October 16, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - Anti-government protests organized by Thailand's corrupt billionaire-led opposition and funded by the US government - have watched yet another protest end in humiliation when far less than even 1,000 showed up for a "major rally" in one of Bangkok's largest business districts.
Police easily moved in and dispersed protesters using just water cannons and officers with shields. Remaining protesters were arrested while others fled - some running - in a bid to escape police and return home.
Protesters and their supporters across the Western media attempted to portray today's protests as paralleling US-funded unrest in Hong Kong. Lost on them is the fact that protests in Hong Kong also ended in failure after months of protesting, poisoning the public against them, and eventually allowing the government to justify new security laws to end the protests permanently.
READ MORE: US-Funded Agitators in Hong Kong Back Thai Protests
A similar protest last night drew less than 10,000. Despite the certainty of rain today - protest leaders decided to quickly stage another protest in a bid to keep the central business district shuttered during peak hours as a means of hurting an already fragile economy trying to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
In the wake of police operations successfully and easily ending the protests - the Western media, Western government-funded fronts posing as "human rights" advocates, and the Thai opposition itself including US-government funded groups - have attempted to portray the government's security operations as "violent." But since years of steady and substantial disinformation has not helped the protests to this point - the Western media and their Thai partners' continued campaign of disinformation is likely only to help accelerate - not reverse the opposition's failing fortunes.
The alleged "violence" of water cannons and police shields in contrast to the regime of Yingluck Shinawatra - fully backed by these same groups and media organizations - and its use of war weapons and grenades against protesters seeking to oust her from power in 2014 illustrates just how far fetched current Western complaining is. In 2014, up to 20 would die including women and children in a wave of violence that eventually prompted the 2014 coup - a coup today's anti-government protesters and the West oppose.
The Danger of Staged Violence and Manufactured Martyrs to Save Failing Opposition
With the protests dwindling in both numbers and popularity and as time runs out for their sponsors the prospect grows of staged violence to give opposition leaders a manufactured "massacre" they can use to escalate the conflict, draw in foreign intervention, and increase pressure on a government they otherwise have little chance of removing from power.
The use of "black shirt" militants deployed by Thaksin Shinawatra in several other pivotal street protests - particularly in 2010 - should be among the primary concerns of Thai security forces as well as remaining street protest leaders the opposition may be willing to "sacrifice" in order to escalate the crisis, create leverage, and save their otherwise failed movement.
Aiding them is the US government who funds virtually every aspect of the protest's activities from its core leadership, to media organizations promoting the protests daily, to even groups involved in petitioning the government to rewrite the Thai constitution.
READ MORE: The Complete Guide: US Government Role in Thailand's "Student Protests"
Washington's interest in overthrowing the current Thai political order stems from Thailand's growing relations with China and Washington's desire to either reverse them or destabilize Thailand to the extent it can no longer serve as a valuable partner aiding in Beijing's regional and global rise.
Despite anti-government protests in Thailand being backed by Thailand's billionaire-led opposition, the largest Western media organizations on Earth, and even the US government itself - its inability to succeed where US-fuelled chaos failed in Hong Kong demonstrates a growing pattern of waning Western power and its inability to influence wider Asia. Those determined to continue serving Western interests will continue a steady decline with that of their foreign sponsors.