wandasloan

Please dear general, make the budgeting and accounting of this and other projects transparent and online for anyone to peruse.

Thanks. It has been a long and arduous day and I needed a larf.

150 billion baht in "investment" funds all in the hands of one man. What's that sound?... Ah right, smacking lips and hands rubbed together vigorously.

Agreed ... the software-company ought to have a duty, to check at some point that the person running-up such a large bill is a responsible adult, not just a child. After all, they're the ones extending credit !

What can AIS do ... cut her phone off ?

That should be the end of the matter !

Actually not. The software company is not doing the billing, AIS is. The software company runs this game internationally, and has no idea what bills are being wracked up or paid on the spot. When you play a game on AIS (or other providers) ONE way you can buy your credits is by charging it to your phone account. The software company has no part in this. If AIS approves the purchase of the credits, it goes on the phone bill. That is, it's a transaction between the phone owner and AIS. (Later, AIS pays Line.)

AIS considers this child's case a loophole. It has marked the account "paid" and is installing account monitoring for these games.

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.......but......but......but it wasn't them......it was the fascist `Suthep and the mad monk.....not good red people!!!!

Actually several Suthep people have been arrested and charged, and the press has (lightly) reported them, with names and events.

But yes, this is basically a farce. The police have approximately 0.0% chance of linking any of the violence to any bigshots. What shout worry everyone is that a press conference like this with "we are hot on the trail of... " means, in translation, "we may get a scapegot or two by next week, but all in all, we're pretty clueless". It would be great if all the killers from the past six months were brought to justice, but it's not going to happen any more than it will happen for 2010, 2008....

It's not a political thing. I'm convinced the violence is almost all by really rogue elements who simply aren't connected and aren't going to give themselves away. If you look at that one in Trat where they got the two red shirts, it was three people who bragged on one another. Without that kind of clue, these people are all going to go scot free - all sides, all elements.

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More applause for the junta. Now they are following the money trail and this will surely lead to some major king pin busts, whilst also identifying their money launderers.

With sufficient similar successes, the considerable proceeds that can be sequestered from these scumbags can also help Thailand to top up the empty coffers that the PTP left behind.

To be more specifically correct, more applause for the PTP's Police General Pongsapat, the only person who raised the issues in the OP.

But then he's been doing this for years, and I doubt he cares who is the top dog or whether he's pleasing the top dog or not. But he IS a leading member of PTP. Your attitude of exclusion is certainly not helpful to the goal of reconciliation that the junta is copying from Yingluck.

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Thais haven't got a clue to addressing the Thai south issues rationally let alone solving the issues. A Thai military dictatorship and military led initiative of any kind will always be perceived to be a force initiative. Thais don't seem to understand that. The Thais perceive the insurgents to be fools and not see that there is no accountability in the Thai system. Until Thais recognize that civilian government leadership is the only possible way to solve the Thai south, there will be unrest and killing.

I agree, but don't forget they had civilian governments and no results , mainly because they have no idea how to adjust to a problem, this is way above their heads and they should ask for international help.

I think both of you should consider the possibility that the consortium of authorities who run things in the South no matter who is the central government have solved the issues, adjusted to the problems and are generally getting the results they desire.

Even if you reject this - after careful consideration and consultations with some people who live(d) in the deep South who will tell you things you obviously don't know - the chances of asking for "international help" are zero or less. And why would they? Did the British in Ireland, who couldn't solve that problem for one heck of a lot longer and bloodier than the conflict in the South? Did the Canadians with separatists? Did the Ukraine with the Russians? Did Mexico with the drug cartels? Why should Thailand even consider such an outlandish thing?

The Thai authorities can bring the insurgency in the South to a peaceful and successful end pretty well any time they want. Which certainly raises the question of whether they want to. The deep South is VERY lucrative to people involved at the top in major black market operations and international crime. "Solving the problem" would hurt those people very, very badly. The central government of any civilian persuasion has NO authority there. If Prayuth were to concentrate his efforts, he might be able to turn things around, but he would use up 100% of his political capital in doing it and would be powerless everywhere else.

You can safely bet he won't concentrate any effort there. Like every government he'll make cosmetic changes, and all gangs on all sides will continue operations as usual.

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So, Green Card holders are fine for getting notarial services. But, having a NY wedding papers notarized, nope.

Well you can't notarise US wedding papers anywhere.

