Seneque

How long before all the self-righteous brigade appear and start their usual mindless tirade of running down Thai women.

I don't remember tirades against Thai women on this board. I do remember tirades against Thai prostitutes though. For me the vast majority of Thai women aren't prostitutes so I class Thai prostitutes in a different category from Thai women. Thai women are wonderful and make great wives and girlfriends. Maybe for you they are the same but remember most farang men here do not find wives in Pattaya. I find your ignorant comment quite offensive actually.

totally agree ... and still many thinks that when a girl / woman smiles at you in this land... she must be easy (hence probably some sort of prostitute) !

What troubles me in this article obviously is the terrible massacre of these two young girls but why on earth the involvement of the vietnamese-'adopted' daughter of ex-president Chirac assuming it is racially motivated ?!

In Thailand the police (and the army) do what they want, when they want , etc....

Do we already see here the hand of Newin ?! ...

Good luck Mr. Abhisit ... but real politics (around this neck of the woods) is way different than being in a 'shadow' position.

Loan sharks on the gold coast ... so they are not all in the water then !

The very reason why i closed shop 6 years ago and went manufacturing in a friendly neighboring country ... It is called a racket ... targets for the revenue department have no relation whatsoever with the business environment ...

Culture Surveillance Centre Director Ladda Thangsu-pachai.

Unseen Thailand !

Many new faces ... (Banharn's brother !!! oups) ... Hope Korn will do a good job as a finance minister and starts doing something for exporters ...(baht ?)

Abhisit is not an arrogant man and that is already a dramatic change up there! ... like says my better half : "at least he is good looking and speaks english fluently" ... that's a start

The Spotlight: normally has 2 sad faced girls sitting on stalls out front as if they are permanant fixtures, dressed very prim and proper who appear to have given up on the customers. The place could certainly do with a few coats of paint.

Loi Kroh road: Plain looking girls in dirty open bars all screaming at male passers by in a hope they will buy them drinks.

Massage parlours: Every time I visit one, it seems that the girl is off sick and her grandmother is running the shop.

The Chiang Mai tourists magazines are more like Gay monthly`s. Advertising mostly for the Gay community, massages and bars etc. I have nothing against gay people, only the tourist mags that are mainly issued in hotels have very little in them that will be of interest to me.

And that about sums up Chiang Mai nightlife.

10 years ago, Chiang Mai was a fun, inexpensive and exciting place to be, these days most of it has long gone and establishments that remain are only remnants of what they used to be.

Could not agree more ... that is what you get when you keep on shooting yourself in the foot ! ... However I just wonder what really went wrong ... or are we simply older and having lost the 'basics'

enlargement of the existing 35 streets, some to be as wide as 60 metres

Problem is ... in economic good time it would die down and everyone going back to their business ... unfortunately Thailand is going to see unprecedented lay off and thousands (if not millions) people with nothing to do but being angry ... recruiting ground for perpetual unrest ?!

So the democrats are in power at difficult times again, but now the crisis is worldwide not just asian wide ! ... I just hope he can keep Newin at arm's length ... as i have a bad feeling about the whole thing (those guys are mean and is N still working for T ? ... only time will tell)

Apart from Anan, Abhisit is the only other prime minister that will meddle well with the international community.

Let's be honest: During the Thaksin 'era' a lot of good things happened.

Yes, Mr. T. was obviously corrupt and onviously he absued his power for his own good, but Thailand went into a lot prosperity and economic growth. Yes or no?

Suppose, you were in his position in a country as Thailand, wouldn't you do the same?

I would!!

I find that a sad and pathetic attitude.

I'd use my elected mandate to benefit the populous, rather than break laws, risk imprisonment and harm millions for my own selfish (and insecure) advancement...

When Mr. T was in charge, the world economy was thriving ... Thailand just followed the trend, .. It is in difficult times that you can test leadership ... in 1997 the democrats put Thailand economy back on track .... lets hope that they do the same again ... but very sceptical this time with the likes of Newin breathing on their neck (in fact this could be a trick from the team Newin/Mr. T to get back in charge sooner rather than later)

What exactly is unreasonable in those demands?

What is unreasonable is that a self appointed vigilante group is able to make these demands, and the threats that are obvious should this demands be not answered.

Actually, it's not unreasonable, it's just plain scary.

yes but you know why they feel so comfortable expressing these demands ... quite untouchable they are, aren't they ! ... that's the scary part.

On another subject (sorry) to see Abhisit hugging Newin is definitely another political low ...

