thaibeachlovers

They could have done so, but some of us suspect a reason why they are using October 7 as an excuse to make Gaza uninhabitable. By making so much rubble they actually made it easier for Hamas fighters to operate ( plenty of cover ), and harder for tanks to move. Mind you, it's going to take a bit of work to remove the rubble so the settlers can move in.

Ah, yes indeed, the tide has long ago turned against the israelis. I hope that no longer will they ever be seen as on the plus side of right. "It's really quite scary," remarked one woman draped in an Israeli flag, who identified herself as Davina. She recounted an alleged incident where a pro-Palestinian protester made a threatening gesture, heightening the atmosphere of fear and apprehension among the counter-protesters. Despite their numerical disadvantage, they remained steadfast in their determination to make their voices heard and advocate for their cause. Ooh how awful for her. While she is feeling so vulnerable, she should remember why the pro Palestians are there, and be grateful she is not waiting for the 2,000 pound bomb that is going to blow her up, because she is trapped in Gaza without a way out.

I see the propaganda machine is in full swing with the old "probably being sexually abused" BS from the poster you quoted. Not one, far as I know, released hostage has ever claimed they were being abused. I class it in the same category as babies being beheaded and a baby in a microwave lies.

How nice for them. One wonders if anyone will write a little story for the thousands of Gazan women that were blown up, buried alive under the rubble of their homes, died of diseases easily cured if they had the medicine to do so, died of wounds untreated because the hospitals were destroyed, or died of drinking bad water, because the treatment plants were blown up by the israelis? You'll have to excuse me if I'm not particularly concerned for a few israeli soldiers, when hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian women are indefinitely incarcerated without trial in israeli jails under administrative detention.

You are quite correct about Neeranam. IMO it's just them doing the usual deflection from the facts by attacking the messenger. As you point out, though I doubt it will make any difference, no one has supported terrorism. Seems they don't like to be reminded of the reasons October 7 happened, preferring to pretend it just happened because Hamas are so evil and the israelis are as pure as driven snow, and have never done anything to cause it.

Every time I read anything from the poster you quoted ( I only see his posts when they are quoted ) I thank the deity for the ignore function.

The problem is that Thai laws are difficult for we farangs to understand, especially if we don't read Thai, and the application of Thai law is not uniform, so if one poster says he did this and that, another poster may have found this and that didn't work for him. It's not helped by different amphurs inventing rules that other amphurs don't have. Just trying to extend a Non O visa is a trying experience and that's minor stuff. Buying property gets into the stratosphere of difficult thing in Thailand. There is a yawning chasm between those of us that say "never buy- rent" and those that say "buying is fine". IMO the latter just hadn't had it gone wrong YET. After all, everything is just peachy till it ain't. Thing about Thailand is though, it's probably the easiest place to rent that you will ever find. As they say though, "up to you". Good luck and don't say you were not warned.

The only advice that any farang needs in LOS, along with DON'T buy the girlfriend a house, a car or anything else that costs more than dinner at a nice restaurant.

As Zelensky didn't even try, we'll never know, will we? If ( when ) Ukraine ends up negotiating, are they in a stronger or weaker position now than they were before the Russians invaded?

I have zero idea of the point you are making. If you support the Ukrainians, should you not be planning to volunteer to go help out on the front lines, or is it OK for other people to die for your druthers?

One hopes that does not include starting WW3 by sending NATO troops into Ukraine. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.

I don't think the West is asleep. I think the West's leaders made a huge mistake and they just don't know what to do about it.

You got there before me and said it far better than I could. I was going to quip that if Tusk is so concerned then perhaps he should go fight on the front line. I'm so sick of old men that keep sending young men to die. Is there no end to the BS? IMO Tusk is doing what politicians always do, ramp up the fear of the people so they can get away with more BS. A plague on all warmongers.

It's too late to add it to that post, but I meant to add that Ukraine got whupped in Avdiivka not too long ago, and if they now have to give up territory so many ukrainians died to keep, it's not going to be making the Ukrainian troops very happy. They've been at the front too long, they are not getting new troops to relieve them, and apparently they are being smashed ( or no one would even be talking about a retreat ). It's not a happy state of affairs for Ukraine at all.

Well, once upon a long time ago I was a warrior, and was all ready to go to Vietnam, but they cancelled it before I got to go, so I missed out my my generation's war. Since then I found out it was a war based on BS, and later I found out that most wars were based on BS, so yes, Once I was a warrior, but not for a long time. Have a nice day.

