With all that's going on in Thailand, I just don't see how these red shirts, yellow shirts or blue shirts have the public's interest at heart. These groups are self-serving entities who seem intent on doing nothing more than creating anarchy. Furthermore, these groups have high-level support spurring them on. The police, army, government should be acting on behalf of the people to stop this no matter what. It's a sad, depressing time as Thailand continues to go round in circles.

EDIT: I don't think this is true, but it gave me a good excuse to use a funny picture of Thaksin.

The rumour now is that Thaksin landed on Koh Chang in a helicopter. If this is true then it can only lead to the situation in Thailand further deteriorating. It is just a rumour at this stage, but who knows — maybe he's there to lead the revolution. Or perhaps he's just come to chill out.

Source

From Nation:

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a phone-in to the rally at the Government House at 6:30 pm, calling more people to join anti-government rallies in Bangkok.

He said it was the "golden time" now for the protesters to rise up against the government after soldiers were deployed to Bangkok streets.

He said it was now time for the people's revolution and he was ready to move into Thailand to lead the people's uprising.

He is calling for f-cking revolution on a phone-in. The man who was ousted and then quit politics, bought Manchester City, sold it, was indicted, kicked out of England and so on… he's out there fueling this fire with phone-ins.

I normally try and refrain from using words such as "chaos" and "disarray" when talking about Thailand because the media has a habit of painting an unrealistic picture. However, in this instance, I don't know how else to describe the situation. If you want to keep up with what's happening live, visit Bangkok Pundit. Also, log on to Twitter and follow Andrew, Newley, Sajal, Stuart, Rikker, ThaiCoup.

What's happening in Thailand now is beyond what happened during the coup of 2006. It may even be beyond the airport closures. It's difficult to tell right now. There's a state of emergency in five provinces. The maddest thing I've read thus far is this from Nation:

Jatuporn Promphan Sunday urged red-shirted protesters to rise up against the government and attack Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban as first sight.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a former Thai Rak Thai member telling anti-government protesters to attack the prime minister.

It looks very much as if the army is going to act soon. There are already unconfirmed reports of protesters being killed.

Oh dear. It goes from bad to worse. There goes tourism for the foreseeable future. For people who have never been to Thailand this makes visiting Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam a whole lot more appealing. I lived in Thailand and even when there were protests, coups and bombs I never saw the situation getting out of control. But this latest development — three blasts close to Suvarnabhumi and one near Don Muang — is a very bad sign.

I don't have much more to add. I hate the situation and I hate the PAD for bringing this on the country.