Does he protest too much?

As anyone reading social media on Thailand knows, Navy Seals have been copping plenty of comment on their undercover role apparently working with the anti-democrats. That chatter also has the Seals commander a relative of Suthep Thaugsuban.

True or not, the commander, Rear Admiral Winai Klom-in, seems to be proclaiming his and his Seals just a little too loudly and if  a report at the Bangkok Post is any indication, rather too bizarrely.

Now the military brass often sounds bizarre in denials of things because they are used to saying whatever they like and getting away with it. Even so, Winai is getting the prize for nonsensical denials amounting to admissions. No wonder his boss has told him to shut up.

But back to Winai’s very load complaints and claims.

Winai reckons “he had received intelligence reports that ‘foreigners’ [he means Cambodians] from across the eastern border were transported on Monday in 10 passenger vans in order to instigate violence in Bangkok.” This claim, reminiscent of claims made under the Suthep-Abhisit Vejjajiva regime about red shirts, like back then, has no evidence. It did have a link to Suthep.

Of course, the anti-democrats hate Cambodia and Cambodians (and fear their alleged skill with “black arts”).

Making very similar claims to Suthep & Co. back then, Winai opined: “Those who brought in foreigners to kill Thais should not have been born in Thailand,” and we assume he means, as before, Thaksin Shinawatra. But, no evidence now or then.

But Winai was on a roll:

Winai said he had evidence [but hasn’t made it available to a single person] that during the 2010 political violence, 39 members of “a foreign force” were shot dead during the clashes with security officers and red-shirt protesters had used a refrigerated lorry to remove their bodies from the scene.

This was all a smokescreen for the real story in this:

Rear Adm Winai denied allegations that three members of a Seal team were linked to the recent bomb attacks on the anti-government protesters, as pictures of the perpetrators were released on social networks.

He said the three Seals were not involved as they were at Sattahip naval base when the incidents happened.

[But] Rear Adm Winai admitted he had sent several Seals to the protest sites on missions to suppress foreign drug gangs and protect the protesters amid reports that “foreign forces” could be infiltrating the protest sites.

PPT is still looking for fairies at the bottom of our garden.

He said he has now ordered six of the Seals to withdraw from the protest sites to return to their base at Koh Samae San in Chon Buri.

Right…. now we get it. There weren’t three Seals but six! And they were helping out the anti-democrats. As the admiral explained: “… we’re ready to go there again if we need to look after the people…”.

No, wait, at The Nation it is reported that there was “a 10-member team officially working undercover to gather intelligence and information about the smuggling of drugs from the east to the capital.”

The arrested group had “security cards” from the extremist “Students Network.” Another officer explained this “was necessary for the men to have them to facilitate their investigation at rally sites.”

PPT might be too conspiratorial, but there seems enough smoke here to suggest a raging fire.