DeepInTheForest

In my view, this is an example of how simple human rights-- freedom of speech and freedom of assembly-- can be trampled into the dirt. The paranoia of China's ruling party is being exported to other countries now. The West is certainly not blameless in this regard, either. Ultimately these efforts will fail-- they are on the wrong side of history-- but in the meantime there will be many, many victims.

Please speak up and act for justice (which after all is the quickest path to peace) whenever possible.

If a wife wants to separate from her Thai husband she should hire security first, or just move away from the city. Not the first time this happened. RIP.

Great idea, How do you do this and feed children on 300baht a day.

Unfortunately she can't escape unless family members will support her. In other countries we have organizations that will help ,but I doubt such assistance exists in Thailand.

Although the domestic violence situation is dire, there is help available, if people can manage to access it.

Additional links:

http://www.mfa.go.th/humanrights/implementation-of-un-resolutions/68-thailands-policies-and-initiatives-on-prevention-of-violence-against-women-

http://www.violence.in.th/publicweb/ (This website is in Thai language only)

A short walk around the back streets of Chiang Mai will show you a number of broken pipes, leaking water down the streets. There must be a great many sois, broken pipes, wasted water in towns and cities around the country.

I don't think anyone cares, but to me, seeing water running to waste is anathema. If people don't know, they don't care, but they might be worried when things run out in the near future.

I can't agree with 'Ukrules'. This is not the UK, and living with limited or nil water is no fun. Rain water runs to waste, there is little guttering or tanks and while it might be full of atmospheric crud, it can be used for many things other than drinking.

Water is used and wasted as well in agricultural settings, and also in the generation of electricity in coal as well as nuclear plants, which many are not aware of. Advocates in developed countries are trying to raise the issue. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/energy-and-water-use/freshwater-use-by-us-power-plants.html#.VfD4GJfN2dg

And here's another one: Golf. The sport is an environmental disaster for tropical countries. Pesticides, fertilizers, the shanghai-ing of entire streams... makes no sense in a climate like Thailand's. Needless to say, the golf craze is far from abating in the LOS.

Read about it (beware, there's an annoying audio track that autoplays):

http://www.antigolf.org/english.htm

http://www.antigolf.org/english.html

When I read the headline I thought it meant they were 'going dry' which in plenty of places around the world means no alcohol will be on sale.

Drought I can live with...

We can say that now with a smile, but many have found out otherwise over the centuries.

True, we are among the world's winners, we may have money and options, but others do not.

Water use will be a crucible for human societies in the not-too-distant future.

blah blah efficient natural resource management blah blah reduction in effects of climate change blah blah long-range imaging blah blah highly advanced blah blah disaster planning blah blah pass on to the people to use in the way that is important and useful blah blah working with universities would help people who have little scientific knowledge will help them understand the information that has such an impact to their livelihoods blah blah blah blah blah.

What a crapload of bull this is. Another technology fix to fix the mess that technology created in the first place. We're supposed to be kowtowing to the great white fathers for their wonderful scientific knowledge about how to mitigate global warming, huh? Well, how about the US actually getting off its pompous duff and actually doing something to reduce bloody carbon emissions so that we wouldn't need the stupid satellites in the first place... ? But that might somehow slightly impinge on the bloated unsustainable profits of certain Leviathan corporate global warmers, so I'm not gonna hold my breath. How about SE Asian countries actually involving locals in water use planning so that the stupid dams aren't placed on the mainstem of the Mekong? Not holding my breath on that one, either. Hey, it's all about the money and who gets it, and EGAT getting their wild hairy projections for future electrical "needs" fulfilled. And also about NASA and USAID primping and pimping their all-important image so that we can understand how indispensable they are, when actually they wouldn't dare to raise a meek peep to challenge the world's pollution/financial capital machine if it were strangling them to death, which, as a matter of fact if you think for a second, it actually is, because all of us are living in a planet that is quickly degrading into a cesspit.

Major General Asia Regional Development Mission Director Administrator of Greater Data Scientific Information Dispersal mojo hoodoo indeed.

I call bs on all this pasty-faced pontificating bullbunk. And if you have any brains and gumption, my fellow world citizens, you should, too.

quote: Reconsideration of budget for importing White Shrimp parent breeding stock is needed, along with the enhancement of the disease control system.
The EMS epidermis situation has improved with a decline in number of EMS-infected shrimps, from 28 percent to 15 percent.

