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He was lonely, and yet warmed in his heart by the still massive support back home. He was not afraid, but claimed assassins were hunting him down. He warned the Democrat government against careless spending but in the same breath boasted that his populist policies were being copied, albeit imprudently.

Finally, he said he wanted justice, which sealed the fate of all talk about reconciliation on both sides.

Thaksin was simply repeating his key message to the world that he cannot get justice in his homeland, a claim that was met by a swift retort from his opponents: If you want justice, come back and face it here.

In other places, "justice" brings about equality and unity. In Thailand it's a divisive term to use and the thin line that exists between the word and its antonym is getting ever thinner. To Thaksin, "justice" means clearing himself of his crimes. To the other side, it means making him pay for them.

The two sides can never be reconciled unless they admit that the situation has got out of hand and that they are both responsible for it. Thaksin is partly right, for example, when it comes to the issue of the wealth he earned before entering politics. The blanket freezing of the money, however, followed his refusal to plead guilty to alleged crimes he committed while in office. What should have been a straightforward case of determining if he was a tax cheater or not has snowballed into something where it doesn't really matter either way.

The solution, therefore, lies in whether Thaksin can take it like a man and his opponents can treat him like a man. Endorsing his former wife's purchase of the Ratchadapisek land while he was in office was plain wrong, legally and ethically. Is he brave enough to come back and face the consequences?

On the other hand, the frozen assets worth Bt76 billion must be reviewed to pinpoint which parts were ill-gotten and which parts were not. Do his rivals have the courage to give the man back his "clean" money?

Supposing both sides are "man" enough, mistrust must have prevented them from taking the proper action. Thaksin will not come back because he thinks the "justice" awaiting him will spread far beyond the tax evasion and Ratchadapisek land issues. His enemies won't return any "clean" money because they think he now has the motive to do something nasty with it.

Reconciliation, to invoke Thaksin's proclaimed personal hero Nelson Mandela, requires a simple but most difficult step: If you want to be understood, first try to understand. Mandela served 27 years in prison, yet upon his release he launched a sincere reconciliation campaign and helped lead the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. After the end of apartheid, he became a legend to supporters and former opponents alike.

To be fair, Mandela had been in a "Thaksin mode" before, even leading a guerrilla war in his motherland. But his was a purely ideological struggle without the complications of offshore ghost companies or massive, untraceable money trails. And given the roles of powerful countries regarding both men - the UK for a long time played cordial host to Thaksin, whereas Mandela was arrested because the CIA reportedly tipped off South African police - the ousted Thai leader has it much easier.

It took Mandela decades to earn victory for his people, and that is apparently what inspired Thaksin's latest statement. The irony is that a Mandela-motivated Thaksin isn't being patient; he's simply walking away from reconciliation due to a lot of misguided beliefs. It's an illusional agenda that is far too big for Thaksin if he sincerely believes that he is seeking "justice" for the sake of Thai democracy and his rural supporters.

He can aim high but he has to shoot low. Democracy can wait, but if he's serious about wishing to see peace and harmony in Thailand once again, he must first think of himself as he really is: a man defending his reputation and assets against serious charges of corruption. No more, no less. And if his opponents manage to think of him that way, maybe we can really start talking reconciliation.