NYT again distorting reality for Wall Street-backed billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra and his violent personality cult. Image: Thomas Fuller makes a career out of dis-torting Southeast Asia's geopolitical landscapeacross the pages of the New York Times. February 2, 2014 (ATN) - In Thomas Fuller's New York Times piece titled, "Gun Battle in Bangkok Escalates Election Protest," he claims:
At least six people were injured Saturday in a prolonged daylight gun battle between protesters seeking to block the distribution of ballots in Bangkok and would-be voters demanding that protesters cease their attempts to obstruct national elections on Sunday.
After three months of a provocative campaign by protesters to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the clash on Saturday appeared to crystallize the power struggle that has been playing out on the streets of Bangkok.
Ignoring pleas by the United States and the European Union to respect the democratic process — and stoking the anger of many Thais eager to vote — the protesters have blocked the distribution of ballots in parts of Bangkok and southern Thailand, a stronghold of the opposition.
Fuller would go on to repeat many other tired distortions and intentional omissions regarding the ongoing Thai political crisis, never mentioning the 3 main facts that have truly led to it.1.Both the Regime and Elections are Illegitimate: Featuring only one main party with opposition parties boycotting it, and carried out under an open campaign of terror aimed at regime opponents as well as under a "state of emergency" granting the regime authoritarian powers in and around the capital of Bangkok - the elections could not be any further from "the democracy process" even if they were unfolding in Saddam's Iraq, or Kim Jong Ill's North Korea. The fact that Thaksin Shinawatra, an accused mass murderer, a convicted criminal, and a fugitive hiding abroad, is openly running the current ruling party (according to Fuller himself) ram-rodding through these elections alone makes both them and the regime itself illegal and illegitimate.The United States and the European Union are intentionally backing elections that entirely undermine the real principles of representative governance, solely for a return on investment from over a decade of backing Thaksin Shinawatra and his political machine. 2. Thaksin's "Red Shirts" Have Always Been Violent: Fuller attempts to claim that only now, with "elections blocked," are Thaksin Shianwatra's supporters taking to the streets and preparing to respond with violence. However, since their inception, the "red shirts" have been notoriously violent, bigoted, and anti-democratic in every way imaginable. In addition to carrying out armed insurrection in both 2009 and 2010, Thaksin's "red shirts" have carried out a campaign of violence, terror, and intimidation designed to keep Thailand's "silent majority," silent for years:Image: While the regime and its Western backers claim violence in 2010 was the result of a brutal, unprovoked military crackdown on "unarmed" protesters, in reality Thaksin Shinawatra deployed some 300 armed mercenaries onto the streets to augment his "red shirt" supporters. Weeks of gun battles involving the above pictured "men in black," would result in 92 deaths. ....
- In 2008, red shirts shot/hacked to death by machetes an opposition community radio host's father, after pro-Thaksin radio hosts mobilized supporters to surround his house and the father attempted to flee. Regime demagogue, Kanyapak Maneejak (DJ Aom), when asked about the incident during a "City Life Chiang Mai" interview, claimed, "the reds there all came following their hearts."
- In 2009, in addition to large-scale street violence visited upon Bangkok which saw two shop keepers shot while trying to stop red shirts from looting their businesses, red shirts would violently disrupt an HIV/AIDS awareness march organized by homosexual & public health activists. "Out in Perth" reported in their article, "Chiang Mai Pride Shut Down by Protests as Police Watch On," that organizers were locked inside a building while red shirts began throwing rocks and yelling abuse through megaphones. Police looked on until organizers decided to call off the event.
- Also in 2009, Bangkok's English paper, "Bangkok Post" would publish a report titled, "Rak Chiang Mai 51: A pride or a disgrace for Chiang Mai?" which would describe in detail the red shirts' methods of violence and intimidation.
3. Thaksin Shinawatra Isn't, Nor Was Commanding a "Majority:" Perhaps the biggest myth peddled by the Western media, including Fuller of New York Times, is the idea that the majority of Thais back Thaksin Shinawatra and the various reincarnations of his political machine, while those that oppose him are a "minority" of "elitists" from Bangkok. It should be remembered that the final tally conducted in 2011 by Thailand's Election Commission showed that Thaksin Shinawatra's proxy political party received 15.7 million votes out of the estimated 32.5 million voter turnout (turnout of approx. 74%). This gave Thaksin's proxy party a mere 48% of those who cast their votes on July 3rd (not even half), and out of all eligible voters, only a 35% mandate to actually "lead" the country. In a 2010 Asian Foundation report titled, "Survey Findings Challenge Notion of a Divided Thailand," it was revealed that a meager 7% of Thailand's population identify themselves as being "red," with another 7% describing themselves as "leaning toward red." The survey also revealed that by far, most Thais constitute what is called the "silent majority." The survey included multiple questions that explained the leanings of this silent majority, including their support for the Royal Thai Military as an important, independent institution necessary for maintaining political stability. Voter turnout today will most likely be even lower, with the regime receiving even less support and further challenging the spin-doctors of Western media to portray what the regime is doing as anything resembling "the democratic process." Whatever elections yield today, one thing is for certain - traditional media dominated by the West is sealing its own fate as it insists on distorting reality even as the alternative media expands and refutes its tenuous narratives. In Thailand, the West's narrative of "Thaksin Shinawatra the champion of democracy," is being strained beyond its breaking point - more people everyday are becoming aware of both his atrocities within Thailand and his treasonous connections with Wall Street and London overseas.
