The article is written by Duncan McCargo, a well-known expert on Thailand:

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Bangkok+battles+rehearsal+civil/3050637/story.html

Here are some of the key points he makes:

“This has been portrayed as a struggle between poor farmers from the countryside and an undemocratic Bangkok elite. Yet despite the sympathetic coverage for the Redshirts in much of the international media, this is not a classic “pro-democracy” struggle between good guys and bad guys. It is a savage and dispiriting civil conflict, from which nobody emerges with much credit.”

“At the election in December 2007, the ruling Democrat Party took 39.63 per cent of the party list vote – almost exactly the same as the 39.6 per cent of the People’s Power Party, from which the Redshirts are largely drawn. Neither side has had a monopoly on popular support; both have some valid arguments and positions; and neither has been playing by the rules.”

“The central problem is that Thailand is torn between two rival camps, each led and directed by rich and powerful factions. Though ostensibly divided by ideological differences, the anti-government Redshirts and the pro-government Yellowshirts are best characterized as competing patronage networks, bound together primarily by personal loyalties and emotional attachments. Supporters on both sides have been mobilized by intermediaries playing on local and family ties.”

(BD: It’s all capital letters in the News Feed I’m afraid.)