spidermike007

The US typically sides with the most corrupt, least moral, and foulest party available, as long as it suits their political interests. So, of course they side with the Shinawatra clan. This makes absolute sense, and is in keeping with a long standing American govt. tradition of befriending rats and swine. Let is maintain the tradition. Let us not evolve or improve. Why on earth would Blundering Barry Obama do anything smart, progressive, edgy, or correct? Why change things now?

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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What Visa's require 'Visa Runs'

Any visa valid for more than one entry requires a border run to activate the next entry.

For example a Non-B multi-entry is usually valid for 1 year, but each entry only permits a stay of 90 days. So every 90 days or so a border run will net you another 90 day stay until the visa's 'enter before' date (expiry date) is passed.

What Extensions and Visa's require 90 day reporting.

Any extension or visa that allows a stay of more than 90 days. Leaving the country resets the timer.

That is not actually the case. There are classes of retirement visas that only require checking in with immigration every 90 days. Thankful for that.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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Some people have very, very thin skin these days. I say who gives a rats ass about political correctness? As long as there is no hostility intended, misunderstand me at your own risk. I just do not care. It blows to have to watch everything you say these days. Glad I am not famous. Very few people care what I say, anyway.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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If they're talking about military rule (or pseudo), I'd take the Thai military over the Chinese or Russian military any day. Not even close.

Absolutely spot on. How many people have the junta leaders murdered yet? I do not believe a single one. The CHINESE govt. murders it's own citizens for sport. They do it for fun. They harvest organs for profit. They rarely consider the well being of their citizens when making decisions. It is always about the "State". To refer to the Chinese Politburo, as a heinous group of billionaire pigs would be kind and generous.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Tax is 390.46%, OUCH!

A CIF Invoice Value of Imported Wine $100.00
B Tariff (Import Duty): A x 54% $ 54.00
C Excise Tax Paid: Excise Tax Rate x (CIF
value+import duty+excise tax paid+municipal
tax) or 1.7647059(A+
$271.76
D Municipal tax: C x 10% $ 27.17
E Health tax: C x 2% $ 5.44
F Value Added Tax: (A+B+C+D+E) x 7% $ 32.09
G Total Cost: (A+B+C+D+E+F) $490.46
Effective Duty and Tax Burden 390.46%

I believe this information is fairly hidden as my guess is that the relevant authorities find this information to be deeply embarrassing. It is simply not reasonable behavior on the part of a rational government, and essentially constitutes sabotage of the wine industry here in Thailand. If the local wine was good, that would be another thing altogether. But as we all know, that is not the case. So, why sabotage the ability to bring in great wine, and create a vibrant industry? Foolhardyness? Yes. Ignorance? Yes. Silliness?. Yes. Churlishness? Yes. Wisdom? No. Ambition? No. Intelligence? No.

I am told these creeps at customs pay as much as 5 million baht, to secure a mid level position. That reflects the fortunes that are being made with those positions. So, if they are cracking down, it is a bit like the war on drugs in the US. The crackdown is simply a reflection of the frustration over their inability to make money on that industry. Get real. Be men. Do your jobs. Try being a service to the nation, instead of sucking it's blood. Customs is really nothing more than a vampire agency, the way it is currently set up. Not sure how much actual tax goes into the government coffers. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of how much is kept as personal fortune vs. how much is actually collected by the state.

Thailand is desperately trying to drag itself into the 21st century trade wise. They put up barriers to this and barriers to that almost just to facilitate corruption. If there wasn't any ludicrous luxury duty on a louis vuiotton handbag firstly people wouldn't smuggle them and sales of them woudl go up, thus making up a lot of the shortfall created by removing the duty in the first place.

