IanDelMar

Your part of the problem

Hope they've got a good lawyer.

Were you there under orders, wearing a uniform and holding a gun? It certainly sounds like it. Maybe your still under orders to troll for the junta to justify their illegal hijacking of an elected government.

I was having lunch in a restaurant today with the Gf and the TV was on (without sound). Whilst enjoying our food I happened to glance over to the TV and was shocked to see a news video showing 4 guys beating the s**t out of another and I mean seriously full on graphic violence. Then the whole video was repeated again followed by snips of the most graphically violent bits. It went on for about 3 or 4 minutes. I know there's a lot of real crime programmes showing all sorts but this was really bad and the repeating of it was completely gratuitous. They censor out the drinking of alcohol, smoking and the smallest glimpses of risque flesh but when it comes to real life violence almost anything goes any time of the day. How hypocritical is that? I have to say it briefly put me off of my khao pak pak. TV companies and the government need to act more responsibly. I'm not a fan of censorship but there has to be guidelines at least to protect younger viewers seeing these horrible images. The country is covered in CCTV cameras and these acts of violence are fast becoming a regular feature for cheap TV entertainment.

Any expert on war or military affairs will tell you that dropping bombs and launching missiles is the easy bit. The hard bit is to win hearts and minds. Putin is nowhere near to doing so right now or any time soon if ever. In fact it could be something he bitterly regrets ever doing.

A somewhat pedantic response but distinction has to be made here. Foreigners in Thailand are mostly here through choice. Even digital nomads choose to work in Thailand because they think it's a nicer place to live. On the other hand most Thais (also Filipinos, Vietnamese etc) who manage to live in the west do so for the purpose of employment and can't wait to get back home. Having said that I do like the Thai girlfriend quip about farangs who want to live in Thailand rather than Australia. I think she's spot on.

Since the advent of gps navigation systems I've found map reading skills have all but disappeared. Being old school myself and an ex boy scout I love maps. Maps have become superfluous for most people now.

Necessary for those living the hiso lifestyle in their Bangkok condos and keeping in with the top man and the military so they don't lose their grip on the gravy train. Perhaps your on that train yourself. Why not just install a permanent military dictatorship like Myanmar and be done? That's the logical answer to your assertions.

Typo here. Should read 15 million. It was late ????

Ah OK I see where your coming from. Of course in a perfect world you may have a point. Flawed democracy is more common on our planet than bright shiny perfect democracy. Maybe doesn't exist anywhere at all. But one thing is sure... if one candidate is employing these tactics then the they all are. Kind of makes it a level playing field. Certainly not to be condoned. But we have to be realistic. They can't buy or silence or corrupt every single one of the 115 million plus votes they received in the 2011 election. There was most definitely a mandate for their leadership even accepting it's geographical bias.

Really? This doesn't make sense to me. Your saying give the army (or other force) of a country the essential right to ursurp the democratic process and take absolute power to avoid absolute power being taken by somebody else. That's a new one.

Huh? Can you expand on this?

Define clan politics. Do you mean as in the Central Asian countries such as Azerbaijan or Kyrgyzstan whose authoritarian leaders keep a tight grip on power, don't allow elections and pass leadership onto family members? Or do you mean western democracies such as the US and UK and numerous other countries worldwide where politics runs in the family eg Bush, Kennedy, Johnson, Trudeau, Shinawatra? Do you get my point? Using the phrase 'Clan politics' per se could be misleading.

A spurious statement. Total control? In a democracy the people choose who governs by an election. They choose from a selection of candidates and vote accordingly. Total control is seldom the result. On the other hand the result following a coup where the will of the people is removed forcefully by the coup perpetrators could be called total control. To be clear that is the current situation in Thailand.

Going back tomorrow with TM30. I will let you know.