MisterTee

Actually the Palestinians started the violence back in the beginning of last century and have never stopped since. The settlements are just a convenient excuse to keep up what they have been doing all along. If it was not that. It would be something else.

That reply is just nonsense.

Can you give your opinion why Israel is encroaching on Palestinian territory in flagrant violation of international law?

Unfortunate casualties of war. Israel actually has one of the best records in the world for avoiding civilian casualties.

If Hamas would stop shooting rockets into civilian communities, Israel would not be forced to respond. The Palestinians are their own worst enemies.

That totally ignores the building of illegal settlements and the occupation of Palestinian land that provokes the violence in the first place.

Why can't Israel live within their 1967 borders?

When and where will their land grabs end?

The stated goal of a two-state solution is a transparent deception.

Most of the problems in the region can be traced back to English and French foreign policy. As the guy says in respect of Palestine: a promise made by those who didn't own to those who didn't deserve.

No one would dispute the right of the Jews to seek to reside , in safety, in the region....either in a state of their own or on some Cyprus-like arrangement.

What is untenable though is the complete intransigence of the current Israeli govt ( and the complicit lap dog lickspittles in Washington, Hilary Clinton being one). The more they resist a negotiated settlement,the less likely it can end well for Israel. Rabin well understood that but not the loony fringe successors.

This land was not gifted by God but rather at the whim of a sleazy British politician

Sleazy! How dare you sir! Step outside!

Don't be facetious, it's uncalled for.

The post you are making fun of is one of the best on the thread.

If you don't agree with him, maybe you could refute some of his points.

The Songthaews tend to drive on a route - - the price is fixed if you join in the trip with others. If you want to go somewhere off their route, then you need to negotiate a fare as with a taxi... try and be realistic. A shared ride for 20 baht is not the same as door to door service and deserves a higher price.

Some people claim they just get in... I will always tell them where I am going [because who the heck knows what their route might be] and confirm the price. So, you might want to learn at least a little Thai so as to help with communication.

I have found most of them to be pretty fair. I would suggest finding one you like and getting a phone number and maybe using them as a personal service, or anyone with a car. Ask around, you will find someone reliable...

good luck.

That's good sound advice about the songthaews in Chiang Mai.

Especially the part about learning some Thai to avoid misunderstandings.

Motorbikes are the most dangerous way to get around, but they are also the cheapest and fastest.

To each his own.

What are the most overrated things in Thailand? ...Farangs.

In the case you refered to, it has been discovered that he was killed by his Thai neighbor because he slandered and insulted his Thai neighbor's family on a number of public occasions.

It could have happened anywhere in the world.

Yes, certainly it could have happened anywhere in the world.

But in Thailand it is more likely to happen.

Farangs who have lived here a long time usually understand that.

No it's not more likely to happen.

Foreigners being murdered is a rare occurrence in Thailand.

I realise that some get into trouble but often they have themselves and their arrogant behaviour to blame

The typical, "heavily-persecuted" Thaivisa member would have you believe they're just one wrong look away from being riddled with bullets by a crazed Thai trying desperately to save face over the most minor of social infractions.

What's at issue isn't ​"...minor...social infractions." ​

It's ​"...because he slandered and insulted his Thai neighbor's family on a number of public occasions."

​As already pointed out, that kind of stupidity can get you killed anywhere, but here in Thailand it most definitely ​is ​more likely.

Ignoring the conspiracy theory noise, especially the predictable blame everything on Israel crapola, I think the U.S. should simply follow the letter of U.S. law strictly, and if a strong case is made for extradition that meets U.S. law then extradite him. If not, don't, and explain how the case is too weak. Erdogan is a horrible leader but the U.S. may soon elect someone as bad (trump) and the U.S. has the death penalty so if they are sending Gulen to his death, that isn't a problem under U.S. law, that is if the case is strong enough.

Of course another way to look at it is that is holding on to Gulen worth destroying cooperation with Turkey to fight Daesh. I suppose taking that into account may be politically defensible as well.

So little is known about who was behind the coup in Turkey that everything is speculation.

