King of Thailand Reportedly Accused of Breaking Sister’s Ankles After She Questions Plan to Name Second Queen

The unpredictable King of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is suffering mass protests in Bankok, has now been accused of breaking his sister’s ankles.

The shocking allegation was reported by Andrew MacGregor Marshall, the former Reuters bureau chief in Bangkok, in his subscription-only newsletter, Secret Siam.

Marshall, who is free to quote his Thai sources without fear of the country’s vicious censorship laws since he left Asia, reports that the king is alleged to have attacked her after she was knock over by his dogs. Insiders claimed that he either jumped on her legs or beat her with a cane.

The assault was allegedly prompted by her confronting him over his plans to make his official consort a second queen, alongside his present wife, Queen Suthida.

The Thai nobility has recently been alive with rumors that King Maha X is set to elevate his official consort, Sineenat “Koi” Wongvajirapakdi, to the status of full queen.

The proposed scheme apparently went down badly with his sister, Princess Sirindhorn, who went to see her brother to try to change his mind about two weeks ago.

This appears to have been a bad idea; the palace recently announced that Sirindhorn had injured both of her ankles in a fall, and had been taken to hospital, but, MacGregor Marshall says, citing “well-placed sources” in “informed palace networks,” that this is less than half the story.

In fact, he alleges, “a furious row erupted” during the meeting and, “she was knocked over by one of Vajiralongkorn’s dogs, and while she was lying on the ground he either stamped on her ankles or struck them with a cane, shattering both of them.”

MacGregor Marshall says that Sirindhorn underwent operations on both ankles at Chulalongkorn Hospital and is unlikely to walk again for several months.

An announcement on Koi’s promotion to Thailand’s second queen is said to have been planned for Tuesday, her birthday. In what may be a precursor to an official announcement later, the pair made a public appearance wearing matching blue coats as they released fish and birds in a Buddhist ceremony at Wasukri pier in Bangkok. Contrary to a report in German newspaper Bild, an official announcement of her elevation has not yet been made.

If Koi is indeed promoted to the position of queen, it would mark a remarkable comeback for the 35-year old former nurse.

Koi was only released from detention in August last year after spending ten months at a correctional facility. She had been accused of feuding with the queen, but was then declared “untainted” and restored to her role as 68-year old King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s official consort.

Just as rumors of her release were circulating, over a thousand photos of her, including alleged nudes, were sent on SD cards to MacGregor Marshall, and to Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai academic and outspoken critic of the monarchy.

The king only married his current and fourth wife, Suthida, in May 2019, just days before his coronation. He divorced his third wife in 2014. The relationship was made famous by a leaked video showing her feeding birthday cake to his poodle, Fufu, while she wore only a G-string and courtiers crawled on the floor before her and the king.

Fufu featured in a previous embarrassing incident: Cables written by Eric John when he was U.S. ambassador to Bangkok, which were published by Wikileaks, detailed the king’s strange obsession with the dog. The diplomatic cables said he adored Fufu, and gave him the title air chief marshal. He is said to have brought the dog to an official dinner “dressed in formal evening attire complete with paw mitts” where he drank from guests’ water glasses.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/king-thailand-reportedly-accused-breaking-125304048.html

As Trump Seeks to Remain a Political Force, New Targets Emerge

Maggie Haberman and Reid J. Epstein

Former President Donald Trump, determined to remain a force in GOP politics, is gaining new opportunities with a crucial Senate seat unexpectedly coming open in Ohio, an ally announcing for governor of Arkansas, and rising pressure on Republicans in Congress who did not stand with him during this month’s impeachment vote.

The surprise announcement on Monday by Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio that he would not seek a third term sparked a political land rush, with top strategists in the state receiving a flood of phone calls from potential candidates testing their viability. One consultant said he had received calls from five would-be candidates by midday.

That opening, along with another statewide contest next year in which Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to face at least one Trump-aligned primary challenger, is likely to make Ohio a central battleground for control of the Republican Party, and an inviting one for Trump, who held on to Ohio in the election while losing three other northern battleground states.

Portman’s announcement came hours after Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former White House press secretary, began her campaign for Arkansas governor. The Republican primary there already includes the state’s lieutenant governor and attorney general, but private polling indicates that Sanders is beginning well ahead, and Trump endorsed her candidacy on Monday night.

Trump has only been out of the presidential office five days and has little in the way of political infrastructure. He has told aides he would like to take a break for several months.

But the former president has remained the party’s strongest fundraiser, with tens of millions in PAC money at his disposal, and he retains an enduring base of Republican support across the country. Perhaps most importantly, he harbors a deep-seated desire to punish those he believes have crossed him and reward those who remain loyal.

So far he has focused primarily on Georgia, where he believes the Republican governor and secretary of state betrayed him by certifying his loss there. Both are up for reelection in 2022. And he took something of a test run over the weekend by getting involved in the leadership fight in Arizona’s Republican Party, after Kelli Ward, the firebrand chairwoman, asked for his help in gaining reelection, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Already there is a movement at the state and local levels to challenge incumbent members of Congress seen as breaking with the former president, starting with the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach him earlier this month.

The overwhelming consensus among Ohio Republicans is that a Trump-aligned candidate would be best positioned to win a competitive Senate primary, and no potential candidate has a better claim to Trump’s voters in the state than Rep. Jim Jordan, who was Trump’s chief defender during his first impeachment trial and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the former president’s final days in office.

Lots more

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-seeks-remain-political-force-130822982.html