JAG

8 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Sure but I wonder if there's another slant re you last paragraph.

 

IMHO if won't be too long before the ruling coalition collapses (certainly hope so), then 3 possible scenario questions (or more):

 

1. Will the PM be able to 'reorganize' what's left to continue in power? Doubtful he could get the numbers without very obvious bribing of more folks from the opposition and looking very incredulous and unethical / immoral sparking even more criticism.

 

2. A new election, and IMHO the re-birth of FF and Korn's new party would probably dominate the numbers and with others who will never be drawn to a coalition offer by P, might be able to form a government.

 

3. If things start to look even worse for the current ruling coalition perhaps P might try to bring in some new election rules requiring that the house of reps must include a certain % of seats appointed by a military body. Or something similar. 

Yes, perhaps the easiest fix is changing the rules to ensure that the appointed Senate gets to vote in the more mundane aspects of government,

3 hours ago, 248900_1469958220 said:

I have wondered when the straw that breaks the camels back will come for.....years. I do wonder whether this nation is now too pacified to act. There have been many, many times over the past decade AT LEAST where I thought the straw would drop....it never came. Your thoughts?

I too have wondered when the reaction will occur, and what the catalyst will be. Perhaps when (next election?) there is a clear, unequivocal majority for the opposition parties and the regime gerrymanders the results to remain in power.

What is clear is that the dynamics in Thai politics are changing. A new grouping (class?) is emerging, young, educated  - maybe not so much in the widely understood "western" sense, given the shortcomings of the Thai education system so perhaps we should say more aware. Critically they get their news and share their opinions and communicate ideas on platforms which the existing establishment do not and cannot control. They know that they have no hope of any advancement as long as political and economic control, employment and business opportunities are held in the grip of the super rich "elite". This is demonstrated in the emergence and electoral success of Future Forward, under its predominantly young leadership team. The hyper wealthy clique and the military ( whoever calls the shots - it is debatable) are aware of that. But they are aging, as is their traditional foe, Thaksin and his Pheu Thai. 

Future Forward, (or whatever it is to be called now) are young, they have time on their side. The gerontocracy are running out of time. The single universally respected stabilising presence in Thai society has gone. The new young er opposition clearly have no time for the remaining shibboleths of society: the patriotic slogans, the respect for uniforms and status and the ridiculously bloated and corrupt "establishment" organisations. 

The reaction will come, I am sure. Perhaps sooner if military rule resumes, later if the traditional corrupt gerrymandering denies them their political voice.

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

Thank you, justice has prevailed again. Kinda reminds me of the Australian guy, Clive Palmers united party, nothing but trouble and a waste of millions of dollars.

 

Can you see much of the world then - trying to view it through his tonsils?

No self respecting virus would go near that vacuous ponce!

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Niemöller Was not talking about ‘censorship’.

Censorship was absolutely central to the regime which Niemoller was talking about. Putting him in a concentration camp to shut him up was nothing if not a form of censorship. To deny the relevance of his commentary and experiences, in a discussion about, essentially, a government attempting to exert control over a form of public expression ( social media), and suggest that he has nothing to contribute and should be deemed irrelevant to the debate is also a form of censorship

Given the amount of time that it must have taken for the protestors in the second photograph to have caused the damage the absence of a police response is remarkable!

Maybe the police had not "woken up" to the fact that blatant criminal damage was being carried out, openly, and for some time?

2 hours ago, TheDark said:

Can't wait the future, when England-Wales union is surrounded by EU armies from almost all sides. 

 

 

Well we have been there before, panned out OK in the end. Mind you we didn't have to worry about the Belgian Special Forces then!

There again, as the old joke has it: the difference between the Belgian Army and a slice of toast - you can make soldiers out of a slice of toast!

47 minutes ago, bangkokfrog said:

This type of fanciful story form an education official comes up from time to time. As someone said before, it comes back to the attitude of students; why work hard to master a foreign language when there is no consequence for failing. I have seen several instances where excellent and very committed teachers achieve disappointing results and come away jaded. Change the "no fail" philosophy in the Thai education system and you will see major changes in not only English but across many subjects.

Absolutely. I have been teaching for the last five years - Pratom (primary) 1 - 6

At that level the job is great - the little ones are fun to work with, the older children (mostly) enthusiastic and receptive to an imaginative approach - for example last year I got P6 to imagine that they were TV reporters and do a 1 minute piece to camera in front of a projected video of a torrent washing away a bridge, videos put onto the school website. They loved it, and there were some real stars (who said a a Media Studies degree was useless)! 

This year I have a M6 class for Business English. Admittedly the textbook we have to follow is rubbish, and it is hardly an exciting subject, but they are bone idle and know that they will not fail. At the end of the last semester I set the task of writing a CV as the exam.

 One creature, who only attended a couple of lessons handed in the answer: "Teacher I not know (sic)". I gave him 5%, the head of department adjusted the grade to 70%. He could not be allowed to fail. An absolute waste of time. I don't know how guys who teach at secondary level stand it!

The agency internet connections to West Africa and the Philippines will be humming!

From my painstaking and thorough investigation (purely in the spirit of understanding the nature of the business you understand) the Chinese hardly drink to any extent, and the Indians are hardly the most free spending of barhounds!

I will return to the matter after further research.

On 2/13/2020 at 8:15 AM, missoura said:

I would be honored to lend a hand...

That must be one of the Imperial Japanese Army 75mm field guns captured during the hard-fought and devastatingly effective campaign to defeat the Japanese invasion in 1940.

A legendary and heroic feat of arms which will no doubt be the inspiration behind this current campaign to defeat corruption...

15 hours ago, legend49 said:

Yes look at the bling he is wearing. The last active service Thais were in was Vietnam I had a battalion of them where I was stationed. That would make this guy 70 years old ( no way), so where did he buy all the pretty awards from?

They did deploy an engineer battalion to Iraq, after the invasion.

I believe that they were known as "The Olympic Flames"- they never went out!

They also supplied troops to the operations in East Timor. Such UN led operations are popular with many countries, as the UN fund them (in cash) quite well. Quite how that money is used/distributed/allocated is another matter.