Hopefully more facts will come out soon. In the meantime, the only thing certain is that Erdogan is ruthlessly purging the country of Fethullah Gulen's organization Hizmet, which ex-FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds exposed as a CIA asset.

The Russians ran afoul of Gulen by banning Hizmet's activities in Russia in 2008. The Turkish F-16 pilot who shot down the Russian SU-24 bomber over Syria on November 24 2015 turned out to be a Gulen follower and subsequently participated in the coup. .His helicopter was shot down in Ankara. This is not an example of fast thinking: in March 2016 the pro-government newspaper Sabah revealed that the pilot was a Gulen supporter and had acted upon his instructions. Whether Gulen had been hostile to Russia for his own reasons or followed CIA orders, he succeeded in causing enmity between Putin and Erdogan.

The possible Israeli connection is through the coup leader, former Turkish military attache in Tel Aviv, General Akin Ozturk.

Anyone who comes out with detailed explanations at this point is either clueless or is disingenuously pushing an agenda.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Despite Kerry's denials, the pointers are to Washington and Tel Aviv, and perhaps to Brussels as well.

Turkish top brass has long been known for its pro-NATO, pro-USA and pro-Israel sympathies. The coup leader, the Air Force commander General Akin Ozturk served as the military attache in Tel Aviv. Bekir Ercan Van, the commander of the Incirlik air base has been arrested after his request for political asylum in the US had been refused. If they had won they would have been applauded and feted in the West.

Yes, Virginia, there was a coup, and it failed.

He is well spoken. But appears his concepts are built upon those he has met or associates with. There have been many expats in Asia that have contributed in the making of Asia into an industrious ,functioning modern place. Many expats brought their skills here that developed Asia. Without these expats Asia would still be way behind the rest of the world. I personally know quite a few engineers that spent their careers in Asia.They contributed greatly to Asia and Asia owes them a lot.Without expats bringing their knowledge Asia would be floundering.

Yes Asia also attracts the undesirable,s but what country doesnot these days. What does Asian,s offer the rest of the world but cheap labour for cheap products or high profits.on cheap labour. So it is like the kettle calling the pot black.

Expats offer Asia more than Asia offers the rest of the world. Migrating Asian,s offer only labour in most cases so what do they bring to the world they enter. when they immigrate around the world.

Ill-informed post from the beginning to the end.

It doesn't deserve a detailed contradiction.

Incidentally, are you aware that the student body at Caltech is 45% Asian?

So just because prisons are full doesn't make drug's dealing any less sever, yes, the penalties are a bit

harsh for drug dealing and possessions, but look at our neighbors Singapore and Malaysia with

a sure death sentences for a fairly small amount of class A drugs,

A better control of the borders, stern warning to Burma, the major supplier huge quantities all class of drugs

to better control and seal it's unabated drug manufacturing,

A country wide scheme to reeducate youngsters and old alike to the perils of drugs, but most of all, purge of all

corrupt officials that give their permission and turn a blind eye for money and power.....

If you compare drug use, costs of addiction, and number of people in jails you will notice that the countries that fight drugs the hardest ( = America) are having the poorest results while the countries that fight "smarter" (northern Europe) are fairing pretty well. But instead of fighting "smarter" you are suggesting to even intensify the war on drugs?

Better control of the borders: good luck with that. Even North Korea cannot control its borders strictly enough let alone Thailand where most borders are forested areas and the police/military who is guarding the borders are corrupt.

Stern warning to Burma: not sure what you mean there. You suggest Thailand threatens Burma to clean up "or else"? I don't think anybody can take that serious.

Reeducate youngsters: maybe start by educating them first and offer them something to work towards. People do not take drugs "for fun", they do it because they lack opportunities, self-esteem, a future, etc.

Purge all corrupt officials: agree there, this is necessary but should also be done unrelated to drug smuggling and drug use.

​"People do not take drugs 'for fun', they do it because they lack opportunities, self-esteem, a future, etc." ​

That is absolute nonsense.

Coming of age in the 1960s my friends and I and our whole generation in the US certainly didn't lack opportunities, self-esteem, or the prospects for a good future.

