bangkokeddy

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Maggie Thatcher was right about the EU on a great many issues.

This follows on from France and Italy wanting to reintroduce passport checks at their borders. The Shengen agreement is surely on it's way out as one by one Countries start telling Brussells to butt out of their immigration and national security policy.

Some EU skeptics and also some Thais would love that.

As cool as the Schengen idea is and how it offers greater freedom to travel, in pre Schengen times some European countries had bilateral agreements with some non EU-states that offered better deals.

Bi-lateral agreements like Thailand has with South Korea or Chile, that offers the passport holder of these countries a 90 days free visa stay.

Pre-Schengen Thailand had separate deals with each European country and they where different. For Thais was it easier and less complicated in the visa process to travel to certain countries like it is now under Schengen and so was it for certain Europeans when they wanted to visit Thailand. With Schengen these European countries had to cancel the better deals.

Source: some of the older generation of expats told me that.

I am becoming increasingly amazed at the totally closed minds exhibited by many TV writers. No questioning, no evaluation of facts or ideas, simply a compulsive, knee jerk response.

Are you new here?

Big Cextra!

catchy brand name

Indeed.

I just heard on Aljazeera that the man was well connected and was released on bail. Big surprise! Nothing will happen to him...

Well connected and not short of money - he intended to travel first class. Money talks in this country.

Whats wrong with released on bail?

Like Al Capone, it's easier to get him on tax evasion. Either way, he's in hot water.

No its not about the easy way to get him like it was with Al Capone.

Tax evasion is really a serious crime. Wesley Snipes is for 3 year in jail for it. And Wesley Snipes is no Al Capone.

I would consider some bad deals with fellow citizens as the bigger crime than a tax evasion. But its probably a case of as long you pay your tax, you can screw other people.

Here's hoping that the court denies the request .......!

Scared are you

I don't think trying to sound like Yoda from 'The Empire Strikes Back 'will actually win debating points here.....

Win debating points on this thread? As one of the more cerebral posters you should know that there is no debate. Some of your fellow travellers made sure of that long ago. This is just for entetainment.

LOL

I would not put it beyond the reds to attack their own side. This would follow a pattern of behaviour transparently so since the red occupation of BKK. They are arch manipulators and would stop at nothing, absolutely nothing, to get their beloved leader back into power.

Why they should do that and risk that the election might be postponed

Some of you miss the point its, 7000 dead Palestinian, most of them civilians, rockets (they don't have artillery) fired at Israel are simple part of the ongoing war.

Some argue that there is not intention to kill the civilians and as long they were killed unintentional is there no problem that they are dead.

Wonder what was the bigger crime here in the eyes of the law. Extorted cash payments from people doing business or filing false federal income tax returns.

You're kidding, right? You really don't think this candidate has any bearing on anything, simply that she is a proxy for her "dear older brother"? In that case, based on your explanation Takki's pet monkey could be in the #1 spot and it would be pretty much the same thing?

Well, it's nice to see that the PTP have just sunk their own boat with this one. As much as I love seeing women put in positions of power, Thailand for all practical purposes still sees them as subservient beings, to do the whims of men. There's no way in hell that the majority of Thai's would vote in someone for whom they have such disregard and so little respect. Tis' a done deal. Puah Thai loses based on this alone.

Ms. Yingluck would be party list candidate, no one voting for her directly. The only significance of her being 'selected' no.1 on that list is the fact that dear older brother Thaksin did the selection. No more, no less. His right to do so, it's his party. He set it up (in the former guise of TRT), he bought minor parties, he financed the lot. The fact that PTP also happens to be a Thai political party participating in a democratic system with elections and the lot has nothing to do with it.

Don't vote for her party. Thats how it works.

Even spells 'color' with an extra 'u' ...

It's not an extra u. Colour is proper English language. Just Americans decided to take it out.

Some argue colour is Old French.

And they're voting for what has already been announced .

The last step was for party members to elect the candidate for the No 1 slot on the party list, he said.

Thaksin's Sister Yingluck To Be No 1 On Pheu Thai's Party List

No 1 = no one

Earlier in the day, Suthep unveiled 10 new MP candidates who come from police ranks, including Pol Lt-General Pitak Charusombat, brother of veteran politician Pinij, and Pol Colonel Wanchai Piumsombun, cousin of Rak Santi Party's key member Purachai.

This two guys have the most interesting family names, because their relatives played for an entire different team. That makes them definitely not to proxies or puppets, but independent minds.

Pinij Charusombat/ Jarusombat former Thai Rak Thai deputy leader and Deputy Prime Minister during the Thaksin days. later Puea Pandin Party.

His elder brother, Pol Lt-General Pitak, a MP candidate for the Democrats.

Purachai Piumsombun, not only know as Pracha Santi Party key party, but also a former TRT member and a minister during the Thaksin days. Some will remember him.

His cousin, Pol Colonel Wanchai, a MP candidate for the Democrats.

