Russell17au

There is one simple answer to this and that is to buy your duty free when you arrive in Australia before you go through immigration and that will give the money to Australian businesses instead of overseas, or buy before you book in and put the duty free items in your booked luggage

Here is a prime example of that punch from the Thai guy

This case has just finished in the courts in Australia

The man who killed 18-year-old water polo player Cole Miller in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley in a random one-punch attack has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Armstrong Renata, 23, pleaded guilty to unlawful striking causing death in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.

Renata punched Mr Miller in the back of the head while on a night out in the party precinct in January 2016, causing the teenager to fall and hit his head on the pavement.

Renata is the second person to be sentenced under Queensland's one-punch laws.

'Miller would not have seen the attack coming'

The offender will spend the next 7 years in prison and then he will be deported

 these knives are not banned weapons. If they were there would be thousands of Thai's that need to be arrested for carrying a banned weapon because they are used in everyday life by many for cutting bamboo and other things as Thai's do not use axes as the farangs do. I have one of these knives in my truck as I use it to cut wood for my wife's family who use it in the cooking of their noodles. Even many Thai taxi drivers carry them as a weapon.

Unfortunately at the time of being spoken to by the police officer there was no video available to the officer so he could not take any action against the Aussie guy, but there was a criminal act of assault with threats to kill in front of the officer which should have led to immediate arrest and cuffing of the Thai guy. The rest should have been investigated after the video became available and if needed and proven then the Aussie guy should be arrested and charged. This is where the witnessing people prefer to post these videos on the internet instead of handing them to the police. The video that I have seen is not clear enough to show exactly what happened because the Aussie guys car is between the video camera and where the 2 guys are, plus it does not show what the lead up to this situation. People on here are being judge and jury on these guys without the full facts that need to be investigated. The undisputed fact is that the Thai guy assaulted the Aussie guy and threatened to kill him in front of a police officer. That gives the Aussie guy the best witness in this case. The withholding of videos and posting them on the internet by witnesses instead of handing them to the police is one of the biggest problems for law enforcement not only in Thailand but in many other countries and it does make the polices jobs to arrest and prosecute much harder.

Unfortunately there are many comments on here about the cowards punch from the Thai guy on how it could be classed as attempted manslaughter. Many countries have this law that if you king hit someone then you will be charged with attempted manslaughter because many people have been hit with a cowards punch and hit their head on the pavement and have died. It is all to do with the surprise of the punch and if you have a look at the photo you will see that the old man was looking at and talking to the police officer and the other guy was not in his line of sight so therefore the old guy could not avoid the hit. What would have happened if the old guy had hit his head on the pavement from that hit and died? There is much more to this than any of us know. We do not know what started this or how much before the start of the videos did it start? I am not trying to make excuses for either party but one thing is for sure is that the police officer should have arrested the Thai guy on the spot because he did assault the old guy in front of him while he was being spoken to by the police officer, the rest would be an investigation

jeab1980 go and return to the real world of Thai's coward punching other people in front of the police and not getting arrested. Some real world

How did all this start? There are many unanswered questions that no one on here knows. What happened before any of this video was taken? Who took the video? The video only shows the Aussie get out of his car and get the knife out but it does not show anything that included the Thai man on the video. The Aussie did not approach the car with the video.

It was a cowards punch when you look at the picture of it. The Aussie guy was looking at the police office and was talking to him and would not have seen the Thai guy throwing the punch from his side so he had no chance to move or deflect the punch and that can be clearly seen in the picture, so the police should have arrested him immediately

That is right elnet1. Now the Thai guy has given the Aussie guy another weapon to use against him because of the assault and the Aussie guy can use the Thai police officer as a witness to the unprovoked assault. The Aussie guy can also claim against the Thai police officer for failing to perform his duty and arresting the Thai guy which a good lawyer will either get the Aussie guy off or get any sentence reduced.

Sorry bassa73 and Thai Ron but you are both wrong, I am not a Brit with a chip on my shoulder, I am a retired law enforcement officer from Australia and I can see the problems that this can cause the Thai police and on how it can set two guilty people free without conviction

Sorry Thai Ron but I would not be saying anything different to what I am saying now. The police officer did not have the video at the time of one man assaulting another man in his presents and did nothing to stop the person from committing the assault and did not arrest him for assault. That happened in front of the police office. What happened before must be investigated and then charges laid. NOT TAKE THE LAW INTO YOUR OWN HANDS.