Travelling in the West Indies and Europe shortly after that, and then overland across Asia on the Hippie Trail didn't do anything to take the fun and pleasure out of moderate indulgence

Of all the drugs to consider legalizing, I'd put meth very low on the list. Its effects on health are devastating.

If allowed to toke on some weed, chew a little kratom (sp?), or even take some NoDoz, maybe meth would lose some of its appeal.

Maybe even some designer drugs in a bottle, based on cocaine or opium, carefully toned down to reduce the effects on health? (Edit: Coca Cola didn't get its name by accident) Then the M150 and Red Bull guys can rake in even more money, too- instead of it going to criminals who would murder you just as soon as look at you...

All good points.

Putting the coca back in the cola would be a gratifying first step.

It's incredible that the US - and the world - didn't learn any lessons from Prohibition.

I am impressed that so many ThaiVisa members know Ruth Ginsberg personally, enough to make perceptive knowledgeable comments about her health and disposition.

They don't. But such a remark was either incredibly ill judged or maliciously intended. Message given and not retracted in an apology that apologizes for making it, not the content.

Surely, in either case, the only honorable thing to do would be to resign?

But it seems US Supreme Court judges are political appointees who judge according to their politics and therefore honor doesn't come into it.

Agreed.

Justice Ginsburg's partisan political comments not only showed bad judgement on her part, but reflected badly on the Supreme Court itself as an unbiased institution.

Of course she should resign - but don't bet on that happening anytime soon. She won't leave until she's carried out feet first.

Remember Abe Fortas?

It wasn't until multiple financial scandals and a taped telephone conversation publicized by Bob Woodward incriminated him and forced him out kicking and screaming.

Yes it's far worse living in Australia than Thailand and the quality of life is worse we know.

Thailand is paradise on earth and the west is a nasty merciless place,a Nanny state with a hidden agenda and laws no better than Thailand.

Next.

If I didnt know better, I would detect a small hint of sarcasm, lol

stoneyboy was spot on... whether he knows it or not.

• Bank Of England have wanted to weaken our currency for a long time so what better reason than the Brexit.
• British pound was going to get weaker no matter what because that's what's required to make our exports cheaper and erode our debt.
• Pound will stabilize and get back to near normal as they stabilize the political situation.

All good points, but the political situation will not be stabilized until they have competent leadership.

Quagmires are the best way to keep the weapons sales rolling.

Keeping each side in the fight is critical.

So true.

The Military/Industrial Complex learned that in Vietnam.

Why win when you can get filthy rich by losing?

As an atheist, I am just supporting the resistance of oppressed people whose land is stolen too.

And yet the zeal of the anti-Israel folks regarding the oppression of the Arabs in the West Bank, and I too am against the existence of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, is never seen in relation to the oppression and/or stolen lands of the Kurds, Uyghurs, or countless other irredentist populations, many of whom do not have the alternative of migrating to neighboring states with an identical ethnic identity.

The term ​irredentist ​only applies to the Palestinian factions who claim the entire territory of the state of Israel.

It has nothing to do with the indigenous inhabitants of occupied Palestine.

Giving these people the ​"...alternative of migrating to neighboring states with an identical ethnic identity" ​i​s what the hard-core Zionists intend to do, but they are too dishonest to say it straight out.

you chose to stay a while back did you not see this coming then

They did choose to stay - but the EU was part of the package.

Things have changed.

They must be insane after the US shafted them over the sanctions. Why not buy Airbus? Just as good and no sanctions.

It seems like a calculated decision by the leadership in Tehran to buy Boeing instead of Airbus.

More to do with politics than economics.

The true wonderfulness of TV.

All terribly amusing - maybe this woman was actually trafficking young women and forcing them into prostitution - it happens all the time.

So if she is arrested- good- might save a few guillable girls in the future

not really, the people who fall for this are going to fall for something else the next day

All good to prosecute those a-holes but it won't change anything, dumb people will find a way to become slave or lose all their money or hit a parked car with no helmet on. The only way to save them is to babysit them like in the west and let them live on social welfare money without the means of travelling further than the corner store for a bit of food and alchool.

You make some good points.

