PaPiPuPePo

Isn't that the lead singer from Dexys Midnight Runners?

Oh come on Irene, the resemblance is merely passing.....

Simply astonishing numbers,a whole 57 shops over 43 provinces with the advent of another 30.

This is wonderful news and will impact massively on the nation I'm sure.

A real boost to the economy.

Indeed, once there are only 100 or so 7-11s for every M&P shop 7-i holdings and it's identi-stores staffed by sullen teenagers will go the way of the Dodo. Can't wait to see it happen.

Bit eggstreme.

My sentiments eggsactly.

Weird Tip: crack eggs before frying; discard shell. If egg doesn't crack and has "Made in China" in small letters on it--anywhere--do not, repeat do not attempt to cook or eat.

When I see all the knee-jerk posts above and the vile images that they conjure up with the words that they use whilst calling for torture, death and the rest of it, I see people who are as damaged as the perpetrators of the original vile act against this defenseless baby. Having people like this in our midst is one reason why the world does not move on.

To be sure this happening is a sign of something much deeper that's profoundly messed up and that we all share in to some extent, but there's a huge difference between what this piece of scum actually did and more than once, and the revenge others are fantasising about out of anger and sadness.

The death penalty seems warranted in this case but no reason to do anything messy, just snuff this guy and remove him from the gene-pool.

The mother's case sounds a bit more complicated and I suspect she's got something coming from her soon-to-be ex-husband.

"Prayut, (" delete for brevity") had opportunities to meet and consult with Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary General, as well as Barack Obama, the president of the United States,"

He met Ban Ki Moon. Did he meet Obama, or just see him from across the assembly room?

"Had opportunities" doesn't mean "did." If it's true Obama didn't even meet or greet him, that's definitely a snub, yikes.

Absolute drivel in this article. Trying to justify the ruling elite to stay in power because they can't win a majority in a democratic elected government. Also these people re as corrupt as anyone. Why don't you make populist policies and the people may vote for you. Don't use the excuse of we have had corrupt governments. This article is an embarrassment to Thai people. They know what is going on and this is just more propaganda to justify not have free elections. Thailand is ready for democracy. Get rid of corruption from all sides.

Until a place gets at least somewhat close to having rule of law INCLUDING a manageable corruption problem, as in developed countries, Thailand probably can't have a functioning democracy, there's just too much money floating around. But since the current PTB can pretty much dictate anything, a coordinated effort at rooting out a lot of the corruption could probably be done during those five years. Or less. At least so a functioning democracy can get stabilised.

But IMO if there's just a kind-of democratic system in place, it's likely to become the status-quo or lead to more internal strife and back to square one.

So in a way the author has a point, but I rather doubt that was his intended meaning. His whole argument sounds like a pretty blatant excuse.

Pol Lt Kritpakon Niemson, a Crime Suppression Division officer

I wonder if this muppet even sees the irony in his police title.

Not even remotely likely. Thais (especially Thai BIB) do not do Irony very well. Plenty of evidence on that topic lately, in fact as recently as yesterday with the second reward payment. Too complicated for simple cash based minds.

"cashed-based minds," thanks for that one.

"Yannawa police later sought court warrant for their arrest which was granted last week."

And.....

a. the men were arrested

b. the men were requested to turn themselves in

c. the men were last seen at the Malaysian border

d. a reenactment of the transfer of a brick of cash worth 1 million baht is being staged tomorrow

e. a red shirt leader known as "El Guapo" is being questioned about ties to the Japanese businessman

In the time-space continuum of Thai law enforcement, everything is possible, simultaneously.

And if there's no actual arrest and on from there the story will be lost in the news cycle.

Aren't rewards for citizens? Military or cops aren't supposed to get rewards, are they? Is Thailand at the vanguard of a new trend?

To me he looks like he could just as easily be from Michigan or Oregon or Florida as from India or the Middle East. They're really guessing here IMO.

Going to the roof, though, is a bit sketchy....who puts a WC on the roof?

And no bag screening at the entrance of a court building? That might best be remedied....

Of course the PM must be judged by Thai's, he is the Thai PM, unelected maybe but we are where we are. It is a pretty obvious statement that really does not need to be said, like any PM his first duty must always be to his / her country and the people that live in it and the people having confidence in the PM's ability to "steer the ship" means everything.

