JCauto

While Suthep is known for getting carried away in his speeches his protest is the one out there trying to fix something which is not right. If there is a very large part of population disagreeing with what he does his enemies would utilise it a long time ago. Everywhere i go i see people watching blue sky tv bangkok and provinces. And I do believe majority of thais following this political drama want a genuine change which he is promising .

I think they understand clearly that one of the strategies is to get a strong opposing protest into the streets, thereby precipitating the inevitable violence between the two sides and resulting in the Army stepping in to take over. In fact, this is the only logical path that Suthep has at this point. You saw this already in the brief Red shirt counter-protest. Should the government get taken over by the Army rather than a new election, you can count on there being quite a number of Red shirts around. History repeating.

It's quite amusing to see how many of the opposition supporters claim to be speaking for the "silent majority" of Thai, yet are terrified of having an election knowing that they will lose. You cannot see the contradiction there?

Such a load of disingenuous <deleted>. And of course, no mention in the attribution that the author was formerly a Democratic politician and Minister, as if that isn't relevant.

A single paragraph acknowledging how the "amaart" look upon the rest of the country (a.k.a. the majority of citizens) as ignorant buffaloes, but no serious analysis of how they resent being disenfranchised repeatedly by a political party who haven't been able to win an election in how many years? If they're the "silent majority" then please explain that, smart guy. Oh right, the "votes are bought" canard. Thoroughly disproven already; try again Doctor Pitsuwan. Pretty poor research in my opinion but what do you expect in an education system that the elite were quite pleased to use to inculcate the buffaloes when they were easily led, but now find inadequate since they've started voting for their interests.

If you seriously think that the Democrats or any other party don't reward their supporters with patronage when elected, then you know nothing of Thai politics.

So, Yingluck is willing to dissolve parliament and call new elections, yet the protesters aren't satisfied and demand basically to take over the government. And there have been many scholarly articles and opinion pieces supporting the right and voice of the street as a genuine democratic response that is worthy of comparison to elections in this regard. So let me ask those supporting this view, including Dr. Pitsuwan, how would you feel about the army returning to barracks and setting a date for the Reds to come visiting and settle it in the street? How do you think that would go? Who do you think would win? I think you know the answer.

Fact is, Bangkok happens to be their home stadium, and they can buy all the tickets so guess which team makes the most noise in this event? Their view is that the other team has too many supporters and a rich owner, hence shouldn't be allowed to play at home. Not only that, they should play with 10 men right from the start, because they work in the fields and are therefore naturally stronger and more athletic than the urban people who don't have this advantage.

The Democrats made a timid but somewhat successful attempt to establish themselves in the Northeast in the 1990s and gained a foothold. However they soon found it too tough to maintain, especially since it was in those awful boondocks where there are hardly any decent high end restaurants and wine bars for them to patronize and retreated back to their familiar grounds. Now they whine that they can't have elections since they can't win them due to "vote buying". In fact, they tried vote buying too, but soon realized that they were paying money but getting no return on the investment since the rural folk can see quite well who acts in their interests and who does not. Hence the latest attempt to subvert democracy altogether. Sad that this is what passes for the "elite".

English is a far more difficult language in my opinion. I am talking about getting to a basic level where you can engage in reasonable conversation, rather than reading newspapers and books mind. The reasons are:

1. Grammar. Thai and other related languages (Lao, Khmer) are incredibly easy from a grammar point of view. I can't imagine how a non-Native English or other Romance language speaking person can figure that out.

2. Pronunciation. While tones throw a lot of people off, I found them not to be a problem. I just repeated what I heard and let my sub-conscious sort it out. As I'm closer to monotone in my speaking, the tones don't matter so much, and the Thai seem to be able to pick up what I get wrong based on context.

3. Opportunity. The Thai are happy to speak with you (or at least they were when I was learning it, but this was 24 years ago and in Isaan) and will spend inordinate amounts of their own time to do so since it seems to amuse them and, well, they have more time available. Plus, they're very social people and if you've got the right attitude then you can quite easily gain the chance to practice, usually while eating great food and drinking pseudo-whiskey with bucketloads of soda. Mind you, again, it helps greatly to be in rural areas for this to be the case. Or hanging with tuk-tuk drivers, bargirls and the rest of the Bangkok underclass...

