Good afternoon,

Army-appointed PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the PADemocrats, has admitted that his new cabinet, containing PAD spokesman Kasit Priomya disgracefully appointed foreign minister and others who have (according to what some people say) bought their seats with cash, has an ‘image problem.’ Of course, the reality is that it has a legitimacy problem. It is, alas, back to money politics and the scandal-ridden incompetence of the Chuan Leekphai years. Still, he might not make it to the end of the year if he reneges on his agreement with the Newin faction (presumably) to amend the junta’s constitution.

The PADemocrat-led coalition is due to announce some sort of policies within a few days: since the lazy quisling has failed to come up with any kind of coherent ideology in the years he has been in charge, it is impossible to guess what policies these will be (it is one important reason why they have lost every recent election so badly) – there is talk that the privileged one (actually his advisors) is going to steal Thai Rak Thai policies and announce ‘populist’ ideas – this actually means developing the local economy outside of Bangkok, paying particular attention to the rural poor. We will see if this is what is announced and, more importantly and less likely, whether the PADemocrats will actually follow through on what is proclaimed.

After Thailand beat Indonesia 2-1 (3-1 on aggregate) to go through to the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup, Vietnam won away in Singapore for a 1-0 overall victory. So it will be Thailand against Vietnam, which should be fun. The first leg will be on the 24^th here in Bangkok and the return will be in Hanoi on the 28^th.

Back tomorrow.

1-3, 1-3! Time to look up the number of the open top bus rental company. What can possibly go wrong now?