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The West's propaganda war on Thailand's next king

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:58 UTC
Maha Vajiralongkorn
Maha Vajiralongkorn
The first fatal mistake Western observers make when attempting to describe Thailand's monarchy is comparing it to European, or worse yet, Arabian institutions. It is neither.

With the passing of the universally revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the upcoming coronation of his successor, Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, Western observers are indulging deeply in this mistake once again - many doing so intentionally for politically-motivated reasons.

Thailand, a nation of nearly 70 million people, and a significant political, military, and economic power in Southeast Asia, remains the only nation in the region to avoid colonization by European powers. It managed this through the leadership of its monarchs and the unity they have historically fostered throughout Thai history.

For nations seeking to subjugate Thailand as a nation and Asia as a region, Thailand's monarchy poses a significant and formidable obstacle to their ambitions - and an obstacle they have worked for decades to eliminate through every means from propaganda to terrorism.

For nations wishing to create stronger ties with Thailand, understanding the importance of this institution, rather than attempting to judge the nation by Western standards, is key.

During this crucial transitional period, it is important for nations seeking closer relations with Thailand to avoid repeating the torrent of disinformation intentionally put out by the Western media as part of its calculated "pivot to Asia" in which it seeks to undermine regional strength and reassert Western domination by tearing down political leaders and institutions that stand in its way.

Comment: An example of Western coverage, from AFP, which provides some more details on the new king:
Unpredictable and untested: Thailand's new king

After spending much of his life outside the public eye, Thailand's next monarch Maha Vajiralongkorn has been catapulted into the limelight as future king of a politically fractured nation still grieving for his revered father. The 64-year-old inherits one of the world's richest monarchies, an opaque institution shielded by a notoriously tough royal defamation law.

Yet the untested heir has enormous shoes to fill following the October 13 death of his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who charmed a nation that came to see him as a compassionate and unflashy monarch. Bhumibol's popularity and moral authority helped him wield vast influence during his seven-decade reign, despite the few legal powers granted to the constitutional monarch. But he has left behind a deeply polarised country, trapped in a cycle of political protests, coups by an arch-royalist military and entrenched inequality.

Vajiralongkorn does not enjoy his father's level of popularity and has spent much of his life overseas, particularly in Germany. Rumours over his private life have also trailed him, gilded by three-high profile divorces and a recent police corruption scandal linked to the family of his previous wife. After his father's passing, he shocked many by requesting to delay his ascension to the throne.
...
Paul Chambers, a Thailand-based expert on the monarchy, said the Crown Prince's decision to delay his proclamation suggests he "is someone who thinks very carefully before making decisions". "He appears effective in realising that he must consolidate his power and balance different political sides, thus staying above the fray," he told AFP. He will also need to manage the various competing factions among Thailand's powerful generals, he added.

Yet frank discussion of the matter in Thailand remains impossible due to the kingdom's harsh lese majeste law, which punishes any perceived criticism of the monarchy with a 15 year prison sentence for each offence.
...
A fan of the outdoors, the lycra-clad crown prince led two tightly choreographed mass cycling events through Bangkok in 2015, with junta top brass in tow. But the events were tainted by a corruption scandal when a number of senior officials, including in the military and police, were charged with lese majeste for allegedly using their connections to the prince to profit from the events. Two of those people, including a fortune teller once close to the prince, died in military custody in the days after their arrest.

That murky episode came several months after the dramatic fall from grace of Vajiralongkorn's ex-wife, Princess Srirasmi. At least eight of the former princess's family members were imprisoned on lese majeste charges -- including her elderly parents -- after being accused of using their ties to the monarchy for personal gain. While she was not jailed, Srirasmi was swiftly stripped of her royal title and then divorced by the prince.


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Dollar

US corporations urge Trump to maintain Cuban ties


RT
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:33 UTC
Cuba United States flags
© Alexandre Meneghini / Reuters
US President-elect Donald Trump has shocked American corporations with a threat to end relations with Cuba after the thaw under Barack Obama. Corporate America is asking Trump to soften his stance. On Monday, three days after the death of Fidel Castro, Trump tweeted that "if Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the US as a whole, I will terminate [the] deal."

However, Trump did not promise to scrap the thaw in US-Cuban relations, and it could be regarded as a positive sign that as a businessman, the incoming president will not sever business ties profitable for American companies.

"He has said things that are frankly hopeful to folks on both sides of the debate," US Representative Mark Sanford told Reuters. Sanford was one of a handful of Republicans who accompanied President Obama on his March trip to Cuba.

Comment: Because Trump's 'threat' has nothing to do with anything other than the timing of Fidel Casto's death, it may very well be the all too common bravado we've seen from the president-elect. If he wants to develop respectable relations with other nations, he'll need to come to the realization that the U.S. really doesn't hold the position of boundless power he thinks it does. His own election should have shown him that.