Correct. You have a lot of people creating these policies, and are not qualified to sell shoes, or vacuum cleaners. So, not a lot of thought is out into these hair brained policies. Same with the wine industry. If one fabulously corrupt senator has not accepted millions of baht from the thai wine lobby (imagine such a thing?) Thailand would be the SE Asian leader in the industry, in terms of sales, wine events, tastings, etc. They would have perhaps a 20 or 30 billion dollar a year industry, and they would be collecting a reasonable duty of say 100%, instead of the 460% duty currently in place, which makes it the highest wine duty in the free world? And instead you have a tiny industry, and lot of people people drinking swill. Bottles I see for $4 in California, are on wine lists in nice restaurants here for $45! Shame on Dr. Frogs! So, what do we have? Policies written by men so ignorant, so devoid of wisdom, so dumb, it boggles the average mind.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

not that I'm an expert but according to thai customs website the duty for wine is 80% not 460% where did you get that number from?

Got this from a US govt. website:

Duties on imported consumer-ready food products typically range between 30 percent and 50 percent, Thailand being the highest among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, with some as high as 90 percent. Tariffs on meats, fresh fruits (including citrus fruit and table grapes) and vegetables, fresh cheese, and pulses (e.g., dry peas, lentils, and chickpeas) are similarly high, even for products for which there is little domestic production. Frozen french fries, for example, are not produced in Thailand, yet face a 30 percent tariff. Tariffs on apples are at 10 percent, while duties on pears and cherries range from 30 percent to 40 percent. U.S. fruit growers believe they could export to Thailand up to $15 million more each year if these tariffs were reduced. U.S. exports of wine face a total tax of nearly 400 percent when import duties, excise taxes, and other surcharges are calculated.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I am told these creeps at customs pay as much as 5 million baht, to secure a mid level position. That reflects the fortunes that are being made with those positions. So, if they are cracking down, it is a bit like the war on drugs in the US. The crackdown is simply a reflection of the frustration over their inability to make money on that industry. Get real. Be men. Do your jobs. Try being a service to the nation, instead of sucking it's blood. Customs is really nothing more than a vampire agency, the way it is currently set up. Not sure how much actual tax goes into the government coffers. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of how much is kept as personal fortune vs. how much is actually collected by the state.

Thailand is desperately trying to drag itself into the 21st century trade wise. They put up barriers to this and barriers to that almost just to facilitate corruption. If there wasn't any ludicrous luxury duty on a louis vuiotton handbag firstly people wouldn't smuggle them and sales of them woudl go up, thus making up a lot of the shortfall created by removing the duty in the first place.

Correct. You have a lot of people creating these policies, and are not qualified to sell shoes, or vacuum cleaners. So, not a lot of thought is out into these hair brained policies. Same with the wine industry. If one fabulously corrupt senator has not accepted millions of baht from the thai wine lobby (imagine such a thing?) Thailand would be the SE Asian leader in the industry, in terms of sales, wine events, tastings, etc. They would have perhaps a 20 or 30 billion dollar a year industry, and they would be collecting a reasonable duty of say 100%, instead of the 460% duty currently in place, which makes it the highest wine duty in the free world? And instead you have a tiny industry, and lot of people people drinking swill. Bottles I see for $4 in California, are on wine lists in nice restaurants here for $45! Shame on Dr. Frogs! So, what do we have? Policies written by men so ignorant, so devoid of wisdom, so dumb, it boggles the average mind.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

not that I'm an expert but according to thai customs website the duty for wine is 80% not 460% where did you get that number from?[/quote

People in the wine industry, I believe favored nations like Australia have lower tariffs. Look at the wine prices. A bottle I pay $25 for in LA, is $125 here. Retail.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I am told these creeps at customs pay as much as 5 million baht, to secure a mid level position. That reflects the fortunes that are being made with those positions. So, if they are cracking down, it is a bit like the war on drugs in the US. The crackdown is simply a reflection of the frustration over their inability to make money on that industry. Get real. Be men. Do your jobs. Try being a service to the nation, instead of sucking it's blood. Customs is really nothing more than a vampire agency, the way it is currently set up. Not sure how much actual tax goes into the government coffers. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of how much is kept as personal fortune vs. how much is actually collected by the state.

