wandasloan

I must admit not to have the correct figures at hand, but I think that in the last rubber-stamp assembly before Ms. Yingluck's we only had 20 dead or so. Maybe have to ask former PM Somchai.

There was a rubber-stamp assembly between Somchai and Yingluck. It wasn't a rubber-stamp for Thaksin, either, nor was the one before Somchai. Since 2006, when the rubber-stamp assembly resumed in Thailand, there hasn't been a successful one, or admirable. I simply don't get the concept that rubber-stamping the military is good, rubber-stamping Thaksin is bad.

Rubber-stamp assembly to me is Burma and North Korea and Sarit Thanarat, and horrible. I can *see* an argument that an elected rubber-stamp assembly is better than appointed or gerrymandered, but I don't agree with it. What I don't see is the claim that one is good, another is bad. Rubber-stamping the tyrant, whatever his/her name, is despicable and while I am obviously not the spokesperson for the country (he has posted above) I don't personally feel it is ever good for the country to have a rubber-stamp assembly. Ever.

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It's quite ironic that in the US for a political party to follow through on campaign promises would be looked upon as something to be emulated and an indicator of integrity. The mechanics of follow through are so murky that feasibility studies would be an exercise in futility.

Quite right. I had in mind the specific proposal to set up a government-sponsored national health plan, which became Obamacare. The promises in the election campaign about this would have definitely caused the dissolution of the Democratic Party, were the Thai proposal in effect there. I assume any American above age 11 would have at least one specific example such as that. And of course the minor parties - Libertarian and Green, just for example - are worse than the main parties in what they promise.

And you could say the same thing above about many countries other than the US, of course, from Argentina to Zambia, from Bangor to Bangalore.

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You didn't read the OP correctly.

It states that you can't just come out with a general unspecified promise... You have to have in depth and specific details, and these have to be scrutinized in detail before you can stand up and promise anything.

Populism is on the way out and it was the only way Thaksin could back a party.

He is FINISHED!

That's the plan. This one is full of consequences that seem unintended. It is also the end of the Democrat Party. In other countries, it would end both US parties, and all three British parties and both Australian parties. The only question is whether this is a stone-cold proposal to end political parties in Thailand, or a really stupid attempt to only run Thaksinomics out of town. If Thaksin's party can't propose a populist measure (we will stop the Bangkok floods, we will have better disaster planning, we will ensure that tourists are better cared for, we will implement measures to show farmers they truly are the backbone of the nation) then for darned sure the Democrats won't be able to.

I am hoping this is a stupid idea that will die the usual death. If it's a serious plan, this alone could cause the next riots. At least everyone who likes politics and freedom of speech would all be on the same side this time.

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No different....the last government rubber stamped Thaksins decision which are good for Thaksin only.

This rubber stamps decisions that are good for Thai people and the country.

I'm curious what the qualifications were for your position as spokesman for Thailand and all Thai people. I regret I didn't see the recruiting advert, I would have applied just out of curiosity. I presume it was competitive and has good remuneration?

As opposed to a sort of elected government or caretaker one simply rubber stamping a convicted criminal fugitive's decisions?

I admit fully that I do not understand this sort of reaction. You do realise you are saying that you fully favour rubber-stamp assemblies so long as they are your rubber-stamp assemblies, right? Why do you favour rubber-stamp assemblies? Of any kind? Being a rubber-stamp assembly is exactly how the last government landed us in this predicament, and now you want to go right to the same system again, only on the other side of the coin.

Why? Do you not think that EXACTLY the same danger exists for the next rubber-stamp assembly as the last few including Yingluck's? The last rubber-stamp assembly before Yingluck ended up with 100 dead, four times Yingluck's toll. I don't get your response at all.

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If any society was examined deeply enough, one would discover that to some extent there is selective morality. However, in some societies it is more rampant, obvious and accepted. I wonder if all these people promoting the death penalty for rape would be so adamant if it was pointed out to them that beating and forcing sex on their wives/partners is in fact rape.

A correction to your post and numerous others. Rape is a capital crime in Thailand and has been for roughly 20 years. The "society" it is accepted in is government (and junta) and justice. The law specifically accounts for spousal rape, a major reason it was proposed and passed by parliament in the first place.

