noitom

If one takes this survey and article seriously, it paints a very bleak picture of a failed state. Is Thailand a failed state or just working up to it rapidly?

Never a word from the newspaper on the statistics for foreign sex tourism and which operators cater to this trade. That's probably the operator segment that cheats, manipulates prices and services, and renegs on their deals with Indian and Chinese and other operators. The Thai sex tour operators probably figure what the heck, these guys are coming anyway for sex so why not rip them off. The only fair shake they probably get is from the girls, who probably have to kick back to their Thai operator partner.

Fake passport pages or copied real passport pages? Wonder where the Iranians got the names of all those foreigners? Could they have bribed someone? Probably not possible in a secure, well managed, corrupt free place like Thailand.

World has a long history of thieves/murderers that have made life miserable for millions of people:

Adolf Hitler

Emperor Hirohito

Various English Kings and Military that looted the world to build the British Empire or were kicked out trying like from China and America.

Benito Mussolini

Francisco Franco

Joseph Stalin

Pol Pot

Saddam Hussein

Osama bin Laden

Moammar Khaddafi

Kim Jong Ill

Mao Zedong

Idi Amin

King Louis

You have to maintain a balance of power, stand ready to stop them, die, or become their slaves.

And added to the list, how about what's going on in Syria? The world is currently traumatized by this as Russia continues to stand in the doorway of its Syrian ally.

This is great that HM is feeling well to be up and about.

If farmers are the owners, it seems fair to pay this low tax. If they are not the owners, farmers should pay no tax. The tax should be paid by the owners who let the farmers "work the land" and live there. The tax on residential land and commercial land seems very low, especially in Bangkok and particularly CBD, Chinatown, Sukhumvit, and going north up to Don Muang. The rates in Bangkok should be higher than in Roi-Et let's say. All those residential buildings and commercial operations along Sukhumvit should be taxed at a much higher rate to fund new electrical, internet, and road investment.

Vacancy rates should be the same. As Korn points out, why should wealthy land owners pay no tax even if it's idle? The value of the capital is not doing anything to help the economy by letting idle land and buildings go untaxed. Land owners in Bangkok have never chipped in by way of taxes to contribute to funding of infrastructure.

The article states that five (5) incidents have been reported in the "last month." Where are the other four?

I do not disagree with the above comments as to how low these individuals are on the evolutionary scale, but come on!!! People get into these scams because they want to make easy money NOW. They let their own greed dupe them into believing the scammer. It is a shame that someone had to lose his life as a result of this scam, but sooner or later one has to believe what we have always been told: "If it sounds too good to be true, it is".

Yes, the scammers are scum, but the people who are pulled into these things are gullible and greedy. The fact that this guy was British or a soldier or whatever is largely irrelevant. Scammers thrive because vulnerable people exist. If someone tells you he can turn dross into gold or that you can make fantastic returns in dubious investments and you believe it, you should have someone else manage your affairs.

Bernie Madoff fooled loads of "really smart " people, businesses and charities in his $50 billion scam for one reason, his victims were all more greedy than they were sensble.

Well said right on

Madoff investors and investors in his feeder funds were more gullible, greedy, and naive than smart. As a note, one of his sons did commit suicide.

In no other country would the local English newspaper continuously print statements by the army that there would be no coup. Almost as if the newspaper was engendering conflict, traumatizing Thais and foreigners, and hurting the Thai economy. What other purpose could the newspaper have?

When reading the headline, it easy to mistakenly assume that the Thai newspaper had actually run a story about something relating to the European talks about Greece and Spain and the economy. Thai newspapers rarely if ever take notice about anything that's not of a Thai nature. What's astonishing is how little Thais understand about how these events affect Thailand.

It would be interesting to have a quick look at all the people in Saxena's little black book. Many will never be charged or convicted.

The US has better fish to fry in its own backyard economy, and it needs to utilize Australia, the Philippines, and other resources in Asia Pacific for its accelerated arsenal.

and what if somewhere like Aussie said no...you seem to imply the US has a right to "use" Australia, the Phillipines and other "resources"...so is this how you see it these Sovereign countys are just "resources" to US to deploy their "aresnal's"..

It was meant in the context that the Australians appear to be more reliable than the Thais and more willing to go in the opposite direction of China. Do you agree?

Just curious, is this a one time only thing? I mean they are giving the free tablets to all grade one children this year but will they be doing it next year and subsequent years as the children move into grade one? If this is a once only vote buying exercise then it seems a little pointless and a waste of money.

This is a very good point and question! I don't recall previously seeing this question. It probably hasn't been thought through by the Thais either. Thanks for posting this.

A "shift" in loyalties and skim. Very Thai. Reneging on contracts. Very Thai.

How could a retired British soldier be duped into surrendering his life savings by a guy in that picture with the #2 tattooed on his arm? What was the con? And then he committed suicide? The embassy reported that he comiited suicide as the result of losing his money to this scam? How is all this possible?

Good Luck to the Chula team! Liliane Bettencourt the daughter of the L'Oreal founder is the #2 wealthiest woman in the world. They can afford to launch Lycopene as a new product.

It's easy to agree that it is generally very insane to use drugs. At the level of this arrest, what is surprising is that there aren't dozens and hundreds of arrests everyday in Thailand where drug use is supposedly rampant and in the news frequently. Maybe this one made the news because it was foreigners.

