Thailand's Ministry of Labor warned Thai employers not to bring any migrant workers to join ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's supporters, who are scheduled to launch a major anti-government protest in Bangkok this weekend.

The disconnect between the mainstream media and the red shirts has become even starker after the February 26 court ruling on former PM Thaksin Shinawatra's so-called ill-gotten wealth, leading to the seizure of Bt46 billion of his assets.

Violence was lurking just beneath the surface at yesterday's red-shirt rally by the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) in front of Bangkok Bank's headquarters on Silom Road.

By the admission of the acting government spokesman, the anti-government red shirts under the banner of United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) are now prevalent in no fewer than 38 of Thailand's 76 provinces, predominantly in the populous Northeast and North.

Thailand is again in frenzy over coup rumors, perpetuated mostly by anti-government Red Shirts who need a reason to protest and by a media machine that needs a story. The top generals have denied that anything is amiss, words that mean little since they said the same thing before ousting former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006. 

‘Thai E-News: News about Thailand that you may not have read in the news’ is the slogan of one of Thailand’s leading political websites.  It has only content and no web board.  It is unabashedly ‘red’, but red with a strange smell.  It posts critical points of view from all circles.

Leaders of both the red- and yellow-shirt movements appear to have succumbed, in their self-absorbed way, to thinking of themselves as out-of-this-world characters - often to comic effect. Some time ago, the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy supremo Sondhi Limthongkul dressed all in white like some holy man, splashed his PAD followers with what appeared to be holy water, like that dispensed by Buddhist monks. That was at the height of the PAD's seizure of Government House.

On 22 Jan, Kittichai Charnchoengsilpakul, Da Torpedo’s brother, together with some 30 activists, red shirts and monks, presented a petition to the Corrections Department, requesting the agency to provide medical treatment for Daranee.

(New York) - The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva largely failed to fulfill its pledges to make human rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2010.

Readers have sent e-mails to Smart Buy magazine, criticizing a column written by a dentist who talks of Da Torpedo’s molar abscess as bad karma resulting from speaking ill of the monarchy.

Marwaan Macan-Markar, president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, has denied being forced by the government to withdraw permission for the red shirts to hold a symposium at the clubhouse.

German freelance photographer Nick Nostitz is no stranger to either the red-shirt or the yellow-shirt political rallies. In fact, he stands out as having the most detailed photographic records of Thai political turmoil over the past few years and his 160-page photo book "Red VS Yellow, Volume 1: Thailand's Crisis of Identity", published earlier this year by White Lotus, is testimony to that.

A red-shirt magazine issued during the New Year has a feature article about Thaksin and King Taksin, who rescued Siam from the Burmese over 200 hundred years ago.  ASTV-Manager finds this a serious affront to the current dynasty.

What is certain about the upcoming major political protest by the red-shirt Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) members is the political uncertainty it will engender. Their announced goal is to finally dislodge from power the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, which they deem as not legitimate, after their failed major attempt in April 2009. Asking top DAAD leaders about the likelihood of achieving their objective this time is not likely to gain accurate answers as whatever they say will be premeditated and calculated.

The Nation Channel headlined a news report ‘Red Shirts in Lampang throw stones at a villager’s house’, while the news was actually about an incident where red shirts surrounded a villager’s house after being stoned by the villager.

On 27 Oct, Prawase Praphanukul, lawyer for Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, filed an appeal at the Criminal Court, which in late August had sentenced her to 18 years in jail for lèse majesté.

In a Thai Post interview published on 20 Sept, Kasian Techaphira of Thammasat University’s Political Science Faculty talks about the drastic changes in Thai politics over the last few years since the coup on 19 Sept 2006.  With the unprecedented phenomenon of two large mass movements rallying on the streets, he argues that these people need to be brought into formal politics as mass political parties, but this is not allowed under the existing political system; so a new political reform is needed to accommodate them.  However, the elite, frightened of mass movements and of the red shirts in particular, are not ready for reform, he says.

On Aug 15, about 200 local people and red shirts in Lampang gathered at Ngao District Hospital to protest against a doctor who had refused to treat an old woman whose daughter wore a ‘Truth Today’ red shirt.

On Aug 6, a letter from a local educational office in Buriram ordering schools to collect the signatures of staff and students against the red shirts’ petition was posted on the Pantip webboard by a poster named Mati Khon.