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stoffel45
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Posts posted by stoffel45
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Re. I am more interested in seeing more done for the protection for animals in the wild where populations are suffering through habitat destruction and poaching.
The two are inextricably linked. The reason there is hardly any wildlife left in the forests is that they have been poached both for the tourist trade and the Chinese medicine trade. Baby elephants are now being poached from Myanmar to satisfy tourist demand. Despite efforts by the current government corruption remains the biggest problem. Endangered species and their parts are smuggled across the Mekong River daily, particularly in Nong Kai and Nakhon Phanom provinces. How does this happen? The commanding officers of the agencies employed to stop the trade are paid off. The profits in wildlife, drugs and dogs are huge. Straight officers are warned off interfering by their superiors. That information comes directly from the Navy's Mekong River unit officers and border police and livestock officials. In Thailand you don't have to look hard in any tourist resort to see photographers offering tourists the opportunity to have their photo taken with a wide variety of protected species. More warning signs should be placed in airports and in resorts advising people not to encourage these people. The police and armed forces need to get trusted commanders on the border to stamp out the smugglers. Maybe form a special unit to control the border who are only answerable to Bangkok.
Accurately described Junk1e....it would be wonderful if your ideas came about.
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Visiting July and August 2015.
Can we buy a Thai Sim Card?
What is the best way to do this?
Can we have a Thai person buy the card prior to our arrival?
Quality of service more important than cost - visiting Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Pattaya.
Thank you in anticipation,
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Last year was a terrible year for MAS.
Yet I do not anticipate Russia accepting responsibility for it's part in the shooting down of MH17 any time soon, let alone paying any compensation.
Especially if it was the Ukrainians - right now - it's 50/50.
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They should give every passenger a life jacket as they board these old decrepit boats.
The main ferries have life jackets but it's up to the passengers if they choose to wear them.
Travelling on a Ferry from Koh Samui, I noted that there was a limit of 287 passengers allowed passage.
We counted over 580 with a margin of 10% because of people going to the toilets and cafe bar.
Most lifejackets were stowed in the Main Cabin in lockers which were behind a huge mound of suitcases and backpacks.
When I asked a crew member where were the lifejackets he didn't know. I caught up with him and he then asked some "more important" crew member who also didn't know.
Overloaded, no accessible lifejackets in an emergency and not a care on the way to the Bank.
Safe in the knowledge that in the event of 300 or 400 lives being lost - that "they" could take care of it.
What incentive is there for a Ferry Company to 'do the right thing?'
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It is normal for the Police, unfortunately, to make a mess of the crime scene - not to destroy evidence - but because they don't care about it too much.
Once the Police have chosen their "suspects" - regardless if they are even possibly guilty - it is very difficult to suggest to the Police that "it could have been someone else."
One just meets a brick wall.
Defence teams are ignored for the main part. If a member of the appointed Defence team interviews witnesses they are told by the Police to stop - because ALL witnesses are Prosecution Witnesses - automatically.
Critical evidence is withheld until the Trial begins - literally in the Court room when the evidence is presented and can no longer be withheld.
Any and all defence lawyers argue that this ploy is to prevent the Defence from preparing a case.
When asked by the Court does the Defence wish to rebut this evidence and the Defence say that the Police denied them access to it - it is marked down against them and innocent people go to jail.
What I can say is that it makes the life of grossly incompetent investigating officers more comfortable.
Hopefully the close attention of the International Media and Rights Groups will help to shine a true light on this case.
If the Police have built a case to frame these suspects because 'there were people of influence to protect" or because they are just incompetent then let it be shown to the whole world - not just to save a couple of potentially innocent lives but to bring into total disrepute the normal standards of the Thai Police.
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I totally agree with you. I live in Belgium and in this country and in France, but generally in the EU - everything is the fault of the USA.
They can't manage their toxic euro - that's the American's fault. Germany brought down the Ukraine's democratically elected Government then started a Civil War against Russian speakers. That's the USA.
The EU bought a Nobel Peace Prize because only the EU kept the peace in Europe.
Now the Germans want an EU Army? What for one wonders.
What they hope to do is to have ONE single country - called Europa - (same as Hitler called it) which is a NATO Partner.
Thanks for your post Zydeco.
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I bought a business class return ticket from Brussels to Bangkok for my wife and daughter this coming July.
Just checking the seats were together amidships I then received confirmation of the seat numbers.
In that message was a paragraph which said
"THE PICTURE IDENTIFICATION, INCLUDING CREDIT CARD USED FOR ANY PURCHASE BY PHONE OR INTERNET, SHALL BE PRESENTED AT CHECK-IN."