I would encourage you to learn the basics of reading also. This helped me a lot in understanding words, and placement of words within sentences. As I often found myself sitting on some form of transport and looking out the window, it provides more opportunity to improve your understanding throughout the day.

My caveats are that I'm pretty good at language I guess, and learned Hebrew as a child so I think got used to the idea of weird characters and sentences without spaces. But even those whom I knew who weren't so lucky managed to overcome their barriers with effort. I would also suggest taking 4 weeks and doing a daily language course that includes reading, and not having work distractions during this time if you can manage it. I found having this foundation enabled me to get going quickly, and with that and being a social person I was able to have basic conversations within 6 months. The improvement it provided in terms of quality of life and enjoyment of the country was exponential as a result. Good luck!

It is really strange to read all the support Suthep Secretary General of the people bla bla bla gets from foreigners in this forum. Occupying government buildings, telling his followers to go for broke, demanding air time and so on, and the most tragic one, wanting a state with peoples comittes to run the country. Things come to my mind, Pol Pot, Soviet Union, North Korea these failed states were and one of them still are, great with democratic word play. Things that also comes to my mind is murder platoons that drag you out of your cell early in the morning and shoot you because you have a different way of thinking than their leaders. I can in my heart not understand nor find, any logic reason why so many people in here support the methodes of Dear Leader Secretary General Suthep, in his fight to change the political system in this country. After what i can read and what i can see, his reasons for starting the madness going on these days, is personal and not for the greater good for Thailand. And i ask, would any of you like to see this kind of thing happen in your country.

I don't quite see how this generalized rant has much to do with the specifics of this thread. But just a point for you to consider. There is only one side of this unrest that has ties to anyone connected with Pol Pot. The affinity of a certain family and many Redshirt leaders with Hun Sen is undeniable. And Hun Sen was a member of the Khmer Rouge. Case closed.

Speaking of generalized rants without much to do with the specifics...Hun Sen fled Cambodia for Vietnam in order to escape from Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge were quite factionalized, with the Pol Pot clique at the center in control. They descended into a spiraling purge of the "unpure" elements within the KR that included particularly the "Vietnamese minds in Khmer bodies" of the Eastern Zone. That was Hun Sen's group (he was a minor cadre at the time). But never mind the facts, so long as we can demonize one side or the other!

So, you're a supporter of Hun Sen and his "faction" of the Khmer Rouge that started to fragment after gaining control of the country, with each trying to get total control. Just a "minor" member of the Khmer Rouge, too. His total contribution to the Killing Fields not all that much. Got it.

Uh, not sure where I said I was a supporter of Hun Sen and his faction, just pointing out the inaccuracy of your hyperbolic post. But as the other guy said, let's keep it on topic.

Speaking of which...I often wonder about the vitriol directed Thaksin's way, after all, it's not like he was the first completely corrupt or megalomaniacal Thai PM. In fact, those who aren't are by far the exception rather than the rule. And it's not like the Thai, even those protesting, are all that disturbed by corruption, it's a way of life that extends through the entire society and it would be quite rare to find someone who hasn't participated in some way or another.

One thing that I think may underlie the anger is that Thaksin's policies went quite beyond the usual practice of vote-buying in the rural areas (a traditional, established and long-accepted practice of all Thai political parties) followed by doing whatever you wanted once you got in power. In those days, governing basically involved carving up the pie among the elite who were elected and their cronies (both urban and rural). Nothing was really ever passed along to the rural locals, whose 500 baht election bonus was considered as the full benefit they gained until the next election.

However, Thaksin opened up Pandora's box by actually enacting policies that materially affected and benefited the local people (OTOP, Tambon Councils and the cheap Health Care). This likely contributed to a shift in thinking that got the so-called buffaloes from the provinces to realize that you could actually get a lot more than just your election bonus, you could actually gain something from government when your guys got into power and did something for you rather than the usual "big" projects for the elite to gobble up. Once that cat was out of the bag, you now have the majority of the population from the rural areas moving from passivity and acceptance of business as usual into political activism and challenging the urban elite and "a-maart" for their share of the pie. Hence our current merry-go-round.

Don't you think this is part of the source of the anger against Thaksin, since it has fundamentally changed the way politics is run here?

