retsdon

Hmmm. So when was all this announced? Flying in a week today, and only just read about it. We spend about three to four months a year in Thailand during foreign university downtime, when I'm not working.The missus and kids have Thai passports, so no problem there, but since I stopped working in Thailand about ten years ago, I've never bothered with a visa. We have a house not too far from the border, so I just take the 30 days on arrival and pop over the border fortnightly until it's time to leave.

Anyway, too late to do anything about it now. We'll just have to see what happens when we get there.

Coup, reforms, new constitution, election, theft, coup, reforms, new constitution, election, theft, coup, reforms new constitution, election, theft, coup....ad infinitum

The wheel of Thai politics.

If the military wanted an election they would take measures to ensure that one was held.

Thailand isn't Syria. The Army has free rein to deploy personnel anywhere and anytime they like. They have the power to arrest and detain whoever they like for 7 days - almost certainly with the option to renew the detention and re-arrest almost indefinitely. They have the power to stop and search anyone, to enter buildings, to close down inflammatory broadcasters. If an election can't be secured under such circumstances - when can it be secured?

The answer is that will be deemed 'safe' to hold an election when the desired outcome can be guaranteed. Until those pieces are put in place, the army will claim an inability to do its job.

The real problem is the education system.

Thailand is supposed to spend more on any education than any other country in the world - more proof that corruption is everywhere in Thailand not just within the elected government.

The problem is that only a few measly baht from every hundred ever reaches the classrooms.

Look at the car parks at the "education" department and the reason for that is easy to see.

The problem with propaganda is that it sounds good even when it is false.

The true statement is that Thailand has the highest spending on education as a percentage of total government spending than any other country. That's true, but a big difference from the chant that it has the 'highest spending'.

Low taxes and hence low spending means that the actual spending per student is not so high - that's even before we enter into any mismanagement.

I worked in the Thai education system for a while. I left not long after being told by the head of the department at a well-known university, 'your problem is that you care too much'. To which my response was, ' you're not paying enough for me NOT to care!', and I promptly legged it to the Middle East where nobody is going to criticize you for trying to do your job properly, and they pay eight times the wages.

The Thai education system is a national disgrace. Language, science, mathematics, geography, - Thailand secures its place firmly at the bottom of any empirically measured international tables. The whole system, from top to bottom, is run by thieves and workplace politicians. The end users ( the kids) only role is as a lever to secure funds or build little empires. And the amount of money squandered or stolen would make your eyes water....

It's all very well, but they're in the hold fighting over the gold while the ship of state sails itself towards the reef. The economy is ticking along, people go to work, etc, etc, bit there is only so long before the fact that there is nobody at the helm becomes a major problem. None of these people, on either side, are doing the country any favours at all.

It's fascinating - and perhaps sad - that an apology would cause so much consternation in a Buddhist country.

Disingenuous and not worth a response.

Thai police really are amazing. Everyday we have news of police in America unjustly shooting civilians dead for various dumb reasons because the police "lost control" of a situation, but here we have Thai police bearing garlands and then humbly kneeling and asking for forgiveness. Simply amazing. One has to wonder how US Marines would react if this group had tried to enter the US Embassy, and when refused entry began removing protective barriers. Doubtless theywould nothesitate to shoot firstand thenask questions later. Just amazing.

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the police in the US murder people.

Jus curious. How long have you been in Thailand?

Sliding into anarchy. The ship of state will sail on for a while through pure momentum. But there's nobody on the bridge and the rudder has gone. No state has ever survived once the police force ( no matter how bad, corrupt, brutal) ceases to function.

I also read the Economist - they are generally as clueless as the BBC.

Has anyone been watching RT or AJ? I cannot get them.

How has their coverage been?

What coverage? All eyes are on Ukraine. Nobody cares about Thailand.

I think many reds have change names on here. Ashamed ate you all? Sutheo is the only one trying for positive change. He may be wrong in many ways but from small things little things grow

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Regardless of which side of the fence you view it from, red or yellow, it's ALL a total mess!

That's what happens when the political system is too sophisticated for the culture.

I'm curious about what kind of damage the members here sustained? We're due back in Chiang Rai in a few weeks, and we haven't been able to raise the lady who takes care of the house while we're away. I'm guessing that the single malt collection and the lead crystal decanter and glasses are now spread out in pieces across the living room floor....

There are some right miserable curmugeons posting on this thread. If you wanted laws for this and laws for that, you should have stayed at home. Personally, i don't have much of a problem woth kids tweaking their mopeds and racing them for fun. Hell, boys have been doing its like since mankind first put an engine on wheels. Half the pop songs of our childhood were themed on the very topic...

In fairness to the blokes in the scrapyard, according to this news report

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/03/31/70-years-after-b-29s-attacked-bkk-rail-yard-bts-crew-digs-vintage-bomb

both the police and the bomb squad were called when the bomb was discovered. So how did it end up at a scrapyard? If it wasn't stolen from somewhere, then the bomb squad must have given it a clean bill of health is the only answer.

A four year old? This bloke is a sick puppy. You have to wonder at his motivation for working in childcare in the first place. And you have to wonder at the school for employing someone like that. I don't believe for one moment that this 'prank' would have been an isolated incident.

d if anything has raised more doubts about the legitimacy of the regime.

The government of Thailand is not a 'regime'. For better or worse it's a democratically elected administration. Don't like it?- vote it out.

Thailand - strategically unimportant. Every Thai living should go down on their knees and say thank you for that.

There will be no civil war in Thailand. Syria, Ukraine, lots of big players with their dog in the fight. Thailand? Strategically unimportant but any war here would be a regional nuisance. Thais don't actually understand how lucky they are.

When you live beyond your means, eventually you'll realize that the sound you've been struggling to identify is the beating of the chicken's wings as they near the roost. Since Bernake flooded the world with easy money in 2008/9, an awful lot of people in Thailand, mesmerized by all the cheap credit, have been spending way outside their income bracket. Keep it up long enough and the wheels are bound to come off. Now that the party is winding down, expect the Thai economy to roll over.

Winning a free election doesn't figure in the plan at any point then? Expect the usual comments about PTP voters being buffaloes and too ill-educated and stupid to see where their own interests lie. But in reality they're no more ill-educated or stupid than some of the western posters on these threads who can't see that what's happening here is an attempt to turn the clock back to Thailand being ruled by a self-appointed oligarchy.

Why an undercover shadow force whose goal is to promote conflict would all dress uniformly so as to be instantly recognizable, rather than say dressing as ordinary protestors or fake police, iis of course never explained.

Half the Thais I know believe that they or someone they know has seen a ghost. Go figure, as my American friens would say.

Haha - political discourse in Thailand. Animal skins and clubs at dawn.....

What an <deleted> joke!

Nobody ever gets convicted and does hard time for politically motivated crime in Thailand because the battles are basically gangsters fighting a turf war. That goes for all sides. And gansters never pay a lot of attention to the law - especially when they own it.

this is not thai people.

why we care?

can stay in myanmar or cambodia if dont like!!

we dont ask you to come here.

this is THAI land.

Typical 'educated Thai' response. But it's mostly an Asian thing. When China gets all its dams finished and steals all the water from the Mekong leaving millions in Thailand and Vietnam destitute the average Chinaman will be saying,

"this not China people. Why we care?'

And the irony will go straight over Ponchi's head....

Not quite a united country....wonder why?