Thailand is desperately trying to drag itself into the 21st century trade wise. They put up barriers to this and barriers to that almost just to facilitate corruption. If there wasn't any ludicrous luxury duty on a louis vuiotton handbag firstly people wouldn't smuggle them and sales of them woudl go up, thus making up a lot of the shortfall created by removing the duty in the first place.

Correct. You have a lot of people creating these policies, and are not qualified to sell shoes, or vacuum cleaners. So, not a lot of thought is out into these hair brained policies. Same with the wine industry. If one fabulously corrupt senator has not accepted millions of baht from the thai wine lobby (imagine such a thing?) Thailand would be the SE Asian leader in the industry, in terms of sales, wine events, tastings, etc. They would have perhaps a 20 or 30 billion dollar a year industry, and they would be collecting a reasonable duty of say 100%, instead of the 460% duty currently in place, which makes it the highest wine duty in the free world? And instead you have a tiny industry, and lot of people people drinking swill. Bottles I see for $4 in California, are on wine lists in nice restaurants here for $45! Shame on Dr. Frogs! So, what do we have? Policies written by men so ignorant, so devoid of wisdom, so dumb, it boggles the average mind.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Not only a question of salaries and rules.

The point is that, thanks to their education, Thais are racists. they consider themselves as SUPERIOR to the Khmer, Burmese, Laos.

It's not an article in The Nation which can change that. This is a question of how a human being considers another human being. True also WITHIN the Thai population. Thais believe in castes and races.

This is an interesting topic. My gf is a darker-skinner Isaan lady, so at the bottom of the pecking order in Thailand. But she (and her friends) 'love' Laos and Khmers... when we went to Siem Reap, she got along with the people there very well (and they took to her also). None of the Thai-Khmer enmity that I had been worrying about. Years earlier I'd been seeing a fair-skinned, uni-educated Thai lady with Chinese roots, and she had once commented that the Khmers didn't even have the right to exist (a view that was a key part of our break-up). All this to say that yes, there are 'castes', and that yes, some Thais look down on their neighbours, but that there are also an awful lot of Thais who hold very different views, perhaps as a result of where they are on the ladder.

Understand what you say about dark skinned Thais, but all that might be about to change. This year, for the first time a dark skinned (and quite talented) young Lady won the Thailand Beauty Pagent. Noticed already there are an abundance of Thai young Ladies adorning the beaches in itsy bitsy bikinis

Well, that is a great trend. Not only darker skin, but we need thousands of Thai women wandering the beaches with itzy bitzy bikinis!

Spidermike007

I am told these creeps at customs pay as much as 5 million baht, to secure a mid level position. That reflects the fortunes that are being made with those positions. So, if they are cracking down, it is a bit like the war on drugs in the US. The crackdown is simply a reflection of the frustration over their inability to make money on that industry. Get real. Be men. Do your jobs. Try being a service to the nation, instead of sucking it's blood. Customs is really nothing more than a vampire agency, the way it is currently set up. Not sure how much actual tax goes into the government coffers. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of how much is kept as personal fortune vs. how much is actually collected by the state.

The incident was criticised online after Phitsanulok Warong Dechgitvigrom, a member of the former senate on board the flight, complained about it online.

"I think Nok Air’s cabin crew showed a lack of experience by making that decision,” Warong wrote on Facebook. “They should have referred to the aviation regulations first before inviting the passengers off the aircraft. They cannot just announce that one passenger is violent and refused to show his boarding pass. That sounded like a personal judgment to me.”

Warong’s wisdom might have benefited from his own review of airline security measures.

Removing the passengers from a flight to deal with a belligerent passenger is standard practice to avoid risking harm or injury during a security action, Patee explained yesterday.

