Evil Penevil

You are basically agreeing with what I wrote earlier, that UNIFIL is unable to fulfill its mandate. It is true UNIFIL does present a serious obstacle to any Israeli campaign to destroy Hezbollah strongholds and weapon depots in South Lebanon.

Recocated? That's a euphemistic way of saying the PLO leadership and thousands of heavily armed fighters entered Lebanon after the PLO was kicked out of Jordan during Black September in 1970. At that time, the majority Christian Lebanese government certainly did see it as an invasion. That was the first act of the Lebanese Civil War which destroyed what had been a stable little country

I am well aware of the U.N. mandate, but we obviously have very different interpretations of the meaning of "restore peace and security in the border region and assist the Lebanese government in reestablishing control in the southern part of the country." Hezbollah operates as an independent military force in Lebanon without the slightest control by the Lebanese government. Disarming Hezbollah is the only way peace, security and Lebanese government control can be reestablished.

Normally they'll send you to a country where they are sure you'll be admitted. If you have a long-term multiple entry visa for a third country, they could send you back there, especially if that's where you began your trip. They will not send you to a country the IO figures may reject you. Since you don't have a visa for Viet Nam, they wouldn't send you back there. If you were living/working in Japan, China, the U.K., U.S., etc. and had the neessary visa or permits, then they would probably send you there, assuming that's where you want to go. It depends to some degree on why you were denied entry to Thailand. If the IO is convinced other countries will deny you entry for the same reason Thailand did, then it's back to your home country.

If the UNIFIL forces had done their job properly and stopped Hezbollah terrorists from attacking Israel, there wouldn't have been any need for Israelto cross the Blue Line. I'll believe in UNIFIL the day its units actually try to disarm Hezbollah, which is at best a private militia but in reality a terrorist group.

I visited Lebanon way back in 1970 before the PLO invasion. I was totally surprised by how tolerant and progressive it was. Beirut had a nightlife scene that rivaled any European city. Christians and Muslims lived in harmony with mutual respect. The Lebanese Civil War destroyed all of that.

My deepest condolences to all the families of the murdered hostages and other Israeli victims of the Oct 7 attacks who were killed simply because they were Jewish. My deepest condolences also go to the families of non-Israeli and non-Jewish victims of the attacks.

Not to mention China, Honduras, South Africa and a string of other authoritarian sub-Saharan African nations. It is indeed a tragic, not funny, joke when some of the world's worst violators of human rights are on the UNHRC.

I heard this many years ago about Chinese restaurants before I began working in China. According to locals, that is indeed what would happen if you complained about the food in a mainland restaurant. I have to believe it is the same in Thailand. Japan is probably the only country in Asia where it's not the case. Through the years, I've rarely had reason to complain. When I did, I asked to leave without paying rather than have replacement food. That would usually prompt the owner orchef to taste the food and they would agree to me not paying, along with profuse apologies.

About a month ago, Greta Thunberg was named "Antisemite of the Week" by the grassroots watchdog organization StopAntisemitism. https://stopantisemitism.org/as-week/greta-thunberg/ Her star was fading as an environmental activist and Greta does indeed love the limelight. She found another cause to keep her in TV news broadcasts. For whatever reason, she appears to hate Jews. In one of her social media photos supporting Gaza, she is seen posing with a toy octopus. The octopus had been used by Nazis as a symbol of Jewish dominance of world events. It's still widely used among hardcore antisemites. But it's not surprising Thunberg would become rabidly anti-Israel. Palestinians have become the baby seals of the Left. Activists get outraged over the deaths of Palestinians while ignoring much worse slaughter in Sudan, Syria, Somali and Africa south of the Sahara, such as the Rwandan Genocide and wars and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many Westerners aren't even aware of protracted, large-scale fighting in the DRC, much less that close to six million (!) people have been killed. Same-same when the baby seals got clubbed during the annual Canadian seal hunt. The world saw an outpouring of anger in the press and on the Internet, big protests, calls for boycotts and bans on seal products in 30-some countries. Meanwhile, hunting that drove my species in Africa to the verge of extinction were ignored.

These are the 47 members of the UNHRC for 2025: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Côte D’ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, United States Of America, Viet Nam Aside from the Western European countries, the U.K., U.S., Japan and possibly Costa Rica, Thailand has an equally good or better record on human rights than other UNHTC members in Asia, Africa, Latin America and East Europe. Thailand is by no means out of place on the UNHRC.

Yes, I know. But he's a useful troll because he embodies modern antisemitism. It's good practice for me to refute his absurd claims about Israel. He's also quite skilled at baiting supporters of Israel. I would be the first to acknowledge he's a master baiter.

