The Argument, in Complete Form

As promised, I’ve compiled the twenty major posts on the blog that went up between August 5 and August 18 into a single word document, linked below. Together these posts are intended to present both a thorough overview of the key moral and political issues surrounding Thaksin’s takeover at Manchester City. In the process, I [...]

Inside Story on City Takeover; An “Egalitarian” Take on Thaksin

Couple of interesting reads that are the product of City supporters, or perhaps erstwhile City supporters.  First, David Conn at the Guardian has delivered an informative story on the role of agent Jerome Anderson in Thaksin’s takeover, along with some quotes about the PR benefits the former prime minister is reaping around the world.
Second, Manchester [...]

BBC Profile of Thaksin

With the passage of the constitutional referendum in Thailand Sunday as well as Manchester City’s big win over Manchester United, there has been plenty of interesting writing and commentary about Thaksin, his political future, and how his owning a football club fits in over the last few days. Later in the week, we’ll attempt a [...]

City 1, United 0

A deflected strike from Geovanni and a resolute defensive performance anchored by the sensational Micah Richards were enough to hand a famous victory to the blues in the Manchester derby on Sunday. It’s now 9 points from 9 for City, who find themselves some seven points clear of the defending champions.
It’ll be interesting to see [...]

A Final Word…

In the preceding two weeks, we’ve presented an overview of the controversy surrounding Thaksin Shinawatra’s takeover at Manchester City, as well as an argument about what it all means. On Monday we’ll provide a guide to the main posts for anyone new to the blog wanting to walk through the argument and analysis step by [...]

Superbia in Proelio? The Dilemma of Supporting City in the Thaksin Era

Suppose then one accepts the general argument offered in the previous post, that one can support a football team whose owner is likely to have done bad things, without thinking one’s self complicit in moral wrongdoing.
There remains one further question: would one want to support a team with an owner one views in such [...]

Manchester City and the Moral Conscience

Now we come to the key question for City supporters disturbed by Thaksin’s takeover of the club. Can one continue to support Manchester City under Thaksin’s ownership in good conscience, while at the same time believing (if one chooses to) that the new owner is probably culpable for, or at least complicit, in significant human [...]

Manchester City Supporters’ Reaction to Thaksin: Four (and a half) Views

Over the course of the protracted takeover saga this summer at Manchester City, City fans’ emotions and reactions ran the gamut from frustration to jubilation. Lots of discussion, much of it interesting and critical, about the merits of Thaksin’s takeover at City took place on fan message boards, including discussions of the political and moral [...]

Moral Responsibility and the War on Drugs

The Nation ran an interesting editorial earlier this week comment on the military government’s decision to launch an investigation into the 2003 war on drugs and the widely reported extra-judicial killings.
What’s interesting about it is it lays moral responsibility at the feet not just of Thaksin or the police, but also at the feet of [...]

Is Thaksin’s Takeover at City a Good Thing? An Argument and an Analogy

In the preceding series of posts—going all the way back to the start of the blog—we’ve discussed a fairly extensive set of criticisms of Thaksin’s regime in Thailand (and a few positive things as well).
While the single most damning charge is that of Thaksin’s role in orchestrating and then justifying a recklessly ruthless crackdown on [...]