Tag: european

February 2, 2014  ( ATN ) – In Thomas Fuller’s New York Times piece titled, " Gun Battle in Bangkok Escalates Election Protest ," he claims:  At least six people were injured Saturday in a prolonged daylight gun battle between protesters seeking to block the distribution of ballots in Bangkok and would-be voters demanding that protesters cease their attempts to obstruct national elections on Sunday.  After three months of a provocative campaign by protesters to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the clash on Saturday appeared to crystallize the power struggle that has been playing out on the streets of Bangkok.  Ignoring pleas by the United States and the European Union to respect the democratic process — and stoking the anger of many Thais eager to vote — the protesters have blocked the distribution of ballots in parts of Bangkok and southern Thailand, a stronghold of the opposition. Fuller would go on to repeat many  other tired distortions and intentional omissions  regarding the ongoing Thai political crisis, never mentioning the 3 main facts that have truly led to it. 1.Both the Regime and Elections are Illegitimate : Featuring only one main party with opposition parties boycotting it, and carried out under an  open campaign of terror  aimed at regime opponents as well  as under a "state of emergency " granting the regime authoritarian powers in and around the capital of Bangkok – the elections could not be any further from "the democracy process" even if they were unfolding in  Saddam’s Iraq , or  Kim Jong Ill’s North Korea .  The fact that Thaksin Shinawatra, an accused mass murderer, a convicted criminal, and a fugitive hiding abroad, is openly running the current ruling party ( according to Fuller himself ) ram-rodding through these elections alone makes both them and the regime itself illegal and illegitimate.