Transcript of the above video: 

Yeah, it looks like Immigration is kind of in the news with regards to Mr. Thaksin and some of the political developments here in Thailand in the past couple of weeks. Most notably, so for those who are unaware, I have done videos on this already, now former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed from office at the behest of the Constitutional Court finding her call to Mr. Hun Sen over in Cambodia, to have been unethical and violative of various legal principles here in Thailand; she was removed from office. Subsequent to that, the Parliament convened and elected Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul as the new Prime Minister, he has subsequently been confirmed.

Now Mr. Thaksin is apparently scheduled for a Court appearance tomorrow as of the time of this video, on Tuesday September the 9th which there is some speculation as to whether or not he's going to show up and that speculation stems from this story from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thaksin says immigration delay forced him to head for Dubai. The whole thing is kind of odd. Quoting directly: "Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said early Friday morning via social media that an Immigration delay in Bangkok forced him to head for Dubai instead of Singapore on Thursday night. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, at 2.07am, Thaksin wrote that he earlier intended to visit Singapore for a checkup with a doctor who had treated him before. He complained that Immigration Police in Thailand delayed his flight for almost 2 hours although he already had the right to leave the country after a previous Court case." 

So yeah he left the country to apparently go to Singapore, then changed course and headed off to Dubai and cited the delay caused by apparently Immigration doing their due diligence in allowing him to leave, checking to make sure he had the ability to leave as he is currently under, there is an upcoming verdict to be ruled upon tomorrow regarding his stay in the hospital rather than the prison which we have discussed in other videos; it is being referred to as the so-called "14th floor saga." But I find it a little bit odd that he's blaming a delay at Immigration for why he had to then reroute from Singapore to Dubai. I don't see the connection there. That said, I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail. 

In follow up to that, again from the Bangkok Post, the article is titled: Warrant risk for court no-show. So the reason for the title of the video it's a play on; I did a video here recently where, I have got some issues with Mr. Thaksin, especially going back to 2010 where in my mind, he stoked certain animosities that occurred on the streets here in Bangkok that resulted frankly in the city just roiling in turmoil for quite a prolonged period of time, and he stoked those animosities while perched safely under the wing of Hun Sen over in Phnom Penh. For those who know the history there, that was what was going on. 

I did a video recently where I brought up the film Scent of a Woman where there's a line in there, and I am paraphrasing because I don't want to use blue language, but basically, "when the crap hits the fan, some guys run, and some guys stay." In the prior video I used the full line; I’m not going to do it again. But that has sort of been the M.O. frankly with Mr. Thaksin. It's like anything gets too hot around here, he runs off, it seems like. There are those who are saying, "oh he's going to show, but he himself apparently has said he's going to show back up for his Court date, but few believe this, let's put it that way. Many are skeptical, let's put it that way. 

That said, quoting from this other article in the Bangkok Post: "Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra could face an arrest warrant if he is absent from Tuesday's Court ruling on the "14th floor" case, warned former election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn on Sunday. Mr. Somchai said if Thaksin does not return to Thailand for the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions ruling on his hospital stay, the Court could issue an arrest warrant on grounds of attempted flight." I think that is kind of an interesting one where he has already flown out; we know he's gone. He has posted online about being gone. Now whether he comes back remains to be seen. My personal opinion as I expect he is probably going to be spending a great deal of time in Dubai in forthcoming months and possibly years. Again, it remains to be seen, not a foregone conclusion.

But interesting that there is an immigration tint to this whole issue insofar as he seems to be blaming a delay by Immigration Authorities for his reason for diverting to Dubai. Maybe. I don't know but it sounds a little bit spurious. That being said, we will be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.