humqdpf

He's certainly got it right about the United Nations, not fit for purpose any more.

If you are claiming that the UN has its problems, yes, it does. Any organisation that tries to be truly international is going to have its problems, especially political ones. Most of the big nonsense was not caused by the UN itself but by members countries, especially the security council. Cannot send UN troops into Syria because Russia does not agree, cannot use UN peace keepers in the Israel-Pallestinian chronic crisis because USA does not agree. But they currently have stationed peace-keepers in 16 locations over the globe. The number of locations where the UN runs disaster relief and deals with refugee crises is much higher.

But if you are suggesting that we abolish the UN and its various agencies, you will have to tell us how you would approach those truly potentially global issues (security, wart, health, climate change, migration, drug trafficking to name a few) without it.

For example, abolish the WHO and see how things would go with pandemics. Ever ask yourself how, in this very connected world where you can in a few short hours flight from London or New York arrive in a low resource locations there are outbreaks of very virulent diseases for which there are no vaccines and yet we don't experience pandemics of the proportion of the Black Death? While the media liked to point the finger at the WHO who they claimed had responded too late to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the media failed to point out that there was already a system in place that identified the condition in the first place. Early warning systems combined with research and response to outbreaks means that we don't have to deal with Ebola in the high population centres in Western Europe or the Americas, let alone Asia. And pandemics is only one of a number of health issues that the WHO deals with.

The big reform in the UN would be for individual countries not to get to appoint their own representatives to the local organisations - for instance, the WHO representative for a particular country/region is always appointed by the local country. If the local country President wants to appoint his pal or his unemployed brother, there is nothing that the WHO can do.

It is clear that we cannot do without the UN and at least some of its organisations. If we set it up again from scratch, we could end up with something worse. We cannot reform it because most countries would not like to give up their power over key posts.

are ecigs illegal in thailand?

Technically yes. Sale has been prohibited for some time but many of my friends use them and seem to have no trouble getting the liquids etc.

I suspect that, in this case, the officers were using the possession of the kit as an excuse to buy some tea.

The funny thing is that I bought a vaping (e-cigarette) kit in Bangkok years before they became available in Western countries. So they must have made them illegal since then. Why? Because of the tobacco lobby?

Is this part of the same warped world-view that sees playing bridge is the worst form of gambling? Don't they know that vaping is often recommended as a way of at least alleviating the craving for nicotine without having to endure the tar and other bad chemicals in cigarette smoke? Some medics recumbent vaping as a way of getting off cigarettes for good.

Looks like this autocratic Erdowahn nutter-in-chief has been able to pull off a lot of things over the last couple of days he would not have dared if he hadn't Europe by the balls over this migrant issue.

And that's very likely only the tip of the Iceberg, the things international press even report. And it's only the start, it's going to be hard to raise freedom of speech and civil rights issues once any sort of deal is going when everyone stayed quiet because we think we need Erdowahn now, who will be ever more popular in Turkey because he's been pulling off a show of strength. Turks seem to like this, he even had the high and mighty German Chancellor over in his megalomaniac sultan's palace during his election campaign pleading for boons.

I agree entirely with your assessment of the Turkish decent into dictatorship (although I am not sure way "boons" are!).

Of course, all this blackmail and leverage along with erosion of basic human rights and freedom of speech (the Government closed an independent newspaper recently and opened it again as a government mouthpiece) is not going to play well in the much longed-for prize, EU membership.

There is absolutely no problem getting a visa for 14 days on arrival for tourist's at Hanoi no letter needed, very polite and friendly at immi . This is a trial period which going to be reviewed in June this year. Have just done this a few weeks ago. Have good time.

And this 14 day visa waiver works for ALL nationalities, does it?

It is absolutely important that you do your homework before going for the plane to Vietnam. Check whether your country has the Visa exemption - call your local Vietnamese embassy, if possible.

Always best to have a Thai supervise a Thai. This works in many other countries where you get over all the misunderstanding and cultural nonsense by getting a local to supervise a local.

You can do this by getting your wife/partner to supervise the maid. or if you live in Bangkok, you can get an agency maid. The trouble then arises if the agency or your wife/partner decides not to bother supervising the maid or defends her bad behaviour.

Yes, we would much prefer to have someone we like to do our cleaning, to become part of the family etc. But that seldom works.

Another alternative which has other difficulties to do with immigration is to hire a maid from SE Asia but who is not from Thailand. As always, you need to find the right one. In the past I had very good experiences with Lao maids (in Laos) - they did not seem to have the same touchiness about losing face. Yes the work was real slow but it would get done eventually. They were always glad to keep the job as long as possible and I always paid them slightly more than the going rate.

