Thaksin uses Bush’s lobbyist service (apprently not “enough” politics for him)

Now that Thaksin’s news are floating around international arena again. Lets see how all of the sudden (and months after the former PM has been ousted), the foreign media is interested in Thaksin again. (I just use the word “again” again?) Seth Mydans reported from Singapore for The New York Times:

In recent months, Mr. Thaksin has been traveling through Asia, from Hong Kong to Bali to China to Singapore to Japan, meeting with supporters and keeping his name in the newspapers at home.

He is represented in Washington by Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a prominent lobbying firm, and he has hired the public relations firm Edelman of New York to help arrange meetings with the news media.

In a telephone interview from Hong Kong, Alan VanderMolen, vice president for Asia and the Pacific at Edelman, said, “We’re working with him in his capacity as a private citizen and supporting some media outreach to support his efforts to return to Thailand.”

Who’s Barbour Griffith & Rogers? A lobbyist company for Bush administration run by Robert D Blackwill who once served as “Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning under President George W. Bush.”

Here’s a Lobbying Registratoin document from the US Senate:

Thaksin has recently spoke through the media in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. On a CNN program in Singapore, he said “enough is enough” when asked if he would be back in politics again.

Now the information above didn’t agree with what the man just said. If you were to quit politics, why would you try so hard to get yourself back in the news paying for all those coverages and lobbyist services? Just to get return to Thailand?

If Thaksin just wanted to be back in Thailand, the government already said that all Thaksin needs is to say he will “stop all (political) movements and express that his family wants to live in peace.” Hiring a formidable US lobbyist firm and paid for media exposure to return to Thailand? Oops, I don’t think this sounds like a man who has “enough” politics. (A minus point for you, Mr Thaksin.)

Thaksin’s lawyer still lied all over TV saying Thaksin didn’t use the service from the BG&R and only met with the “old friends” at BG&R because, he said, Thai government used the service from BG&R when Thaksin was the PM. Fact is (and confirmed by Thai officials), Thai government has never used services from BG&R before. It was Thaksin’s old company, Shin Satellite:

Acorrding to the US Senate information, Thaksin’s old company, Shin Satellite, used the service from BG&R to lobby for investment for the IP-Star satellite. And Thaksin lied, back when he just got elected the second time, saying he had never used the service. (2 minus points for you two, Mr Thaksin and Mr Lawyer.)

When the news broke here in Thailand that there’s evidence Thaksin hired BG&R, Thaksin’s lawyer changed the tone and said Thaksin only hired BG&R to reserch on some information that may have been miscarried out since the coup. Oh, you gonna change just like that? (One minus point for Thaksin’s lawyer.)

OK I agree it’s not like everybody says the truth in politics here. But a regular is a regualr, right?

So today we have a total of 4 minus points for the tagteam of Mr Thaksin and his lawyer. An image of Thai pinup girl below to wash the politics dirt off your mind:

More new policies, foreign investors grumble + warn against Thaksin news

Some updates about Thai politics:
Thaksin needs a visa to stay in China (and 50 other countries) now, The Nation reported:

Thai government informed China on Thursday that it has decided to revoke diplomatic passports of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife, Khunying Pojaman, implying that they needed to request visa to stay in China.

This comes after a series of bombing in the middle of Bangkok during new year festivities. I’ll repeat myself again that this kind of terrors have never happened before in the city of Bangkok. Well, not in my memories anyway. Thai people may be violent at times. But they don’t do this kind of stuff. This is totally new. People suspect the Thaksin’s group was behind all this. Earlier, political figures with close ties to Thaksin flew over to China. It was reported that Thaksin was also in China at the time.

Another news: some foreign investors are critical about the Thai government’s recent accouncements regarding foreigners’ controls over companies operated in Thailand:

The most recent confusion came with an announcement Tuesday that Thailand would tighten rules for foreign companies operating in the country. But according to The Associated Press, Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula told foreign investors in Bangkok Wednesday that the new, more restrictive rules would not apply to telecommunications companies, a reversal of Tuesday’s announcement.

Looks like some people /person in the policy making bunch are trying to help make the scandalous tax-free Shin Corp sales by Thaksin to Temsek Holding a “clean” one. Lets change the word “government” in the above quote to “Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula.”

More Thaksin news recently in the media here in Thailand. In fact too much news for an ousted man and the government expresses it’s concern. Thai media publishers/ broadcasters are warned against news from Thaksin’s lawyers who apparently having a media war with the government.

Lastly, check out my new uploads on flickr. Old pictures, cute girl.

Slowly fixing the telco connections in Taiwan

My internet is being fixed. International connections (connecting to WordPress.com, for example) will be slow at least for a good while (according to CCTV news):

Telecommunication operators and Internet users need to sit tight a little longer before service returns to normal. Authorities say damage to undersea cables caused by an earthquake off Taiwan is more serious than previously thought. And repairs are still ongoing

I’m hopeful I’ll be fast browsing international porn websites again by the next quarter.

More new year bombing

Apparently the new year bombing in Bangkok didn’t stop since I posted last time. I said 2 killed and more than 6 explosion. Here’s an update from Bangkok Post:

In all, three Thais were killed and 36 people were wounded, 27 of them Thai.

Thaksin denied bombing (what a piece of news. Would you admit you killed your wife? This guy didn’t. )

People’s Daily China pointed out (after reading the same newspaper I read: The Nation) that:

Thai government fails to establish culprits of Bangkok bomb attacks

Lets replace the word “government” with “police” in the above sentence. The bombs exploded near police stations/booths. While 36 people wounded and 3 killed by the bombs, no police officers had any scratch. All police officers are so lucky to be far enough away from the bombs. Hypothesis:

Bombers didn’t want to hurt police.

Why?

Happy New Year from Bangkok

New year is here in Thailand. Have a great great 2007 everybody. In the picture is the Rama VIII bridge in the city of Bangkok — still calm and beautiful, despite the scare earlier tonight.