I contacted Thai Airways and said that I just saw this notice when asking for the seat numbers.
But you must have seen it when you paid for the seats. It is stated very clearly. So I went through the booking system again and no - it was not there. Phoned TG - "Oh yes but it is in "Rules and Conditions".
Oh yes well one always checks those. In the end if you go into Rules and Conditions, go to the section Ticketing and then a sub-sub section "Regulations" you come to a form for those silly enough to buy a ticket for someone else with Thai Airways.
Now I have to make certified copies of credit cards, ID card, Passport and tickets to hand in to Thai Airways in Brussels.
I am flying Austrian Air twelve days earlier - so I checked with Austrian - NO they don't have such a rule.
Have any other TV members experienced this problem? Is it only Thai Airways?
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If "Social Elites in Bangkok" had helped rid Thailand of dangerous, plague infested rats who had spread their disease into the most vulnerable areas of society - then one must applaud these "Social Elites".
As for "Thaksin Coming home" - he must first pay his many debts to society including a prison sentence plus and then the long list of Frauds.
Like any criminal who has been convicted he must pay. Do the crime - do the time.
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There are many benefits from having Law and Order restored.
I can cross Bangkok without having to worry about being shot or bombed by a red-shirted terrorist.
Business owners and shopkeepers can get on with their liveliehoods without fear of being maimed or killed by political protesters.
Yes we can isolate a few, frankly not very important other than to a very small number of people, areas - but plenty of people are reading the Bangkok Post which is clearly anti-Junta aren't they.
Hopefully the Government will really tackle the methods used by vote rigging, vote buying would be MPs. When they are caught they should be banned from public life in any capacity for life along with all who helped them. Their Parties should be fined out of existence.
If we do not stamp out political corruption and vote buying - we will never get rid of the Shinawatra plagues.
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I know "Thor" Hallan.
In my experience he is a sad and self-deluded person.
Again, in my experience he does foolish things and sometimes viciously.
But there is a great deal more to this story related to his arrest than is published.
Much as I do NOT admire this man Hallan (aka Halland) I do not believe he is guilty of such a desperate and silly act as charged.
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In essence, the whole situation (and therefore all events caused by it) was brought about by the unbelievable behaviour of the redshirts. Far too much lenience was excercised allowing them to build a veritable fortress right in the centre of Bangkok,
Yes because clearly they had nothing to fear, and no need for any fortress or defensive screening at all..
I assume you support the same lack of leniency for the airport blockades, government house blockade, storming of TV stations, ramming barricades of police in lifted 4x4 pickups, etc etc etc..
In my opinion, the Law regarding demonstrations or political rallies is wrong.
There was a state of emergency.
The Shin goons brought the trouble and their guns and their own murderers to Bangkok.
If the Army had just shot half a dozen armed redshirts with a massive display of force - lives could have been saved.
Abhisit's problem was not being strong enough.
Yellow shirts in the airport.
Again - the Army should have moved in to clear them in force taking whatever action, including shooting any armed person - on day 1.
In a riot - where weapons of war are carried by the rioters, the people beside them are considered accessories. The soldiers should try to put down the armed ones after clear warnings are given - as they were.
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how did they arrive at an inconclusive verdict the Japanese reporter was hit by a 5mm bullet used by the security forces absolutely unbelievable absolute shambles get real you people.
Because, the Shin Goons used AK47s AND M16s and several other long guns.
I am sorry for the family of the Japanese reporter but not the red-shirts who brought their evil, guns, grenades and explosives to Bangkok.
Let us hope if there is a next time - the Army will give clear warning that any person carrying arms is a primary target.
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Recently I was admitted to a very large private hospital in Pattaya with acute tummy upset and high fever.
Great doctor, superb nursing staff. Was told the bill would be around 28,000 baht and I would be discharged in 2 or 3 days.
My Insurance company in Belgium informed the Accounts Dept that they would pay everything.
3 days later, the doctor told me that I would be discharged the next day. The Insurance company booked the new flight.
All was well.
The same afternoon, a lady doctor arrived at my bedside saying that she would just like to do some tests to rule out that I had not had a stroke.
A stroke? There were no - as in zero signs I'd had a stroke.
I phoned my wife who is a doctor and she phoned the Insurance Company and told them that this business/hospital was trying to load them with these tests.
The Insurer phoned back to say that their Thai representative doctor in Bangkok agreed that I should have the tests.
The next morning I received an MRI - Ka-Ching. Then another MRI but now of the whole cervical spine.
