seminomadic

Similar to how Mr. Obama's presidency is actually worsening racism in America, dollars to donuts the AEC will accelerate animosities between and nationalism within ASEAN countries.

There's going to be a LOT of face-losing and finger-pointing of the international stripe in the latter half of this decade.

"People in ASEAN are relatively poor. They don't travel much to see each other. Most visitors to ASEAN countries come from outside the region. This means ASEAN people have a weak sense of community."

Along with the stats on GDP per capita, the article could have gotten the point across with only this and been just as valid.

Singapore to become the Germany of AEC - will carry the weaker (ie 'lazy') countries on its back, only to be later villainized by the ungrateful beneficiaries.

Improving English skills is not the answer to Thailand's educational problems, it would be a result. The problem is that within the present educational system with a total lack of accountability and priority in all levels, Thai kids will never learn English or any subject at all! Compared to International standards of course.

Thread winner for the first sentence alone. Agree wholeheartedly; I just hope that by "accountability" you don't mean teacher's performance ratings pinned on test results. I'm hoping you mean accountability in terms of expenditure and decisions made by administrators.

I'm not saying this is not a disgraceful crime. However TIT and I have my doubts if it is such a bright idea to wear an expensive necklace at the age of 92 even as a monk.

Why ? Must we all hide, or should we not live our own life as we want to live it..

It's common sense, enshrined thousands of years ago in the Tao Te Ching: "Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it." Ever hear of Lindisfarne?

The U.S inspectors seems more concerned with wildlife than the human slavery happening with Burmese muslims in another national park

yeah, and?

True.....but Oxford and Cambridge dont ? What about all those silly Ivy league colleges in the USA. Universities these days are a business that markets and promotes itself like any else.

Great, thanks very much for now having made it clear what a complete ignoramus you are. We now know how much stock to invest in your posts forthwith.

It's not offensive much less racist. It's not blackface. It's HRW trying to grab some spotlight.

It only takes one to pipe up and get some attention; Native Americans don't give a crap if an NFL team is named the Redskins. However, if one Native American b1tches about it to somebody in the media, then the media has grist for that highly profitable PC/Identity Politics mill.

Stop developing shrimp farms. Stop destroying the monkey's natural habitat. Stop believing that humanity has the right to do whatever they like and anything that interferes with that is a pest. Solve this problem and others caused by humanity's rapicious appetites.

said the preachy guy who proposed no remotely practical way of reversing prevailing beliefs about humanity's unchecked endeavors, using an electricity-sucking computer made of plastic and oil in a room with artificial temperature control thanks to another energy-hogging appliance, probably from a room in a building on a property which 20 years ago was nothing but weeds, cobras & trees.

Clearly its a problem, why not look or think outside just a little.

Would it not be cheaper to prepare some foods for them and leave it in an area where they can all eat-hence no need to raid the houses

Once you pay the Dane-geld, you never get rid of the Dane.

I never knew that promotion campaigns could swelter.

Creative journalism.

As a hater of double standards I was sorry to see this verdict. really they should have been paid 7.5 million baht each at the very least for having been detained in prison for 5 months, if not given a party list MP status as well.

[rimshot, crash] HEYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!! [loud laughter, followed by applause]

Sad how widespread it is, but good to see some officers making themselves of use.

Can't help but wonder what the fate of the seized elephants will be.

Backpackers peopling the /spawn/ of the Me-generation: ohhhhhhhh! those Millenialist couch potatoes...HUGE carbon footprint...costs as much carbon to ship a backpacking Me-ist from JFK, NYC to Bkk as it does to heat the average AmneriKKKan home for a year...then, there's the d@mnable *eco-tourism--killing reefs & stuffing beaches w/scum & Russians--what more could a Nation want? ;-} rap.

So it was YOU who was the Unabomber..... not Ted Kaczynski

It's a tremendous idea they have. But it won't inhibit those with some gumption....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk5R9GmIsAs

I agree with the supportive posts - more plants are desperately needed in this city, for the sake of filtering the rancid air as well as aesthetics. It would also encourage self-sufficiency and longer-term planning, something urban poor are surely not so adept at.

I also agree with the negative posts. The urban poor are all huddled under expressways rather than multi-storied buildings and building managers not to mention tenants cannot be faulted for not allowing non-paying tenants to go up to their roofs. I could imagine burglars excusing themselves "we were coming up to haa mahkeuathet and thought this room was where you got rooftop access"

That said, I don't think that the idea should be shelved. Give it a swing, see where it goes, fine tune on the fly and find some way for the successful to transmit their methods to one another. Maybe the media might think about pitching in there.

Strangely enough, this should be enough to convince everybody on the int'l stage that Thaksin is NOT a convicted criminal in any serious sense of the word. I don't like Thaksin and I want the red shirts all to go suck a **** but stories like this just demonstrate that THAI COURTS ARE A COMPLETE F******* JOKE.

Whichever way the wind is blowing, whichever group is in power, will mete out NOTHING MORE THAN VICTOR'S JUSTICE.

THE APPEARANCE (can't even say 'rule') OF LAW IS A JOKE IN THIS COUNTRY. POLITICIANS ARE CHILDREN WHO CARE NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY OR ITS CHILDREN.

Commercial could be one minute and fifteen seconds shorter and no less effective. We get the point.

I can only hope that this will mean more cars being sold here in Thailand by way of something like the continuation of Yingluck's first car discount policy. Way WAY too much empty space on the roads here in BKK. The underutilization's a goddamn shame.

Anybody else finds the gold first, go ahead and PM me I've got a great place to stash it.

How do you say 'bounty' in French?

That's a damn shame. Looked like a perfectly good steel barrier.

So if he's been defrocked, why is the press here still using the terms "Luang" and "phra" before his name?