Who remembers President Ronald Reagan and his famous challenge to General Secretary Michael Gorbachev:

"Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

And who will be the one to issue the same challenge to President Trump over his planned wall between USA and Mexico?

In future, never pay such people in advance. If they ask, you tell them they already have your passport and therefore no need.

In any case, you should not need to a) pay so much money and unless it is a reputable company do not pay at all.

You can put your case through the official channels as suggested by others on this forum. You can also set out your case on social media, including naming and shaming the individuals who own the company and the company name. You would be doing a social service by naming the company here.

The Clinton's are beyond reproach. They are untouchable, They both belong in jail but they bring so much to the establishment that it will never happen.

Institutionalized are brainwashed into believing everything they are told and do not vote with their brains. They can't see Hillary = Disaster

While I was never a supporter of the Clintons, I never saw them as criminals. What was their crime? Yes, Mrs C used her own private email server - yes, it was an error of judgement and most likely makes her unsuitable for the job of president - but was it really a jail offence?

Yes, Bill was the master of tastelessness - don't even mention the cigar business or the dress! But none of us would have ever known about it only that certain republicans insisted on bringing it all out in the open (and some of those individuals had equally dirty laundry of their own!). Say what you like about Clinton, he left the country in far better economic and financial shape than most previous presidents of both parties.

Stop building up the Clintons as the big problem. The really big problem is that in order to get a change at the White House, you have to get the nod from one of the two cabals (what are called political parties in the USA). In order to do that, you as the candidate have to pander to their respective prejudices, tell a bunch of lies so as not to upset the fickle media and raise huge amounts of money from people who will want to have influence if you get into power.

If the predictions turn out correct, the people will be stuck with a choice between Clinton and Trump - the Republican cabal were stuck between having to choose between an extremist from Texas, some lacklustre types who are into stuffing their religious views on abortion or other prejudices down the throats of the rest of us and Trump. The Democrats are stuck between a Clinton and an old-fashioned socialist. Where were the pragmatic centre ground politicians? Where were the new ideas? Where are the folks who are going to rebuild the infrastructure of the USA, reform the crazy tax system, reduce the heavy load of bureaucracy on small business, to name a few?

You can't blame the Clintons for the lack of choice and putting Mrs C in jail would probably mean that Sanders will be president. And when you find yourself in a year or two paying larger sums of money in tax than you have ever paid before and if you did not like some of Obama's policies many of who never got through, you are going to hate the socialist version of the USA. Do you still want to put Mrs C in Jail!!???

If Hillary were to win the general election I'd move out of America and move to Kalifornia.

Cheers.

Is that a threat to Californians? California is one of the few states which has legalized the growing of pot. Now tens of thousands of Californians who were just scrapping by trying to make ends meet, are making tens of thousands of $$'s/year. Californian friends of mine who used to only be able to afford a thrift store bicycle, are now driving around in BMW's. Indeed there are so many backpackers coming to California from overseas to work in the pot biz, that there's a new term for them; 'trimmigrants' because they trim the leaves off the pot chollas. It's win-win for everyone. Even the beer sellers are happy because pot smokers don't drink any less beer when stoned on pot, and many have more disposable income.

A Democrat, Jerry Brown, is again governor, so that helps bring down the deficit which was made worse by prior Republican governors.

NeverSure, it's not sure whether you'll like California, unless you like liberals and free-thinkers. You might be more comfortable in a place like Texas where anyone can carry a gun, and steer manure dust blows around most cities.

P.S. Thailand should also allow their farmers (and other Thais) to grow pot and hemp. It would be a tremendous boost to the economy. But it won't happen for at least 40 years because Thai leaders are woefully stuck in archaic ways of thinking.

And unlike every other traceable product/commodity you can think of, there is no danger of pot growing or processing being outsourced to China or some other low wage Asian country!

Classic excuse Thai ladies use when looking for a farang partner. Money plays no part, it is always 'Thai man no good'.

Out of a country of 60+ million people, it is hardly fair to class all Thai men as no good.

I know a lot of Thai females happily married to their Thai husbands.

.....and I know a few Thai Men happily married to their Wife, good father to his kids, but has a Mia Noi on the side, luckily n kids with that one. The Mia Noi concept is foreign to us, but is widely accepted by Thai Women as long as the men adhere to the "Never The Twain Shall Meet".............'Thai man no good'?? probably but most likely the lady saying that had a bad one, and wants you to think she will 'never butterfly' with a Thai man..................Wrong!!!

In some so-called Western cultures, woman can dump the hard-working middle-aged husband and take half his wealth even though he has not strayed. They have just worked out that they will have maximised their financial "take" from the relationship and don't see any point in further "investing" in the relationship now that the kids are raised and college has been paid for.