Hardly back to the ward I am wheeled down to ENT to receive a series of "Balance and vertigo" tests. The next morning hearing tests.
Flight missed now it is day 5.
I have a physiotherapist using ultra sound and massage for my perfectly sound left shoulder.
Then in comes a neuro-surgeon with the second set of MRI results.
"You must have urgent spinal surgery. We must operate today." he tells me.
Not on your life I say. There is no need for surgery other than dreamed up by your Accounts department. NO.
On to my wife - on to the Insurer.
The Insurer is now fully appraised that the Hospital is trying to cheat them and gouge out as much as possible - and risk my life at the same time - cervical spine surgery is dodgy.
Day 6.
The Insurer asks for the MRI results. The Hospital cannot send them because the 'files are too large' and their computer cannot cope. A lie of course.
Day 7.
I am sent to a ward better for observation. it has a sitting room and a dining room. I insist I am returned to the first room.
The nurse complies. A Chinese lady from Accounts (the real heart of the hospital) arrives furious and tells me that I cannot tell the doctors what to do and I must go to the bigger room.
No - but I am preparing a letter warning every Embassy in Thailand what is happening and hope they will warn their nationals and their insurers that this hospital is not dealing straight.
Day 8.
Insurer in Belgium request I be moved to a different hospital - in Bangkok.
The Pattaya Hospital say my condition is too critical and I cannot be moved.
At last the MRI files arrive with the Insurer who give a copy to my wife who sends them to the two top neuro-surgeons who say - no trauma, no risky pathology, absolutely no need for any surgery.
The Insurer says it MUST abide by the local Doctors' advice and by the concurrence of their BKK rep.
Impasse.
The Insurer asks for a neuro-surgeon in BKK to visit and examine me. The Pattaya hospital refuse giving no grounds.
Day 9
My wife has had an informal chat with the Insurer who say the only way to break the deadlock is to discharge myself - against the Hospital doctors' orders.
I ask the Insurer to book me the following night back to Belgium. Done.
I call Accounts and tell them that I am discharging myself and ask for the forms.
You cannot do that.
Yes I can.
Forms cannot be done until tomorrow and you have to agree with the Doctor.
Day 10
First stop Accounts.
The Doctor will see you this afternoon because he has to sign you out.
I tell Accounts that my first call will be to the Insurer, the second to the newspapers and the third to my embassy.
The Bill about 2 metres of it arrives and I sign it off.
Then a letter is produced saying I am very happy about my treatment in every way.
I refuse to sign it.
The bill was over 700,000 baht - for an upset tummy.
Caveat
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Yu'p men in black, they were there absolutely no question.
The question is, were they the ones that started the shooting? if so where they provoked or were they defending themselves?
Were they all there for the redshirts or is it possible SOME were planted there to cause trouble therefor justifying the deadly response? A tactic commonly used!
And after several court rulings that the military were responsible for many deaths.
Was any video evidence of military firing at unarmed protectors shown to the commission? or was it only selected videos shown? We all know the answer to that one.
Any video evidence of the emergency volunteer's in the temple being targeted?
How about the shooting of journalist's? and a certain general shot in the head by a sniper, was that shown?
Australia has had some big protests before but has a habit of NOT calling in the military to shoot and kill people.
So just how is the government of the day NOT responsible for the deaths?
And finally for the record yet again, I have NO support RED or YELLOW for those that use violence on innocent protesters and volunteers to achieve their political will.
But isn't that exactly what was sanctioned by the government on the day? use deadly force.
In any civilised state, Aussie, the State is responsible for protecting the lives of its citizens - against those who would harm them.
The fact of the matter, the indisputed fact, is that Thaksin Shinawatra, organised and paid for thousands of gullible country folk, whom he would later instruct his sister to rob, to move into Bangkok, with the sole purpose of bringing down the Government by illegal means.
Weapons of war, stolen from armouries and shipped in from Thaksin's confederate, Hun Sen were found in large quantities on the vacated red-shirt sites. Or would you deny this? Or are we going to get the drug dealers' first defence, "the authorities planted them."
There is a lot of video footage, from Thai, foreign journalists and the authorities of Thaksin's assassins - the 'men in black' some using their weapons and firing into their own red-shirts or into the soldiers, even into crowds of ordinary Bangkokians.
Never forget who started this horror or why.
It is what happens when the electoral system is so corrupt -that any determined person, or crime family, such as the Shinawatras, can hijack it or hold it to ransom.