Like someone said : "it is not as bad as if it was worse...."

Coming from Chiangmai to spend some time and new year eve in Hua-Hin, would anyone recommend a cool place (outside of the hotel scene) where reasonable food and ambiance could be found. Thank you

I see they have got their priorities in order.

The country is falling apart, civil war imminent, tourist numbers decimated, and they declare a public holiday.

That's why they need the Thais to fill these empty hotels' room ...

Don't let yourself be fooled.

This is Thailand.

It's all bout the money.

At the end of the day , it doesn't matter who you support or who you vote for , you fools.

It's about hte next Benz for the next Mia Noi, you morons.

Usually the mia noi gets something a bit less than a Merc, if only to show the respective positions of the mia luang and the mia noi and to fit with her cute image. But your overall point stands.

Einstein would have said " it's all relative " .

Nevermind,. I know a lot of Thai so called Hi-So's who have bought( where the money comes from is the real question) Mercs or Beemers for their many Mia Nois.

Thanks for being smart enough not to not let them fool you .

None of them , on either side of the current political divide, gives a shit about democracy, people's welfare or Thailand's international reputation.

It's just about making sure they get their disgusting nose in the trough , next time around .

Now you can choose to wear your yellow or red blinfolds 24/7, but it ain't gonna change nothing.

Right on !!!!!! Anyone that thinks different is a fool.

Yes of course ... that is why without an educated crowd this country will never move forward ... perhaps they should change the flag (once more) to have the proper colors ... red/yellow and (pink? green? ...)

First good news in weeks!

I hope we'll see good governance.

With NEWIN becoming the 'de facto' new strong man ... i don't see this as good news at all

I may be very wrong on this but I think I read a week or so ago that when her lawyers launched the appeal on the tax case that bail was granted. If right this opened the way for her to return.

Lets be blunt, she could have been kept out of the country by the powers that be (not the government). Why she is here nobody knows, but right now we are on one of those situations where things could break for civil war or break for a settlement. I would suspect that while of course PPP or whatever they are called these days will listen to Potjaman that there are also people on the other side she will be meeting. Dealing with her is subtley different from dealing with Thaksin.

How it all works out remains to be seen as does was allowing her to return, which all with power agreed on obviously. It may be something her husbands opponents live to regret or maybe not. At some point Thailand has to return to some sense of normality and that is only going to be achieved via a deal. A total defeat for Thaksin will rip the country apart and a total victory for him will rip the country apart. That leaves little choice unless one seriously want sot see mass bloddshed. It is just a matter of finding an acceptable level of give and take and in all honesty the time remaining to achieve this appears to be very limited.

Nice to see a balanced and realistic posting. Nice change from some of the high emotion we've been subjected to on TV forums lately.

I basically regard Thailand as the land of (not always easy to read) compromise ... is it the start of something ?... the timimg could not be better.

It is more than two years since we were foreseeing this on this website. Some of us decided to shift our savings into gold.

I don't think that we thought the recession/slump/depression would come quite so quickly as, at that time, the sub-prime timebomb hadn't been heard ticking; but it was clear that the US and UK were running up unsustainable debts, nationally on Iraq and other public sector schemes and individually on credit cards.

"When the USA economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold" has been true for so long, and there was no reason why it would be different this time.

However, Thailand is not fundamentally as badly off as many industrialised countries.

There has been a shortage of labour lately in rural areas, as so many (roughly 3 million men and 2 million women) have been away working in the urban areas in factories or construction or tourism. There's accomodation, food, work and fun for them back in their home villages.

Adjustment will be messy and painful, but it is possible here.

However, for more heavily industrialised countries that have been industrialised for so long that rural skills have been lost, read "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler and shudder.

(If you 'google' it, there is a one page (or maybe two page) review that summarises it.)

I disagree with this post. Thailand is in deep trouble. Did you notice 2 downgrades this week, one from S + P.

As well i can't fully understand how workers out of the industry and moving back to their village will stop Thailand from the downturn ... ? They might survive and be self sufficient ... that is not what we can call growth ... The export industry is the core of the economy here and a policy of strong currency (as japan is feeling the pinch now) and a serious lack of demand will surely hit hard.

Wish them well though but stop dreaming.

Oh, you know, the visa rules in my home country and here in Britian, where I live now, are far more demanding then Thailand's rules.

In Australia, forget just arriving on a plane.

