jamesbrock

30-40% in "brokerage fees" for government projects - going to be some very rich <ahem> "brokers."

13 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Yes they hit him with a hammer and then when it came to sentencing they handed him an olive branch. In other words "Youse was a bad boy and must suffer some form of punishment. We cannot have foreigners coming into the country and exposing our dirty little secrets for all to see. U have upset the applecart and exposed all the rotten apples there in to the world." Sorry we must make an example of you. How do you like them apples Mr. Hall?

I think the very fact he was found guilty, despite the evidence presented that proved that he only worked as a research coordinator conducting worker interviews—and bears responsibility for the authorship of the report whatsoever—says more about the petty, ridiculous Thai (in)justice system.

As I wrote the other night, telling the truth can be illegal in Thailand.

3 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

" Suksit said all five workers were Thai nationals. " from link to original story.  I totally agree no one should die at work. If I cited in error, due to my own credulity that report was accurate. 

Yes, I saw that. I apologise if it appeared I was correcting you, I was just stating what other press are reporting. I usually find the reporting that we can't quote to be more accurate than the ones we can.

20 minutes ago, nikmar said:

"Thailand is among the countries that has provided humanitarian assistance to millions of refugees from neighbouring countries over the past four decades .."

 

And yet he sent the Uighur's back to China and asked if he should let them stay and "have litters."

His (translated) words were, "If we don't do this, what else are we gonna do? Or do you want to feed them until they produce three litters of offspring?” but in the original Thai, he used the word 'krok,' a much more derogatory term than the English equivalent. 'Krok' gives the image of animal lust, and signifies a large number of puppies crawling from the belly of a bitch. It's not the term any mother would want to be heard describing their children.

8 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

Something not right in this report: all the dead and injured were Thai nationals. Hard to believe. Poor construction or poor design? I would guess a mixture of both.

Other press reports say that only one Thai worker was injured. Two male Myanmar migrant workers were hospitalised, a female Myanmar worker was injured but not hospitalised, and a male Myanmar worker was killed.

My poor taste joke (above) aside, no one should die at work. I hope the persons responsible are made to take care of his family.

32 minutes ago, webfact said:

The Prime Minister of Thailand delivered his speech at the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees hosted by the President of the United States at the United Nation Headquarters, signifying Thailand’s effort to help refugees. 

I wonder if he mentioned these talking points?

• Thailand: Mass Graves of Rohingya Found in Trafficking Camp (https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/05/01/thailand-mass-graves-rohingya-found-trafficking-camp)

• Mass 'migrant prison camp' grave found in Thailand (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3063910/Mass-grave-boatpeople-southern-Thailand.html)

• At least 30 graves found in southern Thailand, and a lone survivor (http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/02/asia/thailand-mass-graves/)

• Southeast Asian migrant crisis: 'Ghost ship' carrying 350 starving Rohingya Muslims vanishes off Thailand (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/southeast-asian-migrant-crisis-ghost-ship-carrying-350-starving-rohingya-vanishes-off-thailand-1502045)

• Malaysia, Indonesia, but not Thailand, agree to take in Rohingya migrants (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/21/asia-pacific/social-issues-asia-pacific/malaysia-indonesia-will-take-boat-people-u-s-will-help-thailand-balks/#.V8yWQWVbtSU)

• Human Trafficking Thailand: Senior Army Officer Among 72 Indicted In Country's Biggest Crackdown (http://www.hngn.com/articles/112732/20150725/human-trafficking-thailand-senior-army-officer-72-indicted-countrys-biggest.htm)

• NAVY, ARMY OFFICERS CHARGED WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING (http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2015/09/21/1442827280/)

• Thailand Deports 100 Uyghurs to China (http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/thailand-deports-100-uyghurs-to-china/)

• Thailand Rejects Claims it Killed Uyghurs Who Resisted Deportation (http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/thailand-uyghur-07092015140950.html)

• EU condemns Thailand’s deportation of Uighurs to China (https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/eu-condemns-thailand-s-deportation-of-uighurs-to-china/)

• Thailand links Bangkok shrine bomb to Chinese Uighurs for first time (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11866250/Thailand-links-Bangkok-shrine-bomb-to-Chinese-Uighurs-for-first-time.html)

Such great humanitarian assistance... 

Did nobody call the 'Building About to Collapse Hotline"?

4 hours ago, colinneil said:

He decided to pay for the reupholstering himself

Who is he trying to kid.

I guess it must be easier to splash around when it wasn't your money to begin with...

Who cares about slaves and exploited minorities when there is face and company profits to consider? 

1 hour ago, ratcatcher said:

Neither of you have any idea what a failed state really is. It's just something to say.

"Failed state : a state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control."

This "government" is very much in control whether we like it or not.  Fortunately, for the time being at least, we are still permitted to make comments on social media, something which failed states and banana republics don't seem to have.

In 2014 the Failed States Index, published annually by the United States think-tank Fund for Peace, was changed from the Failed States Index to the Fragile States Index (FSI), as it was argued that the term 'Failed State' established a false 'binary' division, or false dichotomy, between developed states and those that were deemed beyond recovery.

The FSI scores are sums of scores for 12 separate indicators related to various aspects of state stability and strength, with 0 being the lowest intensity (most stable) and 10 being the highest intensity (least stable), creating a scale spanning 0-120.