According to the cabin crew, the passenger was butthurting because staff told him to enter through the plane’s rear entrance, which was already closed. Poor baby had to walk back and board the flight via the front entrance, Morning News reported.

Poor baby. Warong was forced to waste an hour or so of his precious time. He could have been earning 100,000 baht or so, by sucking the country dry, during that time he waited. Poor chap. The reality is, that the airline looks like they behaved properly. A lot of security protocol demands the evacuation. But, the poor spoiled ex senator had to waste his time. Poor, poor soul. Imagine that. He made himself look like such a fool with his silly, churlish, immature, thoughtless, devoid of wisdom posting on Facebook. What a nincompoop. And these creeps were running the country recently? No wonder Thailand has the problems it has. I cannot wait for this country to become a meritocracy, where people are appointed based on their talent, and not who they know, what their family name is, how much cash they have, or how much help they were in the election campaign. Wait a minute, that sounds like Washington!

It would appear that a visa run, is a concept the immigration authorities came up with, in concert with the government, to stimulate the economy. There is really no other reason to ask someone with a retirement visa, good for one year, to travel to the border every 90 days. And there is really no other reason to ask a tourist, who wants to extend their visa by another month, to travel to the border. It has to be about cash, stimulating the economy in the way of visa fees, mini van travel, etc, etc.

If anything, the incident was a lesson in how mishandling of information can cost the country dearly in economic terms. It also provided Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen with some cheap ammunition to attack the NCPO, which he accused of "violating" the rights of Cambodian workers in Thailand with this repatriation effort.

​Who on earth cares what this cockroach thinks? He is one of the most heinous pigs in SE Asia. With a personal security force of over 5,000 men, he spends his remaining days trying to protect his billions, and in staying alive, as he has thousands of enemies, who would love nothing more than to deprive this vermin the right to live. He has stolen from his people, he confiscates massive amounts of land at will, he represses his political opponents such as Sam Rainsy at will, and he denies his people the most basic human rights. So, we cannot be expected to care one iota what this pig thinks. The really curious thing, is that there is so much criticism being leveled at the junta here, who are doing go work so far, and yet do any of those western powers ever even mention this pig ally of theirs? No. He runs a country that is far less of a democracy than Thailand. Yet, the little shithe** gets a free pass, to rape, pillage, and steal. Figure that one out.

Not only a question of salaries and rules.

The point is that, thanks to their education, Thais are racists. they consider themselves as SUPERIOR to the Khmer, Burmese, Laos.

It's not an article in The Nation which can change that. This is a question of how a human being considers another human being. True also WITHIN the Thai population. Thais believe in castes and races.

Well, it is complex. Thailand has engaged in countless wars with Burma (the Mons and the Pagans in particular), Laos and Cambodia for the past 1200 years or so. Some were started by the Thais, some by the Khmers, some by the Lao, and who ended up on top? Burma and Cambodia used to be major regional powers in centuries past. Far richer and more powerful than Thailand at some points in time. Now, Thailand dwarfs the power, wealth, and influence of its poor neighbors. So, for a young Thai, who looks around and see how much more serious his country is, in this day and age, it is easy to cop an attitude, one would think. Especially when you have neighboring countries with despot leaders like Hun Sen, and Than Shwe. Truly small, pathetic men, with billions of dollars of wealth, clinging desperately to power. A sad sight indeed. So, yes the migrant workers deserve to be treated royally. In my opinion they should be given homes, and health insurance. They are the very backbone of this nation, like the Latino workers are the backbone of the US economy. But, will that ever happen? It might start with a good educational system, which teaches an accurate version of history.

Watched the movie Zulu the other day and was very impressed. Engaging story, good directing and very good acting by the lead actors.

It's nice for a change to watch a movie that's more than the intellectual bubble gum that Hollywood normally serves up.

Nothing wrong with that but always good to watch a movie that does not rely mainly on special effects to entertain.