In the UK, unless your from the EU, which makes you a conditional citizen of the UK, you must get a visa. Getting these visas is no simple matter - some of the Thai people I know here have to prove, in part by paying for expensive language courses, that they are here for legitimate purposes.

I'm not sure about the US, but I do know they've tightened up lately.

It saddens and surprises me that I regularly hear from some disgruntled Australian's, Briton's and American's that the Thai's are 'so bad' to us.

It is problematic that the visa laws do cause such inconvenience, but we 'can' get into Thailand, all of us!

Many Thai's cannot get into my country at all, not for any reason.

How welcoming is your country to Thai's?

Are you really benefiting Thailand by being there, as some suggest, or are you self-seeking benefits, but using the 'I'm benefiting Thailand' cliche in misrepresented, but, self-serving cliches?

etr

I am an American that crossed from France to the UK. I get 6 months automatically. I didn't aply for any visa nor am I a resident of the EU. You may have other points but your argument about the UK border policy just isn't true

The argument is true ...

You entered into the EU via France .... once in the EU you can travel anywhere in the EU (shengen visa) ... if you entered to the UK first you would have to present your visa and from there you may go anywhere in the shengen zone.

Have you tried France (Charles de Gaulle airport)...! One officer for 3 planes ... (sometimes they even first check at the plane exit !!!) ... plus waiting for ever for the luggage .... and this is from the country that has the most visiting tourists in the world ... Thailand is peach compare to that !

Chalerm ...

Please ... when will this nonsense stop ! Not only the PAD will be back at the two airports in a hurry but many more people will join ...

The democrats had a fantastic opportunity to make some sense out of this nightmare but i believe now they are not really interested to govern.

The PAD may reform, but taking over the airport will be more of a threat (a last resort). They have had a lot of negative feedback from those who have supported them with their closing down of the airport, so this will not be high on their list going forward. Still, just the threat that they can do it again gives them leverage.

Your comment on the Democrats doesn't make any sense. Of course they are interested in governing. I am lost as to why you would say differently. Do you want them to break the existing laws? If that is what you are after, forget it. Based on the existing election laws, if you run the numbers they will not have enough seats to form a coalition government. There are still enough non banned MP's aligned with Thaksin to form a new government under the Puea Thai party.

The Democrats have tried several times to persuade some of these other parties away from Thaksin, but the Democrats are not a rich party. They rely on donations from supporters. They do not have one rich benefactor like Thaksin, hence, PPP aligned coalition parties see the potential to be far greater if they remain aligned with Thaksin. There is very little altruism in Thai politics.

Democrats = poor party ??? where do you get this one from ?

What i mean is that sometimes some parties feel very comfortable being in the opposition and don't have a real incentive to lead a country (does not mean they cannot ... as it seems you do not need extra neurones to run this one) .. The Democrats are not really trying hard at getting votes from North / North-East where they should actively campaign.

And lately we have not heard much of their effort to try to rally a possible majority ... which makes me say that they do not look like being keen to take over even though when they did during the previous financial crisis they had been most welcome by the business sector.

Chalerm ...

Please ... when will this nonsense stop ! Not only the PAD will be back at the two airports in a hurry but many more people will join ...

The democrats had a fantastic opportunity to make some sense out of this nightmare but i believe now they are not really interested to govern.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat on Tuesday made a measured reaction to the verdict to disband his People Power Party which has effectively caused the loss of his job and the collapse of the government.

"I did my best to administer the country," he said.

Somchai was chairing the weekly Cabinet meeting at his temporary office in Chiang Mai when the Constitution Court handed down the ruling to dissolve three coalition parties, including Chart Thai and Matchima Thipataya.

The Nation

As an earlier poster indicated, this decision enables Somchai to duisappear with "face" - he did not bow to pressure to resign.

If being ruled out because of electoral fraud can be called saving face ....!

All this will be over on tuesday after the court ruling ...

PAD and tourists will go home then ...

New elections coming .... and .... Thailand same same...

Yes Thailand is (will) losing a lot of money ... and so what ... why is it always about money (the actual world financial collapse is far more damaging)... could we look at this a little further and then perhaps realise that here comes an opportunity for a REAL revolution in Thailand ...

Is it the chance to reset this country and get it out of middle age social, political behaviors ...

Most Thais are sensible, reasonable, compassionate people ... they want to have a normal life under the governance of well thought policies adapted to their way of life. Thais are tired of endemic corruption and political racketeering.

Has the time come for a revolution ? it may be the solution, it will be painful but the reward might be beyond most of their expectations... During these times always emerge someone with a genuine ideology.