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Map

Members of the European Parliament draw map of pro and anti-Russian countries in the EU

Georgi Gotev
EurActiv
Fri, 25 Nov 2016 15:27 UTC
propaganda pro russian map
Red is most anti-resolution, black is most pro-resolution.
A European Parliament vote on a resolution seen as extremely critical of Russia has allowed the painting of a very precise picture of which countries have the most pro- and anti- Russian MEPs. The Vote Watch website allows us to see exactly how each MEP voted and who the "rebels" are.

The Parliament passed on 23 November the very polarising "EU strategic communication to counteract anti-EU propaganda by third parties". The resolution, based on a draft by Anna Elżbieta Fotyga (PiS, Poland) doesn't focus exclusively on Russia (it also speaks of the propaganda by Islamic State), but it generally mobilised MEPs in two camps - those who supported the view that Russia pursues hybrid warfare aimed at destroying the EU, and those who thought such language can only be counterproductive.

The vote was passed with 304 votes "For", 179 "Against" and a very high number of abstentions - 208.
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Briefcase

Trump names antitrust expert to Justice transition team

Diane Bartz
Yahoo News
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:12 UTC
David Higbee
© NewslineDavid Higbee, new Trump team antitrust expert
A Republican antitrust veteran has been named on Monday to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team for the Justice Department, a choice that lawyers say signals a more hands-off approach to antitrust enforcement compared to Democratic President Barack Obama.

David Higbee, a partner at the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP, worked for President George W. Bush's administration from 2001 to 2005, spending the last year in the Antitrust Division. Since then he has advised clients on merger reviews, antitrust litigation and government investigations.

Higbee joins Joshua Wright, an economist and former commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, as the only two people on Trump's transition team with a background in antitrust.

Comment: Corporations beholden to government tend to bypass the legal system as "legitimized" crime. Trump has geared his team with 2 experts in antitrust issues. To what extent will Trump pursue corporate crime, given the caliber and approach of the team he has created?

The video, from markers 1:15-3:25, talks about the anti-trust corruption of Jeff Bezoz, the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon.com. Bezoz also owns the Washington Post which he uses as a tool for political power and to influence corporate tax policy favoritism - specifically in regard to Amazon.

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Eye 1

Soros behind Killary's lawyer in the Jill Stein voter recount

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
EliasSoros
© APDemocratic 'superlawyer' Marc Elias and financial tycoon George Soros
The lawyer representing Hillary Clinton's recount efforts recently led legal battles against state voting laws funded by George Soros. The Jill Stein election recount mystery continues to unravel. The truth is seeping through the many corrupt cracks, and the usual globalist, neo-liberal names are being brought out into the light.

Ever since Jill Stein announced her nonsensical push for a voter recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (in a curious play to support Hillary Clinton's never ending quest to rule America), many analysts wondered whether Stein was a Clinton proxy, or if she was acting under higher orders.

We may have our answer, and his name is George Soros.

Comment: Following the breadcrumb trail, Elias and Soros barely disguised their orchestrations in attempts to redefine methods and undermine principles that have been the bedrock of the American electoral system and benchmark of its democracy. The 'adjustments' aimed to produce benefits to a particular trajectory of policies and events by changing the election outcome for the Killary Clinton campaign. Jill Stein is but a means to an end.

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Bomb

Philippines: President Duterte's advance security team suffers bomb attack, Islamist terrorists suspected


RT
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 09:46 UTC
Chopper and injured
© ReutersSoldiers carry on a stretcher a wounded member of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's presidential security group who was airlifted at an army camp in Cagayan de Oro after being hit in a roadside bomb attack in Lanao del Sur, Philippines.
At least seven members of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's security team were injured in a roadside bombing by suspected Muslim militants. The attack comes ahead of Duterte's visit to an area of intense battles between Islamists and government troops.

An explosive device planted along the road detonated when the presidential convoy headed to Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur province on the island of Mindanao, the second-largest island of the Philippines. The convoy reportedly included seven members of the Presidential Security Group, two soldiers and Duterte's media team, according to media reports.

Comment: Free-speaking, often rude and brash, Duterte is a target. He doesn't fit Western prototype or conduct himself as a dutiful lackey. These various threatening incidents are a message to rein him in and bring him under control. Connection of this radical faction of Islamist IS to the long fingers of US control is more likely than not.

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Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Eva Bartlett: How the US/Saudi-backed proxy army targets 'every Syrian' in Aleppo

Eva Bartlett
Mint Press News
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:52 UTC
al-Qasr district of eastern Aleppo
© Eva BartlettOverlooking the terrorist-occupied Bustan al-Qasr district of eastern Aleppo. Nov. 4, 2016
'We were living in security and peace. These areas are being targeted, they want to force us to leave. Every Syrian is being targeted,' one Syrian religious leader told a delegation of reporters who visited Aleppo earlier this month.
In early November, Fares Shehabi, a member of the Syrian parliament from Aleppo, organized a trip to Aleppo for 13 Western journalists, including myself, with security provided by forces in the Syrian Arab Army.

While I had traveled to Aleppo independently as recently as July and August, for many others in the delegation, it was their first visit to the city or their first visit since the war on Syria began in 2011.

