#BangkokShutdown Regime of Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, are far from champions of the rural poor. They have been backed by Wall Street and London for nearly a decade, and brother Thaksin even before first taking office in 2001. Thaksin had been prime minister from 2001-2006. Long before Thaksin Shinwatra would become prime minister in Thailand, he was already working his way up the Wall Street-London ladder of opportunity, while simultaneously working his way up in Thai politics. He was appointed by the Carlyle Group as an adviser while holding public office, and attempted to use his connections to boost his political image. Thanong Khanthong of Thailands English newspaper the Nation, wrote in 2001: In April 1998, while Thailand was still mired in a deep economic morass, Thaksin tried to use his American connections to boost his political image just as he was forming his Thai Rak Thai Party. He invited Bush senior to visit Bangkok and his home, saying his own mission was to act as a national matchmaker between the US equity fund and Thai businesses. In March, he also played host to James Baker III, the US secretary of state in the senior Bush administration, on his sojourn in Thailand. Upon becoming prime minister in 2001, Thaksin would begin paying back the support he received from his Western sponsors. In 2003, he would commit Thai troops to the US invasion of Iraq, despite widespread protests from both the Thai military and the public. Thaksin would also allow the CIA to use Thailand for its abhorrent rendition program. In 2004, Thaksin attempted to ramrod through a US-Thailand Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) without parliamentary approval, backed by the US-ASEAN Business Council who just before last years 2011elections that saw Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatra brought into power, hosted the leaders of Thaksin’s red shirt United Front
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 14:20:23 +0000
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