It is really strange to read all the support Suthep Secretary General of the people bla bla bla gets from foreigners in this forum. Occupying government buildings, telling his followers to go for broke, demanding air time and so on, and the most tragic one, wanting a state with peoples comittes to run the country. Things come to my mind, Pol Pot, Soviet Union, North Korea these failed states were and one of them still are, great with democratic word play. Things that also comes to my mind is murder platoons that drag you out of your cell early in the morning and shoot you because you have a different way of thinking than their leaders. I can in my heart not understand nor find, any logic reason why so many people in here support the methodes of Dear Leader Secretary General Suthep, in his fight to change the political system in this country. After what i can read and what i can see, his reasons for starting the madness going on these days, is personal and not for the greater good for Thailand. And i ask, would any of you like to see this kind of thing happen in your country.

I don't quite see how this generalized rant has much to do with the specifics of this thread. But just a point for you to consider. There is only one side of this unrest that has ties to anyone connected with Pol Pot. The affinity of a certain family and many Redshirt leaders with Hun Sen is undeniable. And Hun Sen was a member of the Khmer Rouge. Case closed.

Speaking of generalized rants without much to do with the specifics...Hun Sen fled Cambodia for Vietnam in order to escape from Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge were quite factionalized, with the Pol Pot clique at the center in control. They descended into a spiraling purge of the "unpure" elements within the KR that included particularly the "Vietnamese minds in Khmer bodies" of the Eastern Zone. That was Hun Sen's group (he was a minor cadre at the time). But never mind the facts, so long as we can demonize one side or the other!

So, y'all doubt that someone would let their emotions get the better of them and take it out on Yingluck's son when even supposedly better edumacated Falang on TV would advocate the exact same thing? Sounds plausible to me. As is the possibility that it was entirely fabricated. Who knows?

As to the political elite going to expensive private schools...is there any country where this is not the case? Probably somewhere in Scandinavia. Obama's kids are at an exclusive private school, as were all his predecessor's. It's shocking to everyone that the political elite in Thailand from every party and shirt colour are outrageously rich and privileged? Is there a coffee shortage that is preventing you from waking up?

What's particularly interesting is how the Falang have adopted the emotions of the Thai and sided with one or the other in this fight, throwing their supposedly better judgement and experience out the window in the process.

Oh Yingluck,if you can't stand the heat,get out of the kitchen.

Don't you mean "go back to your kitchen" in this case?

By the way, remember that stuff works both ways. I take it you won't be complaining when protesters start dieing in droves, seeing as they decided to be there and if they can't stand the heat...

For gods sake. If blowing a whistle is considered that bad, we all must be persecuted on average maybe at least 5 times everyday. I for 1 would be quite happy to see a ban of all whistles in Thailand, I have often wondered if the security guard downstairs at my apartment could still blow it if I rammed it somewhere else.

Well, there's only one way to find out! Look forward to hearing the results of your scientific research.

I think that a missing "l" in the title may affect the interest and responses you get from this post...

Sitting here watching the Michigan National Guard try to clear IEDs with a metal detector and a pick (!) in Eastern Afghanistan, I'm reminded that there are other things in Cambodia that you wont encounter in Thailand : land mines. Granted, they aren't buried in urban areas, but how many of us would move to a country that had a problem with unexploded ordnance ?

There are a lot of different things to consider on both sides of the ledger, but this is fortunately not one of them. The only people who encounter land mines are poor farmers opening up new land in what are known to be dangerous areas. I cannot recall a single foreigner who has ever been injured by one post-UNTAC. Not one.

compared to Chiang Mai (where I stay)

I would be interested in comparisons of

-Internet speed and reliablity

-Traffic safety

-Air quality

I can't imagine wanting to be in PP. Where is the CM or Cambo? SR?

I live in Chiang Mai now, but lived in Phnom Penh for many years, and still have a business there. To answer your questions:

1. Internet is slower, less reliable and WAAAAAYYYYY more expensive.

2. Traffic is far more dangerous, especially if you're on a motorcycle.

3. Air quality is much better in Phnom Penh during February through April.

4. Siem Reap is the equivalent of Chiang Mai for Cambodia.

If you're interested in what was probably the best historical work on the Khmer Rouge era I'd recommend "Cambodia 1975 - 1982". Vickery pointed out that there was quite a lot of variation in conditions within the different zones at different times. Very well researched and detailed by one of the pre-eminent scholars of Cambodian history. In addition, I'd recommend "Cambodia 1975 - 1978" edited by Karl Jackson, which is a collection of shorter articles by established researchers. I'd agree that "When the War was Over" is probably the most accessible one.

