This might have been posted:


New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/wo...20thai.html?hp

Catching up on Twitter: @legalnomads Wow. Crazy picture of CentralWorld on fire: http://tweetphoto.com/23068132 via @Cake_NBC & @bangkok

An amazing set of 39 photos: @legalnomads Crackdown in #Bangkok: another powerful photoset from The Big Picture http://viigo.im/3zgu

and RT @jonfernquest: RT @Jotman: List of live-blog accounts, some firsthand, of fires of May 19 - http://bit.ly/9LbHRY

rizzuto -- absolutely, and that attachment is something people outside of this travel forum and a few others often can't comprehend and I can never find adequate words to express (perhaps why I had them ink them onto my back?) Grateful for the comraderie, everyone.

Andrew Buncombe is a reporter who was in the Wat yesterday, and he was shot during the battle. His terrific report is here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...e-1977647.html

Back to Richard Barrow

"You know, I have lost 3 kilos in this last week. It's all this walking & keep forgetting to eat!"



If you read through Barrow's tweets from BKK yesterday, you'll find "live" video taken with his iPhone:

"All pictures and videos I am uploading are live. Taken on my iPhone as I walk around Ratchaprasong."
http://twitter.com/richardbarrow


"This was the scariest stretch for us as it was pitch dark. Even red guards were nervous of snipers here. http://twitpic.com/1pczle"


"This is the start of sniper alley that made many of us nervous returning at night. Now calm. http://twitpic.com/1pcy1j"


Catching up now, thanks to everyone that contributed to the Fodors Unrest threads.

The Red leaders have been exposed for the low class scum that they are

vinovino:

If that comment belongs anywhere on this site it's the Political thread, or, better the Lounge.

It appears to belong to the "let them eat cake" school of political thought, and we all know how well that turned out.

Read the Independent piece linked above and consider the quote from a red shirt woman: "As long as I have lived here I have never seen any government so evil" and Buncombe's summary:

"And who within the chain of command was ordering troops to fire so recklessly, so close to so many people, the vast overwhelming majority of whom were unarmed, unthreatening and who – as they had been asked by the authorities – had just left their place in the city centre. Had they had an opportunity to leave, safely, then they would have. Everyone recognised this was the end of their struggle, or at least this stage of it. Pressing, vital questions need to be answered by the highest levels."

thursdaysd,

Can you tell me how many reds were killed and wounded on the last day? You know to support the shooting recklessly at the nonthreatening and unarmed people who happened to just burn the whole city down afterward.

(I'm tempted to feed the trolls, but will pass this one time.)

The NY Times has an interesting piece today where they allude to something I'd seen in multiple tweets yesterday: the firs and looting in Bangkok might not have been as random as they may seem.

Among the large retail outlets, Central World was targeted, while many other nearby large malls (Paragon, for one) were for the most part untouched. Central World is owned by Central Pattana, which seems to have been a target of the arsonists. Also among the targets were the biggest banks, the stock exchange, and stores owned by large conglomerates (7-11s, for example). Obviously there were exceptions to this as the renegade elements of the redshirts were not hardly well controlled, but the arson may well turn out to be political violence rather than just unrestrained and general rage.

Yes I noticed that too. Central World own by Central Pattana who also own the Bangkok Post. The land however belong to the Crown Proterty, both side of the road and that is why I believe they chose to hijacked that area.

I also drove past a mall owned by the Shinawatra family(Oat the son of Thaksin) today, a lot of guards as I think they were expecting retaliation. The Paragon escaped because Khun El had hired over 500 private securities to guard her mall.

Oh and Bangkok Bank has always been the target of the reds and Thaksin because they gave a lot of information to the constitution court as well as the DA for Thaksin's corruption trial.

7-11 belong to CP, a known ally of Thaksin during his administration, so I think that's unintentional.

I know of no other way to describe the Red Leaders except to add that they are greedy, power hungry and selfish, with no love of country or the people who they supposedly promote. Users and abusers of the highest order, paid by a criminal on the run from the law.

Call me a troll if you like, but the truth is the truth. One only has to view thier hateful speeches to see the ugly reality.

@RichardBarrow 51 killed and 394 injured in clashes between security personnel and protesters since May 14 /MCOT

Bad, but not as many as Hanuman was willing to see killed:

May 13, 10 at 9:57pm: "IMO 200 - 500 dead is acceptable if they don't disband and I don't understand what the PM is doing."

An interesting article by Andrew Marshall, who took a walking trip through Rajaprasong today:
http://andrewmarshall.com/blog/voice...the-aftermath/

His blog also has a few other compelling articles.

Thanks for the add'l info about 7-11s and CP, Hanuman.

Yes thursdaysd I still stand by my statement that 200 - 500 dead terrorist is acceptable.

thursdaysd - The death toll for the last day was 13 altogether including soldiers and the 6 that were found dead in the Wat. So 7 people killed and 88 wounded on both side justify writing "reckless" shootings by the army? I suppose the reds had superb aim with their assault rifles and grenade launchers and only shot "recklessly".

That's suppose to read "Shoot UN-RECKLESSLY". My bad.

Hanuman - You apparently think all the protesters were "terrorists" and therefore it's fine to kill them. I doubt it. Meanwhile, this thread is for reporting interesting tweets, rizzuto started a political thread if you want to discuss politics.

For those who might be thinking of going to Bangkok in the near future, here's a blog (of an otherwise commercial site) that lists hotels that are open and closed, and the re-opening dates for some:
http://reservethaihotels.net/765/ban...osures-status/