JingerBen

Despite many foreign menfolk having a comfortable life, together with a Thai lady, you only have the real life roots that you brought with you, to the LOS, and then provide an up-grade the quality level to that life, yourself.

Essentially, you are alone here (in the LOS), particularly on the cognitive consciousness levels. Many expats will fananatically deny this fact, as a means of justifying their rationale for permanently remaining there. The LOS is peaceful (for thr most part), the womenfolk are the best "available & accommodating" eye-candy in Asia, plus the food and accommodations are affordable. However, life in the LOS can still leave a spiritual void in the farang's life, regardless the size of his purse, or the amount of Heinekens comsumed.

Thus, all praises are due to the creators of the TVF. It’s a medium of entertainment, an intellectual or information exchange platform, a “bitching-post” (sounding board) for venting individual frustrations, or an available "neutral" platform where people can simply meet, and give each other, a much needed, reassuring hug.

Hence, the TVF simply dispels the spiritual loneliness of being, the perpetually tolerated farang of the village

Perhaps this explanation answers your question. I certainly hope so. Cheers, and best wishes to you

From one Ben to another let me thank you for a perceptive post.

Can't argue with any of your points, but might add that it helps to have a life here that includes meaningful work and a good family.

"Essentially, you affirm your wish to see Israel eradicated..."

No, that wasn't what he said at all.

Anyone who reads him regularly - and is honest - knows that is exactly what he would like to see.

Hogwash.

His posts are intelligent and factual.

It's the resident Zionists on this forum that deal in personal insults to push a dishonest agenda.

Reply to his point, don't denigrate his character.

Yes, but I think there is SOME truth to the leftist perspective that Israel will become less democratic if a two state solution can't somehow be engineered. (And yes that would require the political will on BOTH sides which currently does not exist on EITHER side.)

What isn't true is that Israel will ever accept a one state solution where they allow Jews to be a minority or EVER given up BASIC and CORE "Zionist" (in a GOOD way) values of universal right of return for Jews. The Israel demonization agenda is so obvious -- the end of Israel as a Jewish majority nation state, one way or another.

Sorry haters on Israel -- Israelis may be a lot of things, but they are not STUPID or particularly SUICIDAL.

Is it desirable for Israel to be less democratic and more right wing? No, of course not.

But that is more desirable than Israel NOT existing and an Israel without a Jewish majority means Israel no longer exists.

>>The Israel demonization agenda is so obvious -- the end of Israel as a Jewish majority nation state, one way or another.

Absolutely. Got it in one [..year's worth of posting!] A return to a Palestine of mixed religions exactly as it was 100 years ago, before European Zionist colonialists invaded to take over and dominate the land.

And that is exactly what will happen sooner or later.

Israel can do it the easy way or the messy way, as Joe Biden hinted at in the OP.

The easy way. Make peace with the Palestinians in a just 2 state solution. If the deal offered isn't just and fair the Palestinians will say no and the world will support them. The conflict festers on while the demographic problem grows.

The messy way. Continued land grabs by the right wing Zionist fanatics, continued repression of Palestinian human rights, continued resistance from freedom fighters. Increased global awareness through the international and social media of the great Zionist hoax: Israel plays the role of victim when they are in fact the aggressor. The conflict festers on while the demographic problem grows. Eventual capitulation from Israel due to internal and external pressure that forces a just 2 state solution. But that offer may no longer be on the table.

Either way, after decades of peace the two peoples will gradually and inevitably assimilate into one country. Especially if they both end up joining any free movement organisations such as the EU.

What isn't true is that Israel will ever accept a one state solution where they allow Jews to be a minority or EVER given up BASIC and CORE "Zionist" (in a GOOD way) values of universal right of return for Jews.

There you have it folks. Replace a few of the words and you have the manifesto of many racist/religionist regimes that have existed historically. Israel must maintain racial/religionist supremacy at all costs.

In fact I know of no other country in the world which automatically grants citizenship and a second passport solely for religious reasons.

The Time Machine is fiction.

Essentially, you affirm your wish to see Israel eradicated, and a new country (which will obviously not be Israel) to take its place. You wish to see Jews in Israel (or, perhaps New Palestine) as a tiny minority, only this time without even the semblance of protection afforded by the Ottomans or the Brits. Yeah, that would work....

Guess while at it, you'd have all previous Israeli Jews denounce Zionism, sent to attitude adjustment camps or deported. Other minorities (Druze coming to mind) will have to fend for themselves.

Continuing on the same political trajectory, Israel will obviously come to a point where things with the Palestinians will need to be addressed. Right now, there are no signs of major changes in policy. It may frustrate Biden, but it is what it is. Frankly, even if such changes were to magically materialize, it is doubtful that they could be swiftly acted upon or that their application would bring about the imagined results any time soon.

