JAG

55 minutes ago, KiwiKiwi said:

Indeed, I understand, I too have commitments that I care about.

#1

Perhaps it's an age thing, that's possible, but I grow weary of the interminable defending of the indefensible in Thailand by many people who frankly, seem incapable of telling the difference between their backsides and their elbows. And don't they get irritated when shown the unfathomable stupidity of their positions, so off they go, whining to the mods and gawd knows who else about the bad men who are bringing TV into disrepute by not thinking the same as they do. As if having staff who cheat on their gold handicaps and act like some kind of Marshall Dillon of Dodge City somehow doesn't bring TV into disrepute. Check the internet if you don't believe... These are things that badly need to change if Thaivisa is to survive in any useful form; by the way, I heard a rumour about a sale recently, though that's gone quiet lately..

#2

The answer is education, If the Thai people understood how manipulated their behaviour is, and how deep that manipulation goes, and if they had even a handful of self-respect instead of the indoctrinated sense of face that they do have, they would kick this current bunch of ruffians out and make sure that no army officer ever again has the gall to take over their elected government, and I don't give a fig what the barstool brigade have to say on that subject, they should just focus on getting fat and dying of a respectable heart attack.

 

Education is the key, and to educate one has to explain.

#1: The white man's burden? They know best. It's easy enough to condemn the "natives", but it really rankles when a fellow white man challenges them! Incidentally, what riles them the most is when you take the mickey out of them - I think because it brings it home to them just how ridiculous they are.

#2: Education is the key. The current education system is designed to keep the people ignorant, and essentially uninformed. Modern media, with it's almost total reach to young people, and its lack of accountability to the established order, is changing that. It is informing people. Yes most of it is wittering on about what they ate for breakfast, but a small amount is genuinely informative, and that small amount will be an engine for change. That's why the old guard are trying to gain control of it. They have left it too late. The Chinese have managed to impose controls, but they were in at the start. Their Thai counterparts have left it too late, the ship has sailed and they can't swim fast enough to catch it.

This society is in transition. The junta managed the recent physical transition well (they had had plenty of time to prepare and let's face it b*gg*r all else to do). But people's views, enthusiasms for establishment concerns, and respect for the established order have changed with that transition.

Because of social media informing them. It is like a snowball rolling down hill, slow and small at first, but gathering speed and size as it goes, until it becomes an avalanche - not a metaphor that I ever thought I would apply to Thailand but there you go!

The only way to avoid that avalanche is for the establishment to change, to become more open, relevant and responsive to the needs and wishes of their people. To stop telling them what to say and think, and to start listening to what they say, and think. They aren't that nimble, they can't and won't do it. It will finish them. The old white men from #1 will be left crying into their beer.

For my money the main issue is can that change be accomplished without great violence? I think Bangkok will be messy, there will certainly be blood and snot on the walls of the corridors of power. I hope that the rest of the country will primarily be spectators

26 minutes ago, OzMan said:

I said the Washington Post reported that the Yanks ran the operation, not did everything.

 

On July 6, the American military and Thai SEALs took a jointly concocted plan to senior Thai government officials. The interior minister was among those who arrived at the cave entrance by motorcade. Using Unsworth’s maps and his understanding of the chamber’s topography and hydrology, the rescuers pressed their point to about 60 representatives from the civilian government: It was time to act, even though they fully believed that some of the boys would not survive the swim. Their message: Save most of them now or lose all of them soon.

Carrying out a thorough appreciation, considering all the available knowledge, expertise, assets (in this case skills, experience and very specific abilities) is a procedure central to producing a working plan. The requirements of the battlefield means that it is often done "against the clock"

It is something practiced constantly by professional militaries, and is a core activity for a commander and his staff. It wasn't a battlefield, but many of the constraints were similar. The US contributed a significant military team, which would almost certainly have included such planners. That will be why, drawing upon the knowledge and expertise of the divers, and many others, in order to carry out such an appreciation, they would have been central to producing the plan.

Not the same as "claiming to run the show".

42 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Tommy Robinson march: Protesters blockade bus driven by woman in headscarf

Dozens of demonstrators, some of whom were drinking, stopped the vehicle from moving in Trafalgar Square.

Police officers were present and passengers were taken off the bus.

The group pushed “Britain Loves Trump” posters onto the vehicle’s windscreen.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tommy-robinson-protest-bus-blockade-woman-driver-headscarf-trump-latest-a8447536.html

Any word on whether Ambassador Brownback was one of the protestors?