However, the World is changing every year and Thailand heavily relies on export and International trade. So, if the UN states concern over human rights, people trafficking and blatant corruption it also has a duty. If Thailand take a stance of "you are not my father" then yes he may win praise from the local people for looking strong and backing the country but what abut the human rights issues? Will they not be tackled? Also, how will the people feel if trade sanctions are imposed and thailand starts to lose huge levels of business?

The backlash of this could be terrible wit companies closing down, foreign investment starts to dwindle, foreign companies start to look at relocating to a politically more stable country, etc.

So, the role of a PM nowadays is more then just keeping your people happy, it is a role where you must have some say or influence in International matters if you want your country to survive and thrive in todays world. This means being careful what you say and doing the right thing and making tough decisions.

I think your post intentionally or not brings up that in an increasingly inter-dependent world having more or less internationally unaccountable governments is becoming an anachronism. At least let's hope so. And not that Thailand's government desiring that is unique by any means, perhaps the game is just played a bit more subtly (i.e. avoiding ugly military interventions and the like).

All Education should be provided free by the government.

Exactly, that was the meaning behind my earlier comment. I was actually dismayed if not surprised to see not only profitability but "high profitability" as a primary concern of the secondary education system.

AFAIC anything that improves society, like education, should not be denied to anyone. But just like the desirability to not die, that to improve oneself awakens the profit motive and if it's not regulated then as with sick- aka health-care it's subject to getting unaffordable for some or many. The U.S. is NOT the model for the pricing (as it arguably is in many ways for the quality) of higher education. But TIT it seems.

I had no idea one of the primary goals of a university was to "maintain high profitability"! Kudos to them for their candor.

...while the other 22% questioned whether the "tackling" is fair and comprehensive rather than selective.

Tomorrow the speech will be about ending military conflict, slowing global warming, stopping the oppression of the disenfranchised, decommissioning all the nukes, and so on and so forth. Maybe throw in a line about colonising Mars to display Vision and Courage.

400 supporters! Wow! I wonder how much it costs Thai taxpayers to fly most of them from Thailand.....

Any actual evidence of that or just another blatant lie ?.

You lie as easily as speak the truth - do you even know the difference any more ?.

I don't need to know anything about Thai politics : I could just read the comments by red-shirts here and know Thailand is better off under a Junta.

By "know" (my bolding) of course you mean "believe." We're all entitled to our opinions, even those based on wilful ignorance as you say yours is.

Sad to say the coup was probably needed due to the actions of the previous government but that justification only lasts if you make some attempt to improve things. At the moment it looks more like it's worse than before and will end up being a wasted opportunity.

If he wants to achieve democracy in a sustainable way he needs to reach out to moderates on all sides to counter the extremists that are present in varying degrees within the opposing parties. There's not much evidence that I can see that he's doing anything like that.

Things were certainly a mess but giving the opposing parties only a couple of hours of FTF in a controlled (i.e. not on the street) situation and then arresting them all and taking control of the country? That makes the attempt at mediation look like a ruse and the coup pre-planned, and I doubt just to me alone.

I would like to see a list of all the former military coups around the world that have made the countries they control more democratic--intentionally, and due to actions during or as a consequence of actions taken by the group i.e. Junta that took control. I'm a student of history and can't think of one....but am willing to and would in fact be very happy to hear of such stories as I personally strongly hope this work out for the better at least for the Thai people and secondly their neighbours who are all politically influenced by Thailand to some degree.

http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm

Ha, I think these kind of angles are very legit.

On this note, I read that the narcissistic personality test has been reduced to one question deemed virtually fool-proof:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/the-one-question-can-tell-us-whos-narcissist

Apparently narcissists aren't ashamed at all of it. Quite interesting.

You shouldn't offer that I have alzheimers or claim that I am a "dunderhead" when you have shown that you have minimal reading comprehension and a degree of impaired cognitive ability. Did you see the reference to the original comment Try threatening to burn down New York and see where that lands you?

The italics and bold format indicates that it was a starting point. The original thread entry made the claim and I was responding.My comments were focused on New York related events to demonstrate what had previously occurred in New York. I even provided an explanation, with the statement, "there are other more prominent domestic terrorists who went on to bigger and better positions, but I wanted to provide some examples and links to New York". Obviously, the wording proved too difficult for you to comprehend.