If you knew how shrimp are raised, you would never eat cultivated shrimp again. Massive amounts of chemicals, massive amounts of antibiotics to counter the neverending problems of disease, destruction of land (the salt along insures former farmland will never again be used as such). The entire industry is hugely problematic. As BigBadGeordie points out above, it's all about money, but as profit margins decrease, small landowners are often left with an infertile barren mess on their hands, and massive debts. "Enhancement of the disease control system" indeed.

[thread edited for the sake of brevity]

Last thirty years? Including the Bosnian genocide by the Serbs in that? The war crimes and atrocities committed in the Sri Lankan conflict? The Burmese states attempts to exterminate the Rohingya? The Oklahoma bombing? The completely unwarranted invasion of Iraq to finish off daddy's work and all that followed it? The complete <deleted> up of western intervention in Libya? (No tears shed by me for the death of either leader there but the fact is western intervention did not lead anywhere good).

Yes there are scum that are Muslims but they exist in all faiths.

The shares that are worth a universal rejection Muslims were all committed in the name of Allah. I could list them but it would take pages and pages ...

You answer to assert a kind of balance acts of war involving the West on predominantly Muslim lands.

These are indeed deplorable fact but they were not perpetuated in the name of God.

The only fact that goes in your sense would be the Bush statement on " forces of evil." But it was widely disputed and ridiculed in his own camp to this archaic formulation.

You seem to be saying that while Muslims cite religion as a justification for violence, the West does not massacre Muslims for religious reasons, and thus is somehow a more "rational" actor. Its violence is based on secular justifications, apparently.

I dunno. Hard to swallow.

That is a curious argument, since the net result over the last few decades has been that vastly greater numbers of Muslims (compared to Westerners) have been slain, had their economies and countries invaded and destroyed, their lands taken, their resources confiscated, their health infrastructure smashed, etc. Let's face it, the last 20 years have been one long catastrophe for much of the Muslim world. Given that Islam, in the pages of this forum, is viewed as a violent religion, one would expect the reverse-- that it would be the Muslim countries causing mischief via invasions. And if one puts oneself in a Muslim's shoes, as it were, it would be difficult to believe that the West's actions were not inspired by religion, since it is the Islamic countries that have taken a disproportionate share of the last couple decades of military bombings, etc. A crapload of violence has been perpetrated by the two richest Anglophone countries-- most often for completely spurious reasons.

Part of what we constantly are conveniently overlooking in the West is that our system demands a continuous supply of people who are exploited and demonized for reasons of capital accumulation. It could be people of color in the US (who were targeted by the financial industry prior to the 2008 collapse), or Arabs in the Parisian banlieues, or Turkish immigrants in Germany, or Gazans in the Strip (the destruction of Gaza's industries has been very convenient for Israeli businesses). Of course there are the Kissingerian examples of Vietnam and Chile and Indonesia and East Timor. It doesn't only happen in the West. It could be Burmese workers in Thailand, or Koreans in Japan. In this case, it has been the Uighurs in Xinjiang. Violence is wreaked-- not necessarily physical violence, but economic, social, and cultural violence-- on those least able to defend themselves. We blame it on "hatred" but often the base reason is the needs of capital. (And this is not to minimize the actual physical violence done. How would any of us react if another country sent drones to target "insurgents" that more often than not were civilians engaged in routine activities?)

Eventually the situation becomes inflamed beyond the explosion point. The hotheads and radical flamethrowers come to the fore, and, unleashed, commit heinous and unspeakable acts. Radical movements flourish. Violence is let loose, and begets more violence. This allows a blanket condemnation of all those in the oppressed group.

This much seems obvious to me.... As contemptible as the acts performed by Isis and the terrorists in Bangkok and other venues all over the world are, in some sense it would be irrational to expect that long and continued oppression would not incur some kind of pushback. There has not been much presented in this forum on the sometimes strange history of the Uighurs and their treatment at the hands of the Chinese empire. If I get time, I will add a post on this.

He's being treated with kid gloves, I'm hoping this 'softly, softly' approach leads him to make some serious error of judgement which results in a big bowl of rice porridge.

Some people don't know when to shut up.

And some people don't have the foggiest notion of how the absence of civil society or freedom of speech cripple a modern society.