No Thai is debating "whether" rape should be a capital crime, since it is. The point of the current public debate is that the death penalty has never been USED for a rape, and some people think it should be.

It may be confusing to non-Thais, because the current case that caused all the debate was not just a horrible and odious rape, but a rape followed by a rather gruesome murder. There have been five executions for cases involving rape, the last one in 2001. However, all five cases involved men who raped AND KILLED children ranging from 2 to 15 years old. All five cases were particularly brutal killings as well.

So the current debate is, essentially, "should we kill people who ONLY rape?" and it is more rhetorical than anything, since this train creep will face capital charges for rape and for murder.

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Inappropriate post/images deleted.

Please remember this is not an adult only site.

Just curious - what percentage of users of Thai Visa are not adults, by Thai Visa reckoning. The above actually has more of the ring of my maiden aunt than actual research, but do tell.

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I wish they use bottled water instead of tap water to make the soup/gravy!

In what way would boiled water from a bottle be superior to boiled water from a tap?

Also, I suspect you don't realise that almost all bottled water in Thailand comes from a tap.

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2 opposite answers.......I hope eeworldwide is right.

When in doubt, always go with ubonjoe. And as it always is, his advice just above is correct. He is NEVER incorrect. I am not kidding.

Immigration people want to ensure you are married and living together, i.e. that you have not rented a spouse in order to get a visa. They will ask her the questions, and she already knows the HONEST answers to the questions. Do not prepare or rehearse. They may also come to your house to see if there are two toothbrushes in the bathroom, clothes for both in the closets, etc. They are, just as ubonjoe says, not trying to trick you.

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Posted Today, 05:55

LATEST DEVELOPMENT

Missing teen 'still alive'

The Nation

IMHO this post should be removed. The event is bad enough without terrible reporting.

I beat you by about 10 hours. Ironically, it was followed by another post containing a claim by a TV editor that (s)he had removed a post with a scurrilous rumour. I don't know how you could get more scurrilous in rumour-mongering than the above.

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Decision - Indecision. What colour? How much detail? Thainess at its best.

Pffft: Eddie Stobart would be laughing in his grave over this tardy lot, about uniforms... or none - for that matter.

It's quite important, this case, since deciding the colour(s) of motorcycle taxi vests is actually the first achievement of the new regime. (Remember, it DENIED being behind the World Cup decision, because that's going to become a really big, expensive court case.) Just 47 days into the new regime, and we have a solid achievement. Good on the generals. We shall henceforth refer to the General as General Action Jackson. Or perhaps the Motosai King?

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Sorry Wanda but Hun Sen's military take-over was a coup and no spinning or stretching of definitions will alter that.

I'm not sure whether your comment about the north Vietnamese refers to Cambodia or Vietnam itself but their take over from Pol Pot was a (foreign staged) military coup.

You seem to have a problem with coups somehow, rewriting their history to make Thailand's look worse than the last 2 have been.

"Boonlert, leader of the Pitak Siam (Protect Thailand) group, led a rally to oust the Yingluck government in 2012. "

I remember that debacle. Didn't he call it off after a couple of hours because of the rain or something. (His supporters got lost?)

I thought he quit after he became a laughing stock due to the sheer ineptitude of his leadership.

Roughly correct except it was when he burst into tears when a few of his more militant street soldiers got tear-gassed, and he ordered the whole protest shut down in horror at the violence. A total debacle. "Laughing stock" hardly captures the moment.

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Veera may have been a virtual unknown before his arrest in Cambodia but ever since then he became a well-known pawn in Thai-Cambodian relations. Even Yingluck's mob tried to get him released.

He is now very well-known (i.e. prominent) and the number who turned out to welcome him is hardly surprising in the current clamp-down on political activities - affecting both sides which the Op reinforces.

Your post is just sour grapes.

Oh, Veera was VERY well known for many political reasons long before his 2010 arrest. For one thing, that was his second border arrest. He was not a prominent figure on the Sondhi Lim stage, just a leader of an allied group, but he was extremely well known as a "border obsessive" - a bit of a loon in the eyes of many, but a very prime and important figure in the whole temple kerfuffle for many years.