No one with an IQ above room temperature could possibly believe that abducting Thais at gun point and holding them hostage for 50 days in dimly lit tunnels is not a form of torture. If you look at a version of the pic below without the blurring, you'll immediately see the terror in the captives' faces. They have their hands tied behind them and a masked terrorist is pointing an AK-47 at them with his finger on the trigger. The young man in the pic below doesn't look like he's being treated very well, either. You can find this pic and the unaltered versions of the first photo at https://www.hamas-massacre.net/ Type in "Thai" in the Search box and it will bring up all the photos and vids with Thai victims. WARNING: You can also find the long version video of a Palestinian using a hoe to decapitate a Thai worker. The Palestinian shouts in Arabic "Let me kill him! I want to do it!" The Palestinian has such a gleeful expression on his face it's truly (no words for it but I'll use) horrorific. It's probably the one image I wish the most I could unsee. I have not linked directly to the video because the Thai government does not want it on social media. The video has the caption, "A Gazan beheads a Thai civilian with a hoe." More than a few @MalcolmB. Thirty nine Thais were killed on Oct 7, some under very grim circumstances. And some of the Thai hostages were indeed tortured, psychologically and physically, from the moment they were captured. The questions I have for you and any other pro-Palestinian poster are: Why would Hamas and other Gazans murder Thai agricultural workers? How did they further the cause of Palestinian independence by killing Thais? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/freed-thai-hostage-returns-home-emotional-reunion-hamas-release-rcna127544 In an interview with Reuters, Anucha Angkaew said the hostages had been beaten, starved and otherwise abused. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/50-days-hamas-captivity-thai-man-recalls-beatings-bleakness-2023-12-07/ He told German broadcaster DW (Deutsche Welle) that he lost 16 kilos in captivity. Another freed hostage, Manee Jirachat. told DW he still felt the pain after getting hit in the neck with a rifle stock the day he was kidnapped. "Once the truck was full, they shot two of my companions in the head," the young man recounted, head lowered. "Just because there was no room left for more hostages. I'll never forget the sight." https://www.dw.com/en/freed-thai-hostages-israelis-had-it-worse/a-67642521 He told a Singapore news agency he had been beaten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmhyunqTmlQ Yet another released hostage, Gong Saelao, told Benar News he had been kept shackled the whole time. https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/thai-hostage-gaza-recounts-kidnapping-04092024012212.html If you'd followed the news better, you'd have known some Thais were tortured and many were murdered.

Yes, you did, but you also included the aftermath of 9/11. You are still mistaken in both cases. Hate crimes against s and Muslims surged after 9/11 and Oct. 7, but still lagged behind the number of hate crimes committed against Jews In 2001, anti-Islamic hate crimes against skyrocketed to 481 from 28 the year before, still less than half the 1,043 anti-Jewish hate crimes. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statistics-on-religious-hate-crimes The FBI wrote in the Uniform Crime Reports for 2001: "Another noticeable increase in 2001 was among religious-bias incidents. Anti-Islamic religion incidents were previously the second least reported, but in 2001, they became the second highest reported among religious-bias incidents (anti-Jewish religion incidents were the highest), growing by more than 1,600 percent over the 2000 volume. In 2001, reported data showed there were 481 incidents made up of 546 offenses having 554 victims of crimes motivated by bias toward the Islamic religion." It also stated: "A breakdown of the 2,118 victims of hate crimes motivated by religious bias showed that the majority of victims were Jewish, 56.5 percent. Anti-Islamic bias accounted for 26.2 percent of victims of hate crimes motivated by religious bias, anti-Catholic bias accounted for 1.9 percent, antiProtestant 1.7 percent, and anti-atheism or antiagnosticism 0.2 percent. Biases directed at members of other religious groups and those directed at groups made up of individuals from various religious faiths accounted for 11.1 percent and 2.5 percent of the victims, respectively." https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2001 The pattern was the same in the aftermath of the Oct. 7. As the figures in my previous post indicated, hate crimes against Muslims rose during the final three months of 2023, but nevertheless fell far short of hate crimes against Jews. It's also important to note that these figures cover actions that meet the definition of hate crime in the U.S. There have been thousands and thousands of unpleasant actions aimed at Jews which don't meet that definition. "Since October 7, antisemitic hate speech has appeared online and offline, in countries around the world, and on occasion has been voiced by influential figures. Similarly, antisemitic threats, harassment, discrimination and violence have also been documented around the world. While the perpetrators of some of these antisemitic incidents appear to have been motivated primarily by events in Gaza, some incidents have been opportunistic and committed by actors who are taking advantage of widespread anti-Israel sentiment to propagate hateful stereotypes and conspiracies and calls for violence against Jews. "The emblematic examples of antisemitic hate speech, discrimination, and violence documented below are only a small subset of incidents of antisemitism that have occurred since October 7, 2023." https://www.ajc.org/reports-and-emblematic-examples-of-antisemitic-hate-speech-and-violence-since-october-7

Yes, they don't trust their customers and with good reason: some are shoplifters. The profit margin at stores like Makro is very thin, certainly under 5% and possible as low as 1 or 2%. Stolen items can erase all profit. If a store gets the reputation of being "easy" to steal from, shoplifters will flock there. Checking receipts is a relatively easy way to dIscourage thieves. It doesn't bother me at all.

