Tanks

[Guest]

baht moved to 37.70 from 37.30 overnight. depends what happens next few day, could move more. as thaibound says, probably will be a minor impact on overall financial markets - stock exchanged closed today. you stock mavins might like the thai funds now, down 4% tuesday on the nyse. but a Thaksin's support isn't in bkk, so be interesting to see if anything develops up north where he's popular. things now seem normal where we are, down by ekkamai....

[dummy_plug]

I'm hoping the currency will slide even further, hopefully past the 40 baht per mark (per USD). Analysts noted that the drop by the baht was the greatest one-day decline in the past 5 years. From what I've read on several currency-related websites, the dip is seen to be an indicator in the lack of confidence for economic stability in the short term. Seems some betting men think that this coup won't go over all that smoothly, despite the lack of violence and wide-spread protests. All I can say is, burn baby burn!

[PigDogg]

Toxin is holed up about a mile due north of me.

[PigDogg]

the bahts slide was only about 1% today.   i interperet that as an indication that the moneymen are not overly concerned.

i think toxin will negotiate a deal where his safety and most of his money is guaranteed in return for his accepting the new reality.  and everyone can save face.

[dummy_plug]

Well, it was a 1.3% slide - a one drop like that is highly out of the norm, especially if you don't think there is going to be any short term consequences. Currencies aren't like securities, you won't see large swings (unless the country intentionally devalues its currency). We'll have to wait to see how the markets play out over the next few days but if things don't get sorted out in a way that gives investors confidence, you might see even larger slides.

[PigDogg]

I agree, I think there will be a larger slide. Baht was 41 to a buck in January. Was due for a correction and the coup is the impetus. More Chang for me!

[stogie bear]

The leader of the coup in Thailand, Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin is close to the King and would like to be seen as his 'voice.' He's also a muslim... the first Muslim Commander in Cheif that Thailand has had. He's only had the job for a year but was well known to be in disagreement with government policies.

I think that elections will go ahead as planned next month and things will settle back to normal. It seems, at least on the surface, that the coup was initiated by the best of intentions and it also appears that (at least in Bangkok) the public are very much behind it.

Out in the center of the city many people are lining up to look at the tanks and other military vehicles and the soldiers look relaxed and comfortable having there photos taken and generally milling in with the population.

The only dispair and anxiety I think will be coming from ambitious polititions! I also think that the TRT party will be back in power in a month or so, but without Thaksin who will likely be rounding up his stacks of the green stuff and wondering which country to retire to!

Thaksin has done many good things for the country but has hurt himself by doing a 'Beatles' gaff when he said he wanted to do more for his country than The King. He has further eroded his popularity with outragious tax dodges for himself and family members. He's also about the worst TV politition in the history of modern politics!

Here where I am, indifference and ignorance still rule the roost and I don't expect many people will feel concerned or even involved by any changes in head office.

The Baht will be slightly effected but no more so than other Asian currencies so don't get ready for the glory spending days of years gone by. It's possible that you'll get almost 40 Baht for your buck but that's about it, I reckon.

One thing to take into account also is that farangs will stop buying here and builders will not be able to continue building here as recent confusion of the implementation of Visa and entry regulations compounded with a fragile political landscape continues to take it's toll on the recent overwhelming confidence in Thailands economy.

But, as ever, TIT! This is Thailand and nothing really changes and no-one really wants it to...  

Finaly: It's fun to listen to the high and mighty comments of other political leaders around the world who have no idea what is going on but insist on spouting rubbish!

[stogie bear]

The USA State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos...

"We look to the Thai people to resolve their political differences in a peaceful manner and in accord with the principles of democracy and the rule of law,"

He's probably refering to the same principles of democracy that won Bush the election in Florida!

Prime Minister Vanhanen (Finland) said in the statement in the late night of Tuesday that it is highly regrettable that democratic institutions seem to have been taken over by military force. He emphasized the need to revert to democratic order without delay.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd (Australia) said today the events of the past 24 hours had been deeply disturbing for supporters of democracy. "I'm deeply concerned about the impact which this military coup might have elsewhere in the region. In the last 10-15 years we have seen the consolidation of democracy across so much of south east Asia. It would be of grave concern if this action, this military coup, set another precedent. It needs to be condemned and condemned unequivocally."

Even that ineffective puppet Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, has criticised the military coup that has deposed the PM and sent his family and friends fleeing the country! "I don't have the details but this is not a practice to be encouraged," Annan told CNN television at the UN on Tuesday.

My God... the world is run by fucking loons and idiots!

[tampanugget_2001]

First, Bush did win Florida (ask the Supreme Court), this was also confirmed by recounts by major news organizations (including the liberal NY Times). The repeating of urban legends does not make it true.

