Got to work today and everybody was leaving because there’d been a bomb threat. Well, not everybody. Only the office workers were pouring out of the Nation Group compound when I arrived at 3pm. The journalists stuck around because, well, who wants to miss an explosion, right?

I have to rein in the wisecracking here, though, because four people are dead thanks to the nuts who’ve brought a bombing campaign to Bangkok.

A phone operator at The Nation got a call at 1.38pm from a guy who said the newspaper was too hard on ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, so he’d planted explosives at three spots in the building.

“My intention is to destroy properties of The Nation,” the paper quoted him as saying. “I don’t want to harm the staff. Therefore I suggest all staff be evacuated from the buildings as the explosives are set to explode within three hours. I decided to do this because the paper has preferred to report anti-Thaksin news reports which were usually one-sided.”

So there was a platoon of troops back at the newspaper again, although they kept their presence low-profile while the Bang Na police bomb squad poked around — in vain as it turned out.

There was a slew of bomb threats around the capital today, including a school in the suburb of Bang Na. This all comes after the eight bombs on New Year’s Eve at various points in the city, the closest to me being at the Seacon Square shopping centre. (The map is from 2Bangkok.com, the pix from The Nation and AFP.)

I’ll let the politicians get on with their finger-pointing and admit to being a little gloomy over the prospects of this mess getting resolved anytime soon, but Dorseyland would be a poorer place if the mystics didn’t get a hearing.

The Thai news media understandably humour the squad of usual-suspect fortune-tellers who annually issue a menu of forecasts for the coming year. I’ll keep the 2007 predictions on record and revisit them later to see how they did. Chatrarat Kaewmorakot reports …

Fortune tellers are unanimous in their predictions of more political chaos in 2007. Well-known seers Kitja Thaveekulkij and Kengkaj Jongjaipra foresee the leaders of the September coup spearheading another military takeover.

April and August would see Northeast provinces rise up unsuccessfully against the militarybacked government, Kengkaj claimed. Pot-stirring power-seekers will force the junta’s hand into another coup in order to smooth the political landscape for immediate elections.

Kitja tipped street protests against the junta and its government in February and March, prompting the reimposition of martial law. The promised late-2007 election will not go ahead, but there would be a poll sometime between February and April next year.

International Astrology president Pinyo Pongjareon said the many eclipses occurring in 2007 signalled political change in two periods – February to March and August to September.

He too foresees big political demonstrations between February 13 and March 30 that would end in riots quelled by massive military force. But he was optimistic about political peace after November 16. There will be a new constitution, elections and good government.

All three psychics warned of catastrophes. Earthquakes and water disasters would hit Thailand and the rest of the world. Kitja said Thailand would face drought early this year followed by the worst flooding for decades. “Major earthquakes will occur in the North or the South from the middle of the year until the end of the year,” he said.

Kengkaj tipped a major shaker for the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea around July to September that would affect India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Burma.
Then, in August, there will be earthquakes in the upper reaches of Thailand and China and Pakistan. At the end of the year more earthquakes would be felt in the United States, Chile, Panama and Venezuela.

The mediums were divided over the South. Pinyo said there would be no let-up in the insurgency in 2007 and believed the region would not enjoy peace until 2010.
But Kitja saw an easing in tensions but no end to violence. A “third hand” attempting to “discredit the government” could spark a flashpoint.