What a collection of lowlife are shown in The Independent's picture gallery, even allowing for that publication's likely inherent editorial bias.

Mind you, the fellow in #36 does seem to have developed the ultimate in tin foil hats...

2 minutes ago, oilinki said:

I really couldn't care less about your internal problems. We make the similar jokes of my country's train system, which seems to halt when there are leaves on the track. 

 

Neither we see the essential infrastructure when it works well. Did you notice the well paved road you drove today? Of course you didn't.. because it's well working infrastructure. 

 

This doesn't mean we should improve our infrastructure. The same applies to EU. 

 

Let's start improving, instead of complaining, shall we?

I rather think you missed my point...

1 hour ago, oilinki said:

All critic is good, well those based on facts. That's how we improve, not demolish the society.

 

If it requires another autocratic person to get in to the power, to keep the wheels running, so be it.

I know very little of that world. I know, in my technical world view, I do appreciate the folks who make things work well, regardless how popular they are during the night out. 

 

 

"At least he made the trains run on time"!

6 hours ago, alanrchase said:

So was Trump lying when he said the remains of US soldiers had already been returned?

 

https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN1JH05J

We are unlikely to ever know if all the remains have been returned. Unless each man was buried separately, a proper record of the grave kept, and his identity tags left on the body (all three very unlikely) all you will have is a jumbled mass of bones.

Not of course that that will worry Mr Trump, the man who fought his own heroic yet anguished battle against the malignant curse of bonespurs. Nothing you can tell him about sacrifice...

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

No worries. She's got lots of good company of people "trump" has thrown under the bus. But not Putin. Never Putin. Wonder why?

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

A certain tape - or whatever format is used these days to store footage which if made public would rather umh, "rain on his parade"?

Just speculation of course, but it could be shower clouds on the horizon of a golden political reputation...

2 hours ago, PhonThong said:

Regardless of what you think, you don't speak for  most Americans.

Well, some 3 million or so more than those who voted for Trump voted against him, so maybe he just does...

2 hours ago, webfact said:

 

 

Surachet said the operation focused on checking English-language schools because many foreigners, who do not live in the kingdom lawfully, like to disguise themselves as English teachers.

Have they been walking around in black trousers slightly frayed at the bottom, washed out but carefully pressed short sleeve shirts, with inky fingers, carrying pads of those coloured smiley stickers that P1 and P2 love to get on their homework then?

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

I once visited a uniform making shop in Tapa-Jan, and saw buckets full of badges, insignias and decorations of all shapes colors and purposes lining the floor, apparently, you can decorate yourself to look like a veteran navy seal while pushing a pencil in some office...

Ah! I wondered why the lady teacher who runs the school cadet detachment wears para wings and a combat infantryman badge!?

4 minutes ago, bendejo said:

I first came to Bkk in 1975.  I remember the bus ride from the airport: bus had a wooden floor, the conductor with the metal tube to make change, rattling it.  Same buses running on some routes today.

 

 

Hino built them to last. The metal cylinder and paper tickets don't need batteries. Keep it simple...

9 minutes ago, Thian said:

Well at least Mrs May knows how to behave properly...have you seen Juncker today? Look how pissed he was, what a shame.

 

 

I believe that when describing a politician or other major public figure, the phrase used is " tired and emotional"...

I wonder if someone else in his " entourage" has it in for him? Allowing him to be seen in public in that state?

On 7/6/2018 at 12:44 AM, KhaoYai said:

 

On 7/6/2018 at 12:44 AM, KhaoYai said:

Not on 30,000 per month you can't. Married you need an income of 40,000. Retired you need 65,000 per month.

If you have a non immigrant O multiple entry, because you are married to a Thai, and opt for going out and back every 90 days,  rather than having a "marriage extension", then you are not required to maintain any particular bank balance, or meet any arbitrary income.

Of course it is only practicable if you live close (ish) to a suitable border crossing.

That then leads to the often aired topic "can you live on 30,000 Baht a month?"

Of course you can; as long as you don't want to drink industrial quantities 5 nights a week and live on "Pizza 1112"!

Ah, so he has arrived in blighty has he?

I shall log on tomorrow morning, all agog to hear about his latest banal insults on twitter.

I wonder who or what will be the target of his next  social media unguided missile. He really is an "area weapon" isn't he?

This colour on this day...

We were recently told to wear a yellow polo shirt on Mondays. I observed that a Bayern Munich shirt might be more appropriate. Luckily no-one got the joke!