In respect to domestic terrorism in the USA, you seem to be unaware of groups that are actively opposed to the elected federal and state governments. They go by such names as "Freeman Movement", Aryan Nation, Phineas Priesthood. Last week, a major trial just concluded with 2 Islamic terrorists sentenced to technical life sentences in Canadian prison for their attempt to blow up the Amtrak train between New York and Toronto. The FBI and RCMP were able to stop a mass slaughter event just in time.

Why try and make the claim that I am a devotee of Fox? Much of the domestic terrorism in the USA is now associated with 2 political groups: The extreme right wing and Islamic jihadists. The only one who is asleep appears to be you as you missed the events of the past year. You asked for some more examples, well, here are the officially categorized events from just the past year;

12-Sep-14 PA, 2 Right Wing -shooting attack on police officers

25-Sep-14 OK, 3 Islamic -knife attack at food processing plant

23-Oct-14 NY, 4 Islamic -axe attack on police officers

28-Nov-14 TX, 1 Unaffiliated Terrorism - shots fired & attempted arson at Mexican consulate, federal courthouse, & police station ,

20-Dec-14 NY, 3 Unaffiliated Terrorism - shooting attack on police officers

3-May-15 TX, 2 Islamic - shooting attack at event involving art critical of Islam

17-Jun-15 NC, 10 Right Wing - White supremacist kills 9 in Afro American church

16-Jul-15 TN, 8 Islamic- US military recruiting center shooting attack

Yes, Thailand has its terror events, and so do other countries. However, the difference with terror attacks in Thailand is that they are typically associated with regions where tourists do not go (e.g. Pattani) or with political rallies, which is again something tourists and non residents typically steer clear of. To date, no one in Thailand has entered a hotel and shot up the lobby. No one is kidnapped off of a beach as just happened in the Philippines. The key risks for visitors to Thailand remain as; Vehicle accidents & collisions, death through misadventure (e.g. falls from balconies, drinking, diving) and lifestyle & health (alcoholism, heart disease, lung disease, mental illness).

Yeah I should have dialled down the invective; not alone in that regard online.

Nevertheless you point that out then make a number of ad hominem (and inaccurate) statements yourself. Well done.

I get it now, you have a VERY broad definition of terrorism to put it politely (this time). Maybe you should consult any number of authoritative publications (i.e. not guys like us spouting off online) and you'll find that your definition is erroneous.

As I said the US obviously has a gun violence problem, and politically-motivated single and mass-shootings occur. They are heinous acts. But if you see a terrorist every time there's violence never mind that the act doesn't meet the definition, then you're on the exact same page as the propagandisers at Fox whether you watch them or not ("Terror here, terror there, terror everywhere, be very afraid and do as you're told!"). And that's dunderheaded thinking, like it or not.

However, the fact remains that one is more likely to experience terrorism in the USA than in Thailand. Sad, but true, as there are literally dozens of heavily armed wacko political groups affiliated with religious fanatics or groups who see the US federal and state governments as enemies.

"However, the fact remains that one is more likely to experience terrorism in the USA than in Thailand."

Wrongo by a mile. Thailand has had more than 7,000 terrorist related deaths just since 9/11 which took fewer than 1/2 that many lives. Since then there have been few acts of Islamic terror in the US but they continue unabated in Thailand.

Cheers.

Who said anything about Islamic terrorism? Gun related terrorism is far more prevalent in the US than Thailand.

Mr response to geriatrickkid was probably a bit rude but both his and your posts draw an inaccurate picture of the US (never mind the topic is Thailand). I wonder if either of you have ever lived there or are just part of the large coterie of Europeans who seem to be on a bash-the-US hair-trigger pretty much 24/7. I personally have seen and been the target of about as much aggression in a short time in Europe as in decades in the US, but maybe being a tourist in Europe was a factor; but I could draw the opposite conclusion about relative safety (knives kill too) and present it as fact as well.

As to "gun-related terrorism," BB don't you think that's really stretching the meaning of the term? Or mis-applying it? Not that having a weapon pointed at you isn't terrifying, I can attest to that (at least the first couple of times ha ha). But I see someone put up a definition of terrorism in the midst of a lot of these discussions because it's being over-used or stretched ad absurdum. I'd consider calling criminal acts with a firearm terrorism one or the other.

Not that they're not terrifying, and not that the US doesn't have a problem with firearm violence, that's most definitely the case.

actually what attracted my attention to this article was and I quote - "we have been granted permission" and "the two groups have given their word to US authorities not to clash with each other"

The US authorities would not put up with any of the B...S they get away with in Thailand in the past

Try threatening to burn down New York and see where that lands you

Try threatening to burn down New York and see where that lands you

Don't know American history do you? NY has had its share of mayhem, looting and wholesale destruction over the past 200+ years.