I will bet a considerable amount that this is yet another Islamic Terrorist cell. This has nothing to do with Thailand as such. The game in the Western countries has become more difficult. As a result they now seek out softer targets, places unused to international terrorism. We will see many more of such acts. The aim is to kill Westerners, that's all. Collateral damage amongst the local population will be accepted.

Were any westerners killed?

Cannot find a comprehensive list of those killed. Cobbling from two articles here, apparently six of the killed were Thai, five Malaysian, four Chinese. (two of the Chinese were from Hong Kong, and one was a British national, a young woman studying law in London http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3201872/Is-Bangkok-bomber-Chilling-CCTV-shows-suspect-walking-shrine-rucksack-leaving-without-moments-blast-killed-22.html ). There was also one Singaporean and one Indonesian. Two remained unidentified as of Wednesday, 8.19.2015. If the aim was to kill Westerners, obviously the attacker(s) were not very successful.

Five of the Malaysian fatalities were from a single extended family, including a five year-old boy. http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/19/asia/bangkok-bomb-aftermath-color/index.html

There were also 120 injured-- and in many cases, the injuries will be life-changing.

What colour is her hair? How the hell can u let someone take a picture for an ID card with a headress on?

Blond, definitely!

nowadays could be blue

I find the great concern about the headress in the id pic to be overstated, if not unfounded. If the pic was taken without, how would this better help to identify a person, when, after leaving the photo studio, she would probably immediately put on a headress afterward? Then too, people put on hats all the time... The facial features seem to be fairly visible in the pic; it's not as if her face were covered. Seems pretty, I don't know, recognizable to me. We rarely identify someone based on what is above their eyebrows. And what difference does seeing her hair color make? Hair color nowadays is fungible....

Anyway, id pics are rarely perfect renditions of what a person will look like in person, but provide a sort of baseline that can be used to catch a netful of suspects. Am I missing something here?

Saw this post on Yahoo today. More info on the man and his life. Absolutely thought-provoking. Why are we who we are, what forms us? etc.

http://news.yahoo.com/neurologist-author-oliver-sacks-dies-age-82-york-134206201.html#

For those who have not sampled his books, be assured that when you do, you are in for a treat. I found them fascinating and accessible, and as the article points out, he did not pass judgment on people's variances from the "norm". Rather, those who crossed his path were seemingly all celebrated. The books challenge us to perceive one another in a deeper light. with greater awareness of our human frailties. The reader may get a feeling of eccentric Britishness at times; or wonder how aware the author was of class and other social issues. No matter. I feel richer for having read some of his stuff, and it's somewhat comforting to know that he passed it on to us, and those who come after. Well worth a check-out. RIP, good man.

"Police acted on a tip from the landlord who owned the apartment that the suspect was renting, according to a police source who declined to be named. The landlord grew suspicious because the suspect did not speak Thai and rented five rooms on the same floor of the apartment building, since late July. Local residents told reporters that the suspect had been living in the apartment for two weeks before the Erawan blast."

So... one wonders how long it took for the apartment owner to report this... ? And how long for police to act... ?

The Thais turn up the heat on the Turks. Now they are talking about yet another terrorist group called the Grey Wolves. Thais cling to the hope that they can "prove" that the perpetrator wasn't Thai.

Some have found it useful to read an article before commenting on it. Others are of a different mindset.

Corruption, anything can be bought or sold are basic characteristics of Thai character.

Corruption, anything can be bought or sold are basic characteristics of the globalized neoliberal economic system.

I don't love airshows. There is an annual death toll from them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air_show_accidents_and_incidents#2015

By this point we can regard the disasters as inevitable.

They are also a manifestation of several toxic traits of the modern world: militarism, misplaced notions of masculinity, nationalism, an overweening pride in technological ability, and the substitution of spectacle for meaning in life.

If this were a Thai airshow and plane, can you imagine the reaction by posters on this website?

So conspiracy theories aside, they haven't got a clue who the bomber is. Just desperate conjecture. Evidence zero.

Exactly. I was in Xinjiang when the Uighur bombed Beijing. It wasn't pretty

Practicing our non sequiturs again... ?