Is that not much stranger than a man, whose wife is no longer interested in sex possibly because she has moved beyond the menopause, taking on a Mia Noi? The idea about the Mia Noi is that she will never be a full wife and therefore the official wife is secure. I know several wives who are quite happy that their husbands have something on the side as they have no interest in sex any more and would prefer not to be bothered about it. However, they are secure in their knowledge that he is not going to leave them and has the good sense and manners not to parade his mia noi for all to see

To my mind, this is a lot less strange and frankly more fair to all concerned than the Western solution as stated above. In the Thai example, the family stays intact. In the Western example, the family is fractured.

I think that everyone agrees that everyone, including moderate Muslims, Christians and Israelis would unite against extremism. It is absolutely terrible when extremists attack their enemies and kill children when they fire missiles into houses. Oops, that was the Israeli armed forces . Hmmm . . . . .

@Post #7

"Why don't people just behave themselves?"

It has obviously been some time since I attended a political rally but I would never have expected to see the participants engaged in grab-ass in the crowd. Maybe it is because I never attended rallies put on by such extreme radicals as Trump . . .

Lets leave out the benefits or otherwise of a death penalty. My question is as follows: if a state has a death penalty, why don't they allow the person who was wronged to carry out the punishment? In fact, once it has been established that the perpetrator has indeed killed others illegally, why not just get the brother/father/wife/girlfriend or whoever is closest to go out and kill the perpetrator under warrant? The idea would be that if the perpetrator is still loose, a warrant can be applied for by the nearest and dearest to hunt him down.

What I am getting at is, why have some individual who, by virtue of his job as a prison officer alone, kill the prisoner. The prisoner did nothing to him and he has no personal moral right to do anything to this man. Why not have someone who is connected to the victim do the work?

Only gluttony results in pilling on weight.

I suggest those who believe otherwise show evidence of the grossly obese Ethiopians who can be seen waddling around during one of that countries regular famines.

Ah, the simple view of the world is so pervasive! If only the world were so simple!

I am not sure when you were last in Ethiopia but the country is now much better off than when there was a famine in . . . now a different country called Eritrea. I have been in Ethiopia several times, both in the capital and up country. And surprise surprise I saw Ethiopians who were obese and many who were not. But as there has been no food crisis in Ethiopia for decades (since Eritrea was an Ethiopian province).

Gluttony, if by which you mean someone who eats much much more than "normal", does not now nor did it ever equate to obesity (piling on weight). A person who puts on weight can do so for a multitude of reasons, including age, change of diet, medication, change in the flora of the gut, to mention a few reasons. Some individuals never put on weight. Indeed, some who are true gluttons never put on weight. Some of these may never APPEAR to put on weight as they remain relatively slim but their fat goes onto their organs, especially liver - a very unhealthy scenario.

Some will put on weight if they have too much carbohydrate in their diet. Some who eat relatively little will put on weight if they drink a lot of certain kinds of alcohol and they are older. Some people who do not or cannot take exercise will put on excess weight even if their food intake is far from gluttonous.

As regards brown rice, it depends. If you are very susceptible to putting on weight because of high carb intake, be careful with the brown rice. The main benefit of brown rice in the diet is that it provides additional roughage and fills you up more than white rice. However, if you are on a high energy exercise program, you can eat brown rice as much as you like pretty much.

Are you qualified as a clinician (nurse or doctor)? Or are you qualified as a health specialist in some way?

If not, you would want to have some very good reason for "shadowing" doctors in a hospital or working as a volunteer in a medical setting.

A mans dream to die in the act of doing what he loves!

What? Sticking it to some pecuniarily disadvantaged third world peasant girl? Lovely.

And how would you know that the other party was third world, peasant or even a girl, Sherlock?

Thailand is no longer a Third World country, more like second world (as in middle income).

Ladies in Thailand who go with men for money are not necessarily peasants (in any sense of the word).

It is quite possible that the gentleman in question was having an interlude with someone who did not want anyone else to seem them or even to have a night alone with his regular partner to get away from the kids (which is what love motels were originally invented for in Japan!)

I thought that she was already long dead. I wonder if "To Kill a Mockingbird" supported her for her whole life. It was a great book, so it should have.

If you sell a million books in your lifetime, you can live reasonably well on the proceeds.

"Mockingbird" still sells a million per year! You can be sure that not only did she live well, she was a philanthropist too.

This is the usual scenario in Ugandan presidential elections.

Same president for 30 years, basically since the last revolution. Same accusations of voter fraud and ballot stuffing as all the previous elections, same arresting the main opposition candidate (he was detained at least 4 times this week). US Secretary of State called the president to complain about the suppression of protests - apparently even used a helicopter to fire tear gas.