At least one of the 23, one Chitpas Bhirombhakdi, aka the Singha Beer Heiress, was hardly likely to be denied any opportunities for education, was she Mr.Abhisit?

But she probably is hopeful having been turned down last year as a By Election candidate. Maybe her background as a secretary to the ICT Minister does provide her with insider knowledge of the problems of children spending too much time playing video games but one feels there are more important matters at stake. Indeed she says;

the reason she was standing in the election was to be the voice of the people and to stand up for their rights.

http://www.nationmul...s-30155158.html

Again, having worked in the ICT she was ideally placed to know all about the infringement of the peoples' rights.

These candidates are funny. One more than the other.

My favorite line from The Nation article about Chitpas Bhirombhakdi is this one:

The Democrat Party is highly democratic and has a good political ideology because it is not "led by a capitalist", she said.

She is also into Social networking:

As a new contender, District 5 Bangkok candidate Chitpas Bhirombhakdi admitted that people still did not know her much; therefore, she would resort to communicating with voters through social networks and visiting people every day to make sure that more people would get to know her.

As for claims that she is a member of high society entering politics for personal gains, Ms Chitpas, who happened to be the former secretary to the Information Communication Technology minister, said she could neither help it nor prevent people from thinking so, but assured that she would do her best to carry out her duty if elected.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news.php?id=255405120011

Controversy has surrounded the drone strikes as local residents and officials have blamed them for killing innocent civilians and motivating young men to join the Taliban.

The latter, more young men join the Taliban, would improve the ratio number of suspects killed to civilian casualties in future drone attacks.

Do Targeted Killings Work?

http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0714_targeted_killings_byman.aspx?p=1

Daily mail has some photos of the poor creatures and the BBC has some footage.

Saw them just on THAI TV. Really young and tiny little cute creatures. Each would fit into a smaller shoe box, his luggage didn't had to be that big at all.

... retail business operators have expressed concerns regarding higher costs, especially for oil-related products, which have caused the retail prices of many products, like pork and fresh chicken to increase.

Why does higher cost for oil-related products increase the price for pork and fresh chicken?

(And what about not so fresh chicken or how fresh is the pork?)

And how to pronounce 'Big C Extra' in Thai? "Big C Xssss" or "Big C XTRAHH"

Did you know that...

- it is almost family safe to do a google image search on BIG C EXTRA without using any filters. Meanwhile a SafeSearch off image search for BIG EXTRA is not recommended if you at work or the kids are in the room.

Still missing in the report the number of victims and scale of damages caused by this rockets.

This report would be released by Israel not Palestine., besides the scale of damage is irrelevant, what is relevant is that the the rockets were fired with only 1 intention and that is to kill civilians and only civilians, as all targets of the rockets were at civilian territory, certainly not military installations.

The OP, the news by brought to us by BNO NEWS refers the a report released by the Palestinian authorities AND information from the Israeli side, quotes the IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai Avi Benayahu and other Israeli sources.

Guess why i pointed out that the corrected version is now more balanced?

Try to re-read the paragraph that mentions the number of rockets. To assist you i highlighted some key words.

In 2010, the Israeli Security Agency reported a total of 150 rocket launches from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. It represented a significant drop from 569 laucnhes in 2009, although 407 of them were launched during Operation Cast Lead.

Btw. How you know with what intentions the rockets were fired?

I disagree with all types of Lese Majeste type legislation. If that's why they're holding Jatuporn I think they ought to let him go. One would think however there is reason enough to arrest this creep on other charges. Like inciting riots and restraining trade. That would be a better way to go.

Wise spoken.

I agree with lannarebirth.

here is the previous version:

The corrected version is now more balanced, because it mentions also IDF statements and of course the number of rockets fired by Gaza militants.

In 2010, the Israeli Security Agency reported a total of 150 rocket launches from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. It represented a significant drop from 569 laucnhes in 2009, although 407 of them were launched during Operation Cast Lead.

Still missing in the report the number of victims and scale of damages caused by this rockets.

... and "agree" doesn't give other posters much to comment on other than ... "with what?"

Not sure if i agree with that.

If someone questions the opinions of newbies just because the newbies are newbies, he should at least master the quote function.

Akanat Promphan is the child of Srisakul Promphan and Porntep Techapaibul. After they divorced, his mother became Suthep's wife.

He should a nice addition to the Democrat Party. A Masters degree holder from Oxford.

Thank you for that information. I assumed something like that, still odd that they don't call him a stepson. but maybe in Thai language such relations are described that way.

Btw. Did you notice how much attention and replies this thread attracts? And that compared with the Yingluck or Jatuporn topics?

This what i meant when i said that nobody really wants to watch Abhisit on television and something like a debate with someone from the Thaksin team Abhisit would just use to increase his viewing rate.

A new level of absurdity at Swampy.

So how did he expect to keep them all quiet?

Not to mention the smell...

He gave them all a cookie and warm milk to put them into sleep?