From your response Thai Ron it is easy to see that you do not give a stuff about the law but instead you believe in being a vigilante and you believe in Thai's taking the law into their own hands even when it is Thai's against Thai's with road rage issues. You cannot say it does not happen because there are many recorded incidents of Thai's using weapons against other Thai's in road rage issues.

Irrespective of what happened earlier the police officer did not have access to the video and that was still to be investigated but the Thai did assault the Aussie in front of the police office so he should therefore be arrested and charged with assault. Then it was up to the Thai to lodge a complaint about the previous issue so that it could be investigated properly and charges laid if proven against the Aussie guy. If the Thai guy is not charged then that sends a message to all Thai men that it is ok to assault any farang as they wish which will mean that farangs will carry weapons to defend them selves and then the Thais will carry more weapons than they do now and soon Thailand will be just Like America with mass shootings and murders.

My experience was simple. I boarded a plane in Melbourne and my passport was my 30 day tourist visa which I got a 30 day extension and the IO told me I must leave Thailand to apply for my 1 year visa and he told me to go to Vientiane, Laos, so I go on the bus and went to the Thai Consulate in Vientiane before midday and submitted the application and went back after midday the next day and picked up my visa with no police check or medical required. Nothing underhanded. Could not be simpler

If it is about Thai culture then the Isaan women have been topless up until the 30's or 40's. So these girls have followed Isaan culture

Thanks stevenl, well this is one business that will not be starting as it would only be a husband and wife business and not big enough to employ staff

I am not sure if this is the right forum. I live in Khon Kaen and I am married to a Thai National and hold a valid Thai visa. We are looking at setting up a shop where my wife will operate doing Thai massage and I am interested in making and selling ice cream, waffles, donuts and cakes. Do I need a work permit as there will be not employees?

but you still have the record that the email was sent thus showing that you have tried to do everything to fix the problem.

Just remember that what ever is done that there is copies of all documentation showing dates that it was sent or preferably send by email with a proof of read receipt. The proof of read receipt well be returned as soon as the person opens the email, then they cannot say they did not receive it or that they did not read it. This is handy if it comes to court action

National parks are safe as long as you do not leave your car parked in the wrong place or it will be relocated for you

I would have no problem visiting any of Thailands National Parks as I do not feel that they hold any danger.

As with a previous post that I made about Farangs not responding to a greeting. I was brought up that it is always polite to acknowledge another person who greets you. If I greet a Thai in the street or the shops I have had the experience that they always acknowledge you in return and that to me is being polite

Ad-libbing by a madman on North Korea makes the US look weaker

Trump sincerely believes it’s acceptable to improvise in these kinds of delicate diplomatic situations. But it’s not. There’s a reason why US officials carefully think through every last syllable of their public statements: It’s to make sure that their statements accurately convey to both allies and adversaries the administration’s position in a way that won’t be misunderstood.

It’s not that Trump shouldn’t have threatened North Korea. It’s that because he just improvised it, it’s unclear whether that threat was an accurate reflection of the administration’s position toward North Korea that is, if you threaten us again, we will attack you or if it was just tough talk.

Is Trump really setting a red line for North Korea that his administration is prepared to back up with actual force? Or is it just empty bravado? How credible is this threat?

Furthermore, the language he used was so vague that even if the tough talk were perceived as an accurate reflection of the US position, it would be unclear what exactly it meant.

The White House’s perennial inability to coordinate messaging among its officials and spokespeople only exacerbated this confusion.

The day after Trump issued what seemed like a tough new policy stance toward North Korean provocation, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters, “Nothing that I have seen and nothing that I know of would indicate that the situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours.” In other words, ignore the president’s comments; we’re not actually about to go to war.

“Americans should sleep well at night,” he added.

Then Secretary of Defense James Mattis spoke up, issuing a statement that seemed far closer to Trump’s aggressive message than Tillerson’s words of calm, calling for North Korea to "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people."

On Thursday, the mixed messaging grew even more complicated. White House adviser Sebastian Gorka said during a BBC radio appearance that Tillerson was not actually speaking for the White House, and that Trump’s threats should be taken seriously.

“You should listen to the president,” Gorka said. “The idea that Secretary Tillerson is going to discuss military matters is simply nonsensical.”

If the administration itself can’t even figure out what its actual policy is, how is North Korea’s leadership going to do so? How are US allies South Korea and Japan, the two countries most likely to be struck first if North Korea decides to attack, supposed to know what is happening?