No, you are mistaken. There are far more hate crimes aimed at Jews compared to Arabs amd Muslims in the U.S. "The following data about anti-Jewish and religiously-biased hate crimes in the United States has been excerpted from the annual Report on Hate Crimes released by the Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The data for 2023 came from 16,009 law enforcement agencies. The totals show 11,862 hate crime incidents involving 13,829 related offenses were reported, affecting 13,857 victims. Incidents of religious bias represented 24% of the total – 2,699 incidents and 2,967 offenses affecting 3,121 victims. The largest categories of religion included: Anti-Jewish incidents: 68% Anti-Islamic incidents: 9% Anti-Sikh incidents: 5% Anti-Catholic incidents: 3% Overall, 14% of all victims are Jews, and 66% of all religious hate crime victims are Jews." https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statistics-on-religious-hate-crimes A section of the chart on antisemitic hate crimes: Keep in mind there are an estimated 5.8 million Jews in the U.S., or 2.4% of the U.S. population. On a proportional basis, Jews are twice as likely to experience a hate crime than Blacks. It's also important to note that most hate crimes directed towars Jews are crimes against property, such as swastikas painted on synagogues or homes. The inverted triangle is a symbol used to mark prisoners in Nazi concentration camps and has been adopted by Hamas to mark Jewish targets. Pro-Palestinian groups in the U.S. use it as well. However, Jews who wear clothing that makes them "visibly Jewish," whether a skullcap (kippa, yarmulke) or full ultra orthodox dress, have increasingly become the targets of physical violence,especially in NYC. It goes back further than that: "In the first millennium of the Christian era, leaders in the European Christian (Catholic) hierarchy developed or solidified as doctrine ideas that: all Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ; the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and the scattering of the Jewish people was punishment both for past transgressions and for continued failure to abandon their faith and accept Christianity. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, these doctrines about Jews were hardened ..." https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-from-the-early-church-to-1400

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a collection of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, some of which go back to the early days of Christianity. What's most disturbing is that anti-Jewish tropes and canards have lasted not just for centuries but millenia and can be seen today on the pages of Asean Now. Antisemitism has no basis in truth or fact and has been refuted countless times, but still stubbornly occupies the minds of people who often claim not to be anti-Jewish. "Sometimes called 'the longest hatred,' antisemitism has persisted in many forms for over two thousand years. The racial antisemitism of the National Socialists (Nazis) took hatred of Jews to a genocidal extreme, yet the Holocaust began with words and ideas: stereotypes, sinister cartoons, and the gradual spread of hate." https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-from-the-early-church-to-1400 Because The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was so widely disseminated and believed, it played a role in the deaths of millions of Jews in the first half of the 20th century. It is still read and distrubuted in the Middle East. The original covenant of Hamas from 1988 makes mention of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion : "The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."

For anyone who thinks Hamas and its Palestinian supporters are a bunch of nice guys, check out the videos on this Web site: https://www.hamas-massacre.net/ Most of the videos were taken by Palestinian terrorists and then posted to social media. In contrast, take a look at this video from 2012, in which the famous Ahed Tamimi. then age 11, confronts and hits Israeli soldiers. The IDF guys don't seem bothered too much, they are even smiling at her antics. She became famous in 2017 when at age 16 she was arrested and jailed for eight months for assaulting an IDF soldier. She was arrested again on Nov 6, 2023 , after a post on X: She was released a few weeks later as part of a Israel-Hamas prisoner and hostage exchange. She comes from a family of terrorists. Her parents and brothers have been jailed on terrorism charges and one of her cousins helped plan a suicide bombing that killed 16 and wounded 130. What is interesting is she doesn't look Palestinian. I'm guessing her family is from Lebanon, perhaps collaborators who followed the PLO back to Palestine when they were kicked out of Lebanon. She has made numerous videos provoking IDF at various ages.