Your assumptions regarding the future bargaining power and resilience of the Palestinians are based on conditions remaining similar to current ones (meaning regionally and domestically). This being the Middle East, the weight of such long term predictions with regard to anything is questionable, even if it was pronounced less biased. Nothing is more indicative of the the value of such statements than the "after decades of peace" bit.... (or assuming that the EU would be around at that time).

What JT is about is quite simple. If faced between a choice between eradication and not being an ideal democracy, Israel would go with the latter. As would most countries. Of course, no issues whatsoever with the Palestinians dreaming of enacting pretty much the same policies...

"Essentially, you affirm your wish to see Israel eradicated..."

No, that wasn't what he said at all.

His point was that Israel is the only country in the world that automatically grants citizenship and a second passport solely for religious reasons.

Is that true? Refute that simple statement convincingly before wandering off into the fog of propaganda.

Biden's criticism of Netanyahu's government and Bernie Sanders' obvious dislike for radical Zionism are very positive developments for the prospect of peace in the Middle East.

You have to pay obeisance to Israel if you want to become the US President. You have to swear your full compliance with Israel's demands. You have to run to AIPAC and declare your eternal love of the Jewish state. This is a truism.

Or so it was until Sanders turned the tables and changed the rules. We do not know yet whether the game will succeed and he will be anointed the next President . We do not know even whether he will snatch the Democrats' nomination from the teeth of Mrs. Clinton. But he already achieved a great victory and toppled the mainstay pillar of the regime.

It is fitting that a Jew would undo the Jewish hegemony in the US, as it was a Communist Gorbachev who undid the Communist rule in the USSR. Some systems are too strong and impervious for an outside force; it is the inner impulse that breaks the hatching egg.

New name can be changed to: not - so jolly man?

What country is he headed for?

That will determine whether or not he changes his name.

Your looking for truths in the land if lies.

Christ lying is a national pastime.

And your facts to back this up are!!!!!!!@!@@@

Thais will often lie to family or friends to save face.

People will lie to you all day long,a classic example is a taxi driver telling you they know where you want to go when they simply do not.

There are thousands of examples in Thai culture where telling a lie is simply easier than not telling the truth or making ones self look a fool.

Anyone who has lived in Thailand for a period of time knows it.

For anyone who has ever lived or traveled in Africa, the Middle East, India, or many many other places in the world your comments sound naïve.

There are liars everywhere you go. Thailand is no exception.

The search for an honest country is-on-all-fours with Diogenes search for an honest man.

Give it up, bro.

Some governments never learn !

That's true, Jimbo.

But it doesn't apply to the US Government.

The war-based industrial complex does very well regardless if conflicts are won or lost.

Geopolitical considerations, such as oil or keeping the neighbourhood safe for Israel, are of secondary importance.

The essential thing is to keep Americans - or their proxies - fighting.

Better infrastructure, much better hospitals, transportation links to the rest of the world, more cosmopolitan, more things to do, not too "third world". Despite the change in government, it seems that other governments (Lao, Vietnam, Myanmar) are more xenophobic and place more limitations on where foreigners can go, what they can do and even seek to regulate things differently compared to locals where you don't have this in Thailand (different colored licence plates for vehicles in Laos compared to locals). Lack of transparency when things go wrong in those countries - more transparency in Thailand.

That sums it up very well for people who are comparing countries in this region.

Thailand Is a better place to live.

I don't approve of these new settlements but I also think if Israel left Judea and Samaria completely that the Palestinians wouldn't give up on their real goal which they share with Hamas.

Now you're playing the psychic.

Judea and Samaria ceased to exist almost 2000 years ago. Only the old Zionist knuckleheads like Menachem Begin used those terms Israel has to accept that fact and build a secure and prosperous country within their 1967 borders.

Stupid argument. The British had ALREADY given the Palestinians approximately 70% of what was supposed to be the Jewish homeland - The British Mandate. Nowadays, it is called Jordan. The later split of 56% to the Jews and 44% to the Arabs was a division of only the remaining 30%. On top of that, much of the 56% figure is actually the Negev desert, which was state-owned and had few settlements. It was pretty much worthless. The Palestinians were given FAR more land in the whole process.

Sorry but why is it "supposed to be the Jewish homeland"? What gives them the right to settle the land in perpetuity? In no other part of the world can a race get away with making such ridiculous claims.

When the balance of global power shifts and the USA is no longer in the position it now is, there will be a solution to the problem that Israel has created in the Middle East but perhaps not one the Jews will appreciate.

