luk AJ

I have read many of his posts, I don't think he was baiting you. I think he was saying pretty much what I am saying: Islamic terrorism is the single greatest threat to the world today. Other forms of extremism exist but do not pose such existential threats.

Come now......This is nothing short of sensationalism.........

The Single greatest threat to the world today?????

The world today?????

Ok...how many high tech warships do these guys have?

Ummm that would be none

How many aircraft capable of being a world threat?

Ummm that would be none

How many nuclear subs? I think you know

So how in the heck do we come up with this sensationalized claim of them being

the single greatest threat to the world today???? I will tell you how

Scare Mongering in order to control you & get you to give up ever more of your freedoms

Folks should grow a pair & look at reality.

The main reason this rag tag group regardless of size have any real weaponry at all is we likely gave it to them

while we thought they were our lap dogs & we needed yet another regime removed so we could install one that suited our "greater" needs.

Folks should take a bite of reality & drop the sensational claims

Try to remember ...“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

The body of your response evidences a serious lack of knowledge regarding warfare and history. It is not remotely necessary that an enemy have symmetry in capability. The world is wholly more interconnected, interdependent, and mutually vulnerable than it has ever been. There are "nodes" or "nexus" of areas where attacks have an exponential effect- such areas as civil security, cyber-security, energy grids, nodes of commerce, confidence in futures/trading, social media insurgency, regular insurgency, cyber insurgency, and then the old stand by tools terrorists use- beheadings, bombings, making people demand security, the state then over policing, sensational terrorism, etc.

The idea that equality in weapons makes or not a viable adversary is incorrect. The greatest threat comes from both ideas, and the sense of invulnerability an enemy may muster toward his target audience. These are my opinions; I disagree with you. Having studied warfare for my entire life and a SME and instructor on Trends in International Terrorism, I feel I bring more than just speculation to my point of view. I certainly don't need to sensationalize. I actually believe deeply the entire modern frame work of western civilization is in peril; certainly life as we have known it previously. Sensational? I arrive here by sound deliberation not sensationalism.

Your very last quote we can agree on, and in this manner the threat manifests as well. A police state or islamic state is equally repugnant to me.

dear arjunadawn, thanks a lot for your contribution. I am very pleased this discussion is for once not rediculised. May I ask your opinion taking into concideration that often history repeats itself, will this futher escalates (if so into what?) or will wisdom and reason eventually prevail?

just as a closure of this thread and maybe you will let this settle for a couple of days. 15y ago when I first moved to Thailand, I enjoyed as so many the nightlife. One day I saw this shy girl sitting far away in the corner, she spoke two words of English. Anyway I started to frequent the bar regularly and we spent some good time together. I found out that she married a Thai guy arranged by her parents. The next day after the marriage she fled back home. The dowry was paid but of course already consumed by the parents. So she needed to pay back 50k. She was told the easiest way was to go to BKK and work in a bar. It was after one month we got involved and today 15 years later we are still together. Not only together but love each other profoundly. Yes at one point in her life she was a hooker. My advice, don't insult people or don't tell others what is right or wrong, don't generalize and don't think all wisdom is solely kept in your hands.

And you believed her story?

Sure he believed her story, but if it was a prostitute from his own country, would he believe some nonsense story, and then marry her ? I guess not.

Do you want me to post a list of the beautiful actresses (Joan Collins and Sharon Stone among many others) who were prostitutes before they were actresses in the West? Why do you say something so stupid like, "I guess not?" Did you not have a social life in the West? Are you 12 years old? I don't know a woman in the West or Thailand who has not taken money from a man for sex and I know a lot of women. Except nuns and other obvious exceptions.

thanks for the support I was harassed by some really funny guys. They think they have all the wisdom and rights to make a judgement on other people.

Do you really thinks this matters after 15 y?

People should not kill or being killed for their believes. Extremism is the vomit of hate and cannot be tolerated. We should embrace our freedom and our freedom of speech. But personally, I think it is a bad idea to use the right on freedom of speech to insult a religion or people.

