Zooheekock

And have a daughter that has slept with over 100 guys by the age of 20 years old that's self centred and only cares about herself...

Most westernised children have no respect in their parents and throw them in a nursing home when they get old. Family is last on their list! It's become a nation of narcissistic people.

Feminism has poisoned westernised society, it's gone to total shit in the last 20 years... No one bothers with westernised women if they want to get married... I thought everyone here has moved to Thailand (or try to live here as much as possible) for this reason and married a Thai woman.

I just want a normal family that's traditional. My other option is Eastern Europe but I hear it's been poison by Feminism as well...

I think perhaps Saudi Arabia or Pakistan (though stick to the rural backwaters, not the urban areas) may be more what you're looking for.

The obvious things aside (English teaching, etc.) it's one of those 'if you have to ask, the answer is no' type questions. If you don't have a business which you can bring with you (and it doesn't sound like you have) or if you don't have some kind of opening/connection here already (and it doesn't sound like you have that either), then you'd be well advised to stay in Australia.

Generally speaking, extradition treaties only permit the return of a fugitive, inter alia, when the offence for which they are to be charged is a crime specified in both countries' penal codes. LM is not an offence in the NZ criminal calendar and therefore the Thai chap cannot be extradited. The Thai authorities are well aware of this but from time to time the junta are compelled to re-activate the issue, presumably for domestic consumption. They have done this in respect of other Thai nationals living in the UK and Japan and still persist in making representations to those countries' governments despite having been told on numerous occasions that the offence is not extraditable. Given the futility of these representations one must conclude their purpose is simply to maintain linkage between the Red Shirt movement and lese majeste in the minds of the Thai people thereby undermining its popularity.

I agree with your analysis of the situation but differ somewhat with your conclusion.I don't believe the Thai population follows these matters with rapt attention and in any event takes a more sophisticated approach than many believe.In other words they can recognise and discount propaganda.

More particularly the fanatics on the extreme right appear to be in grip of a cult which defies reason and common sense.Alongside these crazies, politicians (including the military government) seek to wrap themselves in royalist clothing so that their self serving antics can be justified.

The reality that these peoples behaviour undermines the whole purpose of the LM laws is apparently of no consequence to them.

For those like myself who believe strongly in the value of the great Thai institution there is little to be optimistic about.

By a rather cruel irony, the victim of this witchhunt said something very similar in his speech.

First I thought there might be a misunderstanding or a wrong translation - so, I went to look for the Thai source.

The translation is really correct.

First Prayuth said that the fugitives are not Thai.

And after that he says he wants to get them extradited to Thailand.

Stupidity has a name in Thailand: "Prayuth"

To be fair to Prayuth (not something I'm overly inclined to do), in this case, 'being Thai' is not really about passports and places of birth - it's a statement about character and virtue and having the appropriate set of political-cultural beliefs. Why conservatives are convinced that they have some exclusive role in defining national virtues is a bit of a mystery but that they are sure of this is undeniable.

Why? You're the one who seems to think that a young kid saying that people have a responsibility to defend a democratically elected government against treasonous behaviour is somehow reprehensible....

....still waiting for that explanation.

WOW. Turn it around hey...

That is what my 5 year old son does in the play ground...

I notice you haven't sent it yet?

Still waiting mate!

Having a problem? What is it? Have his evil words slipped your memory? The video of his speech is still on youtube. Just search under his name and the date of the alleged offence and you'll find it so it should be a piece of cake to explain why he is such a terrible person. And there's no need to mention the sections which refer to the institution so you can post your analysis here. I look forward to reading it.

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Unless....unless....no, it can't be.....can it?......You're.....lying???? You've never seen it and even if you did, you wouldn't have a clue what it was he was talking about because you don't speak Thai anywhere near well enough. No, surely not. There's another explanation, right? Right?

Is poor taste and lack of tact against the law?

An articulate rebuttal is not your strong point is it?

Send me a PM with what this guy said and tell me how it would be an acceptable speech anywhere in the world.