Yes, Hollywood is basically creatively bankrupt. They have forgotten how to make great films, for adults. The number of horrific Hollywood films I have seen in the past year boggles the mind. Most of the better films have either been foreign or independent. Hollywood is really losing its way. Huge blockbusters, or sequels that have absolutely no creative juice. Enormous creatures like the 800 foot tall Godzilla, or the 400 foot tall transformers may appeal to 6 to 13 year old kids, but where does that leave us adults? A fistfight by superheroes in Man of Steel? How does an uppercut result in you being thrown through nine skyscrapers? The completely silly CGI of 300? Pompeii. Hercules. Transformers. 22 Jump Street. How to train your dragon. Thor. What garbage. The best days of Hollywood are behind it. Not sure of films like Django Unchained, or Life of Pi? Were they entirely Hollywood, or just Hollywood distribution? Good films. Oblivion was decent. How many others can you name? At least they were written for people over 13. How many films the caliber of Beasts of the Southern Wild, have you seen this year?

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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Both are perfect shiiite. Learn how to make an online shop and make it rank well in google...

That is much easier said than done, right? SEO expertise is quite an art. But, we are open to advice if you have any.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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What can one say about this guy? Imagine even threatening to kill yourself over a babe? What does this guy think? Last woman in the world? So, the babe gives him a hard time over an ex-girlfriend. You just cut her loose. I like my ex girlfriend. I want to see her. You don't like it, leave. Period. That is as far as this discussion goes. It will save me the cost of dinner if you leave now, rather than later.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

It's too complicated, and if you marry her then he will be a pain in the arse for ever.

Move on - you'll never win against the in-laws.

Read the post again, he is married already !!

OP, take him round the back of the house and pop in on the nose. No-one loses face if nobody sees it. Help him up, shake his hand and then run for cover

Exactly. My guess is if you beat the living hell out of this punk, he would never bother you again. He deserves an ass whupping. He has earned it. You will be helping anyone and everyone who comes in contact with him, especially his sister. Bring him out back, and whomp on his face until he starts crying. This kind of thug punk bitch always benefits from getting his ass kicked. Man up, do the right thing. Teach him. Show little mercy.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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I can confirm that Sihanoukville is indeed a very dangerous place,I have on many occasions been attacked by very beautiful and nubile Khmer cuties,generally while minding my own business in The Dolphin Bar.

These girls have forced me back to my hotel and had their way with me all night long,a very harrowing experience that has left me shocked and exhausted,their stamina is quite staggering.

Be careful out there,it's a jungle!

Terrible Terrible news.....i hope you have seeked professional counseling over your "harrowing experience" how much was you "robbed" for such an experience???

Typically $20 each time. Amazing how consistent the robbers are.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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I wonder if 'sheryl' has even been to snookyville? It is a dodgy place for tourists to visit and a high percentage do get robbed or worse in that place. Maybe PP is rated worse on the danger aspect but this is only due to population numbers. For a small place like snookyville with small population it does have a high danger element to it and backpackers should be aware.

I personally cant think of anywhere more dodgy in SE Asia than Sihanoukville for a backpacker and I have travelled everywhere

I wonder if YOU have ever been to Sihanoukville...or maybe you have as a backpacker/tourist?

Have you really travelled everywhere? And you still reckon Sihanoukville is dodgier than anywhere else in SE Asia?...I call bullshit!

It is true, a lot of backpackers get shit stolen, because they get drunk out of their minds and fail to apply basic personal security tactics...but this happens everywhere in the world.

I am not a huge fan of Snooky, but there is a lot of misinformation and unnecessary scaremongering occurring about the place lately. Anyone who says it is the most dangerous/dodgy place in SE Asia has either spent their time "flashpacking" or has no fkn idea what they're talking about!

Whats the name of the bar you own Rarky????

