Thailand’s soothsayers, like most of its political analysts, reckon Sunday’s general election will do little or nothing in the short term to resolve the country’s deep divisions.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Eton- and Oxford-educated chief of a Democrat Party expected to emerge second to the People Power Party backing ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, should become prime minister at the head of a coalition, they said.
But it was not expected to last or go unchallenged.
‘The country will be in chaos as People Power fans don’t want to give up and the economy will escalate from bad to worse,’ said Kitja Thaveekulkij, who predicted Thaksin’s ouster in 2006 five months beforehand.
‘Abhisit will be prime minister for one-and-a-half years at most. After that the Democrats will have to shut their party for renovation awaiting a new leader to emerge,’ Kitja told Reuters.
That prediction was much in line with the views of political analysts who believe the leaders of the September 2006 coup against Thaksin and the royalist establishment are determined not to let his followers back into power.
The alignment of the stars would ensure abrasive and outspoken PPP chief Samak Sundaravej did not get into the prime minister’s office and start orchestrating Thaksin’s return from exile, Kitja said.
A Samak government would also seek to lift corruption charges against Thaksin, which the former leader denies, and unfreeze at least $1.5 billion in his Thai bank accounts. Astrologer Pinyo Pongcharoen predicted the next coalition government would comprise up to six parties with support from the army, again reflecting political analyst expectations of a weak, unwieldy coalition.
‘Mars, which represents the military, will come to strengthen the full moon on the post-election day, empowering six planets in orbit, meaning a coalition of five to six parties,’ Pinyo said.
Analysts and opinion polls expect the Democrats to emerge with up to 120 seats in the 480-seat parliament, well behind the 200 or so the PPP is expected to win in an election under a new constitution designed to prevent the return of single party rule.
The astrologers in a country that has had 18 coups in 75 years of constitutional monarchy believe Thailand will never rid itself of military intervention as the country was born under the martial sign of Mars.
‘Old soldiers never die. They won’t fade away from Thai politics, either,’ Kitja said. [via Khaleej Times]
Sierra Tangos
- I was on Walking Street last night in a couple for a change and it gave me an idea of what I want for Christmas. It's a tattoo. More specifically a tattoo on my forehead that reads in Thai, "I'll feckin' tell you if I want a photograph". One guy tried to get his Polaroid up my nose three times. What, do we all look the same to them or something. Between the photographers and the flower sellers it made being down there coupled up a total pain in the rear. It's far less hassle when it's blokes only.
- Pattaya Beach Road is to be closed to traffic on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, returning to normal on Monday each week in an experiment ordered by the governor of Chonburi to try and resolve the traffic problem and make the bea
ch a more attractive area for pedestrians. The new measures, which will start on January 1, will see Second Road opened to two-way traffic when Beach Road is closed. Large tour buses will also be prohibited from dropping off their passengers along Beach Road at this time.
Governor Pracha Taerat announced the new plans at Pattaya City Hall on December 6, saying that the activities of the city’s 700 baht buses and the tendency of the vehicle rental firms to hire out cars and motorcycles to large numbers of inexperienced and unskilled drivers was making the Beach Road traffic intolerable. He said that Chonburi Land Traffic Department had been assigned to devise a solution to the problem, and that initially this would be a pilot scheme with a survey being conducted to see if it is viable as a permanent solution. [via Mangozeen]
Ed. This will just transfer the problem to Second Road. It also means that all sois between Beach Road and Second Road will be 2 way. Can't see it working.
- UK Airport Strikes - Thousands of workers at seven of Britain's busiest airports have voted to strike in a dispute over pensions, their union said on Friday. The Unite union said its members will walk out next month in protest at the closure to new employees of the final salary-linked pension scheme of airport operator BAA.
Unite's National Aviation Secretary Brendan Gold said the strike could close all seven airports. "There will be huge disruption," he told a news conference. Union member will stage three strikes: two 24-hour walkouts starting at 6 a.m. on January 7 and January 14 and a further 48-hour strike from 6 a.m. on January 17. The union's members include fire crews, maintenance workers, clerical staff and security staff.
The strike will affect Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports. [via Reuters]
- Billion Dollar Jurassic Park comes alive in Dubai - You can bet on Dubai to have a bottomless b
udget when it comes to creating out-of-the-world attractions to lure affluent tourists. If you sat biting your nails on the edge of your seat while watching the famous movie ‘Jurassic Park,’ then wait till you get to real Jurassic Park that will come alive in Dubai soon. The first-of-its-kind dinosaur park set in the new City of Arabia promises to take you back into the primitive world and give you some thrilling moments of interacting with dinosaurs. The Million dollar park called the ‘Restless Planet’ spanning over 5,00,000 square foot will feature over 100 animatronic dinosaurs of forty different species. The theme park will recreate a virtual earth complete with mountains and oceans using computer graphics and special effects to give the realistic feel. The dinosaurs will come alive thanks to the pneumatic systems and sensors that are incorporated in them. They are programmed to interact with the visitors to give them a memorable experience. Scheduled to open in the late 2008, the park is sure to increase the in-flow of dollars to the already cash-rich Dubai. [via BornRich]
- CyberNet 2007 Best Small Program Award - Pitaschio has quickly become one of my favourite programs, and what makes it a real gem is the fact that it consumes nearly no room on your hard drive (the download is a mere 60KB). With Pitaschio you’ll be able to customize several different aspects of Windows that you probably never thought was possible. One of my favourite things that it can be used for is letting windows snap to each other, thereby making organizing applications on your screen a breeze.
- Search All Popular Social Websites with KeoTag - Keotag is a convenient way to search for stuff (not j
ust tags) across all popular blog search engines and social websites including Twitter, Digg, delicious, Flickr, YouTube, etc.
You type a search term (or tag) and click the corresponding search engine icon where you want to perform that search. Keotag is AJAX based and so you can switch search engines without having to reload the page each time.
No options to sort or refine search results but still quite useful especially when ego-surfing. [via Digital Inspiration]
- Carmen is credited with having the best rack on the Internet
- The 10 Best Horror Movie Topless Scenes
- Rhona Mitra in Hollow Man
- Julia Anderson in Masters Of Horror
- Anna Falchi in Cemetary Man
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- Sissy Spacek in Carrie
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- Drew Barrymore in Doppelganger
- Stacy Haiduk in Luther The Geek
- Jenna Jameson in The Evil Breed
- Alyssa Milano in Embrace Of The Vampire
Clips of key scenes brought to you by Unibrow
- A fire erupted near Dick Cheney’s office in the Executive Building on the White House grounds. The cause was accidental. A curtain got too close to a CIA interrogation tape. [via Alan Ray]
- Fidel Castro indicates he's ready to step down from power in Cuba. He's suffering from gastro-intestinal problems. President Bush is going to throw a fit when it dawns on him that all it takes to overthrow a brutal dictator is Mexican food. [ via Argus Hamilton]
- The fertility rate among Americans has climbed to its highest level since 1971... thanks mostly Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears. [via Jake Novak]
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