I bet you can't.

You claim to have seen it. Send me a transcript of what he said and explain why it would be unacceptable everywhere in the world. Thai is fine, no need to bother with a translation.

Stupid as Prayuth is, he and the MFA know full well that there is exactly zero chance of NZ complying with any request. This is entirely for domestic consumption.

News reporting in Thailand has simply become repeating gossip ... no "journalism" as such anymore (or very little), just stories with nothing looked into or questioned ...

There's plenty of decent news around but, strange as it may seem, news about Thailand tends to be written in Thai; if you can't read the language of the country in which you live and are therefore forced to read some atrocious old rag like The Nation, what do you expect?

^ See.

It's been the bread and butter of the news section of this forum for years and it's one of the many reasons why there are so few well-informed posters here. You ask "What is the best recourse to try and have a rational conversation" - the answer is to look elsewhere. This forum caters to a particular market (and it does that well) but that market doesn't extend to people who have informed and well-reasoned opinions on Thai politics. Such people may be here in small numbers, but that's despite forum policy, not because of it. And none of this is going to change any time soon.

I think the good guys need to shoot back.

One thing America does not lack is violence, and adding even more of it to the mix is unlikely to help matters much.

Another white American male kills indiscriminately. When is the community going to do stand up and do something about the killers in their midst?

Dude will dealt with swiftly and harshly. What do you want to happen? What are you suggesting? I could be wrong, but you sound a bit like a nutter or another miserable sot calling for more violence.

It's a comment which is made over and over and over again on forums like this whenever there is some Muslim atrocity; it would be nice if standards were universal.

^ Did they? I don't remember that. Drinking was banned on government property (and I think that was the last government, not the junta) but I don't remember talk of a blanket ban around all tertiary education institutes.

Another white American male kills indiscriminately. When is the community going to do stand up and do something about the killers in their midst?

Typical of the idiots now running this country. It will have no positive consequences whatsoever for students' education and will only serve to (i) harm businesses and (ii) increase drunk-driving. Like the equally ridiculous decision to ban students younger than 25 from living with their partner, this is in all probability motivated solely by a bitter, mean-spirited determination to prevent the young from having any fun.

Yes, I eventually found it some posts back

It's customary to read the posts in a thread before you respond but you actually quoted me yourself in post 38. I don't think it's much of an imposition to expect people to be aware of what it says in their own posts.

To tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea why you wanted to drag the subject away from drought in Thailand to Xayaburi.

It was very obviously a response to this (and in case you have already forgotten, you wrote it):

I remember serious opposition to a hydro dam in India many years back

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Sigh. My first time back on this forum for half a year and already it's robbed me of the will to live. I think it's best if I duck out now - I don't want to get banned as a result of losing my temper arguing with idiots and this forum still has some use as a place to get occasional advice.

That's a completely nonsensical post. The fact that Xayaburi does absolutely nothing to help drought in Thailand doesn't mean that dams (or other forms of water storage) shouldn't be built. And in fact, I've already said as much.

Yep, 'Dams are BAD" with absolutely no redeeming features.

Why do people on these forums spend so much time arguing with statements nobody ever said? What I actually said (and I hope you can spot the difference) was

Dams themselves aren't necessarily bad but what is needed are local, small-scale projects, not mega-projects

You may well think I'm wrong - and you may well be correct - but at least show people the minimum respect of actually reading what they write.

This map from the Thai Met. Dept. Show the deviation from normal of the rainfall from Jan 1 to today. The red areas are below normal.

Thanks for posting this. Interesting and worrying to look at. Unfortunately, the long-range El Nino predications are for it to be somewhere between strong and monster so things could be grim this time next year. When you add in the political uncertainity surrounding the junta, elections, etc., it makes for a very worrying brew.

Xayaburi Dam has 7 x175MW generators whose energy will be sold to Thailand with some of the revenue going to Laos. It also has a 60MW to supply

FREE electricity to Laos.