Many of the arguments put forth here beggar belief. "Try cooking your lentils with solar." Is that an argument? The Germans have been pointing toward 80% renewables by 2050, and they're well on their way. Think they can cook lentils with their power grid? I'm betting those soft-headed, tie-dyed, tree-hugging, lentil-sucking, granola-packing, nature-worshipping German eco-crazies can. What do they know about running an economy, or technology, anyway? I see articles saying that they've had record peaks of renewables of 50% of generation http://guardianlv.com/2014/06/50-percent-of-the-energy-produced-in-germany-is-solar-new-record/ , then 59% http://www.the9billion.com/2013/10/30/germany-59-percent-renewable-energy-peak/ , and now an astonishing 74% http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/13/3436923/germany-energy-records/ . Yes, that's only a peak. But it's clear they're onto something. And by the way, their grid didn't crash.

Will renewable energy be expensive to install? Yes, more so than coal. But costs are falling, and at any rate, it will be cheaper in the long run when health costs and absolutely untenable global warming costs are factored in. How much have the floods cost Myanmar this month? Already, Italy and Germany have demonstrated price parity with conventional generation. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/24/3418145/solar-grid-parity-italy-germany/ And we haven't even mentioned energy efficiency, which is never considered by EGAT, because of their business model. They encourage profligacy. Not to mention the fact that much of this energy is being used to produce the junk of modern life for the export market, with all the usual downfalls that a consumption economy presents.

Soutpeel and halloween, whose livelihoods may depend on it, can cling to their coal and nuclear all they want. (I was particularly fond of the "I worked in a coal plant for 20 years, and I'm completely healthy" remark, since it reminded me of the old lies of the tobacco industry.) Mercury emissions can be controlled somewhat-- the latest push in the U.S. is to lower them by 90%-- but any emission of mercury is murderous because once it's loose in the environment, you can't retrieve it. It's a neurotoxin. It affects mental development, and even behavior. It also bioaccumulates, so that over time it works its way up the food chain. And we're at the top of the chain. Burning coal is just a bad idea, to be avoided if at all possible.

Lastly, readers should be aware that EGAT has a history of vastly overstating its anticipated energy "needs", again because of its business model. It would be a joke if the consequences weren't so dire. For example, EGAT plans on doubling electrical capacity in the next 20 years. That's crazy talk, particularly because it includes a "reserve capacity" (usually 15%), of up to, in some cases, a whopping 39%. http://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/254-0

The writing is on the wall. The danger is that we will believe the "there is no alternative" nonsense proffered.

Posters invariably greet news such as this post as evidence that Thailand is more backward than any country in SE Asia. That may not be always true, as an examination of other nations demonstrates. It is clear that Thailand has a long way to go, yet it treats 20% of its wastewater in over 100 treatment plants.

http://www.wepa-db.net/pdf/1003forum/7_thai_wijarnsimachaya.pdf

Believe it or not, that is better than many countries.

In the case of Vietnam, its wastewater treatment facilities are sometimes totally underwritten by outside interests. Japan has recently come up with US $130 million for a large plant in Ho Chi Minh city.

http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2015/02/wastewater-treatment-plant-in-vietnam-to-get-130m-upgrade.html

As of 2012, there were only 17 wastewater treatment plants in the country, though more were in the planning stage. This is for a country of 80 million.

A paper published after 2010 (undated) says that Vietnam lacks policy measures dealing with financing, production, support and extension services, as well as the training of technical staff. There is also a lack of knowledge and wherewithal regarding how to handle the needs of agriculture, which has traditionally relied on wastewater for fertilization, etc. The article linked to below contains pictures of rural people washing and irrigating their vegetables in what is clearly wastewater.

http://www.ais.unwater.org/ais/pluginfile.php/501/mod_page/content/87/report_vietnam.pdf

It is also one thing to build treatment facilities-- it is another to pay for their operation and maintenance. Wastewater treatment as currently practiced is energy-intensive and hugely expensive. Urban scholars believe that an alternative to western-style facilities must be found for the developing world. In Vietnam, projections are that a system will cost $8.3 billion to run by 2025. That is a cost that will be hard for Vietnam to maintain.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/publication/vietnam-urban-wastewater-review

But they are at least akin to excepting outside help from developed nations,something Thailand seems rather shy and unaccepting to do.

"But they are at least akin to excepting outside help from developed nations,something Thailand seems rather shy and unaccepting to do."

No supporting evidence or examples provided to buttress the assertion made. And this in the forum where Thais are routinely denounced for lack of critical thinking and reasoned argument.

