BLAGAROON: Bombs in Bangkok

BOMBS IN BANGKOK:

Conflicting statements
by Government raises
doubts on responsibility:

The bombing outrage in Thailand’s Capital, Bangkok, last Monday, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than a hundred more including foreign tourists, has shocked the city’s residents as this is the worst atrocity in the recent history of the country, plagued by political instability and street violence for several years now. But, the bombing, which took place at the revered Erewan Buddhist shrine in the city does raise some questions as to who was actually responsible. Military and Police spokespeople were quick to allocate blame to the main Opposition as Thailand’s US-backed military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), moved quickly to exploit the attack and tighten its grip on power and crack down on political opposition. The New York Times reported that within hours of Monday’s bombing senior military officials “ruled out any connection to the continuing Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand.”

Instead, without producing any evidence, current dictator and former General Prayuth Chan-Ocha implied that those responsible were linked to former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who was ousted in the military coup of May 2014. He told the media that police were investigating Facebook posts by two individuals warning people to “be careful” between 14 and 18 August. He claimed that one of the posters—whose names have not been released—“used to be in anti-government groups.” Another NCPO spokesman, Major General Sansern Kaewkamnerd, similarly told the Bangkok Post: “It’s too soon to jump to conclusions, but the likelihood is that the perpetrators are the same group which lost political benefits and want to create chaos in the country.” This is an obvious reference to the pro-Shinawatra United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, known as the Red Shirts. A major military and police mobilisation is underway. According to the Nation newspaper, national police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang announced that “police and soldiers would set up more checkpoints and step up precautionary checks and patrols in Bangkok to prevent a repeat of the blast.” More than 30 checkpoints were also established throughout the northeast region of Isan, including the city of Khon Kaen. The region is a base of support for Yingluck Shinawatra, and her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a previous army coup in 2006.

An article in the London Daily Telegraph raised the question: “Might elements within the military have staged a ‘red flag’ attack to demonstrate the country’s need for them to remain in power to "maintain stability", especially with a challenging royal succession in the offing?” Such provocations aimed at creating chaos to justify military rule are certainly not unknown. The immediate pretext for the 2014 coup was a string of grenade attacks and shootings targeting protest rallies led by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC)—an organisation with links to the military and the monarchy which openly supported the coup. While the attackers were never identified, armed soldiers were present in both the PDRC and rival Red Shirt rallies.

Whoever carried out the Bangkok bombing, its timing was politically convenient for the regime. On September 6 the National Reform Council is expected to pass a draconian constitution that will effectively enshrine military rule, even if elections are held. With a referendum on the constitution scheduled for January 2016, the bombing will be used to mobilise the armed forces and intimidate the working class and the urban and rural poor who mostly supported the Shinawatras because of their introduction of subsidies for rice farmers during their rule, subsidies which the Prayruth regime has abolished..Elections are currently scheduled for September 2016, but the junta has indicated that this could be pushed back to 2017 if the new constitution is rejected, or if there is political instability or unrest. Typical political manoeuvring by dictatorial regimes which promise early elections but then keep on postponing the date.

The NCPO has been clamping down on oppositional figures and activists since the Coup last February. It has already detained and imprisoned hundreds of people since the Coup, including academics, journalists, protesters and political figures linked to the Yingluck government. The regime has censored the media and this month passed a new law banning public gatherings without advance permission from the authorities. A report this month by the UN Human Rights Commissioner noted that since the coup at least 40 people have been tried in military courts and imprisoned for lèse majesté (insulting the monarchy). On August 7 a man and a woman were jailed for 30 and 28 years respectively for comments made on Facebook, setting a new precedent for lèse majesté sentences.

Elites create enemies in order to re-design society in their own tyrannical image. They do so by committing acts of terrorism against their own people, buildings and institutions then choosing a scapegoat. The only difference in the 21^st Century is that these “enemies” are more believable because they have been created and empowered by the Elite with all the propaganda resources of the modern state at their command including a compliant and bought-off media. These “false-flag” events have occurred throughout history; in 69AD Rome burned while hated Emperor Nero amused himself and his courtiers with playing the lute to accompany his own dubious songs. Nero used the fire to attack the Christians and began a merciless persecution. Two centuries later in 303 AD, Emperor Diocletian ordered his guards to set fire to his Palace in Nicomedia (present day Split, in Croatia) also blaming the Christians and starting a new persecution. How the Christians managed to avoid the permanent military garrison which resided in the Palace was never explained.

Diocletian's Palace, Split, Croatia.

[If this looks familiar, don't worry, it has been used as the set for filming the 4th & 5th
series of the popular TV series "Game of Thrones"]

In 1933, Hitler and the Nazi party arranged the burning of the German Parliament, The Reichstag. Adolf Hitler went to see President Paul Hindenburg and informed him that the fire was the result of a Communist plot. Hindenburg was convinced and signed the Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, known as the Reichstag Fire Decree. Hitler used the Reichstag Fire Decree to arrest thousands of Communists and to ban all Communist publications. The Communist Party was outlawed and not allowed to take part in the March 1933 elections (the Communist Party had gained 17% of the vote in the 1932 elections). Without Communist opposition the Nazi Party gained 44% of the vote in the March 1933 elections. The German National People's Party, who supported the Nazi Party gained 8% of the vote. This gave Hitler a majority in the Reichstag and we know what happened next.

The 2011 September attacks on New York were used as a pretext for the invasion of Afghanistan although the Official story claimed the perpetrators were all Saudi Arabian, an ally of the US. Recent polls show that over 66% of New Yorkers don't believe the Washington Governments official reports.

This correspondent has direct experience of such an event, in May 1974, in Dublin, Ireland, having stood beside a parked car in the street and even leaned a bicycle against it, which car exploded 20 minutes later killing a young girl of 18 years who was passing at the time and injuring scores of people in surrounding shops and offices which were smashed by the explosion. Minutes later a second car exploded in a busy city centre shopping street killing 30 people and injuring hundreds more. A third explosion occurred in a town close to the Northern Ireland border killing one person and again injuring many others. It has been revealed since that the attacks were organised by British Intelligence, MI5, in collaboration with so-called “Loyalist” militants in Belfast, MI5 supplying both the vehicles and the explosives for carrying out the atrocity. The British Government has consistently refused to release documents concerning this event which are still held in Britain’s secret intelligence archives thus, denying justice to the families of the murdered and injured people.