sidneybear

I'm sure they won't miss you. Here in Australia, if coffee is too hot, the barrista get accused of 'burning the milk'. Maybe these people learned the Australian way?

I think that the best way of describing Thailand is a 'managed democracy'. There are some guardrails that stop things from falling in a heap

Exactly. The only thing he did wrong was not to follow the western authored "rules based order". In other words, he put Thailand first, kicked out a bunch of crooked oligarchs and preserved Thailand's delightful traditions and culture. Posters here who think the sky fell in under Prayuth make me laugh. They should have a look at what it's like back home these days.

I was the MD of a US Thailand subsidiary company for a while and had to go to the Labour Court a couple of times. I always found them to be fair in both directions. I had to let go a couple of employees: one was refusing to work and we reached a settlement with her at the Labour department (an initial step before going to court); the other was falsifying delivery records and sued us when we fired him - we countersued for damages in the same amount and he ended up getting nothing.

Your crystal ball is exactly right.

Me neither. Thailand now has a left wing house and a right wing senate. Nothing much will change.

You're smart enough to know that. Unlike a lot of people here who think that Thailand is a carbon copy of the west.

In the wonderful world of Thai politics, that won't matter.

Precisely. They'll last a few months, just like those who went before them.

Right. We've been in this movie before. At least Thaksin's lot seem to be a spent force, and these western worshipping lefties that have replaced them will soon find out that they won't be able to keep their promises.

Right. Forced out one way or another.

There you go again. Rather than offer a rebuttal to the point I made about pseudodemocracies, you revert to childish rudeness, psychobabble, and ad hominem attacks. You're incapable of serious debate. Regardless of what you say, Thaksin's lot will get the boot, and I'm looking forward to it.

It was with my best mate. I'll never forget it.

Democracies are so 1900's. They've been replaced by pseudodemocracies all around the world. I'll concede that they look the same on the outside though - we still have parties with different names that we can vote for.

That or a judicial thingy. It's the Thai way.

Bangkok on LSD

You seem to take everything at face value. Next you'll be telling me that a party that calls itself 'The Conservative Party' must by definition hold traditional conservative values, and that a party that calls itself 'The Labour Party' must support the unions and the working classes. Do you also believe that politicians tell the truth all the time?

"This time is different" is ground I've covered before with you and is what people have said all through the years. Time will tell, and it won't take long.

If you chat girls up and make them laugh, you might get laid. It's the same everywhere.

Maybe that's because you're nice too. Thailand tends to reflect one's own temperament.

Flown ultralight aircraft

Indeed. In the UK, for example, we get a choice of two identical political parties to vote for. At least Thailand's present different approaches.

They'll win in the end, just like they always do.

True. Starting a business involves understanding risk. Weed is controversial and most politicians want to get rid of it - even Amsterdam's famous coffee shops have been scaled back. Anyone who starts a weed shop should only do so with money they can afford to lose.

He'll last for six months maximum, before he gets ejected.