5% of the electricity generated at Xayaburi is for Laos (and this represents about 3% of total national energy production) and 95% is to keep Bangkok shoppers supplied with much-needed iPad upgrades. Great. For this, at least 2000 people are losing their homes and livelihoods and another 200,000 are being adversly affected, on top of which can be added vast disruption to the ecosystem, especially to already critically threatened fish species. Further afield, 80% of Cambodian protein comes in the form of fish originating from the Mekong and they are undoubtedly going to be affected by construction of the dam.

Adding to Billd's answer, the green lobby has taken the attitude that "dams are BAD" so any proposal not only meets opposition from badly affected locals, but much more strident and organised from this group. Perhaps if we get water riots or people dying of thirst there will be a change in attitude, but I doubt it.

It's rarely the case that the beneficiaries of hydro are local populations. If you look at the projects in Laos like Xayaburi, local people are being kicked off their land and their lifestyles destroyed to provide power to Bangkok shopping centres. This is another form of enclosure of the commons - primitive accumulation, whereby one, small segment of society enriches itself at the expense of the majority.

Dams themselves aren't necessarily bad but what is needed are local, small-scale projects, not mega-projects which destroy the environment, cause enormous problems for local communities and serve mainly as a means for big engineering companies to trouser public finances.

pop quiz: how many types of tree nuts are there in Thailand? As far as I know, coconuts and a smattering of cashews and macadamia. Compare to farang lands, where you'll find those, plus almonds, filberts, walnuts, pecans, abd brazil nuts. I have growing, in northern Thailand, a type of brazil nut. The nuts aren't as big as Brazil nuts, but there are more of them per pod. Everything about the nuts and trees are top quality. Here are some more crops which Thai farmers could grow, but there's no incentive, because they only know about rice and pineapples

To a limited extent this is true (though a conservative outlook on farming is hardly the exclusive preserve of Thai famers) but a great many farmers in Thailand are seriously under the cosh; they need money now, not in ten or twenty years. Foreigners living in Thailand are rarely in the same position and can happily sit on an investment which provides no returns for years. For many/most rural Thai families, doing this would end with their house being repossessed long before they saw a return on their brazil nuts.

Thanks for the quick response. The Thai-language version seems to be

Available from https://www.se-ed.com/product/%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%B9%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B6%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%98%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%8D%E0%B8%AA%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%87-%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%A5-%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2.aspx?no=9789747539486

700-odd baht seems fair enough and the write-up is pretty glowing. I'll pop down to my local DK later to see if they have a copy available, otherwise it can go on order. Thanks again.

Not sure if this is quite the right sub-forum or not but in any case, I would be grateful if someone/anyone who knows about birdwatching in Thailand could recommend an idiot's guide to the birds of Thailand. I know nothing about birds but I have a few flying around near my house and I'd love to know what they all are so something which doesn't assume any prior knowledge would be best. I had a look at the selection available on Amazon but a personal recommendation from somebody who knows what they are talking about is always nice. If it makes a difference (and I guess it might), I live out in the sticks, south of Chiang Mai. English or Thai is fine.

This forum really is dogshɪt on toast, isn't it.

Is there any way to put News/We-Love-Fascists and the General/I'm-An-Educationally-Subnormal-Expat forums on ignore? If not, the meager attractions of reading the few occasionally interesting subforums are far from being sufficient to compensate for dealing with the repulsively stupid ɑrsewipes who dominate.

An analysis by fivethirtyeight shows that a coup, on average, costs 2.1% of GDP in the year it happens, 1.3% the year after and 0.2% the year after that. The World Bank's predictions for the Thai economy match this.

Perhaps Prayuth and the other members of the junta could reach into their mysteriously deep pockets and make up for this lose. Plus, of course, there's extra cost of the junta simply copying all the Thaksin/Yingluck 'populist' policies, opposition to which plays a significant role in their entirely non-existent claims to legitimacy. Though, that said, even the fantastic amounts of money which the junta has collectively stashed away is unlikely to be sufficient.