On previous visits to Aleppo, I met with the Aleppo Medical Association and saw a maternity hospital hit twice by rocket and mortar attacks by militants under Jaysh al-Fatah (the Army of Conquest), a loose alliance of anti-government terrorist groups. I met with members of a branch of the Syria Civil Defense and Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Just north of the city, I visited Nubl and Zahraa, towns besieged for more than three years by the Free Syrian Army, the Nusra Front, and other affiliated terrorist factions before the Syrian Arab Army drove them out in February of this year. I saw the liberated region of Bani Zaid and the al-Layramoun industrial district. I interacted with civilians in public parks, streets, and markets.

Ahead of my trip earlier this month, I was interested to see what might have changed following the liberation of still more areas by the SAA. I also hoped to speak with civilians who had fled the terrorist-held areas of Aleppo's eastern districts since I had last visited, during which time eight humanitarian corridors had been established for civilians and members of terrorist factions willing to relinquish their arms or to accept safe passage to areas in Idlib and government-secured parts of western Aleppo.

However, on Nov. 4, no one fled terrorist-held areas of Aleppo. Family members of civilians still there say their loved ones are being used as human shields by groups like the Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, or Nour al-Din al-Zenki — the so-called "moderate rebels" and "opposition forces" backed by the United States, NATO, Israel and Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
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Blue Planet

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: If Trump offers him Sec. of State, he'll take it

Neil W. McCabe
Breitbart
Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
DanaRohrabacher
© APCongressman Dana Rohrabacher
The southern Californian Republican congressman in consideration for Secretary of State told Breitbart News he shares the worldview of President-elect Donald J. Trump and he would gladly leave Congress to lead the Trump State Department.

"I am not such an egotist, where I feel like I have to be the number one guy, but I believe what I believe will be good for America - and I believe my beliefs are the closest to what Donald Trump believes in and the policies he's been advocating in his campaign," " said Rep. Dana T. Rohrabacher, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Committee's subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.

"If I would be offered this job, I would take it - not because I need to do it like so many people with an ego, such that they need to be secretary of state, but I do believe it would be my duty to jump into that and to take that job and that responsibility just for patriotic reasons," he said.

Comment: Rohrabacher is an honorable guy, one of the few level heads with insight involved with government. He could be a great asset to the Trump team. See also:

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Jet4

Touché: One year apart, Turkey downs Russian fighter jet; Syrian AF hits Turkish military convoy at al-Bab

Elijah J. Magnier
Elijah J M
Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
bear and 3 guys
© Latuff Cartoons - WordPress.comMaybe they should find a bigger rock.
The partition of Syria is no longer possible without confronting Russia

On the 24th of November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian Sokhoi Su-24 over the Turkish-Syrian border causing the death of one of the two parachuted pilots while trying to hit the ground. On the same day, a year later, a Syrian Air Force jet hits a Turkish military convoy two kilometres from the northern Syrian city of al-Bab, killing three Turkish soldiers. The Turkish aggressive move toward Russia had come after the destruction of hundreds of oil tankers used by the "Islamic State" (ISIS) to transport oil from Syria and Iraq to Turkey.

The Syrian Air Force (SyAF) activity is directly linked, coordinated and ordered by a common military operations room, headed by a Russian General, so as to avoid friendly fire or incidents. Russia coordinates most of the air traffic with the US-led coalition activities over Syria for the same purposes. The Russian command needs to assure the safeguard of its military naval and ground force with artillery and air protection since it is operating in various locations and cities over the Syrian geography. Therefore, every air strike, reconnaissance or drone sorties must be agreed and approved before anything takes off. Faisal al-Miqdad, the Syrian deputy Foreign Minister clearly said: "This event took place on Syrian land. Turkey should only blame itself".
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Arrow Up

Netherlands: Party for Freedom poll leader, populists gain momentum


RT
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 14:39 UTC
Wilders
© Laszlo Balogh / ReutersDutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders
The far-right Dutch anti-immigration Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders, would become the largest party in the parliament and beat the prime minister's ruling conservative liberals if elections were held today, according to a new poll data. The Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) would win 33 seats in the 150-seat lower chamber of the Dutch parliament if elections were held today, according to Maurice de Hond, the Netherlands' most reputed pollster.

In that case, Wilders would become the Netherlands' next prime minister as chairman of the biggest parliamentary party, according to the PJ Media news outlet. Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would finish second, securing 25 seats.

The far-right party has 15 seats in the current parliament, having gained about 10 percent of the vote at the 2012 general election. The next election will take place in March 2017, leaving many to believe Wilders will triumph amid growing frustration with the Netherlands' center-right coalition.

Comment: There certainly seems to be a tail wind behind public dissatisfaction with government establishment in several countries. Political desires are like pendulums; they have patterns and turning points. As trends rise or fall, depending on many intangible markers -- perceptions, influences, increasing awareness, observations -- it is incumbent to determine if the unrest and desire for change is genuinely intrinsic to the public's sense of balance and fair play or just part of the next level/phase of public manipulation by the PTB.

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