag-bag mob of ultra-royalists and thugs is good news but the secret state that runs Thailand will continue to try to destabilise any popular, democratically- elected government by other means.

What each side conveniently forgets is that the leaders of each side - Thaksin and Suthep - is a convicted criminal up to his armpits in corruption. Unlike Thaksin, Suthep still has outstanding charges so it will be interesting to see how that will play out now.

[Oliver]

Corruption is the least of the charges that Suthep faces; there's also the small matter of the massacre of ninety-four demonstrators. Murder.
It is ironic to say the least that he has inconvenienced Bangkokians and tourists for months with impunity while the far less disruptive Redshirt protests were ended in a hail of bullets and APC attacks. On the orders of Suthep.
Of course, the difference is that the Redshirts were working-class people- peasants?- while Suthep's mob ( or at least their paymasters) swan around in BMWs and shop in expensive malls, before retreating to 5* hotels for a good night's sleep.