In London, shamed and exiled Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra pauses briefly between international trips to choose a football [club] to buy. 
Let’s put his offer of 6,545,927,800 baht in perspective. That’s sufficient money to create 6,546 Thai millionaires, or 243 Australian millionaires. Mr Square-Face is a prime example of the extreme gap between Rich and Poor, the intended outcome of unfettered globalisation (or "Freedom"). In this light, Thaksin's vacuous promises from 2001 till 2006 to assist Thailand’s poor now ring even more hollow in the wake of his unbelievably high offer to MCFC. He has not only let down debt-ridden Thai farmers and AIDS sufferers in particular, but has betrayed all Thais by his sheer greed.For example, the Surayud government has been forced to break medical patents in order to afford assistance to its most-threatened (AIDS) patients. Its current AIDS budget is stretched at just over 2 billion baht per year, but for that amount it cannot provide both 1st line and 2nd line therapies to HIV & AIDS patients, so thousands are dying prematurely. Astonishingly - and get this stunning fact - the 2 billion baht Health budget represents only about ONE THIRD of Thaksin’s offer to the MC Football Club!! Morally bankrupt? We report. You decide.
You could also put it this way – Thailand’s total Health Budget represents about 3% of the money Thaksin pocketed from the Shincorp sale to Singapore. Plus his family was hugely wealthy even before the sale. Rest assured that if MCFC were to bellyflop, Thaksin's finances would barely recieve a dent. For instance, he lost more than a million pounds when his briefcase was stolen from McDonalds in Moscow, but didn't bat an eyelid. (...which raises two questions: 1. What was T doing in Moscow? ...and 2. Is he an un-Thai corporate whore for endorsing McDonalds all the time?)
Could Thaksin assist Thailand? Yes he could... but won’t. His puny education scholarships are peanuts in the bigger picture, and principally serve his own political interests by keeping his name in the media spotlight as people squabble over crumbs. The Center for Global Development (an organ of the World Bank, unfortunately!) has estimated that Thailand needs to spend about SEVEN times more than its current health budget if it wants to provide comprehensive care to its AIDS patients. OK, take a letter: “Dear Mr Thaksin…We were wondering if...”
Beware of anyone offering money which may yet be proven illegally obtained. Be it legal or illegal, once it is spent on the MC Football Club, Thailand will never see it again. That’s why he’s in such a hurry to seal the deal. Thaksin's family may reap riches but he is likely to go to jail. This should set alarm bells ringing at the Football Club's board meetings because it contradicts their own club constitution.
Warning: Thaksin's very likely to do the same to MC Football Club as he’s done with his other businesses via his dummy company 'Ample Rich' in the tax-haven of the Virgin Islands. He doesn’t care a hoot that Thais are bleeding. For instance, he ordered more than 2500 Thais be summarily executed in the streets without trial during his so-called ‘War on Drugs’. In other countries, that's called 'genocide'. I refer you to Mr Milosevic.
A Manchester city executive prepares to seal the big deal. The Bank of Thailand will probably regret giving Thaksin the green light to take the money out of Thailand on the grounds that "it will benefit sport in Thailand". Rot. Are they completely naive? Could poor people from Isaan afford the time or money for a trip to Bangkok, plus high ticket prices for a football game? Slipping a few token Thai players into the team won't do much to pay off rural debts accross the country either ...but it would assist his own bank balance.
Square pig into a round goal? ..If Thaksin takes over MC Football Club, he has promised to spend 50 million pounds (3,272,963,900 or 3.2 billion baht) on new ‘big name’ player contracts. That’s spare change (ngen sot) which could have spared a lot of Thai people’s misery.
Manchester City players: “Oh shit NO! Thaksin’s not going to be the new boss...is he?..Tell me it's not true!"
Likewise, this was my reaction when I first heard that Whacko-Tacko was thinking of purchasing a football club. Somewhere between a gagging laugh and a nightmare scream.
Thaksin's newly-appointed coach fails to fool the team at training.
This white elephant was spotted on the M4 Motorway in England. It has led to speculation that Thaksin may be planning a triumphal entry into the stadium, complete with Thai cheerleaders in mini-skirts, just before the first match.
Until the takeover happens, Thaksin and his blood-sucking cronies have been sneaking into Chiangmai to have free games of golf. Note that none of them is wearing a helmet: Woo-hoo, 200 baht tea-money for the local cops.
If Thaksin had adjusted his moral vision, he could have been a great force for good. However, Thailand’s poor are beginning to realise, as we predicted, that this was never going to happen.
Manchester City hasn’t covered itself in football glory for some 40 years or so. The light-blues currently languish at 14th place on the English Premiership table.
Thaksin can afford the sharpest legal advice on the block.
Thaksin’s personalized mobile network for listening in on the Surayud cabinet meetings. He probably still gets complimentary bandwidth via Singapore, Shincorp’s new owners.
Read about the football-mad parrot in London which screams at the mere mention of "Manchester United". Don't mention this to Thaksin - he may get ideas about the elephant...
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