All in Thaksin’s pay, foreigners are a rotten lot

All except those “[r]esident foreigners [who] understand the political situation well…” are duped and wrong. That’s according to an editorial in The Nation (30 April 2010). Most especially some foreign governments and the international media.

Of course the idea that resident foreigners accept the government’s view is disingenuous in the extreme.

The truly foreign foreigners “are looking in through a somewhat distorted lens,” and this includes media outlets that have “only a superficial comprehension of the crisis. Comments are mostly narrowly focused; they see the turmoil simply as a righteous struggle between the haves and have-nots. Moreover, they see it solely as a cry for democracy. These two key messages dominate their discourses.”

These fools think that “there is no rule of law and the government is not able to manage day-to-day affairs.” Where on earth could anybody get such an impression? Even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got it all wrong when he foolishly urged “all sides to settle the political conflict peacefully. He was not alone, other global leaders share similar views and concerns.” The Nation obviously thinks these people are knaves of the first order. Fancy calling for settling a political crisis through peaceful means!

The basic problem is that these fools simply can’t see the “role of fugitive ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the main culprit…”. If it isn’t already clear, PPT thinks the editorial writer is a couple of salung short of a full baht. Or worse.

This is the same newspaper which has columnists who have been telling readers for months that Thaksin has been dying and that he has, in fact, died. Even today there is a story in The Nation on this. For more details, see here, where there was belief in the story even a couple of days ago. In this sense, the editorial is saying that the ghost of Thaksin is at work.

But now that there is evidence that Thaksin has risen from the dead or was never ill, he the problem, again. This “is seldom being mentioned by the international community and international media. Obviously, it is beyond their imagination to conceive that one person could be responsible for such massive civil disobedience. But this is exactly the point. Thaksin has channelled his money, via his divorced wife and crony associates, to finance the demonstration.”

It is, in fact, The Nation that doesn’t get it. They can’t see a social movement when it is arranged in front of them. They continue to see almost every single red shirt as duped and/or paid, apparently not knowing that their view is one of the taunts that motivates the movement they cannot see but fear.

The editorial is amazed that the international community doesn’t accept the explanation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “that Thaksin is acting like a terrorist – and should thus be treated as such.” Readrs will recall that it was Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya who, with maniacal zeal screamed that Thaksin was a “bloody terrorist.”

The Nation tells readers that this “message from the Foreign Ministry has been repeated time and time again in meetings between Thai diplomats overseas and their hosts. But it has fallen on deaf ears in some countries, especially those who have benefited from Thaksin’s past populist policies and huge investment projects. There is no need to mention names here.”

There it is! They are essentially in the pay of the evil one. This government has claimed such indebtedness for a whole range of media and others for some time. The Nation and the Abhisit Vejjajiva government and the Democrat Party can simply not understand or tolerate different views. Their intolerance of opposed views runs very deep, to the point of absurdity.

The rest of the editorial is worthy of fish wrap (or something that rhymes with that) and ends with The Nation – a newspaper with columnists who simply make stuff up – giving advice to the international media on how to do its job. This is breathtaking arrogance on top of foolishness.

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