August 16, 2016 (ATN) - The Western media, via their Thai-based correspondents converged at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) have attempted to push a narrative framing this month's bombings on groups in the deep south. They have floated "theories" as to why the government has "hesitated" to lay the blame on them, and have ridiculed suspicion directed at ousted ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) "red shirts."
However, it is a simple matter for these Western media organizations to answer their own questions by simply reading their own headlines they themselves published amid red shirt violence leading up to the 2014 coup.
Foreign Media Helped Threaten "Civil War" in 2014
The BBC's 2014 article, "Thailand crisis: 'Red shirts' warn of civil war threat," would report:
TIME Magazine in its 2014 article, "If There’s Going to Be a Thai Civil War, Isaan Will Be Its Front Line," would claim:
And finally, the Washington Post in its article, "Thailand’s military coup runs the risk of sparking a civil war," wrote:
The Western media, then, was clearly aware of Shinawatra and his red shirts' intentions to kill people should they have been ousted from power.
They are now ousted from power, and with the new charter easily sailing through an overwhelming national referendum, that ousting is complete and final - so now they are killing people.
And now the Western media appears to have forgotten the threats they helped conflate in 2014 regarding "civil war," never mentioning this in connection with the recent bombings.
The prospect for an actual "civil war" was never realistic.
Despite lobbying throughout the Western media claiming that Shinawatra enjoyed support from the majority of Thais, his actual support is in single digit percentages, even at the height of his "popularity." Performance even during elections failed to deliver a majority of the popular vote and those "voting" for handouts are a different matter entirely than those willing to die to protect Shinawatra's unwarranted power and influence.
What was instead inevitable and predicted was terrorism used as a stand in - the very terrorism that struck on the day of the referendum and again on August 11-12.
The Western media alongside Shinawata and his followers are attempting to frame southern militants who have for years confined their violence to their own provinces in the deep south. By framing them for the recent bombings, they are attempting to shift national ire and responsibility for the attacks on them, while providing impunity and directing attention away from the most likely suspects - they themselves.
The Western media, discarding their own previous attempts to help Shinawatra threaten Thailand with "civil war" and the death associated with such a destructive conflict, in order to now coddle potential suspects in the recent bombings exposes them as lobbyists and even potential accomplices, not journalists.
However, it is a simple matter for these Western media organizations to answer their own questions by simply reading their own headlines they themselves published amid red shirt violence leading up to the 2014 coup.
Foreign Media Helped Threaten "Civil War" in 2014
The BBC's 2014 article, "Thailand crisis: 'Red shirts' warn of civil war threat," would report:
Leaders of Thailand's pro-government movement have warned that any attempt to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra could trigger a civil war.Then there is Al Jazeera who in 2014 would publish an op-ed titled, "Thailand on the brink of civil war," stating:
Speaking to a crowd of tens of thousands, Jatuporn Promphan, the chairman of the pro-government United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), said judicial institutions were trying "to take over power without elections".
"What we are most concerned about - that we want to warn all sides against - is a civil war, which we do not want to happen," he said.
"It will happen if there is a coup and democracy is stolen."
The royalists’ relentless scheme to usurp power by undermining the rule of law now threatens to degenerate into civil war.
For their scheme to succeed, therefore, the royalists will likely purge a large number of the Redshirt leaders, resulting in potential large-scale unrest.
TIME Magazine in its 2014 article, "If There’s Going to Be a Thai Civil War, Isaan Will Be Its Front Line," would claim:
Resentment toward Thailand’s latest military coup is palpable in the Isaan region of northeastern Thailand, reinforcing a long-standing sense of ethnic separateness among its Lao-speaking peopleReuters in their 2014 article, "Once unthinkable, civil strife stalks tropical Thailand," would claim:
Last week, despite the obvious risk of detention, Red Shirt activist Ittipon Sukpaen threatened civil war on his Facebook page. Weapons are freely available in Thailand: according to one 2011 study, the country has an estimated 10 million firearms in civilian hands.
In the absence of the usual safety nets, many are talking about the possibility of civil war.
And finally, the Washington Post in its article, "Thailand’s military coup runs the risk of sparking a civil war," wrote:
The United States should instruct its old friends in the military that, unless Thailand’s traditional powers-that-be reconcile themselves to the popularity of the Thaksin movement and the genuine interests of its supporters, this latest coup may yet prove the prelude to a civil war that its authors say they want to prevent.Now that People are Dying, The Foreign Media is Lying
The Western media, then, was clearly aware of Shinawatra and his red shirts' intentions to kill people should they have been ousted from power.
They are now ousted from power, and with the new charter easily sailing through an overwhelming national referendum, that ousting is complete and final - so now they are killing people.
And now the Western media appears to have forgotten the threats they helped conflate in 2014 regarding "civil war," never mentioning this in connection with the recent bombings.
The prospect for an actual "civil war" was never realistic.
Despite lobbying throughout the Western media claiming that Shinawatra enjoyed support from the majority of Thais, his actual support is in single digit percentages, even at the height of his "popularity." Performance even during elections failed to deliver a majority of the popular vote and those "voting" for handouts are a different matter entirely than those willing to die to protect Shinawatra's unwarranted power and influence.
What was instead inevitable and predicted was terrorism used as a stand in - the very terrorism that struck on the day of the referendum and again on August 11-12.
The Western media alongside Shinawata and his followers are attempting to frame southern militants who have for years confined their violence to their own provinces in the deep south. By framing them for the recent bombings, they are attempting to shift national ire and responsibility for the attacks on them, while providing impunity and directing attention away from the most likely suspects - they themselves.
The Western media, discarding their own previous attempts to help Shinawatra threaten Thailand with "civil war" and the death associated with such a destructive conflict, in order to now coddle potential suspects in the recent bombings exposes them as lobbyists and even potential accomplices, not journalists.