Everyone's a psychic.

Maybe so, but it doesn't require clairvoyance to see that Israel will be overwhelmed by a hostile Palestinian population in the occupied territories.

The old Zionist dream of Eretz Israel will turn into a nightmare.

You keep repeating that "The Palestinians NEVER HAD A COUNTRY." That's utter BS and you know it. There was never a country called "Native America" either. Yet Native Americans lived in North America for thousands of years. That is, until the Europeans came and stole all their land and killed about 99.9% of them.

Sorry sonny, but you have it all backwards. The Jews came in peace and tried buying barren land legally for Jewish immigrants to live. Thes Arabs started attacking THEM. In fact, they were the ones that tried forcing them from the land that they had bought and improved by making the desert bloom.

The Palestinians never had a country and if they keep trying to get their way by VIOLENCE, they never will have one. They will just keep losing like they have for the last 70 years.

Utter nonsense.

I would gladly tear apart every single sentence in your pseudo history, but I feel we would be drifting off topic.

Every European colonization has created its own mythology to justify its land theft and repression of the indigenous population...we were bringing civilization/Christianity/whatever to the savages and they just didn't appreciate our kindness. Israel and its apologists are no different.

I agree Absolutely. Please educate yourself on the financing of the Jewish refugees from WW2. The proposition that each of these Jewish refugees - who barely had the skin on their backs, after the Nazis finished with them, had the money to buy land, is an outright lie. Europe, especially Britain, paid some Jewish land brokers, to get rid of what they thought of as untouchables.

And by the way, use the correct terminology, when you accuse one of the posters as spouting anti-Semitic tropes. Wilkipedia defines anti-semitism as : prejudice against, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews as an ethnic, religious, or racial group. Just about every poster here protesting against the land grab by Israel might be called anti-Israeli......but it is a knee-jerk reaction ( and a typical mistake of Israeli apologists) to call them anti-Jewish.

In most cases it's not ...a typical mistake... it's a calculated propaganda tactic.

prosecuting those responsible for starting the war in afganiistan for crimes against humanity wouldn't be a bad start either

Are you talking about the British, Russians or Americans???

He was talking about Americans, if I read it correctly.

The disasters experienced by the British and Russians in Afghanistan should have been object lessons.

It brings to mind the old chestnut: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And where is the blue diamond now? Six people dead, others in jail, and according to wikipedia: "The number of Thais working in Saudi Arabia fell from 150,000-200,000 in 1989 to just 10,000 in 2008. The cost to Thailand is 200 billion baht in remittances as fewer Thai workers were permitted to go to Saudi Arabia.^{[9]', "Thai Foreign Minister to reopen Saudi gems scandal case". 2Thailand.net. Mathaba. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 14 Feb 2015}

All worth it of course, because it made some special people happy.

I think many know where the gem is......

It was probably recut a long time ago.

Kriangkrai's theft of the gemstones in Saudi started the whole thing... that's true.

There is no evidence that he was involved in the subsequent chain of events.

Bloody murder by the guardians of justice.

Kriangkrai was just a kamoy.

@Buckbee . As a climatologist, I am baffled at the confused, inexact and contradictory statements I have just read.

I just hope it's a problem of not exact translation from Thai to English.

In fact, a heat wave from ocean breezes is absurd, that's right, moisture can only increase the heat indexes (feeling like temperature) not causing a jump in the temperature. Continental air instead can cause a jump in temperature together with a decrease of the moisture, but it's more typical of the temperate and desert climates, that's correct.

In a tropical humid country like Thailand, the hottest temperatures are indeed recorded just after the passage of the sun at the equinox but the small differences between years are mostly due to atmospheric conditions and quantity of moisture in the terrain aka presence of drought (which reflects the sun) , this year we are still under the influence of the Nino , so the atmosphere is warmer than the average because the warmer than average oceans exchange its surplus energy with the lower levels of the atmosphere.

Maybe that was that guy from the University meant ?

Informative post.

The straight stuff - nothing lost in translation.

In wars, bad stuff happens all the time...R.I.P. to the innocent people if you can tell who they are. Many a 'bad guy' could be getting fixed up to go back out and kill again.

Using that simple-minded logic, even conspicuous war crimes could be justified.

haha. some joke mossad agents stuck in mud:) so wonder how they handle desert sand? do they stuck all the time?

funny, the security of israel is in stakes then if mossad agents are that incompetent!

It wasn't always so...

Five of them were dancing on the roof of their moving van in New Jersey while watching the Twin Towers burn.

The miasma of propaganda makes it hard to breathe and see things clearly.

Meanwhile, back on topic...

This is an impressive list of countries and organizations.