Who keeps saying that Cambo doesn't have go-go bars? Pick your definition of bar type because there are lots of types, but Cambo is far from lacking adult entertainment and at half the price of LOS.

Cambodia doesn't have go-go bars. Anyone who has attempted to run one has had it summarily shut down. That said, there is indeed no lack of racy nightlife. But no go-go.

I find it difficult to support any country that until recently has barely stopped slaughtering its own citizens. Unlike its surrounding neighbours, Thailand has never done that. I enjoy Chiang Mai because it has a very substantial western expat base. There is nowhere in the city that DOESN'T have someone who can't speak at least a little English. Chiang Mai is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it covers most of what westerners want in a society... lots of accommodation, good medical, good dental, stable economy, reasonable and available merchandise, many places to eat, night life, fair transportation and it's easy to walk just about anywhere within an hour.

Seems someone needs to learn a bit of history...the Thai are quite content to engage in a bit of internecine slaughter at times. And you are aware that the Khmer Rouge regime ended 34 years ago, right? If you want to count 1975-79 as "recently", then you might look up the Thammasat University massacre in 1976 for example or the Black May incidents in 1993 or the Thaksin "War on Drugs" in 2003. And seriously, you (and Mr Hammer) really want to avoid Cambodia for the rest of your lives because of the actions of the small clique at the Center of the Khmer Rouge? I take it you've never been to Germany, and aren't scheduling any trips to China any time soon?

As to English, you'll find that FAR more Cambodians speak English than Thai, and are much more interested in doing so. I too love Chiang Mai, but you sound like you moved to another country just to find something as close as possible to what you left rather than opening your mind to new experience.

I remember a big fuss being made when Abhisit decided not to immediately withdraw troops in 2011.

Did the ICJ state a timeline for the Thai troop withdrawal? The other newspaper quotes an unnamed military source that Thai troops will withdraw in the "next year or so"

Yes. It was "immediately". So I guess in the Thai context, this means some time in 2014, maybe.

A tremendous opportunity missed by the UN. If they'd rigged it so that the Thai won Miss Universe while the ICJ ruled in favour of Cambodia, or vice-versa, they' have have had a compromise solution acceptable to both sides...

Patriot fan from the early 70's. Never miss a game.

It's been great to get games regularly and on replay with ASN. But those same damn commercials over and over again is like a form of medieval torture. On principle, I will never fly on Garuda's revitalized fleet to experience the Hard Rock Hotel or the Amara Resort in Bali. Wild horses couldn't drag me to discover the Twin Palms Phuket, and I am continuously dumbfounded by an NGO that apparently treats soldiers who went blind while fighting space aliens. Please ASN, have mercy, change the commercials, or just broadcast the empty field, or blank screen. I beg you.

Once you go bum gun, you never go back!  I now look upon my former compatriots as little more than savages, akin to time traveling back to the 1800's to observe their hygiene.

But we still have a ways to go.  Those Japanese systems are amazing, can't wait until they become common here.

 

A right old misery guts, as well as being overrated and boring. Much beloved of the 60's generation though.

I think you will find that yours is a minority view and a rather insensitive one for those who understand the towering intellectual and musical force he was to a generation seeking alternatives to mainstream thinking.

what did he do for his country apart from write a lot of miserable songs, some glorifying drug use. People like him are not 'heros' or 'legends' they are degenerates to be pitied.

Oh my word! Writing songs glorifying drugs? Why I do declare I'm getting the vapors reading about such sinful things! Such degenerates. I'm sure a righteous gentleman like yourself has contributed far more to society...

One of the greatest. I'd say "Rest In Peace", but I suspect he'd rather not, he preferred things a bit wilder.

Good Lord! Did I just read a sensible editorial in the Nation about Preah Vihear? Did their usual Editorial staff go on vacation or something?

I would be interested to review the Nation's editorials at the time to see how well these views coincide...