In 2016, the most stable country in the world is Finland with a score of 18.8, and the least stable is Somalia with a score of 114.0. Thailand is ranked 74^th least stable with a score of 78.8. (In 2013 Thailand was 90^th with a score of 75.1; in 2014 it fell to 80^th with a score of 77.0; in 2015 it dropped further to 71^st with a score of 79.1)

Thailand is in the "Elevated Warning" category, and is sat between Georgia and Bolivia.

The four indicators where Thailand ranks "Poor" are:

• 2016 HR rank: 34^th worst | score: 8.2  

• 2016 GG rank: 20^th worst | score: 9.0  

• 2016 SEC rank: 15^th worst | score: 9.2  

• 2016 FE rank: 11^th worst | score: 9.7

So, while it is far from a "failed state," its political and military indicators are very poor and getting worse under the junta:

Source: http://fsi.fundforpeace.org/rankings-2016

2 minutes ago, Keesters said:

 

 

In case anybody had problem viewing this as I did, Firefox didn't work, Chrome did, I found it on YT

 

 

Tragic

Thanks for that.

Tragic indeed.

4 hours ago, heybruce said:

"The revelations by Isra News that the contracts awarded to a firm owned by Pathompol Chan-ocha prompted fresh allegations of nepotism from critics of the junta, while Pathompol’s father, Gen. Preecha Chan-ocha, said there’s nothing wrong with the arrangement."

 

I wonder if these people understand the meanings of "corruption", "nepotism", and "conflict of interest".   I think these practices are so deeply entrenched they don't see anything wrong with them, it's just business as usual.

Spot on.

“My son graduated with a Bachelor’s degree, and he has to work,” Gen. Preecha was quoted saying after a secret letter appointing Patipat Chan-ocha, 25, as a Second Lieutenant and officer in the army was leaked via social media in April. “Now that there’s a vacant position, I put him to work in it. Many people in the army do it. It’s not like only my son does it. That’s all for now.”

6 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

These people simply have no morals......a fine example of a failed society........I would be surprised if Prayuth even makes a mention of this......it's simply business as usual!

 

"Please don’t ask me about this..."

27 minutes ago, MaiChai said:

I'm not sure what 'phone usage' means and what all the fuss is about? Maybe someone can enlighten me?

Phone usage could mean a number of things, from metadata to the contents of messages (say, to a gik) themselves. Obviously some people would not like the contents of certain messages to leak.

36 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

Even if this deal was completely clean, given to the best person for the job and there were no laws against it - how about simply not doing it?

 

How about being decent and setting good examples for your people. 

 

Ah, forget it. I'm wasting my time. 

To paraphrase Gordon Hewart, the 7th Lord Chief Justice of England, it is of fundamental importance that government should not only be clean, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be clean. Neither is the case in Thailand.

Not sure if this video has been posted:

Only 100? Over 2 years? Is there a tin of whitewash in that photo?

10 minutes ago, ChidlomDweller said:

Was thinking just the same, and some other names too.

 

As for the corruption, they're not even embarassed by it anymore.  

This overt nepotism, and the story of Preecha's wife getting treatment usually reserved for those way above her station, clearly shows what they think of themselves.

If there is any doubt:

Is this the same son he gave an officer's rank to earlier this year, despite having no military experience?

Edit: no, it's a different son...

Hmmm... No mention of the large(ish) city that the Chao Phraya, and all the "runoffs from the northern region," also runs through before draining into the gulf? 

I wonder what percentage of the world's cosmetics users want to be whiter?

7 minutes ago, djayz said:

A terrible, but hopefully quick and painless, way to go. 

I read an article once that claimed, for the faller, the perception of life ends meters above the ground.

Quote

Assume a cautiously conservative estimate employing a neural delay of only dt = 200 ms. Approaching the ground to about six meters above of it, then having a velocity of 32 m/s, one falls more than six meters (32 m/s * 0.2 s) during the time between the eyes receiving the light and the occurrence of the neural correlates of consciousness of the seen situation.

 

Resultantly, the conscious perception is that of a fast approaching ground, but this movie stops playing when the ground is still more than six meters away! One does never even come close to experiencing the impact, let alone having any pain because of it.

Obviously, no consolation for the poor fellow or those he leaves behind, but - if accurate - it would have been painless.

Credit: some Scottish journalist.

28 minutes ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Ban is about to stand down as Secy. Gen, I wonder if a certain person will present his credential when in New York ?

14 minutes ago, ScotBkk said:

PM
Wouldn't surprise me if we're all being monitored.

However, If you're monitoring every single thing that goes on in a given culture and if you have all the information that is there, then that is the equivalent of having SFA.

How are you going to process that amount of information?

Just saying .,,,.

Yes, my wife (whom I share frequent open and frank discussions regarding the politics of Thailand, and agrees with the majority of my views) is also concerned that my comments here are being noted... "Be careful darling" has been uttered many a time while I'm tapping away at the keyboard.

I follow a particular Scottish journalist of Facebook and Twitter, and am very cautious to never 'Like', comment or otherwise endorse anything posted by him, or, indeed, post anything on Facebook that may break any Thai laws (no matter what I think of them).