Two, A coup can be very damaging to the Thai economy. If Thailand can not support the rule of law, it is more difficult to attract investors/businesses. I would be willing to bet that a further slide in the baht is coming (5-10%).

The King should once again back democracy and not give any legitimacy to the coup leaders.

Just my two cents from across the sea.

[Guest]

(stogie bear @ Sep. 20 2006,01:02) My God... the world is run by fucking loons and idiots!

Amen.

Maybe we could trade Bush for Thaksin for a few weeks. It seems he suddenly needs a job, and I don't think anyone here would mind too much at this point; tax-dodging millionaire politicians are a dime a dozen over here; one is pretty much the same as another. Plus, I figure the world would maybe benefit from having a buddhist in the White House (even a crooked rich one) instead of a rich, crooked evangelical Christian fundamentalist.

And you all over there could take Dubya around to the Nana bars and show him a good time (although Dubya strikes me as more of the Pattay type). Maybe then he wouldn't be so uptight (something tells me he has lust in his heart to be drilled by Talesha ... just a hunch; his whole family has a thing about drilling). And then he'd stop being such an asshole, too. Once he gets hooked, I think for the cost of the Iraq war we could easily afford to send Dubya over there several times a year at least -- he's always on vacation it seems, anyway. And he'd be too preoccupied like the rest of you about when and how he's going to get back there, to worry about starting a war on yet another front in the Middle East.

Aw, forget it. He'd probably just try and order an invasion of Hat Yai or something ... George W. Bush: the ultimate Big Liar Man.

[Mai-Kee]

A muslim Gen. will never ever have the backup from the US. So you can bet that you aint seen nothing yet....

MK

[Guest]

I am allergic to tanks , so alas, no thanksgiving in Pattaya this year. Is there a forum as rich and diverse as this devoted to the travesti of Sao Paula and Rio? If so, please post a link.

[Guest]

(tampanugget_2001 @ Sep. 20 2006,01:48) The repeating of urban legends does not make it true.

I usually try and avoid this sort of thing as I know it will likely start a flame war on a message board (which is always a complete, pointless wastes of time), but I can't let this slide.

Vote fraud in Florida is hardly an urban myth. In Florida, prior to the 2000 election, state officials purged scores of thousands of registered voters on the pretext that they were convicted felons and therefore ineligible to vote in most cases under Florida law. But it just so happens that coincidentally, many of these were mistakes -- very convenient ones. Many of the names purged just happend to be black Democrats who were not convicted felons after all. In fact, black voters accounted for 88 percent of those removed from the voter rolls, even though they only account for about 11 percent of Florida's entire registered electorate. In all, nearly 58,000 people were identified as convicted felons and denied the chance to vote -- 1 percent of the electorate and 3 percent of its black voters (more than enough to sway the outcome of the election). There were literally thousands that were misidentified -- many people convicted of a misdemeanor, like say a speeding ticket, were removed from the voter rolls, for example. The matter was eventually settled in court, with the state agreeing that many of these people should be placed back on the voter rolls -- in 2002, long after the dust had settled on the presidential election.

Ironically, the creation of this Florida Voter Registration System that wrongly purged so many black voters -- first adopted in the 2000 elections -- was created after the widespread voter fraud in the Miami city elections of 1998, in which there were all sorts of shenanigans. Dead people casting votes, double registrations, etc. The mayor of Miami was subsequently removed from office as a result of that scandal, incidentally.

It's also interesting to note that the private company hired to oversee Florida's voter rolls -- Florida being the only state in the U.S. to use a private company to administer its voter rolls (at least at the time of the 2000 election; I don't know about now) -- this company tried to tell the Florida state government that much of its criteria used to purge the voter rolls was bogus, and would result in a lot of mistakes -- a lot "false positives." For example, if anyone's last name was a 90 percent match to one of the people on lists of known felons, all of these people were automatically purged from the voter rolls. There was no cross checking of social security numbers, address histories or data bases entries to verify the identities of those purged, even though employees of the firm hired to do it warned of huge numbers of false positives as a result.

This is all factual information that's part of the historical record now. It's not myth. The sad part of it is, this type of problem and similar shenanigans are all too common in U.S. elections; election fraud in U.S. presidential elections has a long historical precedent, as do most "democratic" elections throughout the world.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Don't get fooled again.

Can we go back to talking about hot Thai babes now?

[Guest]

Almost every thread on internet forums inevitablly sidetracked ... but guys, let's calm down about the domestic fued (a pretty old one btw) in US and focus on the dvelopment in LOS.  
Just my humble plea...

[Bit Beefy]

(Snick @ Sep. 20 2006,14:07) I'll let you know Beefster

Cheers Snick..... I just spoke to my hotel in Pattaya they said i can check in friday if this all goes tits up