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ThaiPrivateEye II
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Her we go...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/27/headlines/headlines_30089575.php
STATE OF EMERGENCY
PM: Air Force and Navy to help clear airports
By The Nation
The government has declared a declare state of emergency on the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports, enlisting help from the Air Force and Navy
PAD protesters are bracing themselves for police operations to dislodge them from the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports after the government declared a state of emergency in the two areas.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat announced the decision at a TV address at 9 pm. But military sources were quick to observe why the Army was left out of the scheme, noting that the Air Force and Navy had no expertise, resources and equipment to deal with the situations at the two airports.
Somchai said the imposing of the emergency state will be on temporary basis.
City police bureau will be in charge of enforcing the decree at Don Muang Airport under supervision of Interior Minister Pol Gen Kowit Wattana, he said.
The Air Force will help in the Don Muang operation whereas the Navy and the First Region Police Bureau will be in charge of the jobs at Suvarnabhurmi Airport, Somchai said.
Protest leaders at Government House surreptiously told their followers that "this may be our last night". With the leaders having always said the "war" would end in a couple of days, that can be interpreted as a positive statement. But with the state of emergency imminent, the remark also sounded ominous.
Protesters at three rally grounds _ Don Muang, Suvarnabhumi and Government House _ were also advised to take off their yellow shirts and put on ones with different colours if they were to leave the areas.
The state of emergency empowered the government to control movement of people and prohibit mass assembly in any specific locations. The prime minister is empowered to exercise the powers through the armed forces.
In a day full of widespread coup rumours, the government has pleaded with the military to remain in barracks with unconfirmed reports that PM Somchai may soon declare a state of emergency.
Government spokesman Natthawut Saikua also announced after an urgent Cabinet meeting that the government had no intention to remove Army chief Anupong Paochinda.
That the Army was left out of the state of emergency jobs kept alive rumours about a possible coup. Navy sources said they did not understand why the government wanted to enlist help from the poorly-equipped Navy instead of the Army.
"We are not trained for this kind of job," one source said.
Anupong, in his capacity as head of the government's task force monitoring the crisis, on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to dissolve the House and the People's Alliance for Democracy to end its protests.
Rumours were rife on Thursday about a secret Anupong ultimatum that Somchai must dissolve the House before midnight Thursday or face a coup. Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd however, has been quoted by AP as denying there would be a coup.
Newspaper offices have been flooded with phone calls inquiring or giving "tips" about an imminent coup. A source claimed Anupong had a telephone conversation with Somchai in the morning.
Government office workers have been told to leave home early, so have many private sector employees, adding to the widespread anxiety.
The Cabinet, meeting in Chiang Mai, did not consider about purging the military top brass, Government Spokesman Natthawut Saikua announced in an unexpected press conference, pleading with soldiers to remain in barracks. The announcement invariably add weight to the coup rumours.
He said he came out from the Cabinet meeting to make the announcement when the meeting was still going on because there were high speculations about coup.
Natthawut said the government would like to call on the military not to mobilise the troops because the military leaders would not be purged.
Minutes after Natthawut talked to reporters, Army-run TV Channel 5 ran a running text at the bottom of TV screen saying troop movements that were seen by the public were soldiers returning from a demonstration held for Army cadets.
The PAD, meanwhile, was cautious, mooting a theory that the coup rumours were a decoy designed to distract the protesters at the Suvarnabhumi airport before an operation to disperse the crowd.
There were also grave concerns that a coup attempt could spark a nationwide violence involving pro- and anti-Thaksin mobs as well as the military. Suriyasai Katasila, a PAD leader, told The Nation: "Coup is the least of my concern now. I'm worried about violence because nobody seems to be in full control at the moment."
TPE II
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 6:45 am on Nov. 27, 2008
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TwinkleToes
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Yeah, the Navy's gonna be useful. Suvarnabhumi is amost below sea level. They could sneak up on the PAD in a submarine.
The only thing that can dive is the Baht.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 7:00 am on Nov. 27, 2008
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farangman4
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Quote: from TwinkleToes on 10:50 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
The only thing that can dive is the Baht.
It already is. Not by a whole lot, but a bit, anyway.
Quack quack is more or less giving the view of the PAD, hopefully ironically. Anyway, personally I think debating that here would be a threadf*** - maybe sticking to info and views about the current crisis would be better!
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:15 am on Nov. 27, 2008
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DaffyDuck
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Interesting Eyewitness account from some guy that got stuck there:
http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2008/11/27/29618/bangkok-protests-eyewitness-report-from-suvarnabhumi-airport.html
The most interesting comment about the situation is at the very end:
"When I visited the swish tourist police office in the airport yesterday, there were a huge number of officers sitting around doing nothing. When I asked why they were leaving stranded inbound tourists at the mercy of taxi touts charging up to 10 times the legal fare, the senior officer laughed and went to watch the TV with his colleagues. I've never seen a more inept airport management system."
There's also a different article that because of all this,Thailand may lose its status as an air travel or logistics hub:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/economicnews/view/392714/1/.html
Which would make sense -- airlines need some kind of stability, and once they move their operations to a different hub (Vietnam is being mentioned), it'd be near impossible for Thailand to regain that position.
...none of which, of course, matters to that Thai behind all of this, I'd guess.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 1:02 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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LocalYokul
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maybe this will chase away all the expats that are filling up the local job market, LOL
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 2:19 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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Jojje
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Apart from being a great tragic this whole thing - I am personally upset! That I actually flew out before all this happened! Had I been there and unable to fly back to EU - I would not have worried about being "stranded" in BKK! For a long time even!
I pray though that this breaks up without bloodshed. I am very surprised at the total lack of tactics from police and military. Anyone with any knowledge of greater crowd control would know how to isolate and with massive and quick entry - disperse these crowds without injuries. This is less people than for instance a major european football browl where drunk nuts are a lot more crazy than these protesters. Still police control it without kills.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 4:47 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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IBFarang
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Quote: from Jojje on 8:37 am on Nov. 28, 2008
I am very surprised at the total lack of tactics from police and military.
It has nothing to do with tactics - neither the police nor the army wanted to stop the PAD - so they didn't.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 5:04 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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China Sailor
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Speaking from the 'Little Red Dot' I believe that the Airlines knew that this would run to the weekend.
I was supposed to fly on a Thursday morning SQ flight to BKK for a business meeting. When I was called at 2230 on Wednesday to be informed that my flight was canx and I could refund or reschedule I suggested that I go Friday and the agent informed me that SQ would not be flying to BKK on Friday, would Saturday do.
Even weirder is when I when to SQ online Reservations and to the Flight Status page on Thursday morning each both pages indicated that there were no scheduled flights on Friday (normally SQ lists the flight status as either on-time or canceled for every scheduled flight on its calender).
So after that I drop by the United city office in SG and they determine that the only Star Alliance Airline scheduling flights into BKK on Friday is Swiss at 2230.
So I guess that the Airlines doped out the fact that the planes would not be flying before Saturday and removed the flights from the schedule. As for Swiss it could be wishful thinking or maybe the airport is to open tonight...
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:10 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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ringthebells
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IBF's post is spot on.
besides, elvis' house supports PAD aswell.
if they wanted, this all could be over in a couple of hours.
rtb
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 7:42 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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afm171
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Asiana Air is flying chartered flights from Seoul into U Tapao now - at least that's what they told me when they gave me the ticket - after 2 days stuck in Inchon, I won't believe it until someone says, "Hello Handsome Man" to me...
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 9:39 pm on Nov. 27, 2008
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