Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Thailand: BBC Plans Hit Piece to Frame Thai Protests

December 4, 2013 (Tony Cartalucci) - The BBC, desperate to regain traction after the Western-backed regime in Thailand has suffered several setbacks, is planning an article that will portray the deaths in and around Ramkamhaeng University the work of protesters, not regime gunmen.

Violence over last weekend left several dead. After clashes broke during a student protest against a pro-regime rally held for nearly a week right next to their university, shots were fired and students ended up barricaded in several university buildings. The first confirmed death was that of a university student, and almost immediately, video and photographs of the gunmen, clad in black and wearing insignia identifying them as regime militants began circulating across the web.


 
Video: Students were surrounded on their campus by regime thugs who then began firing on them. Students here can be seen fighting back against a constant barrage of objects being thrown at them, while gunfire coming from their attackers can be seen and heard. 
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Images: Top - a regime gunman fires at students in clashes that have left at least 5 dead. Bottom - His t-shirt is identical to those worn by a sect of pro-regime "red shirts" hailing from Phitsanulok province, part of Thaksin Shinawatra's northeast political stronghold. This particular sect has close ties to regime MP Jatuporn Prompan, and was involved directly in bloodshed in 2010's violence. One image features a member posing with regime leader,Thaksin Shinawatra himself. 
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Image: Photograph of another gunman so far responsible for the death of at least 5. The gunmen are clad in black, carrying a variety of weapons. There have been reports of both shooters operating in the streets and from rooftops. 
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It would not be until late the next day, long after regime supporters went home that soldiers were mobilized to deter remaining regime thugs and rescue the barricaded students.

Thai police, who failed to intervene during the clashes, are claiming the majority of the dead were regime supporters. Western journalists are suspiciously omitting any mention of dead students. BBC's Jonathan Head has already begun bending the narrative toward framing the protesters for the violence. While attending a funeral for a "red shirt" regime supporter, he stated on Twitter, " I attended funeral of Thanasit Viengkham today. 1 of 3 red shirts killed Saturday. Leading BBC report today from here."


Image: Jonathan Head of the BBC tweets to a senior researcher at discredited Human Rights Watch and an armchair Thaksin supporter, pledging to report on the red shirts killed Saturday. Thailand braces itself for yet another coordinated attempt by the Western media to redirect the narrative back behind the embattled regime.  
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Of course, Thai police have confirmed 5 deaths so far - making Head's emphasis on only pro-regime deaths suspicious. It should also be noted that the protests are being held on the other side of the city and that the clashes were between students and regime supporters, another fact the Western media purposefully omits to manipulate the narrative.

The one-sided bias of the BBC is legendary, and Jonathan Head appears eager to contribute to its shameful legacy further. He is in regular communication with openly pro-regime sources and supporters and dismisses entirely any information or evidence that portrays the regime negatively. Like was done in Syria, or in cases where the BBC has been exposed taking money from special interests to produce documentaries and stories, the BBC, and many other Western news agencies are busily at work to undermine Thai protests and preserve the regime currently in power.

The current regime is headed by Thaksin Shinawatra via his nepotist-appointed sister, prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Despite the New York Times, in their article, " "In Thailand, Power Comes With Help From Skype," openly admitting the regime is run remotely by a convicted criminal hiding in Dubai, the Western media along with the US itself has maintained that the current regime is "democratically elected" and therefore the legitimate government of Thailand. The support Thaksin and his regime have received from the West is owed to the fact that he has an army of Washington lobbyists and Western corporate-financier interests backing him.