Thailand instability continues  

Off topic (Thailand has no significant fossil fuel resources) but I thought this report in the Sydney Morning Herald was interesting - Thai police release image of alleged grenade-thrower. For those who haven't been following Thai politics, the current government is a populist movement with it's support base amongst the rural poor (confusingly led by Thailand's richest man who is currently in exile in Dubai).

The opposition is a strange coalition of monarchists, supporters of military rule and the urban middle class which has been doing it's best to destabilise the government, likely with the aim of provoking a military coup (one Bangkok based friend of mine says the middle class are basically cutting their own throats by supporting this, as they are hoping for an economically liberal government but will end up with an authoritarian military one).

Two explosions about two minutes apart shook a protest site near Victory Monument in central Bangkok on Sunday afternoon, the second daylight attack using grenades in 48 hours. Police said footage shows the man tried to throw one grenade into a tent behind a rally stage but missed and the grenade hit the roof of a coffee shop and exploded. He threw another grenade and fired shots at protesters who started to chase him before flagging down a motor cycle taxi, police say.

The attack comes as tensions soar in the city of 12 million people after a week of almost daily shooting attacks on protest sites and small explosives hurled at the homes of protest supporters. The footage has been released amid angry accusations over who was responsible for a blast on Friday in the middle of a protest parade that left one protester dead and 35 wounded. Police said for that blast they are seeking two men, one believed to be aide of a former opposition Democrat party MP who were seen in a video clip of the explosion.

The Democrats support the protest movement trying to topple government of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, raising suspicion is was a staged attack designed to blame her supporters.