It seems that the reward for terrorism in the USA is a teaching position with job security. looks like you forgot many of the former US domestic terrorists implicated in bombings and murder. A few examples are;

- Kathy Boudin, pled guilty to second-degree murder in the weather Underground's robbery of a Brinks armored car in New York state. Five years after her release from jail, she had secured a teaching job at Columbia University in NYC.

- Susan Rosenberg was indicted in the same robbery. and murder(s). She eluded capture for years, but was caught in 1985 while as she was in the process of hiding 740 pounds of dynamite and weapons, including a submachine gun in a storage locker. (How very Thai of her.) After some jail time and a pardon, she went on to teach at John Jay College and then Hamilton College in NY.

- Another domestic terrorist, Eleanor Raskin, who fled after being indicted for bomb making in the 1970s, became an associate professor at Albany Law School.

- Black Panther big wig became a professor of women’s studies at Cal State. You might remember her for her trial on charges of “aiding and abetting” the murder of Alex Rackley, a fellow Panther they wrongly believed to be a police informant.

There are other more prominent domestic terrorists who went on to bigger and better positions, but I wanted to provide some examples and links to New York.

For all of the political violence in Thailand, I believe that far fewer Thais per capita have died, or been injured in political conflict than in western developed countries Appreciably, one can argue that it is 2015 and the world has evolved since the era of the US civil war when the population was decimated or the 20th century when European nations were still having civil wars (e.g. Spain, Greece). However, the fact remains that one is more likely to experience terrorism in the USA than in Thailand. Sad, but true, as there are literally dozens of heavily armed wacko political groups affiliated with religious fanatics or groups who see the US federal and state governments as enemies.

Wow, have you been asleep for like 40 years or something? Why single out the US? Plenty of terrorist groups in Europe during those years, and let's not even look at the rest of the world.

I call you out to back up your assertions about "more prominent domestic terrorists" and that one is more likely to "experience terrorism" in the US than in Thailand. You're really sounding like some Fox-news-addled dunderhead. Geriatric> Alzheimers-affected?

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is in charge while the PM is away, said he was not worried about the premier's safety.

And neither are the rest of Thailand. Come back soon, we miss you already.

Sarcasm?

Need you ask?

Not sure, this member has formerly expressed that kind of wuv (lurv?) for the self-appointed PM.

Quote: "But the PM should be more careful as he, on many occasions, speaks half-jokingly with [Thai] media and caused misunderstanding among foreigners that he [Prayut] denies media freedom," the Democrat party leader said.

Good to know he's just been kidding around. More evidence that falang just can't understand Thailand.

I'll add that the social and economic costs of a single-point internet are very high. A free flow of information facilitates a free flow of money, and obviously academics, educators, and researchers suffer from internet censorship.

They just don't understand here how the Internet is good for business, and free flowing, fast internet makes everyone money. They also don't seem to see that fast, accessible Internet is crucial to increasing tourism. Old guys stuck in the 60's, business-wise. Either that, or they don't want upscale tourists, prefer busloads of Uzbeks and other low-tech extremely low budget tourists.

It's true that free wi-fi access is much harder to come by in Thailand than, for ex., Cambodia, which is as we all know much poorer than Thailand. 99% of "free wi-fi" in Thailand requires registering and/or paying for that service. This is one of the reasons I find Thais to be unusually stingy.

Two other places without good free wi-fi: Hong Kong and Japan; needless to say it's not about a country/place being able to afford giving away wi-fi, but whether TPTB in that place know that it takes money (investment) to make money, or would rather make pennies now and lose dollars later.

What is a VPN?

I have a pinned topic I wrote a while ago that explains it - Proxies, VPN And Other Information

Some reasons why they can't block VPN carte blanche. 1. Nearly impossible due to the many variables in how they work and tuning that can be done. 2nd and most important is it would cripple nearly every International company with branches in Thailand as they rely upon it for their WAN (wide area network) connectivity to their home office. This includes Thai banks that have branches overseas, possibly forex, possibly stock exchanges.

Now my curiosity is piqued regarding the Great Firewall of China, how they manage it.

Of course the number of very competent IT folks in China must dwarf that in Thailand by an enormous factor.