In 2010, Thaksin would deploy between 300-500 heavily armed militants who even according to Human Rights Watch murdered soldiers, police, and civilians. Despite HRW admitting this, it and the Western media still depicts the violence as a "government crackdown" to this day. Leading up to the protests, Thaksin's militants threatened judges deciding on a court case over the seizure of $1.4 billion of his assets. This included grenade attacks on court buildings.
There were also other senseless grenade and bomb attacks carried out throughout Bangkok as a crude attempt to coerce the government to meet Thaksin's demands in 2010.
In 2014 when protesters took to the street to oppose Thaksin Shinawatra's sister Yingluck Shinawtra his militants would once again return, carrying out gun and grenade attacks leaving up to 20 dead including women and children. Violence continued until the military intervened, ousting Yingluck, and taking over as an interim government.
In fact, only Thaksin Shinawatra and his political supporters have a verified record of carrying out violence and terrorism in and around Bangkok and for over a decade.
Southern Separatists?
Three of Thailand's southern-most provinces have faced a low-intensity insurgency since Thaksin took power in 2001 and violated a 20-year peace deal.
Claims that separatists in Thailand's deep south might have been responsible for the recent blasts are dubious at best. Separatists have never attacked Bangkok.
Additionally, as revealed by Thailand's HRW representative Sunai Phasuk in a Wikileaks cable Thaksin maintains, "strong organization and funding" for activities in the deep south and could organize violence in Bangkok meant to scapegoat separatists.
This would fit Washington's agenda as well as separatists also happen to be ethnic Malay and Muslim. Washington has worked diligently in other nations throughout Southeast Asia to fuel inter-religious tensions and divisions most notably in Myanmar where violence flaring up in Rakhaine state between Buddhists and Muslims just so happens to be threatening Chinese investments and infrastructure there which helps provide insight into possible motivations behind the recent blasts in Bangkok.
On a petty domestic political level, Thaksin and his supporters have run out of options and have repeatedly ridiculed PPRP's campaign promise to maintain peace and stability after winning elections. Of course, the only way the current PPRP-led government can fail to carry out its promise is if its opponents carry out violence and attempt to destabilize the country.
On a geopolitical level Thaksin and his political forces are the preferred proxies of Washington, London, and Brussels. Thaksin faithfully served their interests between 2001-2006 for everything form privatizing Thailand's natural resources to sending Thai troops to fight Washington's wars.
By destabilizing the current government, Washington hopes as it does in all other nations it is fostering destabilization and even violence in to create the conditions within which regime change may become possible or at the very least creation conditions suitable for coercing Bangkok into making concessions.
Among these concessions would be demands for Bangkok to distance itself from Beijing, Moscow and other US rivals whom Bangkok has been building steady ties with. China alone has helped Thailand update its aging US military equipment, including main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and even a submarine. Thailand has also bought several Russia military transport helicopters as well as hardware from Europe.
Bangkok is already building major infrastructure projects with China including a high-speed rail network that will connect Thai cities together, and Thailand to Laos and China.
This growing relationship significantly blunts US influence in both Thailand and the wider region.
Nothing "Absurd" About Implicating the US and its Proxies
The Western media and the US Embassy in Bangkok itself after being suspected in the past of being behind terrorism in Thailand attempt to portray the notion of the US carrying out or approving of deadly violence to achieve its political goals around the globe as "absurd."
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