That the Police were conscripted by Thaksin in the pursuit of his ego driven goals is beyond dispute. Now with the Army in charge, thousands of rotten apples in the Police are being weeded out.
Suthep? Even disguised as a monk his arrogance shines through.
What he did - like Thaksin was for his own gain 'in the name of the people'.
Yet Suthep laid the foundations for the investigation of Thaksin's sister and the Rice scams which stole from the poor.
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Madrid....Spain....'nuff said.
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Yes, and these muslims are welcome to Europe.
As welcome as HIV.
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Well, first off, you have the total oxymoron: "...military intelligence unit". Once you understand what a joke that is, the rest of the story makes sense.
Thai Army Mistook Muslim Summer Courses for Terrorist Meeting
But......probably....right.
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Ok, I understand that.....now, when will the baht drop against other currencies? I am talking a significant drop, not half a point!
One is reminded of the great crook duo of 97/98 - the Banharn-Chavalit Tango.
Cranes dotted the skylines of Bangkok and Pattaya.
Tens of thousands of condos and apartments where the profit was never to be taken in the sale of the units - but in the planning, designing, building and financing stages.
and "THEY" are building hundreds of thousands of these "Lead Balloons" again.
Drive by in the evening....a tiny number of lights are on - no sales.
So the Property Market Lead Balloon will, as usual lead the way,
Hopefully this will drop the baht by at least 50% - if PRC allow that to happen.
Against this - the euro is in free fall. If Greece leaves the toxic eurozone - and hopefully fully defaults French banks will start falling like rotten plums - and Germany will be happy, smug and content.
Until Target2 arrives on the heels of Grexit - T2 the Nemesis of Merkel's campaign to undermine the value of German savers by propping up a corrupt and incompetently managed currency.
When the German people learn what Merkel and Schaueble have been doing - they will be put out of office. As one wag at ECB said,"There won't be enough lamposts in all of Frankfurt for us."
Euro will drop to $0.65 maybe a lot less. Which stymies any drop in the Thai Baht.
Then the other Asian currencies will need to adjust - and before long there is likely to be a terrible mess.
Watch gold sales and the Italian Debt repayments.
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They would have a LOT more fun if they did the same in say, Saudi Arabia.
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My wife and daughter are booked Thai Int'l BRU to BKK in July.
Unless I hear that a real accreditation company - from Europe or the USA has inspected, had fixed and cleared THAI on safety - I will cancel the booking (and lose over 2,000 euro) and send my dearest on a safe airline.
Dammit - it was a Christmas Gift on the only direct flight from Belgium to Thailand - now it is a problem.
Get your finger out THAI - dump the Head Office clowns and bring in some REAL expertise - or go under.
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<Supawan does not believe the bombing was politically motivated, and might have been the result of a conflict between locals or a personal issue>
so according to him it was a technical failure . .the bomb went off before the person it was aimed at unlocked the car?
the guy who armed the car being a bloody tosser ?
....we should always believe in what Thai authorities think up . . .'sarcasm off'
Khun Supawan is not a Thai official nor a member of the Thai Authorites.
SHE is a functionary in the local hotel association.
Just some desperate for a story person playing journalist picked her.
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I've heard quite a lot about reconciliation from the junta since the coup but I can honestly say that I'm having a bit of trouble working out who they are trying to reconcile with, I'm sure that until they make an honest attempt to reconcile with all parties there will be more of these unfortunate incidents.
I believe - it is very difficult to reconcile with groups, hatred funded from outside the country and failed within it.
A huge percentage of the "rural farmers" are now aware that they were simply pawns - many suspected it before the Rice Thefts - now they know who has been manipulating them and picking their pockets.
Any group which resorts to bombs in public places are by definition cowards.
Hell awaits them.
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Again AFP way off the realities of the situation, and with unbalanced comment.
But then, as your beloved junta would claim, what do the French know about such things anyway? What with "not being a good example of a democracy" and so forth.
You hit the nail on the head JAG. What DO the French know about such things anyway.
When a few corrupt clerks (the EU Commission) cancelled the Democratic right of the people to say NO to the EU and its euro - the French Government stood aside and let Democracy die.
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Good idea...
but what's the point when many bike riders do not bother with bike rider tuition, driving tests and licences.
Just another law to be ignored.
Perhaps.....it offers a whole new market opportunity?
May I see your Big Bike licence......as well?
Two influential groups back Thai casino plan
in Thailand News
Posted
I hope you are not referring to the Peach centre in Pattaya....or the Gems World building.....
It's amazing how many very large and greatly under used buildings there are .....