I am Belgian and I don't feel really patriotic, but when I see a cartoon with the words "Le Roi des cons est mort" after our King died is for me not acceptable and neither is it acceptable for Moslims when their God is insulted. .. "je suis Charlie"? ..not me.

I am Belgian also and I did enjoy GAL's cartoons on Wifried Martens, Andre Cools, Luc de Haene and others, a cartoon about that king who wasn't king for a day when they voted the abortion law, common....

But I wait for a million Muslims all together in many cities to demonstrate and agreeing on condemning terrorism.

I wonder how long my beard will be by then...

I understand you agree with the way Charlie Hebdo uses freedom of press to insult everybody in their path. Ok, this is your choice enjoy your life, I am not looking for support, I just wanted to air my opinion.

If you had a prostitute for a g/f she was not your g/f. Only a lonely loser would call a prostitute his g/f. Wise up

how dare you to make such statement, how dare you to insult other people.

OK,. If you have a prostitute as a g/f then she is NOT your g/f., You would have to be a total fool to think she was.

In Thailand women argue about money up front; at the beginning. In The West women argue about money afterwards; at the end. The fool is you for not knowing this simple fact.

just as a closure of this thread and maybe you will let this settle for a couple of days. 15y ago when I first moved to Thailand, I enjoyed as so many the nightlife. One day I saw this shy girl sitting far away in the corner, she spoke two words of English. Anyway I started to frequent the bar regularly and we spent some good time together. I found out that she married a Thai guy arranged by her parents. The next day after the marriage she fled back home. The dowry was paid but of course already consumed by the parents. So she needed to pay back 50k. She was told the easiest way was to go to BKK and work in a bar. It was after one month we got involved and today 15 years later we are still together. Not only together but love each other profoundly. Yes at one point in her life she was a hooker. My advice, don't insult people or don't tell others what is right or wrong, don't generalize and don't think all wisdom is solely kept in your hands.

There is everything right with extremism. What everyone should be focusing on is intolerance and violence. Extremism is just a belief that isn't the same as the majority belief, and that's fine and probably even necessary for change and advancement.

extremism |ikˈstrēˌmizəm|noun the holding of extreme political or religious views; fanaticism: the dangers of religious extremism.

fanatic |fəˈnatik|noun a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, esp. for an extreme religious or political cause.

zealot |ˈzelət|noun a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.

uncompromising |ˌənˈkämprəˌmīziNG|adjective showing an unwillingness to make concessions to others, esp. by changing one's ways or opinions.

• harsh or relentless

ex·trem·ism noun \ik-ˈstrē-ˌmi-zəm\

: belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable

People should not kill or being killed for their believes. Extremism is the vomit of hate and cannot be tolerated. We should embrace our freedom and our freedom of speech. But personally, I think it is a bad idea to use the right on freedom of speech to insult a religion or people.

I am Belgian and I don't feel really patriotic, but when I see a cartoon with the words "Le Roi des cons est mort" after our King died is for me not acceptable and neither is it acceptable for Moslims when their God is insulted. .. "je suis Charlie"? ..not me.

You find it unacceptable, but do not grab your assault rifle and storm their offices.

You apply an acceptable reaction to what you find unacceptable.

correct but if you take 1000.000 men randomly, tell them their wife is a hooker and their children are a joke, how many would grab their gun and shoot without hesitation? Some will react with an acceptable reaction but a few will shoot.

Without a doubt, the best partners are bar-girls. I had one for a g/f for a few years. I never worried about whether she was cheating or lying because that was her job. I slept soundly knowing that.

If you had a prostitute for a g/f she was not your g/f. Only a lonely loser would call a prostitute his g/f. Wise up

how dare you to make such statement, how dare you to insult other people.

Is it Costas birthday?

Again, thank you all for your contributions so far. For all those who came herr for some unjustfied bashing without really contributing to my decision making: give this thread a pass and find some other place to vent.