What I'm suggesting is to make a statement and have the statement notarised. This is what hundreds or thousands of Americans do every year for their retirement visa, for example. Only instead of saying "I declare I make 2 jillion baht a month" the statement says "I declare the marriage papers referred to herein are authentic." The consulate most certainly will notarise that statement for any American citizen or green card holder.

The point is not the marriage papers, which the US Embassy is (quite correctly) totally clueless about. The point is the US consul's stamp on a piece of paper, in this case the declaration, which will delight a Thai government paper-pusher.

None of the above is a theory or conjecture.

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The US embassy would not of been able to of done anything for you anyway they cannot certify any document.

For sure. People starting with Thai bureaucrats have a truly difficult time grasping federal governments. So don't explain it to them or try.

You can be tricky, however, and I've seen this done more than once. Take the document (marriage certificate in this case) to the embassy and get a notary form. Write on the notary form simply something like "I attest the marriage certificate here is a real marriage certificate" and get the consulate to notarise that statement. USUALLY (100% in my experience) when Thai bureaucrats see that official US stamp referring the marriage paper (or any similar document) their eyes light up at the "correct" paperwork, and Robert is your father's brother.

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It's usually the other way around. Epic !

And the Official ThaiVisa Misogyny Subcommitte On Thai Women goes into emergency session with a full quorum.

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You make a lot of claims here, some ok, some spurious and some akin to rewriting history. Call my claim silly and I'll call yours dishonest.

I've read a fair number of your posts on TV and your denial of hatred of the military is completely at odds with your posts. Almost every one is directed at the military to the exclusion of the police or any other culprits. To repeat: the police are far worse than the military in everything they do. That's THE fact.

Over 2,500 summarily executed in Thaksin's 'war on drugs' by the police. Most activists who disappear have police involvement. Extortion - a daily occurrence by the police. Thais in the main are not fearful of the military but they are of the police. I could go on but I doubt if any argument would change your anti-military bias.

I'm not a fan of militaries in any country but I've never been extorted by them here. However it is downright dishonesty to claim that the Thai military have never held a bloodless coup. The last one was bloodless and this one is the same - so far. Your efforts to rewrite the history of the last coup are a sad reflection on your journalistic experience (assuming you are the person who used to write for Database).

Of course the military are in control of the arms of government just like the PTP were. But it is a complete distortion to say that they & only they are in charge of law enforcement - they are not. The police are still going about their normal half-baked duties of clampdowns and selective arrests of some law breakers (as shown in other TV threads).

The current military coup is far from perfect but there are so many problems to be addressed it is ridiculous to expect instant success in resolving everything. They've started well and shown up the previous corrupt lot in a number of areas but there's a long way to go and, no doubt, there will be mistakes, omissions and overbearing no-criticism-allowed styles of governance (not dissimilar to Chalerm, Plodprasop and a few others).

So far I'd give Prayuth an 8 out of 10 for achievements. Deduct 2 for intolerence of criticism and using military courts to try dissenters.

Since it is the military, specifically the army, that has seized power, abrogated all civil rights and established itself as unique ruler of the country, I'm not sure who else should be criticised.

You ARE a fan of the military in Thailand. You are an unabashed supporter of their seizure of power and the establishment of a dictatorship. I'm not. It's a rather clear distinction.

To compare the political and civil powers of the military today with the Yingluck or any other civilian government is ludicrous. No civilian government has "control" of the country in any manner. That's what politics *is*. The military, as usual, has completely eliminated the supreme law, all civil rights and has full power to order the bureaucracy - which civilian authorities do not.

Do you actually, really believe that Prayuth is subject to removal by a court because he has (already) replaced senior civil servants with family-connected cronies - as Yingluck was?

Now EITHER you are ignoring the actual power of a military dictator which exceeds and supersedes all legal and political restraints OR you really don't understand what has occurred in Thailand with this eleventeenth military takeover.There is no third option.

You've never been extorted by the military. Therefore everything is lovely. Okay. Of course you are not Rohingya or Cambodian. You are not the cousin of a friend of a brother of a man who is suspected of being a southern insurgent. You are not an Akha.

You are not someone who thinks it is important for a newspaper to print the truth. You are not a person who thinks Thai Visa should have the right to publish and the right to allow comment on that publishing. You don't feel extorted. Very well then. It's a lovely world and dictatorship is a beautiful system, all based on the fact you haven't (yet) felt any personal pressure over it.

I feel differently about it than you feel. I have been extorted many, many times by this and other military regimes in Thailand. Here is the attitude I do NOT have about it: "I'm all right Jack!"

