Why is Thaksin interrogating Sivarak in the Khmer prison?

What's Thaksin Shinawtra doing in a Cambodian jail?

Questioning Sivarak Chotipong, the suspected "spy," to find out who was behind it all?

But interrogating a released "spy" wasn't supposed to be part of the deal. Besides, Sivarak had insisted all along that he had not stolen any confidential document that could have affected Thaksin's personal safety. In fact, he had said that news about Thaksin's plane's landing in Phnom Pennh had already been reported by Khmer media at least 20 minutes before the first secretary of the Thai Embassy there had called him.

So, the inevitable impression of Thaksin's appearance in the Cambodian prison yesterday was that he wanted to be physically there to confirm that Sivarak's release was due to his own "heroic" action -- and to squeeze any information at all from the alleged spy to feed his Pheau Thai Party to grill the Abhisit government in a no-confidence debate.

After all is said and done, it's all part of a well-scripted episode from the very beginning.

Abhisit-Hun Sen in Vientiane: So near yet so far

Take a close look: PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and Cambodian Premier Hun Sen are seen here at the opening ceremony of the 25th Sea Games in Vientiane last evening, separated only by six prominent personalities.

Reporters at the scene say the two weren't trying to talk to each other. In Vientiane this week, sports are supposed to unite the two. But in Phnom Penh today, tension promises to rise as the Thai government and opposition Pheau Thai compete to help Thai engineer Sivarak Chotipong get an amnesty from the Cambodian government.

Hun Sen will decide which Thai party gets the credit. Strange but true.

They are only "look-alikes?"

He says the guy in the picture with Thaksin Shinawatra isn't him. It's only his
"look-alike."

But the army says a disciplinary action committee will be set up to probe what Maj Gen Khattiya Sawatdiphol, an Army specialist, was doing in Cambodia when Thaksin was there recently -- and what his "look-alike" was doing in Dubai, also with Thaksin.

If push comes to shove, who knows, Khattiya, better known as "Sen Daeng," may even say the other guy in the picture wasn't Thaksin. It's only his "look-alike."

Thaksin Beef Noodle...

"Where's the beef?" Pavin Chachavalpongpun asks in his column today in the Bangkok Post.

This is a new restaurant recently opened in Singapore, proof that "the Thaksin fever has not faded away," he says.

Pavin said he tried to locate the owner but to no avail.

"His name has not only been used as a rallying point for the red-shirt protestors, but as a marketing strategy for businesses overseas that seek to build themselves on beguiling names like Thaksin..."

Pavin added: "But the name Thaksin is also increasingly troublesome..."

Read his column here....http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/28711/where-the-beef-in-a-name-plenty

Newin quitting politics? He must be kidding...

He is the de facto leader of Bhumjaithai Party, a crucial faction in the Abhisit coalition government. He pulls strings from behind. He makes most of the important decisions for his party. And now, he says it's time for him to quit politics.

Of course, you have to take it with a grain of salt -- and you have to read very carefully between the lines. Newin Chidchob said he would not accept a political post when his five-year ban from politics ends in 2012.

He was quoted as saying: "I will neither enter politics to contest the next general election nor accept any political executive or ministerial position."

But then Newin also added that he would back anyone who he thought was suitable to become premier.

Backing someone to become prime minister isn't playing politics, right?

But haven't we heard that it's always his ambition to become prime minister one day?

Newin told reporters he wasn't suitable for that post, at least for now.

"If you don't know yourself first, how can you know others?" he said.

Prasong: Thaksin won't stop at overthrowing Abhisit...

Prasong Soonsiri, an arch-rival of Thaksin Shinawatra, minces no words when it comes to unravelling what he thinks what the ex-premier is up to.

He says Thaksin currently employs a "three-level" strategy to not only overthrow the Abhisit government "but he has a higher objective than that."

Prasong, former foreign minister,among other titles, says the lowest level of Thaksin's operation is the red-shirts working at the local areas, both in Bangkok and the provinces. The second level includes MPs in the House and the highest level is Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and his former class-mates, who have recently retired from active duties in the armed forces.

Prasong says Thaksin plans to create choas in various areas so that he can return as a victor.

Thaksin, of course, has been saying that he only wants peace and reconciliation.

Time will tell. And it won't be too long.

Chavalit and his 10-point condition to Thaksin

Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has declared that his only mission left in life would be to bring back Thaksin Shinawatra.

"I will try to bring Thaksin back to Thailand...let him get the punishment...and then perhaps a pardon or whatever...I intend to resolve all the problems within one year...and that's it. Then, I will leave," he told Matichon in the latest interview.

He was asked whether he would like to be prime minister again.

(Laughter) "Enough...No more...This time I return to work for the nation. Once it's done, I would be gone...Before I joined Pheau Thai Party, I wrote a letter to Thaksin with 10 conditions...and one of them is that I will not accept any position..."