There are no war crimes in the video in the OP, only Jews fighting against a vicious terrorist organization that wants to wipe them out and uses its own people as human shields. There wouldn't have been an Israeli counteroffensive if Hamas hadn't attacked and slaughtered Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. Take a look at these clips. The murder of Shani Louk is particularly heart-breaking. Her naked body was paraded through Gaza and even a young boy spit on her corpse. I don't really care if a building falls on him. Shani.mp4 Some other disturbing scenes: Those videos clearly show what kind of enemy the Israelis are up against. I won't link to the video where a Palestinian tries to behead a Thai farm worker with a hoe. The fact that Hamas operatives and other Palestinians slaughtered 40 helpless Thais and took another 33 hostage is one of the worst parts of the Oct. 7 attack. Even the most pro-Palestinian poster on AN (the ones who SWEAR they aren't antisemitic) will have a hard time jihadplaining away those acts of savagery. The answer to a lasting peace is and always has been for Palestinians and other Arabs to recognize Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state and homeland to the world's Jews. Palestinians could have had their country as far back as 1948, but their hatred of Jews trumps every other consideration.

Molly is a TikTok creator with 146,400 followers and 35.3 million likes. She knows what she's doing. She had fun traveling to see Moo Deng and got a hell of a lot of publicity in the process. People often travel internationally to indulge whims, whether to view a baby hippo or Rembrandt's The Nightwatch. What's wrong with that?

I consider the money and weapons the U.S. gives Israel as the best possible use of my taxpayer dollar. I'm very proud of the U.S. and Israel for defending Jewish people in a hostile world. For over 75 years, Israel has stood against Muslims and Arabs. Today, 7.4 million Israeli Jews have to contend with the hatred of 1.8 billion Muslims and 450 million Arabs. Those are pretty long odds, but Israelis literally have their backs to the sea. They have nowhere else to go. War crimes? For 2,000 years, Jews have been accused of everything from killing Christ to poisoning wells. spreading plagues and using the blood of kidnapped children to make matzah. Accusations of war crimes are simply the 21st century's equivalent of blood libel and ritual murder. The IDF do what they must to defend their country and people. Unfortunately. some non-combatants lose their lives, but that happens in every war. The solution is for every nation in the world to recognize Israel's right to exist as the homeland of the world's Jews. Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas have all called for the destruction of Israel and it's next to impossible to negotiate peace with entities sworn to your elimination.

I don't know how common it is, but some farang landlords who rent out through AirBnB in Pattaya do keep the deposit as a scam. It works like this: The landlord will make a big thing of offering a discount on the monthly rent, but then keep the deposit to make up for the discount. Say 15,000/month is the "going rate" for a six-month rental of an apartment of a certain size/standard in a certain area. To attract renters, the landlord will cut the monthly rent to 13,000/month. However, he gets back the discount plus 1,000 baht by keeping the deposit. On a one-month rental, the landlord could slash the rent all the way to 10,000/month and earn a much higher margin by keeping the 10,0000 deposit. Scumbag landlords know farang tourists who are in Thailand for one to six months aren't going to take the matter to court, especially since they haven't really lost that much. The renter ends up paying what would be the normal going rate. When I lived in Pattaya, I knew of a farang landlord who'd done this for years. He finally got in trouble because an irate former tenant reported him to the immigration police for working without a permit. You don't need a work permit to rent out apartments and can do it on a retirement visa, but it has to be entirely passive. The farang owner can't actively advertise, handle or manage the apartment rental unless he has a work permit.

Iran has had a major grudge against Trump since he pulled the U.S. out of the multi-nation Iran nuclear deal and resumed economic sanctions in 2018. When Itump ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020, that grudge became even more pressing. Soleimani was head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and widely regarded as the second most powerful man in Iran as well as a hero to many. At the time, Iranian leaders vowed to take heavy revenge against the U.S.. but nothing much came of it. They sure as hell haven't forgotten and will indeed try to assassinate Trump if they ever have the chance. You can be sure the Iranians would rather have Kamala as president. They have a better chance of getting Trump before he might be re-elected than after, so it's very possible he right now faces a credible death threat from Iran.

For me it's a meatloaf sandwich. Other choices would be: Tuna melt Katsu pork Grilled eggplant, tomato and mozzarella Fried chicken Fried fish

Not ALL homeless are mentally ill, but a significant number are. Many drug addicts also live on the streets. Take a look at the homeless in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, Skid Row in Los Angeles, Brownsville in the Bronx or the Kensington area of Philadelphia and tell me it's only people who have fallen on hard economic times. You have to distinguish between the acute homeless and the chronic homeless. Acute homeless are people who lost their housing due to bad luck- an economic shock such as unemployment or massive debt or a catastrophe like a fire or flood. Some previously had low-cost living arrangements that ended suddenly. They can be helped by affordable housing and often don't spend long on the street before finding some sort of steady housing. The chronic homeless are those who have spent lengthy periods on the streets and its become a lifestyle for them. They often can't get housing because of mental illness or substance abuse. Take a look at this video of the chronic homeless in Philadelphia.