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Now you're shifting the goalposts. Here's your original comment:

Since the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975, Cambodia has never had a military coup.

Well it did - two actually. The one by Hun Sen & the military and the Vietnamese take over from Pol Pot's mob. OK the second one was more of an invasion, but it satisfies the 'military' and 'coup' definitions.

BTW the north Vietnamese army (Ho Chi Min's) did overturn a corrupt and murderous 'government' backed by the US - at great cost.

No I didn't change it and won't. A "military coup" is when the military takes over the country from a non-military (or stretch it - military from military; that has happened in Thailand). But a coup precisely means the military took over the country.

That has not happened in Cambodia, ever, since 1975. The military has killed lots of Cambodians, but has never staged a coup, which is a military takeover.

Similarly the (North) Vietnamese army never took over their government and thus has never staged a coup. There are lots of ways to phrase what they did, but they one thing they did NOT do is stage a military coup.

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Hun Sen used the military in 1997 to take power from Prince Ranarridh - a classic coup.

Thank you for being the first to attack my post in a way that moves the discussion forward. I hope other posters will respond to that or to my original post. I'd like to see the backs of the Official Thai Visa Intimidators soonest. Obviously I don't agree with your post, but I already said why.

Concerning the above: What I said was that the Cambodian military had never staged a coup. I would add the (North) Vietnamese army and the (communist) Chinese army to that list, because they, too, could have seized power from horribly run and mismanaged and murderous governments 10,000 times worse than any government in Thai history - but they never did.

Hun Sen certainly used the army. So did Pol Pot. But no Cambodian army since 1975 has seized power from any government of any sort.

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More Wanda4 fantasy !

The General was not outwitted by anyone, he was probably glad to rid the country of 20 Cambodians.

If you want a good example of someone being outwitted, ask Thaksin how his amnesty farce is going, the one that was supposed to be put through in the middle of the night ! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Are your posts incomplete without personal attacks? Good grief.

An attack on how this is "fantasy" - all you're doing is adopting the tactics of the Official Thai Visa Intimidators — ridicule and attacks and bluster without a single attempt to address the subject. If it's a "fantasy" then show where it is wrong.

Weirdly, though, you then accept what I wrote, by validating the exchange of 20 (actually 20-plus) Cambodians the General didn't want. So which is it? The brilliant General DID participate in this exchange? Or there was no exchange at all and the General had nothing to do with it?

Fantasy or fact? See, it's just that for your version to have legs, you must explain why the junta is denying that the General got rid of 20 Cambodians. I already explained that; you didn't. The junta says it didn't happen, that the General had nothing to do with it. Glad to see you reject their lies, but why are they doing that, claiming the General wasn't involved, if the General's plan was brilliant — as you claim?

I have no idea what this story has to do with Thaksin, but yes, Thaksin was outwitted and still is. And others as well. And the sell-price of gold fell 50 baht this afternoon. And?

To me, that just shows you are trying to change the subject of the post and OP in the shouting-down and hectoring style made famous by the OTVI, because they don't like the facts. Am I wrong about that? Where is the room for Thaksin's ridiculous amnesty push in this story? Why not just discuss the OP and the thread it has developed?

But back on subject, do you not think the growing list of people who have outwitted the General is interesting at all? The lottery tigers? The NBTC? Cambodia? Not at all interesting?

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Listen guys, Veera might be a bit of an idiot but he does love Thailand. He has been well and truly punished for his stupid deeds. However his friends threw a wee party to welcome him home. Nothing wrong with that in my book. Lets hope him and his friends can now help Thailand to move forward. Thailand needs everyone shoulder to the wheel...

I think Veera is a zit but I still agree with all that you wrote. Thailand needs *all* kinds including the Veeras.

I disagree with your post's focus on this one man and therefore the exclusion of so many others. Not only Veera was "invited" for some "readjustment" but so was his host. And so were thousands of other people from different specific circumstances. So I hope by "everyone" you mean, literally "everyone". I hope that he and his friends and those who are not his friends are included.

And of course you put yourself in total disagreement with the General. Well, I'm with you on that part.