If anyone googles 'dangers of sihanoukville' you will see numerous threads on snookyville. There's a story on trip advisor (copy and paste below). This is a typical snookyville story and thus one should be careful if visiting snookyville which I agree has to be one of the dodgiest places in Asia. I've been there many times and know fully well how shady the police are, the dodgy tuk tuk drivers and all the problems with the guys on yabba. 'Travellingmark' has an interesting blog on this subject matter if you want to google it.

''Me and my partner and best friend are in Sihanoukville now, after spending 6months travelling in South-East Asia. We have genuinely loved Cambodia so far... until 2 nights ago when we were brutally attacked... TWICE.

My boyfriend and I were walking along the beach in the evening on our way home from a bar, when a Cambodian man ran past, grabbed my bag from my shoulder and bolted into the darkness. (In it was my camera, both our phones, ipods, money etc). We walked about 40 meters from the beach to the main road looking for help. We both looked obviously upset and distressed, and to add insult to injury (or injury to insult in this case) a middle aged white man who was sitting in a tuk-tuk by the road ran at us from behind, beating my boyfriend around the head with a metal bar. I started screaming as my boyfriend fell to the floor, at which point the man turned around, ran at me, and smashed my face in with the bar. He then got back in the tuk-tuk and drove away. He didn't speak, or take anything (we clearly had already been robbed minutes earlier). The tuk-tuk driver, a Cambodian man, just watched. A group of Cambodian people who were sat eating nearby immediately ran away also, clearly not wanting to get involved. We staggered up the street hysterical and bleeding, when another Cambodian man turned up and took us to the police booth. The policeman on duty took one look at us and laughed, telling us it was not his problem, and to go away before he arrested us for disturbing his nap. Within minutes, a group of about 70 people were surrounding us trying to help, including a Cambodian man who said "I saw everything, I was the man's tuk-tuk driver." When asked where he took the man, he promptly changed his story and left. Someone rang the police who were annoyed that there was no money in it for them (they wanted us to pay them to find the criminals), and told us to go to hospital. Some friendly Russian men took us to hospital, paying for the tuk-tuk. The hospital staff would not treat my partner for his head injury, then proceeded to stitch my face up without anaesthetic! Horrific pain. One of the Russian guys helping us was actually weeping seeing the distress we were in. They did not treat me for my clearly broken nose, or ask if we had other injuries. Then, they were reluctant to let us leave because we couldn't pay the bill - even though we explained we had just been robbed and needed to get in touch with our insurance company.

My mum, back home in England, got in touch with a member of the British Embassy based in Sihanoukville, who came to our hotel and helped us. He first took us to the general purpose chief of police who said it was not his problem - we needed to go to the tourist chief of police. We went there, and this policeman accused us of everything being our fault, and told us to go back the next day. We returned the next day to get a police report, which we had to write ourselves, and it had a word limit! They also demanded that we omit the whole metal-bar violent attack part because it would look bad on their records!! We wrote it on anyway because none of them could speak or read English. The British Ambassador told us no investigation would take place, as the police worked pretty much solely on bribes, and even if they did catch the two separate criminals, they would be able to pay off the police so there would be no just outcome.

The horror of this ordeal has left us distressed, traumatised and massively out of pocket (but thankfully our insurance are going to cover it). Since then I have read up about the vast amount of crime that occurs and goes unreported or unsolved in the area. I still love Cambodia, but would advise anyone who visits Sihanoukville to exercise extreme caution, even when traveling in groups. And if you are unlucky enough to experience crime, make sure you get all the correct documentation needed for insurance, and do not have faith in the police.''

