mfd101

His return will be high-risk on all sides I should think. Not just for Thaksin but also - in the current political context - for the dinosaur bully boys.

But they couldn't even reseal the boxes properly and get the readjusted numbers to more or less coincide with the number of voters! Incompetence is the norm here, even amongst criminals.

Maths not their strong point either, if the first sentence of the OP is anything to go by.

Will the fusion process allow Thailand to keep the power on during a storm?

Always fascinating to see the huge difference between the 'Western' concept of Buddhism (spiritual, contemplative) and the superstitious animist forms of Buddhism actually practised in Buddhist countries.

Odious or not, she's perhaps not so canny after all.

Infected drinking water?

1. Concentrate on your strengths. 2. Concentrate on your weaknesses. 3. Being a decent (honest & intelligent) human being.

Wow! The bureaucratic dinosaurs will hate that. Probably a few hundred thousand bureaucrats in to the wastepaper basket along the way ... But a huge leap forward for Thailand if MFP can achieve it (over several years no doubt).

Thai culture is based on complexity and the lack of clarity and accountability that accompanies it. Pita is bold and a bit callow. But someone has to make a start on the changes at every level of Thai society needed to drag the country in to the 1990s. We should all be cheering him on, not sitting back making the usual old-man-I-know-better smartarse comments.

If you're on OA permit then 65K+ a month is the way to go (I think).

if the military are still in charge when he lands, he'll be arrested & behind bars immediately. And immediately he will become a martyr of authoritarian nincompoopery , with incalculable political consequences. If, on the other hand, The Future is in charge by then - or more likely getting a slightly firmer grip on the steering wheel - there'll be much dithering and dillydallying and, after much time, perhaps a new court case. Meantime ...

If you lived amongst really poor people as I do you wouldn't be so cocksure.

Ditto for Surin/Buriram ...

I spent 6 or 7 weeks in Tahiti main island (Papeete) on school exchange in 1966/67. My first encounter (coming from NZ) with real food. Couldn't believe my eyes when the French family took me on the first night to a restaurant for dinner. We did a 2-day trip to Moorea which was (I think) not unlike Bora Bora but much closer to the mainland. Very pleasant for a short time. In any case, what someone finds boring or not-boring depends entirely on the furnishings of their own mind.

My boyfriend (40 years younger than me) & I often brunch at the local PTT. The locals all know us well, no problems. The amusing bit comes when strangers from another province sit at the table next to us and assume we're non-Thai (my b/f is darkish from being outside much of each day and has a round Khmer face). So they start discussing us - they are astonished to see 2 wedding rings & they wonder who's the top & who the bottom noting that we don't seem effeminate ... On & on they go, educating themselves about modern realities. We smile politely at each other & try not to giggle ...

Fingers crossed.

Is this happening with UK-based Wise? or US? or somewhere in Europe? Coming from Australia I've had no problems since the system for noting 'Long Stay in Thailand' was instituted several years ago.

Ask Putin. He'll tell you.

I'm not sure I understand the logic of this: A Thai citizen returning to Thailand uses a non-Thai passport to enter the country then has to conform to the rules for that foreign passport in Thailand as if he or she is not a Thai citizen with Thai ID. Why? What's the logic? Is a Thai citizen taking out citizenship of another country deemed to have renounced Thai citizenship? In which case her Thai ID card should no longer be valid ...

There are arguments on either side of this. Abolishing conscription seems like a good idea if - as in most 'Western' countries - you have a modern society that values education, including for its soldiers, pays its soldiers a decent salary (in Australia's case astonishingly high), and trains its soldiers as high-capability professionals. None of which applies to today's Thailand. On the other hand the argument about equality is different I think from that put by Nipit above. As I have seen with my own partner, the effect of 2 years in the military is quite marked on ignorant ill- or non-educated village boys. My boy saw life in Bangkok - and got to enjoy its pleasures every night after climbing over the barracks walls in search of food & fun - and he minded the colonel's dog, cut the platoon's hair, and even got to serve canapes on a silver tray to Q Sirikit. And he knows how to fight, quite ruthlessly (which comes in handy when you're hanging around outside the gay disco at 0200). Every time we visit Bangkok now he still knows his way around every nook & cranny ... All of which helped him to grow up and open his eyes to the wider world. His possibilities in life would have been much less had he not had these experiences. And had I not come along at the appropriate time, money in hand ...

Well, we hope it isn't. And we hope he is. But we don't actually know. TIT

You might wish to explain to the ignorant amongst us what a 'P shot' is.

There'll be the quick'neasy fixes, largely symbolic (cancel submarine, 10% rise in minimum wage, gay marriage, fiddle with the constitution, law enforcement including on the roads ... ) and then there's the real social & cultural change stuff that will take decades (corruption, police, military, education ...). As for this 'gay' (actually rather serious & sober) pensioner, the moment the gay marriage bit comes thru we'll do the deed to strengthen my position here in the event that my b/f (40 years younger than me) dies before me (which, given his driving skills, is not entirely impossible (sigh)).

Spoken like a statesman. If he actually makes it to PM and leader of a strong & cohesive government, he'll probably - as he moves up his learning curve - make a leader of Thailand of a quality & strength that noone has seen for many many years. People of good will can only wish him great success in this huge enterprise.