A nanny state would be their salvation.

Putin never learns.

CCP Dictators in Beijing have benefited enormously by heavily engaging their economic development with the USA, in financing especially. India has gained much the past twenty years by an increasingly active political alignment with the USA to include strategically in the SCS, South Central Asia, and concerning Iran and the Gulf.

Putin on the other hand has encouraged Russian jihadists in the North Caucuses to fight in Syria figuring USA would help kill 'em off for him. Daesh is more the enemy of Russia than it is the USA which is why Putin focused on bombing hell out of 'em. Al Nusra keeps putting it to Putin to the point he's got FM Lavrov squawking to SecState John Kerry who continues to play the role of Obama's butler innocently spilling hot tea on Putin.

Putin chooses to instead wage hybrid wars against Georgia, Ukraine and now USA in Syria while Europe begins again to feel menaced by Putin as a 21st century territorial aggressor in EurAsia. So Putin's had the squeeze put on him in oil prices, the ruble, trade and technology, diplomacy, the collapse of his precious Brics countries; he's struggling (against Canada-USA mainly) to access resources in the Arctic and so much more that's whacked his government budget off by 50% and chopped 5% off GDP.

If Putin could cooperate on some one important thing such as do CCP and India respectively, Russia and Putin along with everyone else would be a lot better off. Instead Putin pursues his constant and unrelenting, eccentric and idiosyncratic irredentism and revanchism. Putin is a compulsive and nothing more than obsessive.

Russian elites have begun to recognise Putin suffers from a brain disease, i.e., ideology -- he is a Tsarist-Chekist who will never change. Which means a further development of Russia can become possible only if and when Putin is sent off to retirement on some tropical island. Or terminated in one way or the other by his own elites who can offer the population a way to restore progress based in stability and global respect.

The view from Foggy Bottom.

Some of the points may be credible, but overall it's just the usual warmongering hogwash from the USA.

Why are you looking only for bald & fat farangs?

Because they're looking for a hogwash.

The reference to Udon gives the game away.

To quote Orwell. The war is not meant to be won.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

George Orwell saw it coming...

Big Brother; Emmanuel Goldstein; the security state, and so much more.

images-5.jpg

Sally Rand... Chicago World's Fair 1934.

Do you remember it too?

What has happened to fang37?

Once a prolific poster with some interesting topics and perceptive observations.

Did he move away?

Oh Donald..... on the shooter: "He was born in Afghan"....

No, he was born in New York. And where the hell is 'Afghan'?

And now he's banned the Washington Post for being nasty to him.

What a bumbling idiot.

Had I been president this event would not have happened, and would not continue to happen because America would not give citizenship to their sworn enemies. Simple logic if not completely PC.

Seriously? This is the kind of nonsense that Trump would spew. Is there anyone over 5 years of age that would actually believe that?

You will be stunned to learn that as a youth I spent many years in a fairly isolated community with no muslims and no mosques. Incredibly there were no gangs of morons going around beating women for not covering their faces, nobody beating people enjoying a drink outside in the summer. The secular community was perfectly peaceful - yes there were some drunks and tramps but they were a known quantity and not out to kill others. To my disgust the leaders of this community have now started importing muslims, and now there are quite a few with full black headdress and yes it is only a matter of time until one of them gets the "calling" and starts mowing down infidels. My point is it is not compulsory to screw up your community or country by inviting members of a hateful ideology and I have always said their children and all following generations of them will always be a risk because they are 1st muslim and 2nd citizens so their loyalty lies to allah and its just a matter of time until they get serious about their ideology and start murdering non-believers as they are told to do in the koran and in the mosque by some leaders(see the Orlando hate preachers saying all gays deserved to die).

People that ignored views like my own and mass imported these hateful members of the particular ideology have blood on their hands. They caused this mass murder. Same as a farmer that throws a fox into his henhouse must be responsible for his headless chooks the next morning. This should be obvious I'm not sure why you think my logic to be nonsense.

Ah, that explains it - your isolated childhood community has been invaded by gangs of morons going around beating women for not covering their faces.

​Your ​logic ​is perfectly understandable.