Let me provide some counterpoint. To cite a counterexample in the field of waste water management: after the tsunami, wastewater facilities for Phi Phi, Phuket, and Khao Lak were designed by a Danish firm, COWI, after 20 million Danish kroner were donated to the relief effort by the Danish government. (Naturally, as is so often the case, much of that money went right back into the pockets of the Danish consulting firm.) http://www.cowi.com/menu/NewsandMedia/News/Newsarchive/Pages/concealedwastewatertreatmentplantsinthailand.aspx

Sometimes outside help has caused crisis. The ill-fated Samut Prakan wastewater treatment plant was shelved in 2003 after a long struggle with locals in Klong Dan, despite large amounts of financial aid from the Asian Development Bank, after it was found that the siting of the plant was a gross human rights violation and that the ADB had violated numerous of its own policies. http://www.forum-adb.org/inner.php?sec=13&ref=extras&id=126

The search for funds for wastewater treatment: In 1992 the Environmental Fund was established as part of the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act. http://www.jica.go.jp/english/our_work/evaluation/oda_loan/post/2006/pdf/project04_full.pdf

Just as is the case for Vietnam, it was obvious that there would be funding shortfalls since the need for treatment infrastructure was so great. Funds came from Japanese loans ($100 million from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan in 1994), Thai government grants in 1993-95 totaling US $48 million, the Fuel Oil fund, the Revolving Fund for Environmental Development and Quality of Life, service fees and fines, private sector donations (both domestic and foreign), and by foreign governments and organizations.

These are but a few examples. It should be obvious that the government has routinely accepted outside consultants and funding in wastewater infrastructure. The same is true in many areas, including dams, electrical generation, chemical plant construction-- all the nuts and bolts of a modern manufacturing state. The fact is, countries like Vietnam and Thailand have had to-- nations that were comprised of 90% rural people (in the 70s) had no other option.

That doesn't mean everything is balloons and party hats. There are problems with 80% of treatment plants. That should not surprise, given that they were built in a hurry by a smorgasbord of contractors, that operating funds were limited or nonexistent, and that trained personnel were in short supply. Such is the way in countries that have had an accelerated development path, where what happened over 350 years in a European country is compressed into thirty years in Southeast Asia.

Posters invariably greet news such as this post as evidence that Thailand is more backward than any country in SE Asia. That may not be always true, as an examination of other nations demonstrates. It is clear that Thailand has a long way to go, yet it treats 20% of its wastewater in over 100 treatment plants.

http://www.wepa-db.net/pdf/1003forum/7_thai_wijarnsimachaya.pdf

Believe it or not, that is better than many countries.

In the case of Vietnam, its wastewater treatment facilities are sometimes totally underwritten by outside interests. Japan has recently come up with US $130 million for a large plant in Ho Chi Minh city.

http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2015/02/wastewater-treatment-plant-in-vietnam-to-get-130m-upgrade.html

As of 2012, there were only 17 wastewater treatment plants in the country, though more were in the planning stage. This is for a country of 80 million.

A paper published after 2010 (undated) says that Vietnam lacks policy measures dealing with financing, production, support and extension services, as well as the training of technical staff. There is also a lack of knowledge and wherewithal regarding how to handle the needs of agriculture, which has traditionally relied on wastewater for fertilization, etc. The article linked to below contains pictures of rural people washing and irrigating their vegetables in what is clearly wastewater.

http://www.ais.unwater.org/ais/pluginfile.php/501/mod_page/content/87/report_vietnam.pdf

It is also one thing to build treatment facilities-- it is another to pay for their operation and maintenance. Wastewater treatment as currently practiced is energy-intensive and hugely expensive. Urban scholars believe that an alternative to western-style facilities must be found for the developing world. In Vietnam, projections are that a system will cost $8.3 billion to run by 2025. That is a cost that will be hard for Vietnam to maintain.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/publication/vietnam-urban-wastewater-review

It may appear that there is great resistance to more modern ideas, but there is no need to be overly concerned. Someday the leadership of the Catholic Church will be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 7th century.

I have no expertise in these matters, but according to a post linked to below, the fall in the value of the baht may be to Thailand's advantage, and this may be the result of policy. In fact, because of the sliding Japanese yen, other SE Asian countries, including the Malaysia and Indonesia, have been put into a position where they must allow their currencies to slide in order to prop up exports. Until the yen recovers and household demand increases in Japan, the claim is that the central banks of these countries will likely attempt to keep the ringgit and rupiah relatively weak so as to remain competitive. They will also probably remain relatively weak compared to the pound and dollar. Thailand has little option other than to play a similar game.