But please do not start down the "it could be worse" track, not with me. I freely admit and even celebrate that it could be worse. I have personally lived in worse places than Thailand, and there are (and were) many others, just in my lifetime. I lived for an extended period under a dictatorship in another country where, if you and I had this discussion-argument, WE would be imprisoned for such an argument over a political point. So things could be worse, I sure grant you that. They always can be.

But spare me the moral equivalencies, okay? Right now things are pretty bad for Thailand. I don't personally see a way they will get better, any more than the army killing 100 people in 2010 made things better. Certainly they didn't get better by the army killing hundreds of people in 1992 (yes, hundreds, we don't know the number) or the army (Isoc) killing hundreds of people in 1976 or killing hundreds in 1973.

There's no obvious way out of this 2014 dictatorship without more killing. We've had our Black Mays and Black Octobers and another month of it is inevitable. Military dictatorships in Thailand rarely end well and this is the absolutely and horribly wrong move at the wrong time by this incredibly unqualified, wrong man.

I have this horrible, terrible feeling that you and others who feel so warm about being under a military dictatorship. I feel you are going to be blaming others when the inevitable revolt begins to boil. When the army kills the first dissenter, it will be the fault of the dissenter or Thaksin or the bloody red shirts. Or it will be that ridiculous Sondhi and his Maha Chamlong. Or it will be Suthep's fault, him and that other violent monk.

Sorry, it won't fly. People have the right to protest military rule, and the military has NO moral right, none at all, to use capital violence against its citizens for using their natural, God-given rights to speak, dissent, gather and petition for change. The military's job is to protect the borders against foreign invasion. Under a civilian government, there might be a point where the army can play a role in quelling real riots (known as The Abhisit-Suthep Defence, and it has a valid point). But the army has neither legal nor moral authority to strip natural rights and kill people over it. Not in any civilised nation, including Thailand.

All the coming violence, every drop of blood is on the hands of the general and his cronies in their crony-ruled rape of this country. But that is in the future, because of course....

8 of 10? That's all? Don't you understand that stifling dissent and military courts and 3am knocks on the door ARE martial law? That's the entire, whole point of the first month of martial law, is the combination of open and secret intimidation and trying to force 65 million into fearful self-censorship like Thai Visa?

At this point, I'd have given Sarit, Pibulsonggram, Chuan, Thaksin, Kukrit Pramoj and Yingluck an 8 of 10. Thailand is probably not unique about it (think: the US and the whole world in the first month of Obama) but Thailand ALWAYS gives honeymoons, even when not held hostage at gunpoint. And while being a newly elected PM is pretty easy for a few weeks, being a new dictator is even easier. Yingluck skated over the whole fiasco of the 2011 floods "because she is new at the job". And Prayuth is getting that same treatment. I personally think it's a bug, not a feature — the floods established Yingluck's failure as a leader and everyone gave her a pass on it — but either way it exists and there's nothing to be done about it.

And my final score. I deduct two points - yes 8 of 10 same as you - because of the hints Prayuth has dropped about what he intends to do to destroy basic rights in this country - civil rights and political rights, indoctrination of children, etc. If he actually destroys them, I'll be deducting more. I fear, I truly and viscerally fear that he will succeed.

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Yes I do wonder because I don't know who is protecting him.

The military is NOT in full control of law enforcement. The police still have that power although some individuals are unfortunately being charged in military courts. In some cases the military are accompanying police on raids - and it's working a lot better than when the police were left to their own devices.

I don't have your paranoia about the military and what they are doing is starting at the top (Thai for example), which is the right place to start. We'll have to wait and see if they follow through with staff and politicians' perks on the airline.

I also have enough knowledge of this country to see that as far as executions, torture, planting evidence, extortion and other abuses - that the police here outdo the military in every way.

If you hate the military that much I suppose it follows that you can blame them for not covering every on going problem with law enforcement.

I'm not sure why I'm doing this. Your's is a silly response. I don't hate the military. My son currently serves in the military. My family has a military tradition. I honour the military. If you think that criticising ill deeds is hatred, ... well, you do. In my worst rant at the most egregious stupidity by a military man I haven't a shred of hatred.

You almost got it, then slipped. The military is in full control of law enforcement. Check out the statement and Order of the three-named coup council when it seized power. The police serve under, and at the pleasure of, the National Council for Peace and Order. The whole country is under martial law. The police have authority as allowed by the NCPO, and are accountable to it.