“The mixed messages our allies and partners are hearing leave them with no clear sense of our policy,” says Laura Rosenberger, who served as National Security Council director for Korea and China under the Obama administration. “And it is not clear that these statements are in fact attached to any coordinated policy.”

And when it comes to nuclear-armed countries threatening each other, this kind of confusion can potentially have dire consequences.

“The uncoordinated rhetoric we are seeing from this administration is increasing the risk of miscalculation on an issue where we have no room for error,” explains Rosenberger.

Here is the mistaken remarks that could lead to the end of Asia.

Madman Donald Trump

this whole thing reminds me of a movie called "The Bedford Incident"

The American destroyer USS Bedford (DLG-113) detects a Soviet submarine near the Greenland coast. Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union are not at war,

The crew becomes increasingly fatigued by the unrelenting pursuit during which the captain demands full attention to the instruments. When the submarine is found and ignores the Captains demand to surface and identify itself, the captain escalates the situation by smashing into the submarine's snorkel, calling it "floating debris". The captain then orders Bedford to arm weapons and withdraw a distance, where he will wait for the submarine's crew to run out of air and be forced to surface. The captain reassures everyone that he is in command of the situation and that he will not fire first, but "If he fires one, I'll fire one."

A tired Ensign mistakes the captains remark as the command to "fire one!" and launches an anti-submarine rocket. The crew attempts to immediately disarm its warhead and they wait anxiously as the rocket flies to its targeted locating and plunges below the surface toward the submarine. Several seconds later, their hopes are dashed as the warhead detonates, destroying the submarine. Sonar then detects four Soviet nuclear-armed torpedoes are targeting the destroyer; the submarine had fired them as soon as it detected the rocket's entry into the water. The captain initially gives basic orders to evade but then silently steps outside.

The captain does nothing, knowing his actions have doomed everyone on board the USS Bedford, as the ship cannot escape the nuclear torpedoes. The film ends with still shots of various crewmen "melting" as if the celluloid film were burning as the Bedford and her crew are vaporised in an atomic blast. The film's final image is an iconic, towering mushroom cloud.

Does this sound like a familiar scenario of the US versus North Korea.

How much pressure has been placed on other officers on both side?

Will a mistaken comment cause a catastrophe?

Who will make that mistake?

I went through the Vietnamese war and there will be nothing left of Asia

On 21/06/2017 at 8:31 AM, CGW said:

Somebody with a degree of sense on TV that doesn't feel the need to make a thoughtless attack - well done!

 

My last words on this follows as people are making this personal:

"Some" of the speed limits are ludicrous, as an example the road from my house to the highway is 28 kilometers, there are very few houses, there are even less people around, the road is in good condition yet in places the speed limit is 30 kph as there are some corners that I guess "drivers" have had difficulties negotiating at times, should I slow to walking pace to go around these corners? to those that say yes, I can only surmise you have forgotten how to think for yourselves!

Some posters seem to think that meandering through the country in the middle of the night when the body is at its lowest ebb is a safe way to travel! laughable! If the police did their job and people drove in a correct manner and left the "fast" lane clear for faster traffic instead of selfishly hogging it traffic would flow, but this is Thailand and nothing is going to change soon, including the way I drive.

You have what we at the Central Coast Volunteer Rescue Squad in NSW, Australia a very poor road sense attitude. Your driving school lessons and your 45 years driving have not taught you anything. I spent many nights away from my family in Australia because someone who thought that they knew how to drive suddenly found out that they did not have enough sense to slow down and they were killed because of stupid attitude. You say that you know the road from your home to the highway. What would you do if one night you are doing your speeding around a bend and there in front of you is something that has fallen of another vehicle? You are going too fast, you cannot stop, you have now lost control of your vehicle whilst trying to miss the object and now you are wrapped around a tree and you are dead. Innocent people have to come and retrieve your body and some innocent person has to go and tell your family you are dead. Attitude kills more people on the roads around the world than drivers do. My experience is being taught to drive by a driving school and 5 years driving a car then 5 years driving a heavy rigid truck, then the rest of my time driving express coaches and roadtrains in Australia plus 17 years as a member of the rescue squad. I have had 58 years driving experience 

I agree that there is an attitude problem here with farangs. I regularly go to the shopping centres and when I pass another farang I always say hello in greeting them but a large majority of then stick their nose in the air and ignore me as if I am a piece of rubbish. Maybe these are the ones who have an attitude problem with the Thai's, maybe they think they are better than anyone else. Which they are not.