The dollar's recent strength of course may be due not only to an improving economy but also to its position as a safe harbor during the euro crisis.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/falling-yen-raises-spectrecurrency-warasia_1403989.html

Have no idea whether this is indeed the case, but it does provide a reasonable explanation for the recent sudden baht slide.

Despite what you may assume initially, the article is well worth a look. (Warning: it's quite a long piece, so be prepared to sink into it.)

It highlights some of the many dilemmas of our age, and the two men profiled, as well as the dictator of Gambia, are somewhat emblematic of a world system that fails us all. In a complicated and surreal life, one of them, Njie was, in turn, an African immigrant to the US, a student of politics and planning with a determination to succeed, a corrupt Texas housing bureaucrat, a dodgy but at times altruistic housing developer, and a revolutionary. His closest business associates had no clue about his revolutionary activities.

It's a compelling and thought-provoking read. What happens when people from developing countries find themselves in a sea of unrestrained crony capitalism and neoliberal groupthink, in a hyper-militarized society that believes in violence as the first solution to reach for... ? Empire and money have a way of corrupting people. The story of individuals caught up in dizzying change should make us stop and think. Among us are many such people, struggling with changes in cultural mileu, personal issues, and global events. Where are we going, and what are the social values that guide us?

Focus on SUGAR.

If they're serious (doubtful) they really have to get the PARENTS involved as well. Parents want the best but they often don't know about nutrition issues. If a child becomes obese, scientists know the chances are very high you get an obese adult, with very small chance of reversing that.

People blaming this all on morality and free choice are missing the reality of how insidious this problem is. It is a very complex problem and yes the best bang for the baht is PREVENTION in childhood.

Thailand fixes the price domestically. They actually cheapen sugar. Amazing thailand

Thailand is far from unique in this regard. Brazil and the US heavily subsidize their sugar farmers and industries. (They actually cheapen sugar. Amazing Brazil! Amazing USA! Amazing EU!)

The EU moved towards removing subsidies in 2005, thanks to a WTO ruling-- but they are now set to come storming back.

Under fierce lobbying pressure from multinational sugar processors – Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Mars – the EU argues that the reform is made in the spirit of freer markets and better value for the European shopper. (The market will remain, more free for some than others, however. Beet sugar grown intensively on rotation on European farms will, under the new arrangement, still be subsidised by every taxpayer on the continent at around £18 per tonne.)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/21/jamaican-farmers-bleak-future-eu-sugar-beet-production-cap

Britain established the sugar cane industry in former colonies, where it was interwoven with the slave trade. In recent years those countries were encouraged to enter the sugar market to gain foreign exchange, as Thailand has done. In 2017 a "reform" of the ag regulations means that a cap on Euro production of sugar beets will be lifted. Since Euro grower receive a per-hectare subsidy-- which places like Malawi cannot afford. This change is expected to threaten 200,000 smallholders with dire economic consequences.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fairtrade-partner-zone/2015/feb/27/why-businesses-should-stand-by-the-sugar-farmers-failed-by-the-eu

The attempt in Thailand to move farmers from rice to sugar cane is thoroughly depressing. Surely there are better export crops that could be considered, given that there is a world glut of sugar that shows no signs of abating, and the undeniable health effects. Can't the Thais, Malawians, and Jamaicans somehow find a better crop(s) to grow and export? In a better world, there would be ag extension help for them, and a world ag regime conducive to fairness to help them along.

http://www.farmpolicyfacts.org/2015/06/un-thai-ing-the-global-sugar-subsidy-mess/

http://www.ussugar.com/SugarNews/TheSugarBeatVol1Iss122.pdf

The world food system, not to mention the design of urban life, is set up to produce obese humans. Also to produce huge profits for agribusiness, pharmaceutical, and health care companies.

We need more vegetables and more variety of them, fewer processed grains. Less palm oil, of course. Lower levels of meat consumption in the West (not just for health, but also for environmental reasons). Less stress and more physical play and activity. More workplaces accepting of the need to exercise and move around (less desk-sitting). Of course the grain merchants who make billions trading wheat, rice, and corn, and the sugar lobby, may have to relinquish their substantial subsidies or accept diminished levels of government support the world over...

And readers may want to look into the difference in glycemic index between brown basmati rice and hom mali (hurts me to say this-- I love brown hom mali)....