For all the others:

I wonder where I wrote to arrive on a Sunday?? Someone must have misread SAMUI for SUNDAY.

I wil arrive on Wed, Jan 21, around noon.

I will ONLY need to travel from the airport to around Phaya Tai station, so would only have to use ARL without BTS, if I favour the train option.

I am returning to the airport on Sat, Jan 24. I must be at the airport at around 6 a.m.

So I reckon it all depends on the werkday and time (traffic jam vs. crammed carriages).

I don't really care about the annoying fellow travelers- factor anymore, since

a) the ARL was built especially for my purpose, the commuting just a side effect ( even though seemingly in full occupation of the livals by now), right?

b ) I've done my three months of wai & smile, getting scammed and milked like a golden cow enough now in Thailand to feel it is payback time. So I wouldn't bee too regretful to block some space in the carriage on two occasions.

The Airport link train which has 4 carriages, is out of service, all passengers are cramming on to the 3 carriage Citilink line. I gave up after 3 trains arrived at Hua Mark jam packed with 100s of would be passengers waiting to get on. Forget the Airport link, it is a disaster run by SRT in total chaos.

when you enter train at Suvarnabhumi airport it is empty because this is start point ok? I take this train every week, always exactly on time.

Dear ocejanic, you posted on a week-end suggesting you would arrive on sat or sun. You got good advice from fellow members. It appears we all wasted our time..on a week-end with lugagge I would still advice taxi, even when you have to wait, taxi will be faster ( during weekend) You mind the small difference in price? Train plus BTS will be 90thb per person. Of course you travel as you want, but why asking if you already decided?

Some of this reply is based on an article I saw in the Bangkok Post years ago, some is based on my observations after having lived in Thailand for 19 years.

1. They pay an "entry fee" for the vest. I seem to remember the figure of B 20,000, though this may have increased, and may vary by location.

2. They are not supposed to poach riders in other territories, but I would not want to guarantee that this never occurs.

3. I think they pay the fee to the municipality, and that there are few, if any qualifications required, other than having a Driver's Licence.

I would not want to guarantee that vests aren't loaned or passed on to a new person from time to time. There may be an Inspector who is supposed to prevent this, but that is just a guess on my part.

4. The drivers that are on-shift at any particular time take riders on a rotational basis,at the front of the soi. There is usually a signboard with movable tokens, to keep everybody honest. Anywhere else within their territory,

any driver can pick-up any customer.

5. At the front of the soi, there is sometimes a signboard listing the fees to commonly requested destinations. Being able to read it, and having the correct change ready, will usually ensure that you are not overcharged.

6. They will usually agree to make a standing arrangement, for example if you want a pick-up at your place at the same time every weekday morning. This is more applicable if you are in an out-of-the-way location, such as at

the far corner of their service area, where you might have to wait a long time for one to come by.

nice overview, the jacket can be worth up to 60.000thb depending on the area. These vests could indeed be re-sold. But very recently a new law is introduced which requires the drivers to be registered. They get a new vest from the state which according to the article is non-transferable.

In general disabled people are not respected in Thailand. Why they announce now they will take hard measurements against parking violations? Why not yesterday, last week, last month? They for sure knew about this but they just don't care. The fact that people start to react on facebook, line etc.. gives me hope.

"Rangsitreppin" is used to treat diarrhea. Rangsitreppin is also used to reduce the amount of stool in people who have an ileostomy (re-routing of the bowel through a surgical opening in the stomach).

Thanks for all the info!

So taking a taxi:

I've heard it's somehow smart to not exit the airport on the arrival level but on the departure level, where it mighgt be easier to quickly find an empty taxi ( because it has just dropped off passengers)?

not anymore, at the departure level you cannot go to the taxi lane. You need to go down to the lowest level and take taxi there. They just introduced new cueing system. I agree with previous comments, better take taxi especially during weekends it is easier and faster than airport link / BTS.

off road pat,

Agree with you 100%.

I would trust my wife with my life.