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A huge waste of money in a country that still has some rural schools with dirt floors and no electric power.

Even town schools that I have seen with broken desks and chairs and poor facilities.

Far more important things to spend money on than a new parliament building.

Your heart is in the right place. I say that with total confidence, because mine is right there, with yours. One problem is, however, that both the government and the junta regime have the money for both. Another problem is that governments do not hold back spending on Paul in order to benefit Peter. Government spending is just not run as a zero-sum game.

Example: Yesterday the govern... excuse me the junta opened a Royal Thai Navy Submarine Squadron. (It's quite a spiffy squadron, lacking only one thing to make it total, that being at least one submarine. But I digress.)

My point is that General Happiness didn't take the money from the tablet programme or from the rice programme, he just invented new money. Of course, there are finite limits to spending, but nothing is as simple as "forget your ridiculous submarines/parliament buildings and use that money to buy some decent schoolrooms".

It should be. But it's not.

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Oh wanda.. are you still applying to become a red spin doctor. I am sure you will do a great job.

Unable to refute the facts, a personal attack is necessary. That's your thinking? Old habits die hard. Shows what a difficult, probably impossible job the General has.

This is insightful analysis - query. Or just stating the obvious - query. "Faced with a deal he couldn't turn down, the General didn't turn it down." Well, yes. That's what I said, pretty much, although I assumed a certain amount of baseline comprehension ability by readers here and you didn't.

But since it matters so very, very much to you, what's your feeling on this: Why do you suppose the junta regime is not just silent about this obvious and known prisoner exchange, but actively denying it to the busybody snoops who think the Thai public have the right to know things that clearly would not bring them Happiness?

If you can refute any facts in this or any other post, please do so. I, too, would learn something. But your bullying won't work, this I can say truthfully. What I wrote was, and remains, factually correct.

If one absolutely must search for something nice to say about the junta regime, mine would be that the military have put paid to the mojo of the blustering, swaggering and attempted intimidation by the highly over-committed sycophants of various political factions — here on ThaiVisa for its bullyboy keyboard warriors, just as in real life in the public parks, on the streets and inside the system. Thank you, General, for that. Were I you, which of course I'm not, I'd try more of what the General says, and less of what you've got pent up from six months of delightful frolics on the Bangkok streets.

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Just the fact that this guy has been released and the General personally stepped to secure this yellow shirt guy pretty much confirms what many of the opposition are thinking but are not allowed to speak out and say it.

My goodness, this is certainly a great illustration of what censorship does.

Actually, Hun Sen stepped in to arrange the release of 20-some Cambodians held in Thai jails as illegal migrants. He stepped in because the opposition party in Cambodia is laying in to him over the whole issue and he is on his back foot. He saw a way to gain some points back from the opposition, and Veera was the cat's paw. The Cambodians are home from jail and Hun Sen and his party are claiming credit, and all they gave up was one Thai. The general, again, was outwitted, this time by a Cambodian politician.

Some Thai newspapers are printing this true story, but most are like the above - feebly and meekly taking dictation from the NCPO executives like the good stenographers most of them currently are.

Mandatory trivia: Since the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975, Cambodia has never had a military coup.

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I just watched the 15 minute highlights of the CR / Dutch game - wow that CR goalie was phenomenal!

I watched the entire Arg-Belgium game. What a contrast. The Arg-Bel game was slow, plodding, and full of fake falls and dirty looks. The CR-Dutch game was football at its finest.

Not only the finest, but it ended 75 minutes faster.

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According to what was in the media a month or so ago, technically, the guy is right, the products haven't been banned. But a key word is missing in the statement and that is that they have not been banned yet. As I recall, the US said any ban would be announced in October.

Sigh. After post after post about those stupid and clueless and witless and uninformed and ignorant Americans.

Mr Postman: US law on human trafficking *forbids* trade sanctions of any kind over human trafficking. There *will be* no ban on Thai products because of what happened "a month or so ago". After Oct 1, the US *might* but probably won't oppose any Thai request for a loan at the IMF/World Bank, which Thailand probably won't make anyhow.

But the point for this thread: There will be no US ban on the import of Thai products because of the human trafficking report, including before, during or after October.

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