Stalemate at the 11th Infantry Regiment

I swear I should be a political analyst. This morning Abhisit said that he won't negotiate with the Red Shirts if they come to the 11th Infantry Regiment. Since the Red Shirts are already on their way (I can hear them honking their horns while I'm writing this) it seems that the situation will be at a stalemate again. What are the Red Shirts going to do? They can't take the military base. The military will impose martial law and that might lead to violence (who do you think will win- army or Red Shirts?). What a mess! One thing is for sure. No matter how many grenades explode in Bangkok, AUA (where I teach) will still be open for learning. So, off to work I go! At least I'll get some pictures on the way to work!

Red Shirts Push Back and Grenade Attacks Increasing Today

It appears that the Red Shirts are going to march again tomorrow. They threatened to "storm" the Government House today, but were somehow talked down by police authorities (the reports give a vague notion of what the agreement entailed). But apparently it was enough to make the Red Shirts return to Saphan Faa with the expectation that some sort of negotiation with the government will take place in the next 24 hours at the 11 Infantry Regiment in Bangkok. The taxi driver that dropped me off at my apartment tonight told me that they are expected to meet with Abhisit at 10:30 a.m. to "officially" discuss the possibility of dissolving parliament. I don't know if that is really expected to happen, but it seems unlikely given Abhisit's rhetoric concerning the Red Shirts and their movement.

I do, however, know that I keep hearing reports of grenades going off in different parts of Bangkok every few days it seems like. This doesn't really scare me, but it is very strange. Of course, on The Nation's website I saw reports of a grenade going off and injuring three people (including one soldier) on Viphawadi-Rangsit at around 7 p.m., while apparently another grenade injured two people at around 9:40 p.m. (???). Glancing at the Bangkok Post an hour later, I see that there were three separate attacks in Bangkok today! These kinds of mysterious attacks, which seem to have no suspects, appear to be occurring fairly frequently and no one knows where the hell they are coming from or exactly why the TV stations are being targeted. I suppose there are only three possible suspects: A) Red Shirts B) Yellow Shirts C) A "Third Party." Well, that really narrows it down, doesn't it?

At any rate, it was uplifting to see that after one of the bombings there was a drastic need for AB and O blood for a few of the victims. It appears that Twitter was used to post an announcement calling for these blood types to quickly donate to help these individuals. Soon thereafter, another announcement asking people to stop donating blood was given because there was such an overwhelming response to the first announcement. I guess modern technology and good old compassion can be used hand in hand for a greater good. No word yet on whether the victims will recover, but it's still a nice story.

We'll see what happens with the political debacle in the coming days. I don't really expect that much will change in the Red Shirts' favor, but who knows...