The Thai Army has killed, tortured and abused more citizens (and completely innocent, submissive foreigners) than any other entity. That's just a fact. And I would not pour water on the police if they were on fire, I actually don't respect the overall police force, taken as a whole. But the army, which I *do* respect, is the biggest killer of Thais in Thai history. There's not a coup in 40 years that didn't end in great bloodshed, with the army killing its own people. I don't like that. I fear for Thailand at that. I PRAY literally that Prayuth is more sane than that - while I also fear he is not. No army worth its name and tradition kills its own citizens, let alone kill them over and over and over so that its general can earn a fifth star as field marshal.

I wake up each day to observe what the army does. When it does good, you may hear it from me first. However the "perks on the airline" are hardly what needs fixing in Thailand. Nor is "fixing" something you do by order and demanding discipline and single, unique thinking. This isn't China and Gen Prayuth isn't Mao. The Thai people even his soldiers that he can order about - and *never* will be no matter his plans to die of old age as Thai prime minister. I only hope he doesn't think they are.

No military dictator of the past has fared well with such top-down discipline, and the Thai people have fared even worse every time.

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You never cease to imply and directly accuse the military of any violation of human rights or anything else.

Well this case has nothing to do with the military and many activists have been 'removed' by the police. But that doesn't fit your agenda.

None of the authorities - including the police, military and forestry heads - have a particularly clean record and the police (& DSI) have an appalling record of investigating & charging those involved.

The actions of Chaiwat would make him a prime suspect but he seems to have 'protectors'. I wonder who.

I probably never will cease. But tomorrow is always another day. They hold complete power. If they cease doing stuff like killing innocent people and selling slaves and trafficking arms and torturing people, I will (possibly) be the first to recognise and praise that. They cease, I cease, count on it. I completely agree with you about the forestry department and national parks department and police (and many other non-military entities), who in their right mind wouldn't?

But it's the military that has full, complete control of lawn forcement. Control is total, 100% in the hands odf the military. They will enforce or they won't, completely binary - and their choice which to choose. I always hope for the best but I don't expect it. The very fact that Chaiwat is returning to his job "in fairness, because of a lack of evidence" while the military is busy worrying about free airline tickets and marked-up hundred-baht bills gives ME an opinion about the junta's law enforcement priorities — and it has nothing to do with the law. How about you?

But come on. Do you actually wonder? Really?

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Sorry Chaiwat, but it looks like your end is going to arrive quite soon. Seeing as you were the last person to see Billy having had him arrested and detained which you claim was only for questioning.... But now nobody has seen him since.

Then this information and video clip surfacing.

It is all pretty damning evidence that is building up here.

Chaiwat clearly has had him murdered because he was in possession of enough rope to hang him and his department with.

It's a pity for Chaiwat that the PTP are out, there goes any protection he may have had from above.

Looking forwards to reading about his life sentence.

Heh. This reminds me of the idiots voters who elected Thaksin in the first election of the millennium. They were thrilled to elect a man who finally would bring action, hard justice to the country - a neo-Sarit dispensing justice with a flick of the hand. Kind of like some people (no names) view Gen Chayuth.

Then, you could have gone to interview all those victims of their own 2001 votes 45 days ago about what they did and how they feel about it. They were camped out in Lumpini Park expressing their buyers' remorse.

You are building yourself up for a very disappointing reality check. A re-watch of the entire "Yes Minister" should be mandatory for all foreigners right now. Because that's where Chaiwat prospers, not in any party or politician (or general). And that is where he will continue to prosper and Billy's family will never see justice, just like the screwed-over, victimised families of all the other activists murdered in Thailand - some of them by the military but almost all of them very protected, just like Chaiwat.

Sarit, remember, is the man who cleaned up corruption in Thailand with a series of public executions, extra-judicial killings and summary justice. That's why there's no corruption any more and the civil service is clean and never would protect a scummy murderer or national park timber rapist in their midst.

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Of course there are no cases of ''human trafficking and illegals in working as cheap slave labour in the U.S or elsewhere for that matter are there?

If you read the report, you will see that the US is part of the report and is quite honest about slavery and human trafficking in the United States.

Do have a read. It is free.

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hold on ...has the army not been trying to sort out the South for over 10 years?...toys like the blimp etc were bought especially for them

Not just "the army" but specifically the commander of the army, yes. The agency in charge of all operations in the South (which the government is graciously allowed to supervise but not change) is the Internal Security Operations Command or ISOC, which is commanded by the army commander, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha. He is the reason the peace talks failed, for example.