Dhurakij Pundit University Research Centre - who are they? They have a Facebook page with 67 likes and no web site. What were the questions asked of the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese? The questions are key to a research study. Were the questions asked in English? Who asked them? Does anyone know anything about this research center at this university?

The Nation states "some Asian business people rank Thailand's business performance as moderate" but this article - http://www.asiaone.c...529-349043.html states that they were ranked an average of 5. Is that moderate?

Well if you had looked past the first entry as far as Wiki, you would have found

"Dhurakij Pundit University (DPU), meaning the University of Business Knowledge, is one of the most respected private universities in Thailand........"

Degree of difficulty : <1

The post intended to inquire about an English web site. The translation doesn't come off well. The rest of the post was intended to better understand the "basis" of the study and methodology. Your response sheds no further revelations on the authenticity or efficacy of it.

My google search tool less than a second to return 13,300 results. I went as far as #6 to answer your question " Does anyone know anything about this research center at this university?"

I suggest that somewhere in the 13,394 other results, you might find your answers. If, of course you were looking for answers and not just throwing in casual aspersions. Do you have any reasons why a respected uni would run a biased survey; anywhere near as many reasons why you might ask a biased question or three?

Your responses with everyone consistently take on a confrontational style with "individuals' rather than questions and issues.My post raised questions regarding the methodology, whether they did it in English, and the content of the survey as well as the newspaper's characterization of the grade for business as being moderate while another source that was included in the post indicates essentially failure.

The initial question about the research center was clearly a general question to inquire if anyone else was more familiar with them than me and knew anything about them. As is routine, you have gone about "proving who you are" and "reading into someone else's question and their motives" rather than looking at it as merely a question seeking to clarify the basis of a news story and seeking informational amplification.

A Malaysian woman buying 11 handbags in Africa and she was taking them to Thailand? This is hard to rationalize. On top of the hard to figure basics, she was unaware of the drugs in the bags.

Malaysia used to have a red skull and crossbones on the entry card with a "be forewarned the penalty for trafficking in drugs is death." Maybe Thailand should think about using this technique and drug travelers would get the message.

Dhurakij Pundit University Research Centre - who are they? They have a Facebook page with 67 likes and no web site. What were the questions asked of the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese? The questions are key to a research study. Were the questions asked in English? Who asked them? Does anyone know anything about this research center at this university?

The Nation states "some Asian business people rank Thailand's business performance as moderate" but this article - http://www.asiaone.c...529-349043.html states that they were ranked an average of 5. Is that moderate?

Well if you had looked past the first entry as far as Wiki, you would have found

"Dhurakij Pundit University (DPU), meaning the University of Business Knowledge, is one of the most respected private universities in Thailand........"

Degree of difficulty : <1

The post intended to inquire about an English web site. The translation doesn't come off well. The rest of the post was intended to better understand the "basis" of the study and methodology. Your response sheds no further revelations on the authenticity or efficacy of it.

Dhurakij Pundit University Research Centre - who are they? They have a Facebook page with 67 likes and no web site. What were the questions asked of the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese? The questions are key to a research study. Were the questions asked in English? Who asked them? Does anyone know anything about this research center at this university?

The Nation states "some Asian business people rank Thailand's business performance as moderate" but this article - http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Story/A1Story20120529-349043.html states that they were ranked an average of 5. Is that moderate?

@ chiang mai -

You are right, thank you for your frankness about Thai culture and society as it relates to the medical "profession".

I assume that it works the same way in the legal "profession." A Thai lawyer will string you along for some fees hoping that you just eventually move on to another lawyer and knowing all along that he doesn't handle your issue. If you keep paying up and get testy about actually working on the case effectively, they then tell you that it's not their specialty and give you a final bill for that admission.

http://www.bbc.com/n...nology-18349499 Hmm a very revealing comparison .

Thanks for posting this informative article. One would assume that putting a GPS device in a Thai vehicle with a Thai driver would only add to the road death count by adding this distraction.

The study "attracted" about 250 participants from "many" relevant authorities.

He was confident that the study "should also be able to cut down on road accidents."

The statements are preposterous and don't correlate to the headline about "cutting road deaths." A good place to start to cut down on road deaths is enforcing a law that hit and run is illegal and will be enforced with severe penalties of serious jail time, fines, revocation of license, and criminal record. So too drunk driving and vehicle standards.

Runners often flee the scene of an accident with severely injured people who later die as the result of no timely treatment or assistance. By having strict enforced laws on hit and run, potential runners will think twice before they speed, swerve, put a car on the road with bald tires, drink and drive..etc. It won't solve the problem, but it is the place to start.

"Launching a survey with over 250 diverse people and training people on GPS at the Transport Ministry won't cut down deaths on the highway. Dreaming up a King Mongkut University study with 250 "relevant" people and bus service providers is merely a blue print to propose a money grab of some sort. GPS has little to do with road deaths and foundational issues like hit and run penalties, severe drunk driving penalties, and vehicle safety regulations that actually get enforced with severe penalties. All the GPS systems in the world won't cut down on drunk and drugged driving, unsafe vehicles, and speeding. Even if they were free and everyone was trained.