bkkcanuck8

No, you just have to put yourself in their position and figure what they would or would not do - given the negotiating position they landed in. They wanted some control over the government, and they basically negotiated with Thaksin's minions to retain some control... then figure out what Thaksin would accept or risk - given he was out of the country with significant amounts of money. Would you accept coming back and just going to prison for 8 years, or even 1 year ( a Thai prison)... no... of course not... not if you had the money to live a comfortable life in exile... The military backed government did not want to be seen just caving, but they were willing to rig it... come back for prison, and pretend you are going there... and then you will get a pardon... and then we will figure out how to have you serve the rest in comfort somewhere if it is home confinement or special accommodations... does not take much to figure out how it would go down... You would have to be an idiot to think he would come back to Thailand and risk serving a long sentence in general population in a Thai prison...

No, but when there was a wiff of talk about Thaksin coming back to Thailand... I basically walked through the entire process of what would happen when he came back and told it to my Thai friend and she was going - no that won't happen... but this was exactly how it went... so my theory panned out. Thaksin would not have come back to Thailand until he had guarantees in place... and every detail agreed to... There is no way he would risk going to prison in general population for a long time or any real length of time (unless of course he funded the prison and he was the first and only prisoner during the period of incarceration). He also made sure to return before the Pheu Thai were holding the reins of power because doing it after would have only resulted in the fall of the party and putting him at risk. Doing it while other powerful military linked people were responsible for the government - mitigated it.

Not likely, this whole deal was arranged under the agreement with the former military influenced regime - a deal that was put into place to keep influence over the current government.... too many secrets that may be unravelled if the deal is unravelled will leave powerful people potentially exposed.

Losing face is almost like being murdered.... that gives her a good argument for self-defence...

As someone who has been on a plane that had to divert because some passengers were being unruly (and then could not take off again because at that point the pilots were over the limit on hours before takeoff)... causing me to miss an important meeting... I would prefer there was just a hatch on board that they could dispose of passengers mid-flight and let them worry about the consequences. Thai's are too nice, they should have at least got out the duct tape and just taped them nice and firmly and be 'forced' to respect others rights as well... 🤣

In case you missed it it was in response to a chain of messages starting with someone asking what the punishment equivalent would be "in the states" (aka United States of America), to which I was replying to someone saying it was 'federal' and only a fine. (also in case you missed it -- Thailand is not a federation. However, Earlier I also pointed out earlier what the possible charges were in Thailand and they would have more charges to apply and potentially more serious if they wanted to go that route.

If the offence ONLY include smoking/vaping on the plane -- however it sounds like they also did not comply with the air crews admonishment and refused to comply with instructions. As such, I believe that the US federal law of "Interfering with a flight crews duties" which includes everything from physical interference, verbal interference, and refusing to comply with instructions (including fastening seat belts, stowing luggage, turning off electronic devices, and observing no-smoking rules) or other disruptive behavior... (49 U.S.C. § 46504). For these the civil penalties are up to $37,000 per violation (multiple incidents can come from a single incident), and also criminal penalties (up to 20 years). This is of course a lay opinion from the plain reading of the law.

Depends, in this case the pluses would be (assumption) they did not tamper with smoke detectors Negative would be that it sounds like they interfered with the duties of the flight attendant... If this was the first offence and you obeyed the flight attendant and did not tamper with a smoke detector - you likely would have received a fine of less than $4,000USD. However, if you did not obey the flight attendant -- you likely would get some prison time in addition to the fine. (can be up to 20 years depending on many factors - but my guess is the end with 20 years would be reserved for those that tampered with smoke detectors - and had a less than stellar record before this). (I am not a lawyer so take it as a grain of salt). If the flight had to divert due to being unruly -- you could be on the hook for any extra costs the airline incurred (that can range from $10,000USD to 200,000USD).

Well, given that importation and use of vaping equipment itself is illegal... punishable by up to 30,000THB fine and potentially imprisonment in some cases (the cap for sentencing is 10 years) -- breaking the law and being a jerk could land you in serious trouble. It depends on whether the authorities bother to care about it, or maybe just takes the easy way out of deportation and blacklisting (saving money on imprisonment). So vaping, possession of vaping equipment, importation of vaping equipment, use of such equipment covered under smoking on a flight... are all against the law and each of those are punishable by fines and/or imprisonment. Use of the equipment on a Thai flight is also punishable by deportation and blacklisting. Of course, maybe it can be made to all go away for a serious contribution to the police tea fund (but it would not be cheap - and may require family support to raise the funds).

Said a Thai-English National, given the UK is made up of nation states including England - it is quite possible the terminology is correct... A person from England within the United Kingdom can be referred to as an English National or British National depending on context.

They should try making some variety, maybe a nut brown, amber, stout, etc.

This 'bribing' would be a grand deal that was made with the former (outgoing) administration including that Prime Minister and others with links to the conservatives to arrange the entire process to make it seem legit. This plan would have been in place before Thaksin stepped one foot in Thailand (and likely would not have needed a money component). After that, the rest was done according to the deal made... In other words, the deal is too big to fail (too many powerful conservative elements with other links).... If they want to go after Thaksin -- it would have to be something else or the prisons will be full of powerful people.

When I was younger, one of my friends had 16 brothers and sisters.... if they followed the same trend as mentioned in this report he would only have 2.3 brothers and sisters (for a family with 3 children)... 🤣

Given the house I live in now has 32 Amp circuit breakers (total house service is 45 ams, with 4 circuit breakers), and 15 Amp wiring... it does not surprise me that there are electrical faults that cause fires. Every wall socket on one breaker along with an Air Conditioner, every light (which is all LED - low power) on another, the 3rd is probably the 1st Air Conditioner installed, and the 4th breaker... I think that is the water heater and I am not sure if there is anything else... so pretty much all the high power items are on one 32 Amp circuit breaker (except for 1 Air Conditioner).

I have a Thai Credit card and it works fine (Bangkok Bank) as of now... however, I have had issues from time to time where something gets rejected and I have to call up and ask them to allow charges from a specific site (I had to do that with Amazon Japan) - especially those that don't use the 6 digit verification code on ordering.