John Drake

Colorful and exotic.

Wasn't it right before Covid that so many people on this forum were complaining about AIRBNB condos that were really nothing more than fronts for cheap Chinese hotels? With a constant stream of visitors in some buildings overwhelming the condo facilities?

Chinese triads, Russian gangsters, police extortion, and the third worst air pollution level in the world. Yes, it's high season in Bangkok and Thailand. Come one, come all!

One AQI reading a few streets over from me hit 218 today.

Two or three years ago, a lot of Thai media outlets ceded their foreign news reporting to Xinhua.

The past two days have been horrific. And nobody seems to be taking it seriously at all. Not here, not in the entire region. Not across most of east Asia. Look at Nasa firms: almost a solid red line from Korea, down through China, and across Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Not an empty spot until you get to Malaysia. https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:2023-01-31..2023-02-01,2023-01-31;@101.4,17.6,3z

Yesterday and today seem much worse than back on 23 January. Apparently, poisonous air conditions simply have become acceptable. No big deal. I'm "unhealthy" air conditions all across the city, even in the afternoon after it has usually had time to burn away. And one spot out west is even reading "very unhealthy." Bangkok now has both China's tourists and China's bad air quality.

Don't remember any government officials greeting American tourists, giving them gifts, or saluting the jets they arrived in. Instead, it's all China. Remember how the government said it doesn't discriminate against any country? Hmmm. And all they do is slobber over Chinese and Russians. This needs to be made clear to Americans planning a trip here.

One thing to do, perhaps, is to login on my social security, if you have an account. The first page about half way down will indicate whether your account is active or not in green letters. At least I assume this will tell you that. I've never had my SS stopped and it says it is active now. I hope that at least might indicate whether your from was scanned and submitted.

Or she could have given them a pizza.

They would be better off financially working the crosswalks and pulling in actual violators of the law. Could pull a driver over every ten seconds for running through crosswalks.

So do I. But the sidewalk around them tends to crumble as well. Sometimes you need to jump over them.

I think at least a couple of them are looking for rocks to hide under.

Charlene An now needs to sue for defamation.

So Chuwit says there is video proof, then suddenly the police admit to extortion, after denying it and slandering Charlene An. Chuwit is a one man wrecking ball. Wish he were PM.

I support any American leader doing so. Just as I supported Pelosi on this forum when she visited Taiwan.

As Russia/China essentially is an axis entity committed to worldwide domination, this is welcome news. I should like to see sanctions extended to secondary entities supporting such companies as Spacety China. That means Chinese companies seeking to escape sanctions through setting up dummy firms in neighboring countries. Those firms and the countries supporting such activities need to be put under trade sanctions immediately. Time to take all these sort of things much more realistically, if we in the West hope to emerge from this as something more than broken puppets ourselves.

Is it a riot yet?

I always carry my passport, so they can identify my body when I'm eventually run over by some driver on Thai streets and roads.

Looks almost insignificant compared to what has gone on since then. Besides, better to let Thaksin own it than Chinese triads.

Yes, anybody who thinks the anti-war protests had nothing to do with America pulling out of Vietnam simply wasn't there. OTOH, those who think protesting against the war in Russia will do any good probably have that wrong. I think Putin would just mow them down. Or more likely do like Xi has just done in China with the anti-Covid Zero protests, allow protesters to reveal themselves, pretend to give in to them, and then start arresting all the leaders who self identified themselves. This is the fundamental difference between America and Russia/China. Protests matter, and policies change because of them in the US. Not so much in the case of Russia/China. And btw Russia/China is probably how we should start thinking of those two entities now.

It's not as if something like this hasn't happened before. https://www.gulf-times.com/story/363683/thai-cops-kidnap-two-italian-tourists

This from NBCBayarea reporter:

The large number of illegal Chinese businesses is the key. That is what is most important and is the likeliest outcome increased Chinese tourism, especially individual, non-group tours. How many "tourists" will simply disappear into the woodwork, carrying bags of money to set up shop? It's a silent annexation. I see in the Bangkok Post that the new slogan for Thai-Chinese tourism is "Two Lands, One Heart." Sounds a lot like the description of Hong Kong the PRC used, "One Country, Two Systems." Great. Until the PRC dropped the hammer and abolished Hong Kong's system.

The world, alas, is quite busy doing just the opposite.