rudi49jr

Don’t you think you have that backwards? Because you might start by asking the question why Russia took his kids in the first place. And where all the other tens of thousands of Ukrainian children are that they took, and why Russia feels it needs to kidnap so many children from Ukraine. And FYI, the Russian authorities did make the Ukrainian father jump through many hoops before he was allowed to take his children back to Ukraine.

Viktor Orban is a Putin stooge in the heart of Europe, NATO and the EU. Now this wannabe dictator is parroting his idol by saying we are are on the brink of WW3, and he’s more or less blaming the West for that. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1753496/viktor-orban-third-world-war-hungary-russia-ukraine

There is ample evidence that Russia has kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, yet you choose to focus on a courageous father who went to Russia, managed to get his kids back and somehow you seem to question the validity of this story. How sad and petty is that? Pathetic attempt at deflection.

Belarus President Fears 'Nuclear' War Over Western Support Of Ukraine. Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that Western support for Kyiv was increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war breaking out in Ukraine. "As a result of the efforts of the United States and its satellites, a full-scale war has been unleashed in (Ukraine) ... a third world war with nuclear fires looms on the horizon," the president said during a televised address to lawmakers and Belarusians. https://www.barrons.com/news/belarus-president-fears-nuclear-war-over-western-support-of-ukraine-e7bae026 Just another Putin mouthpiece, spouting the same nutbag nonsense that comes out of the Kremlin on a daily basis: the West is to blame for it all, Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine, the West is out to destroy Russia, the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable, blah blah blah.

Koh Tarutao is quite wonderful, though. It’s the only large (or larger) island in Thailand that - so far, at least - has escaped large scale development of tourist resorts and such.

Me too. Spent a few very good winters in Chiang Mai in the eighties and nineties, and even planned to retire there. Then came back twice, in the winters of 2007/2008 and 2011/2012, and got bronchitis both times. Needless to say I haven’t been back since.

I’m not quite sure about the brown envelopes. I think it’s more a case that there’s nothing in it for them (the RTP) to start enforcing the law, since it’s mostly poor farmers. I’m also not sure it’s the farmers burning the leftovers of their crops that are doing the most harm: setting fire to the undergrowth in the forests is much worse, IMO. You can see it all over the north, especially at night, the fires slowly advancing through the forests, over the hills and mountains. I think that is the real issue.

Of course they don’t have the will or volition to stop it. Money, bribes, kickbacks, it all goes up the chain in Thailand, many billions upon billions of baht. The higher up you are in that chain, the more you get. So I’m guessing the people at the top (among which are the members of the spectacularly corrupt administration, as you so aptly described it) receive a pretty penny from many different sources, including the national park entry fees and kickbacks for illegal building permits and whatnot in national parks. They’d be slashing their own income, so that’s never going to happen.

This is the PM10 count today in northern Thailand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this bad. And Dear Leader said he was going to put a stop to this….

Russian colonel that ordered criminal attack on Mariupol Drama Theater identified: https://news.yahoo.com/russian-colonel-ordered-criminal-attack-102600652.html Apparently this guy also gave the order to bomb the maternity hospital, and the children’s hospital in Mariupol. Scumbag. All these despicable Russian war criminals need to be identified and brought to justice, one way or the other.

Not just Putin. He and his cronies have poisoned the country and led it down the path to fascism. Not sure if there’s any recovery from that any time soon, even if Putin and his clique were to be removed.

The Russian army is looking for new cannon fodder for their botched war in Ukraine. Now, Russia has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, it currently ranks number 9 in the world (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country), so maybe they can persuade those poor souls to give their lives for mother Russia.

I think they got that backwards. It wasn’t the HongKong tourist who damaged Thai tourism, it’s all those dodgy companies with no regards for safety who are to blame. But as usual it’s the foreigner’s fault, isn’t it? No one here ever takes responsibility for their own mistakes.

I just read about that. It’s shocking and ridiculous that a 12-year-old girl is placed in an institution and her father is prosecute, just because of a drawing of this girl. What a sick and disgusting country Russia has become.

Watch Tom Segura’s opinion on Steven Seagal, especially the bit (starts around 4:14 in the video) where Seagal trains martial arts to police officers. Hilarious.

Bear Grylls met with Zelensky, going to be on the Discovery Channel. Eat your heart out, Vlad!!

Bungee jumping in Thailand is a bit like playing Russian roulette: you have a one in six chance that you will die.

Not just RTP and immigration; the army is equally corrupt. How do you think the many, many generals (why the Thai army needs so many generals is beyond me anyway) got so rich? Not to mention the civil service. My girlfriend has a friend who can give anyone a job for life as a civil servant, just have to pay 200,000 baht and it’s a done deal.

Apparently the Chinese delegation in Moscow doesn’t like Russian food. Or maybe they’re just being cautious…. https://news.yahoo.com/video-shows-mass-order-kfc-142411155.html

Everyone knows what happened there. Except for Putin fan boys and Russia apologists. Are you denying as well that the Russian army has been (and is still) committing war crimes wholesale in the areas they occupy/occupied in Ukraine?

I think looking the other way is probably more profitable, as Prayuth no doubt gets a slice of the pie from the RTP. Paying them a liveable wage would also be counterproductive, because it would reduce the need for grift/kickbacks/corruption, so less money would flow up to the big cheeses higher up in the chain of command.

I’d be happy to set up a poll here so we can see what the actual numbers are.

Most of us here would wholeheartedly agree with you….

Just doing their job, right. I wish some people would actually start doing their job and sack all those incompetent nitwits who have no idea what they’re talking about, like this national police chief. Whatever happened to free speech? Or does that not apply when the commoners wish to criticize those in power, like Dear Leader?

My thoughts exactly. Poachers now know exactly where they can get (at least) six tigers. And with each tiger poached they will become more rare, and therefore more valuable.