BREAKING—King Vajiralongkorn, Queen Nui, Noble Consort Koi and their entourage have finally taken off from Zurich Airport, several hours behind schedule (as usual) for a three-week visit to Bangkok.
You can read my analysis here: facebook.com/zenjournalist/
Andrew MacGregor Marshall@zenjournalist
The bankrupt national airline Thai Airways was ordered to send Vajiralongorn's favourite plane, a Boeing 777 with registration HS-TKY, to Europe to pick up the king. It landed in Zurich earlier today and is due to depart soon to return to Suvarnabhumi. 2/18
Palace sources say that according to his current plans, Vajiralongkorn will fly back to Zurich on November 1, but he's due to return to Bangkok again on November 5.
It's not clear why he is heading back to Europe for such a short time in early November. 3/18
It may be for superstitious reasons — the king frequently makes decisions on the basis of advice from royal astrologers and others who claim supernatural insight.
This is the first time since late 2019 that the king has spent more than 24 hours in Thailand. 4/18
October is peak season for kathin ceremonies — when Thailand's richest people give vast amounts of money to the already immensely wealthy monarchy — so it's important for Vajiralongkorn to spend time in Thailand this month. 5/18
Vajiralongkorn's visit in October 2019 descended into scandal and disaster as a furious battle erupted between his official consort Koi and his fourth wife Nui. The king's eldest daughter Princess “Ong Pa” Bajrakitiyabha took Nui's side against Koi. 6/18
The battle among Vajiralongkorn's concubines and family became so serious that the royal barge procession had to be postponed for two months. fr.reuters.com/article/us-tha 7/18
Wissanu Krea-ngam — whose job is basically just to tell elaborate lies to hide inconvenient truths — infamously claimed that the barge procession had to be postponed for "tidal reasons". ut in fact, the reason was savage infighting in the palace, due to the king's polygamy. 8/18
Vajiralongkorn's visit this month has also got off to a very bad start. In an extraordinary humiliation for the Thai monarchy, Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas said it was not acceptable for Vajiralongkorn to make political decisions about Thailand from German soil. 9/18
The comments signalled that the German government has lost its patience with Vajiralongkorn, who has been living in Bavaria for 13 years. 10/18
Yesterday the Thai army was also humiliated when Twitter announced it had banned 926 accounts created by the military for IO purposes to promote the army and attack progressive politicians. blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/c 11/18
Meanwhile, protests demanding reform of the monarchy are gathering momentum. The next protest, on October 14, looks likely to involve a direct confrontation with the king. 12/18
Protesters have announced plans to "occupy" the iconic Democracy Monument on October 14, the 47th anniversary of a student uprising in 1973 that forced the country's military dictators to flee the country and ushered in a brief period of democracy. 13/18
Vajiralongkorn is due to be at the Grand Palace at 5pm on October 14 for a ceremony to recognise Buddhist monks who have passed their exams. The king always tends to be several hours late for his duties, so will probably head for the Grand Palace some time in the evening 14/18
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It's more likely that he will take an alternative route, or cancel his ceremony at the Grand Palace, but this would show he is afraid of the protesters. Or will he order Thai police and soldiers to clear the protesters from the area so that his convoy can pass? 17/18
Will the regime use this as a pretext for another violent crackdown?
It will be a very tense day in Bangkok and I hope everybody stays safe. 18/18
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