The fun and games are not over - the results were announced today and we may expect some violent street protests over the next few days. The army and security forces are out in large numbers - even had armoured vehicles on the airport road.

The symptoms you describe could be attributed to a number of conditions, including autoimmune ones.

You need to go to a doctor and get referred to a specialist. It would help if you were checked for diabetes, as others on this forum have suggested, the symptoms in your feet may be connected to this.

But your description of symptoms is never going to be a substitute for a face-to-face with the appropriate medic as s/he knows what to look for. Don't use the forum as a cheap medical referral - go to a professional, in Bangkok if necessary although i am sure you can find an appropriate specialist nearer where you live.

Finally, one thing that Obama did that I agree and applauds him, about time those sex offenders

pay dearly for their criminally sexual deviances......

Ever peed in an alley on the way home from the pub - that is indecent exposure in some places

A woman who showed off her breasts to make a point at a demonstration about breast feeding - that is lewd behaviour.

Had sex late at night in the park where no one is around except the police officers who from afar pick it up on their infra-red viewer

A person who is enticed into a sexual encounter and money is then mentioned - that is prostitution.

Recently, the British man who was walking through a train station and a woman he brushed past claimed he groped her and maintained the claim even after thorough exam of the CC TV showed otherwise.

Without the CC TV in the last case, that man and the previous cases would all be "sex offenders."

The boy who turns 16 and who legally has been having sex with his girlfriend still aged 15 until his 16th birthday. Until recently this used to be a favourite of prosecutors in certain states in the USA - I think that this version of statutory rape charge has been cleared from the statute books.

Yes, if you have a workable age of consent (for instance, where the older participant is over 18 before it becomes an offence and the younger participant is over a certain age etc). Or if you are talking about convicted rapists and child molesters, of course.

But are we going to put the same label on all the other examples I cited above as we put on the rapists and child molesters?

I have also developed sinusitis in the last 5 years or more here.

I finally found that it was stomach related after receiving treatment for GERD which I am now almost able to control without drugs, my sinuses have gotten better with the occasional flareup, (normal in conjunction with a stomach flareup).

There are so many reasons for sinus problems and so it is near impossible to pinpoint many of them. Clean air can also contain lots of pollen if you're living in the countryside so it's really all hit and miss.

Saline rinses with a neti-pot or extra large syringe (what I use) give a lot of relief and also "help" with clearing up any infections. (also add drops of iodine to it).

Studies have shown that people can clear their sinuses without antibiotics (80% in the same amount of time as with antibiotics), which I have stopped using for the last 3 years (after the first 2 years of constant antibiotic use, prescribed by "doctors" here).

Apparently if your infection looks like clearing after 5 days then returns with a vengeance, it is time to use antibiotics. I have not taken antibiotics for up to 10 days, even with this recommendation.

For stomach related sinuses (which apparently are the biggest cause of sinuses) simple diet changes (not too drastic), eating on time, etc, can make a huge difference. I also use Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda ("seems" to help). Keep away from other antacids if possible to control gastric re-flux.

But in the end everyone is different and you will have to take careful note of your body and habits whenever sinus problems occur to find out what is best for you. I really pity sinus suffers after suffering myself for a few years. I feel lucky I can now control them (just!).

There is a product like neti pot but is more expensive - it is called Sterimar - pasteurised/sterilized sea water. There are several versions, one for kids, one for blocked nose and one for sinusitis.

He's just another old drama queen.

Har-har! You should hear what he says about you! Much funnier!

Tinnitus is extremely common, especially as you get older.

However, it needs to be treated by a professional. Go to your doctor and get the issue checked out to ensure that it is indeed tinnitus. You may then have to go to a specialist or even more than one specialist.

Although I am no expert, friends of mine have had it, including one whose tinnitus was so invasive that it sounded like a constant steam train. His was treated adequately. So there is at this stage no point in being negative as long as you get medical attention.

If you cannot beat them, then join them!

I don't know how many times the so-called black cabs have ripped me off, getting into traffic jams to try to up their fare take. They should evolve. But then, the UK has the most expensive transport charges in the world - try going somewhere by train! Look at the thousands of pounds you have to shell out so as to a commuter hang without a seat. So glad I don't have to live there any more.

Netanyahu resembles more and more the elderly grandmother on our street when I was a child who used to tell everyone that "we are doomed" unless we all repent and stop eating white bread.

Yes, a little repentance probably did no one any harm and giving up white bread is probably a good move from a general health point of view - so some aspect of what she used to say was true. But it was the conclusion that we were all doomed if we did not follow her credo was just going too far.

Same with Netanyahu - yes there may be a tiny minority among the huge number of migrants into Jordan but does that give credibility to surrounding Israel with a wall/fence?