Pretty amazing post. Yes, for all the complaints you see about Thailand on these forums, I still think it beats Cambodia, on at least 10 different levels. Unfortunately Hun Sen has left Cambodia quite a seething mess. The police are ridiculously corrupt, and if any police are more corrupt, less effective, and more useless than the Thai police, it may the the Cambodian police. And the government. Where to start. Any PM who has a personal security detail of 5,000 men, has some serious explaining to do. Hun Sen is one of the most heinous men to walk the planet in the last few decades. The amount of land his henchmen have stolen boggles the mind. The lack of basic worker rights. I could go on and on and on. So, I do not doubt the lack of basic safety in his personal fiefdom.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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"I have friends fathers here in Australia who served in Vietnam. 1 in particular has real trouble with Asians in general since the war particularly the Vietnamese here in Australia, let alone living in SE Asia. Now I assume you live in Thailand mac?I'm curious, What made you come to the decision to live there? I know Thailand isn't Vietnam and war affects everyone differently, but I would of thought living far away as possible from the place that would seem to remind you of the war and I know Thailand was an r and r location, to me it seems like the last place I would want to live besides Vietnam itself. Doesn't it remind you of the war?

In fact this question I'd like to put out there to anyone that is in the same situation..."

I guess I'm in a pretty similar situation .. so ..

It is probably an individual thing. For a few years after I went back to civilian life I wanted nothing to do with any Vietnamese. But time has a way of putting past prejudices in perspective. In the late '70's I had a small metal fabrication shop in Orange County, California. Probably more Vietnamese per capita live in OC (Little Saigon) than anywhere outside Vietnam. I hired a number of Vietnamese. They made good workers.

At the end of the day, you realize that most wars start with politicians lying to their citizenry. "Regular" people like me and like most Vietnamese were just pawns in their great chess match. Some pawns did heroic things, some merely survived, far too many died.

No reason I can think of to keep hating the Vietnamese.

Lying politicians -- that's a different story.

Good post. Yes, the war in Vietnam was nothing more than silly, churlish, immature, ill advised politics. What was the point? Slow down the advance of communism? Did the roaches in Washington, such as McNamara ever really think that war was winnable? Did they really think the US was capable of waging a successful jungle warfare campaign? Was it worth 56,000 American, and over 2,000,000 Vietnamese lives? I would advocate that in the future, no war can be waged, unless the president himself is a war vet, and he has at least one child he or she is willing to commit to the war effort. Do not declare war, unless it is so meaningful, you are willing to lose family members over it.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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Israel is no better than those they seek to punish. It is one thing to to criticize another for doing harm and it is quite another to actively seek retribution. And let's not forget occupying a foreign land and building prison type walls to circle its inhabitants.

Netanyahu is completely out of his mind. He is a power hungry warmonger. He goes out of his way to avoid peace. His heart is very, very black. The way Israel treats the Palestinians is an abomination. No wonder they hate the Israelis as much as they do. I do not see much difference between the historic days of South African Apartheid, and the current Netanyahu policies. He is basically the Apartheid PM. Shame on him. Shame on the Knesset. Good on Obama for busting his balls.

Spidermike

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

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That is probably because you have some misguided notions about Palestinians being citizens of Israel, or that Israel annexed either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The barrier (or separating wall) is more of a temporary border. Granted that the limbo in which the Palestinians exist is plain wrong.

You may want to consider that Israel got a large minority of Arab citizens, with cities and villages not surrounded by such a wall and being accorded full civilian rights (including a vocal representation in the parliament).

Apartheid is a catchy word, but it does not quite confirm to reality.

Sign for most of the other things you posted regarding Netanyahu, and then some.

I may have some misguided notions about the Palestinians and otherwise. But, I do not think it is too much to ask Israel to treat them like human beings. They are always going on and on about the world's unwillingness to treat the Jews with dignity. Well, let's set an example please. Treat then with dignity and maybe some of that comes back.

Spidermike007

Let us hope this has to do with the Generals uncovering improper contracts, funding, etc. We all know how the contract process works here. They seem to be tired of the corruption, and business as usual. Maybe they see this as a way of avoiding the bloated contracts that are part of the cockroaches getting tens or hundreds of millions of baht in payoffs. Lets hope.

What an opportunity she lost out on. Imagine HER turning down a 25 year old guy. What on earth was she thinking?