I don't see anything to disagree with there. I just think that if we are at such a pass that either of them ( and that means Harris ) are elected it's all over for the west anyway. If western politics is so bereft of good people that either of them becomes POTUS it's time to party hard as the fat lady will be singing any time soon. Like the man said, "better to burn out than to rust". I just hope I've passed over before our new overlords turn up.

Always good to be able to blame other people for his own mistakes. Perhaps Zelensky should have considered what would happen if his supply chain was severed BEFORE taking his country to war by refusing to negotiate. I feel sorry for all the Ukrainians that are going to die as long as he refuses to do so. By all means he can call it a "defensive retreat" if it makes him feel better, but some of us know what it really is. A war is usually won or lost by the morale of the troops, so how will the morale be of either side if Ukraine retreats?

Apologies. I am a qualified Obstetric nurse, not a maternity nurse. I was getting a bit muddled there. A maternity nurse knows a lot more about it than I do.

You think wrong.

Women seem to like babies, so they do keep doing it. Pretty weird IMO but then I don't ever want a baby so I'm probably the wrong person to comment on that. I read somewhere a long time ago that Russian women used to only have one baby because their maternity services were so bad they swore never to go through that again. I don't know if that was true, but it sort of sounded right. Saudi women more than made up for it though. When I was working there, a normal number of babies was apparently 8 per mother. In Riyadh they used to travel in very large Jimmy cars, which would have been the only way to fit 4 wives and 32 kids in ( satire alert for the humour devoid ).

Rubbish. There are cultures in which men wear a sarong, which can also double as a skirt. When I was living in Singapore, which has a large Malay population, I wore a sarong some of the time, just like Malay men. It's much cooler than pants. When I lived in Thailand I also wore a sarong, but only in the house and garden.

I attended a number of births during my nurse training ( I'm also a qualified maternity nurse ), and if there is one thing I can say without any shadow of a doubt is that if I had a functioning uterus, there is absolutely no way any man would ever stick a baby in me. Humans may be a brilliant piece of biological design, but unless God designed women with a zip in the required place there is absolutely no way I'd ever be needing a maternity ward. I'm only surprised that women didn't give their men a good kicking in the correct piece of male anatomy after going through that. However, seems that when women were designed, not only were they given the ability to squeeze a baby's head out of the same hole that was small enough for their husbands teeny willy to stick the baby in, but after screaming a lot and threatening to cut it off if it ever came near them again, seemingly soon as the baby is out and dripping bodily fluids over the woman, the pain vanishes ( in the normal course of events- sadly not all births are normal which is why a midwife requires a lot more training than a standard nurse gets ) and it's as though the baby really was delivered by stork mail.

I would, but only if born without a uterus. I'd also have to be so beautiful I'd make other women jealous. Even though women constantly bleat on about how badly they are done by, they can get on just by being good looking. Men like to throw money, free dinners and trinkets at pretty women, but my only bed time companion ( after my free dinner and movie from a male admirer, of which I'd have hundreds ) would be my girlfriend or a pet rabbit ( probably both ). I might have a vagina in my new persona, but I'm sure I'd still like girls

I really don't remember which mall it was in. But I did spend some time in the Emporium, if that is the one on the other side of the road from Cowboy but further down towards the bus station. I used to go to a lot of movies in various malls, but mainly in the World Trading Center, since renamed.

and they really were hugely enjoyable days. I used to stay in Uncle Ray's guest house behind the Dynasty Inn for, I think, 400 baht a night. Wasn't the cleanest place in town, no elevator, no room service, but the reception was friendly, it was cheap and guest friendly. Ray's long gone of course. I'd spend my days rambling on foot all over Bkk, with buses for the longer stretches and got to know it pretty well, but most of that will all be gone of course. Breakfast was originally at a German restaurant just up the road from Dynasty with it's share of ladies that always hung around drinking coffee ( I was so naive back then that I wondered what they did to earn money to sit around all day, LOL ) and in later years at Took Lai Dee, where one could strike up a conversation with strangers, and dinner was at Tom's Quick, very close to the entrance to Nana Plaza. The latter had a "dragon lady" boss who used to glare at me while I ate. I fed quite a few young ladies in that place in my time. Tom's long gone of course, along with the dragon lady. IMO the pace of life was at a more livable speed back then. Now it's just rushing around and never stopping to look at what is going on.