The very fact that they agreed to meet and discuss the conflict at the request of the Palestinians is a positive step forward.

Sooner or later it will be realized that Israeli intransigence has made a two-state solution to the problem impossible, and Israel will have to deal with the profound consequences of that reality.

More and more influential people - on both sides - are recognizing that.

A good example: Welcome to the One-state Club, Thomas Friedman.

www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/14/welcome-one-state-club-thomas-friedman

Dream on, even the OIC are in favour of two independent states, unlike the Palestinians. They have never aspired to a state of their own, except as a phony construct with which to attempt to end Israel as one.

I'm not dreaming. I was pointing out a possible - and increasingly probable - outcome of this stalemated conflict.

The Zionist dream of Eretz Israel will become a reality, along with 2.5 million Palestinians who will be part of the package.

They will have to be dealt with in one way or another. Either expelled to neighbouring countries; kept in Bantustans; or given civil, as well as voting rights.

All of the various choices will mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Even the mass expulsion scenario would result in a catastrophe for the radical Zionist leadership.

There are no good options left.

Brilliiant. A plot straight from the x-files or Sleepy Hollow. People with no idea how this works will howl their dogmatic contempt from the bleachers of angosticism, or narrow mindedness, but I find this very re-assuring that the illusion of our oh so concrete reality, can be split apart.

Go talk to Billy Fingers.

Onward psychic soldiers.

Most likely, the relative was tipped off by someone that knows the perp and the ghost story is being used to protect their identity. Or is it "narrow minded" to use logic ?

Its a good slant for a sleuth and logic can exhale its cold breath on any window to cloud the view.

You see? Window pane. Nothing beyond it! However, I have the "sight" myself and use it often.

Clever reply.

Quick-witted posters make this forum very interesting.

The miasma of propaganda makes it hard to breathe and see things clearly.

Meanwhile, back on topic...

This is an impressive list of countries and organizations.

The very fact that they agreed to meet and discuss the conflict at the request of the Palestinians is a positive step forward.

Sooner or later it will be realized that Israeli intransigence has made a two-state solution to the problem impossible, and Israel will have to deal with the profound consequences of that reality.

More and more influential people - on both sides - are recognizing that.

A good example: Welcome to the One-state Club, Thomas Friedman.

www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/14/welcome-one-state-club-thomas-friedman

One more down the crapper.

Really.

The election campaign is a farce.

Talk about a failed state...

Your observations are familiar to most - if not all - of us who have married into Thai families.

My own experience is that it took a while to feel totally relaxed around them.

When my wife and I started to bring up children of our own, the relationships with the extended family improved in all sorts of ways that have continued to this day.

Some I enjoy talking to, some I prefer to keep at a distance... just the way I feel about my family back in Farangland.

An 'extraordinary' summit set up based entirely on a false premise. The status of Al-Aqsa has never changed and any short term restrictions were caused by Palestinians throwing rocks and pipe bombs at Israelis visiting Temple Mount. One day the OIC will tell the Palestinians to grow up and stop the incitement, peace would then quickly follow.

...and neither has the status of Israel's 50 year brutal illegal occupation and repression of Palestinians, which is also on the OIC agenda.

Peace has not quickly followed because in 1967 from a position of strength, Israel had a chance to make peace with its neighbors, but it chose instead to illegally occupy and colonize the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and the Golan Heights. It has simply created a rod for its own and everyone else's back.

I wish the conference every success and hope with the backing of almost a quarter of the world's population it can achieve some concrete results to brings Israel to its senses.

Nothing will bring Israel to its senses short of a comprehensive economic, cultural, and academic boycott imposed by countries that want to see this conflict brought to an end.

Anyone remember a few months ago when the president of Israel addressed the US Congress? The right-wing loved him. But the conservative fringe is as virulently anti-semitic as German propaganda in the 1930s. How does that work? Add to that these people all have a deep love of Jesus, who was a Jew. Maybe it is Israeli money, in the form of campaign contributions, that keeps the GOP politicians from going anti-Jew.

I've been waiting for Trump to stumble on this: his supporters will love it, but the media will only say "ooo, what he said!" But Trump will back off, saying he was really talking about "shrews," like his ex-wives. Then he'll claim he didn't hear the question because his head was up his ass.

If Bernie were to get the Dem nomination you can bet your bottom dollar there will some big-time Jew bashing. Glen Beck will add to his fortune by selling copies of Dr Zhivago and "Protocols" from his website.

You're absolutely on the money.

Dr.Zhivago and much much more.

Perhaps even Solzhenitsyn's Two Hundred Years Together fully translated into English.

She must be a Texan.

For sure.

Who but a Texan would wear shoes like that?