person:thaksin shinawatra

Grandpa’s death penalty for lèse majesté; 761,416 URLs blocked…Happy Father’s Day

« FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand

Judge Chanatip Mueanpawong convicted a 61-year old on November 23 for four SMS messages on the basis of circumstantial and inconclusive evidence and then sentenced him to death in Bangkok’s Criminal Court . We wonder how old this learned judge is, whether his own grandfather is still alive, how well he sleeps at night. Does he really think he has protected Thai society from a dangerous criminal?

https://facthai.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/arkong.jpg

Extrapolating from these sources indicates 578,476 URLs were blocked by Thai government as of July 31. Sunai Pasuk, Thailand director of Human Rights Watch reported on November 25 that ICT minister Anudith Nakornthap stated that his ministry requested rubberstamp court orders to block 26,000 Facebook pages in August and September and 60,000 in October and November. On November 23, the minister announced a further 10,000 Facebook pages had been blocked for alleged lèse majesté.

https://facthai.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/factorial-grandpas-death-penalty-for-lese-majeste-761416-urls-blo

Quelle victoire pour les « chemises rouges » en #Thaïlande ? | Xavier Monthéard
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/carnet/2011-07-07-Thailande

En dépit d’une nette victoire électorale, le parti Peua Thai, bras politique des « chemises rouges » thaïlandaises, est-il assuré de diriger le pays ? Le succès de Mme Yingluck Shinawatra aux élections générales, le 3 juillet 2011, impressionne par son ampleur : la majorité absolue, avec 265 sièges sur (...) / Thaïlande, #Démocratie, Élections, #Politique - La valise diplomatique

#Élections #La_valise_diplomatique

Thaïlande : Guerre contre les usagers de drogues (Vacarme)
http://www.vacarme.org/article2019.html

Les usagers de drogue en Thaïlande sont victimes d’une double cécité. Cécité du gouvernement qui refuse de mettre en place une politique de soins adéquate. Cécité des laboratoires pharmaceutiques qui refusent de mettre à disposition des plus démunis les médicaments qui seraient, seuls, en mesure de les soigner (Roche et Shering Plough). En réaction, des équipes travaillent sur le terrain pour mieux évaluer la situation sanitaire. (...)

En 2005, le gouvernement thaïlandais proposer de payer des F16 en devises exotiques : en poulets congelés.

Special report : Weapons and the art of diplomacy | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/04/us-wiki-diplomacy-business-idUSTRE72335820110304?pageNumber=2

In 2005, the Thai government started shopping for new military fighter jets among Lockheed Martin, Russia’s Sukhoi and Sweden’s Saab. It made clear up front that any deal it signed had to include “countertrade” worth at least 50 percent of the deal’s value — we buy X and you help us sell Y.

For the embassy in Bangkok, winning achieved two goals: helping Lockheed and keeping the Russians from selling planes. There was, however, a small complication with the terms — the Thai government didn’t want to pay cash. Instead, it proposed trading 80,000 stockpiled tons of frozen chicken.

“Embassy contacts said that until Lockheed Martin offered a proposal to sell F-16s that included countertrade, the (Thai government) could not seriously consider its offer. Contacts also suggested that an offer that included an agreement to buy Thai chicken would be especially welcome,” the embassy said in a March 2005 cable setting the scene for the competition.

A May 2005 cable indicates Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra personally raised the bird barter issue with Admiral William Fallon, then-head of the U.S. Pacific Command. Days later, word got to Thaksin that Lockheed was willing to play ball.

“It was a negotiating tactic by Thaksin. But until relatively late in the game, Lockheed was reticent to engage. They finally agreed to talk ... but it was too late,” the former U.S. diplomat in Asia said, terming the whole episode “comical” in a way.

Things didn’t quite work out, though. After a military coup the new Thai government ended up buying Swedish jets, fearing it wouldn’t be allowed to buy the Lockheed planes because of post-coup sanctions. (The embassy contacted the government to disabuse them of the notion, to no avail).

L’armée ayant pris le pouvoir, le deal ne s’est pas fait. Je suppose que maintenant, à la place, ils se sont équipés de canons à poulets surgelés.

#cablegate