herfiehandbag

An accusation made 12 years ago and reported in a London newspaper does not really provide conclusive proof. I googled the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for "ICJ Thaksin". Nothing about investigating him - the Man from UNCLE seems to have given it a miss! There was quite a lot about the ICJ ruling on the Preah Vihear temple dispute which you may recall did lead to a somewhat pathetic military attempt to occupy the temple, and a consequent rather embarrassing shoeing from a bunch of Cambodians with old AK47s and flip flops! That of course happened after the noble "Knights of the Eastern Tigers" and the "Sons of Heaven" had swooped in to rescue Thailand from the government that they were about to elect!

Hang about a mo, I thought one of the main arguements advanced for buying the submarine(s) was that they had long had both a submarine base and a pool of trained personnel, were ready to go, and didn't want to waste the infrastructure and training!

If it has all been reported, right here on AseanNow then it is not really a secret.

I too misread the headline! Whatever will they say at Sketchleys!

I have just seen a harrowing account of the fate of Gina Semiatich, a 90 year old Kibbutz resident who as a little Czech Jewish girl survived the concentration camps of The Holocaust. She was dragged from her home, forced to kneel and shot in the back of the head. I cannot summon up one jot of sympathy for the people who did this ( murdering bastards) or for the people who celebrate and tolerate it being done in their name, or their international supporters. God rest her soul.

Someone in authority telling them to wear a mask? This bunch will wet themselves, that sort of thing is right up their street!

Taxed worse...

It is clear that very few people in Thailand really care. I would suggest that no one outside Thailand cares at all. Perhaps, on this count (if not others) Thailand's "face" is fairly secure!

The practice of honouring and paying respect to rings amongst the highly placed and well thought of in this organisation (kissing them in vulgar parlance) never really went away, did it?

After a budget was created to investigate and possibly raise...

Yes it is changing. The young have found alternative sources of information and no longer accept without question what their elders and betters tell them. They are able to discern the corruption behind much of what they are told is the "good way". They are cautiously feeling their way towards making their views felt. Yes the change is slow, but such changes in attitude have a habit, when the right stimulai are applied, of increasing rapidly - look at the astonishing growth of the progressive political faction in the last few years. I think it is a (relatively slow), insidious and largely peaceful revolution, social rather than overtly political, in Thai society. Because it is independent of the channels controlled by the establishment - the Poo Yais - it is beyond their control. A positive thing. I hope "Kao-rob" remains as a defining concept in this society, "born to rule" as a defining concept can go.

I do wonder, were they to hold one of those NIDA polls, (you know, the ones asking a representative sample of 2000 people, from a variety of age groups, occupations and locations) what percentage would actually give a damn? Amongst those who supported him, well he has come back, and his faction are in government ( sort off) so they are not too fussed. Those who opposed him, for the most part, it was not because of crimes, real or imagined, but because at his most popular (and powerful) he represented an existential threat to their leaders hegemony, that threat is largely tamed now by the manoeuvres which produced this government, and the further threats to it are from elsewhere (and may well rock their complacency fairly soon). They are not too fussed.

The car of course. As for the young lady, well you know a gentleman never tells...

But nonetheless surprisingly good at getting them going in a layby on the side of the A303... Mind you I had plenty of experience. I remember once breaking down on the way back from a service!

Do you have to take it apart to mend it in a layby on the A303, for the second time in a week, whilst your (soon to be ex) girlfriend watches impatiently. If not, it is not an MG!

What happened to the plan to raise that one? I mean, wasn't a budget approved, then it all went very quiet...

But can you imagine the immense accounting infastructure the informal accounting procedures would require? Not just for the initial purchase and distribution of the tractors but on a nationwide basis, to manage the rental monies flowing into each tambon. Then the maintenance...

I am not an American, nor particularly well versed in it's constitution. It does seem strange that in three consecutive "two horse races" the candidate who has won the most votes in all three, Hakim Jefferies, has not been appointed as Speaker. I am of course aware that in American democracy winning more votes than your opponent does not guarantee your election; but still it is remarkable!

Absolutely right and proper, especially for one who is proving to be such a doughty defender of the First Amendment rights!

Is he being handed his winnings?

He started out as a mate of Thaksin. Borrowed a lot of money (oñ dodgy collateral and iffy valuations - sounds familiar?) to float some sort of media operation as I recall. He expected Thaksin to write off the loans. Thaksin wouldn't/couldn't/didn't. Hence the antipathy.

If I may quote the inimitable Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, from their seminal work, "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice": "The English, the English, the English are best So up with the English and down with the rest! It's not that they're wicked or naturally bad It's knowing they're foreign that makes them so mad!" They of course were condemning our European neighbours, (all those years before Nigel Farage as well !) but in these global times I think the sentiment can be applied universally.

Mind you, if he is reliant on the police for his personal protection he is stuffed!

Will that be before or after they show up at Prawit's place to look at his wristwatches, or pop around to Prayut's gaffe to check out his bank books, or arrange a chat with Suthep to inquire about all the bin liners full of "cash donations" given by the grateful retailers of Bangkok as he was marching around... That last one was the original "silent collection" wasn't it - no coins, notes only please.

Yet, for all the years he was in "exile", roaming the world virtually unrestricted, the ICC never thought or moved to bring a case against him. Strange that!