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I haven't heard much of anything about Chiangmai. I'd expect a lot more damage in Chiangmai that Bangkok... it is less than half the distance from the epicenter. I don't expect the corruption in the construction industry are much different between the two. Anyone here know if Chiangmai is much different in damages? I'm out of town at the moment....

Amazing that dog is still alive... regardless of whether or not it is the owner who is at fault for not training and controlling his dog. I know that dog would not be around anymore after having found a tasty morsel of meat that didn't agree with him, if he were in my neighborhood.

Grok is a MUCH better friend. Makes Google look like an obstructionist.

Here we go again. Cue the meetings with new and amazing ideas to fix it....

Anyone else confused by this? I didn't read anything anywhere about him being deceived by anyone, just confusion and a lack of awareness to where he was going. What deception is this referring to? Did I miss something?

lol Yeah, the east-west thing always cracks me up too, when people rail against "the west" for all of the woes of Asia. The amount of building up that came to Thailand via the US in return for using Thailand as a base of operations during the Vietnam was MASSIVE. Huge infrastructure throughout the country was advanced and it continued for years beyond the war. Thailand advanced light-years ahead of others in the region from that... but oops, can't talk about that. Some other guy sitting on a fancy chair in a glittery building with a glittery robe and headpiece is the one who was so brilliant and magnanimous to improve the country so dramatically, all by his own wisdom, with eastern inborn knowledge, of course. Oops! again... don't tell anyone he was born in the west (while his dad was being educated in the west) and then he was educated in the west and lived in the west until just before his time came. Hmmm his son prefers to live in the west too! Wow... Oh well, just don't talk about it and pretend like the east has it all and the west is the origin of the inability to think, act, and develop.

If they've been tapping into Dutch expertise... that tap seems to not know how to turn off.... must be the wrong kind of tap!

Higher elevation? Politicians already have a difficult enough time with brain function. They need all the oxygen they can get!

And in the U.S., state capitals have moved a fair amount too. California has moved its capital 5 times in only 175 years (or 3 times if you don't consider the 2 moves it made due to floods in Sacramento in the 1860's).

You may benefit from reading my comment again and taking note of the word "most". Not to mention that there is no genocide happening anywhere that has anything to do with Israel. That is, unless you redefine what "genocide" means as well as redefine the goals of what Israel is doing. But then we might get into intellectual challenges that may be difficult to overcome with honesty to factual information. But the meme of the masses is easier to follow than it is to evaluate on its merits.

Seems to me to be a pretty ignorant (and arrogant, not to mention stupid) position to take for any of the above. If 80% of AseanNow members whooped and cheered for any of the above, that would be a pretty sad statement. I think it's usually a very vocal minority. This sort of ignorant, arrogant, & stupid person often tends to be outspoken too, thus there appearing to be many more of them than in reality. I'd be surprised if it were more than 10% who would actually cheer such a dishonorable undignified display of prejudice.

I agree, except in this case, the sign said "No Israel here!". It appears that it was the media that called it antisemitism, not any Thai person that I can tell.... It's difficult to know for sure in this case because there is no author for the article given and also no source for the article given.

I can agree with that, for sure. It was the way that you phrased it in the beginning ("Invite the west in...") that gave me the idea that you were making it as though it's because the "west" is to blame. It doesn't matter where the visitor comes from IMO. Chinese visitors cause just as many, if not more, problems IMO. Then of course you have Indians and Arabs.... It's not an east-west thing.

100%! And I might even go to the trouble of letting them know that I was going to patronize their place until I saw the sign.