It seems he is going to make some tweaks, but he has always had that option anyhow. Whatever he is going to do or whatever important title he is going to bestow upon himself, he always was able to do.

One possibility is that he is going to name himself PERSONALLY as HPICC rather than by his army position, which expires on Sept 30.

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I'd like to believe this but when attempting to access the webpage, a Thai junta style page comes up , written in Thai explaining that the site has been shutdown

And rather than ask your ISP why, you re-post the information.

Almost all people (including me) have complete access to the Espn.com website. Some do not. Those people who do not (and get the dreaded TCSD logo) are suffering from a spineless or incompetent ISP. There is no third possibility.

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This is very interesting as I was trying to access WWW.ESPN.COM today as I like keeping up on all the sports and today the webpage was blocked...my guess is the coup leaders believe that by blocking this webpage, people won't be able to follow the football scores....are you serious?

The coup leaders, nor their toadies and lackies, have NOT blocked Espn or similar sites. If it's blocked for you, blame your ISP and ring them up, suggest a spinal implant.

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for 9000 baht, you could have a full PC instead of this shiny mirror ...

Breaking news from 1997. A PC for every school, AND with two 3.5-inch disk drives and a year's supply of diskettes!!

A PC? In 2014? There are teachers in the Thai education system with more updated ideas than that.

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One cross from a 'left winger' in the whole of the match is really abysmal. I have no beef about Rooney, he's a quality player, but he was played 'out of position'. He's not a left-winger, bottom line.

Well.... how about one goal from a World Cup-quality team in 90 minutes? Is that abysmal? I'm no football guru and usually watch football under protest except every four years, but I was quite impressed by that very excellent England goal, cross and finish both (and together). As for the other 89.9 minutes, was there something better that I blinked and missed?

I admit my second greatest entertainment in that game was Rooney's corner kick out of the grounds, stadium and, apparently Manaus.

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Books: the epitome of oppression huh? Trolling are you?

Ah, wait, maybe you're right, tablets would never be sold, used for gaming, abused and are a better option than good old fashioned books right?

PTP was the epitome of all fiefdoms and all they wanted to do was benefit themselves by falsely offering free goodies to get votes.

Bottom line is karma caught up to 'em and these clowns are now history.

You do not grasp the post you quoted because you do not grasp the methods of the Ministry of Education. Books are not the epitome of oppression, which your correspondent did NOT write. They are the epitome of corruption.

The gain from ONLY having books in classes is far, far more to the alleged "educators" than any electronics ever could be. It is a magnitude worse than in the corrupt US schoolbook system.

You probably don't mean to, but even recommending that schools go to all-books is the greatest invitation to corruption possible.

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This has been done before , rehashing old ground, with a worn out story.

Indeed. I object only to the headline, since no "journalists" will be or have ever been invited on these dog-and-pony-show freebie junkets. A few will be travel writers and almost all will be paid shills, PR people, freelancers for travel brochures like airline magazines, and the like of that. All of those treated will have no interest in any objectivity or journalism at all, but will write, photograph or merely scarf up the freebies to promote tourism - Thai and in general. Number of jet ski stories: 0. Number of armed soldiers at 7-11 stories: 0. And so on.

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Good. Close the book on anything & everything PTP did; all was a major farce unparalleled in history by a bunch of greedy clowns.

And start with health care. Also, stop using the Bangkok airport and tear down the government complex, especially that ridiculous armed forces headquarters!

After that, get serious.

"once Thailand has stricter control over the labour flow, as they would no longer be able to smuggle illegal workers into the kingdom. (MCOT online news)"

Which is exactly what I have maintained for the last 2 days, despite some (few) malapropisms from some 'reddened' members.

I made it clear: rid of the illegals, record who is here legally and where they are and what they are doing, and then open up again for recording new labouring visitors within the legal agenda.

That also helps to reduce slavery/con-artists, etc.

Yes, you have maintained that. The problem is that you don't have a handle on the problem. The problem is NOT, and the goal of this programme is not to regularise workers, register aliens, reduce slavery and make sure everyone pays his owed taxes fairly. At no time, in no place is that the aim.

The army or the police or immigration or the Board of Investment or the Official Thai Visa Keeping Track Committee all could handle the task easily to meet your goals - if that were the problem. It would be simple. However, you have not understood what the problem is.

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