I wonder how many of the negative posters on here are in or have been in a relationship with an ex-bar girl (or even worse one still working) ?

why you think "not" trust is negative? Did you trust your wife/GF 100% from the first day you met her? When exactly your 100% started? Do you know? Did you one day woke up and thought...hey from today onwards I trust her 100% sounds like a joke to me. Why you lecture people and call them negative when they don't trust their partner? Are you The Pope?

50% of marriages fail, face the truth, be realistic. The question is not wether you trust your partner, just don't take the risk loosing it all.

Trust a little bit:) who on this forum would give you partner unlimitted access to everything you own? Never ever I would be so foolish and yet I have a very good relationship.

This is incredible bullshit. If they really think that for improving the image of Pattaya they need to round up prositutes, then they should do it not only in the beach but in the Walking street and other bars too. But they stopped just before the start of the Walking Street. That's what the article says very clearly. To me it speaks that they are not fighting with the prostitutes but with the freelancers. This I call corruption and this is why I have no respect to police.

This is just supporting bars, so they get more barfines. Police should arrest drugdealers instead but then they lose income I guess. every single day I am offered drugs on the beach. They do nothing. And ladies are stupid too. They are not breaking any law by standing on the beach. It is incredible hypocricy here in thailand..

And I really don't understand how one improves the image of the Capital of Prostitution by rounding up prostitutes. If they really stop the prostitution here one day, then they stop the bars and hotels and restaurants and schools and everything. Then they can bring the fishing nets out again...

What you say is totally true but everyone expects prostitutes to be working in the bars. For regular tourists the line up of prostitutes along Beach Rd gives a very bad impression. When I stayed in South Pattaya I liked to walk along the beach after dinner but not any more. I stay in Jomtien now which is far more comfortable for me. The Walking Street is one big bar area; I noticed some good restaurants there have disappeared,

on the contrary, i see it as publicity for Pataya. For me it is part of the attraction. Unless you are a Mormon...and, as pointed out in a previous thread, how police can proof they are prostitutes? As also stated previously, the round up will please the bar owners.

Definitely, Thailand is better than China, Vietnam, India i.o.w better than most Asian countries. Does this makes Thailand a safe country to drive? Surely not, too many close calls, many complete idiots mostly found in boosted pick-ups, followed by mini-van drivers last but not least bus drivers. Nearly at every traffic light I see cars driving through the red light. The reason we can avoid accidents is because many of us drive defensive and think ahead what other drivers might decide to do. Just decide bsed on experience, not statistics.

I am very happy for the rubber farmers, but supporting prices is in my opinion a bad idea. Exactly the same happened with the rice subsidies and Yinluck is now held responsible for the losses. What about shrimp farmers who suffer for the last couple of years? It is just another populist policy.

There is a very distinct difference between "Filing a Flight Plan" and have the authority to operate a certain number of flights and any given day,

Having said all that, it has nothing to do with flying an aircraft in weather that is too bad for the approved environment for that aircraft to fly into. After it is all said and done I believe the Captain flew into weather the A320 could not or would not tolerate.

The A320 is a good aircraft, but like all aircraft it has it's limitation.

You are asking yourself, How the hell does he know that? Because I have spent over 60 years maintaining and flying, as Engineer, on nearly every commercial aircraft flying today, except the A380. When I was in the USAF we had a cartoon character series called "I can hack it, Jack" It was a safety take-off on all the things pilots believe they can "Hack" which ends up with them having a bloody nose. Plain and simple there are times and places to fly and there are times and places not to fly.

Enough already !!

may I ask, is there a difference in maintenance between different airlines? I.o.w. Can a 737 be more or less safe depending on who's logo is painted on the plane? I was convinced maintenance rules are internationally monitored by some kind of safety board? Does it makes sense blaming Air asia for a blown engine before take off?

When I board a flight I always think the pilots nor the crew have death wishes. I am sure they only fly when they are convinced all safety rules are in place right? Nevertheless accidents happen...