JAG

8 hours ago, webfact said:

TESCO LOTUS yesterday said it is committed to continuous investment in Thailand, especially in the development of omni-channel retailing that meshes with the ambitions of the government’s Thailand 4.0 technology vision.

What on earth does that mean, anyone any idea?

49 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Feel free to google on WIPO+ Gurry +corruption. And you are going to see that these two might have had and interesting exchange. He used to be great scholar and lost himself in politics..

He also enjoys appearing on media with dictators. Enjoys other things too.

Interesting - I should imagine this fellow feels quite at home meeting government officials here...

Shocked and horrified that this sort of thing could go on in the UN!

1 hour ago, observer90210 said:

I'm sure that many of us here will equally be willing to give deep hospitality and entertain these fine artists at home on a courtesy call !!

Just hold on, I am top of the list. I have a twelve-year-old daughter, the house resonates to the sound of their "music". I deserve some recompense...

4 minutes ago, InMyShadow said:

grey hair at 50 is premature?

Lucky so and so has still got some...

Well, the submarines worked then - neighbours in awe and falling into line already!

"Prayuth Meets With World Intellectual Property Hea..."

sorry, try again:

"Prayuth Meets With

World Intellectual Property..."

no, and again:

"Prayuth Meets With World Intellectual..."

No, it's no use. Just can't keep a straight face, keep coming over all giggly...

3 hours ago, AsiaHand said:

If I belived that you were holding back information that could mean the lives of a lot of people in my country then I would start with the most effective of non body scaring TORTURE to gain the information .If it shows no results then move on to the electrodes and the the removal of digets.

Which would make you a torturer - see post#15.

Interesting that you would start with " non body scaring TORTURE" (sic). Does that indicate some concern about leaving evidence of your umh, activities - just in case someone should hold you to account?

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

My my, those government funded ED prescriptions for the civil servant class are getting to be pretty pricey!

 

But hey, there's only a 5-fold difference in the health care budget allocated to civil servants vs. the health care budget allocated to UC recipients (low income Thais).

 

Civil servants are one of the groups in Thailand from which the Junta seeks to draw it's support...

I've several times said that the acid test of whether this regime feels secure enough to weather any storm will be when they decide they can go ahead with withdrawing the universal healthcare provision introduced by the Thaksin government.

Details will become clear in the next year - so they're not sure (about weathering the storm) yet?

6 hours ago, wgdanson said:

No Brits there?

Saturday night - they were on the piss downtown...

3 hours ago, champers said:

Where are the 40 theives?

Ooh, I am so tempted but it would get me into trouble...

1 hour ago, baboon said:

Hey, I've flown worse. Try Biman Bangladesh then get back to me...

Hi Baboon, I rather expected  you to pop up!

Iflew Biman Bangladesh a few times some years back. They were still using the DC10s on their European routes, although they had converted them from coal to oil fired by then! Interior decor ( and aroma) reminiscent of a curry house I once visited in Campbelltown, after a particularly rough Saturday night. Dacca airport was a mouldering stinking wreck. We were stuck there for three days once when something broke. Confined to a flea ridden hotel with guards armed with second work war vintage .303 rifles to keep us in!

Mind you, they weren't banned from European airspace.

8 minutes ago, mikebell said:

I understand that you grant of me monopoly status and I'll put a good deal of money in your bank.

No - say it is not so!

A (non) monopolistic deal between a junta government and a multi billionaire oligarch?

Wherever did you get that idea? Haven't you listened to his songs - everything is for the country!

9 minutes ago, zaphod reborn said:

Kim doesn't do air travel.  FAIL!

Given what one hears and reads about Air Koryo, very sensible...

3 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Well said. 

 

I fear this country is now broken beyond any means of repair, and I get it confirmed to me daily by the news and the faces on the Thais I meet. 

 

Asia and in particular South East Asia is entering a dangerous period where democracy and truth could be snuffed out altogether. The trend seems to be global but the most at risk are the developing countries where democracy has not yet taken root. Patriarchal and feudal systems where corruption is the norm rather than the exception help inadequates like the current PM and his number two in command to stay in power with backroom deals and vote buying to ensure support. 

 

They don't learn from their mistakes unfortunately, and the immorality, corruption and lack of ethics just gets stronger and bolder and the gradual complete failure of those societies that fail to learn lessons just becomes more inevitable. 

I don't think that it is broken beyond any hope of repair. I do think that the process which will end this regime, and those whose hegemony it exists to maintain will be messy, possibly violent and very possibly bloody.

Patriarchal and feudal societies (of which Thailand is arguably one of a number in South East Asia) only survive if their people feel that somehow they have a stake, and a place in that society. I am no fan of communism but the regimes in Laos and Vietnam are secure because they rule (perhaps cynically) in the name of their people, and the benefit of their people is a significant aim for their activities. Here the regime which took (no seized)  power four years ago, and shows no sign of relinquishing power, very obviously rules in the interest of a very small group of the people. That is manifest in the almost "apartheid" like differences in provision of services and opportunities here, both geographically and in terms of socio-economic groupings. That "apartheid" deepens with every month that the junta remains in power. It is reflected most dramatically in wealth distribution but also in education and the legal system. It is further reinforced by the widespread corruption within every agency of the state, tolerated because it serves to keep the loyalty of the states servants, at no real cost to those at the top of society, but causes great damage to the lives of those at the bottom.

The one institution which was central to the patriarchal nature of this country, and on which the masses felt they had a claim, has effectively gone - to be replaced by what - making children chant "commandments" before school and exhortations to dress in faux traditional costumes for family outings?

I used to do a lot of sailing, in a previous life. Thailand is like a yacht which is "hove to", sitting relatively calmly in the water but not going anywhere, and drifting slowly onto a lee shore.

When the inevitable upheaval occurs, my hope is that whatever emerges from the wreckage will be more focused on the general population, and not purely on serving those at the very top. I think (hope) that it will, if only because that which the regime relies on to keep it in power, it's military and judiciary, are essentially ineffective and will crumble.

So no, Thailand  is not doomed, but it is going to be in for a very rough ride. I certainly would not want to live in Bangkok for the next couple of years...

All the rural government schools around here (Chiang Rai) seem to have 3BB "boxes" in their grounds. Certainly, the one next to which I live, if it uses TOT, will be abysmally slow, because we are too far from the TOT "box" to be able to get a decent broadband.