spidermike007

Yes. Obama was very sharp. My issue with him is he was too willing to compromise. Clinton for sure. He did an amazing job of running the economy and his foreign policy was better than most. Carter was an amazing man. But, he was a bit too noble for the office.

The defamation laws were written by sold out cowards, to protect rotten players from reprisals, due to bad service, faulty products and bad business. They have no place in today's world. They represent a heinous over reach of toxic power. Thailand deserves whatever comes its way as a result of this. Those insane and cowardly defamation laws have been around way too long. They were written and passed by sold out politicians, for men who sell inferior products, offer inferior services, and steal alot of money. And do not intend to be answerable to anyone. Perhaps some of that will change. For those of us who have been here a awhile, we know that positive change only happens here through utter embarrassment, humiliation, and a loss of face. It never happens because it is the right thing to do, or due to fairness or equity. So, it must be thrust upon them, such as in this incident. The lack of vision prevents them from seeing it coming. Egg on the face can be a cure for many diseases and weaknesses.

One has to take into account that the entire experience of running for president has to be a horrendous thing. And I think the best and the brightest have no interest in it. It also takes a huge degree of both megalomania, and ego. Things appear to be moving downhill, and not improving. Popular American culture has reached a level of bankruptcy never seen before. The terrible truth, is that we will likely never see another "quality candidate". The ones who would be the best for the office, have the good sense not to seek it. It is too filthy, and the campaign is too grueling and invasive. The days of decent people in those 3 offices are in the rear view. Only low end, too old, or morally bankrupt people like Trump now.

Many of us don't know. After a lifetime of tax and bank fraud, grifting, swindles, five huge bankruptcies, and stealing billions from small contractors, who made the enormous mistake of working for this creep, he remains a free man. Well, not exactly free. He remains a prisoner of his miserable mind. But, he should be in prison. No doubt. One can only hope. After all, he looks very good in orange.

In other words, Thailand needs a competent government with policies based on wisdom, vision, smarts and not based on fear, the silly belief that import taxes are the solution, and xenophobia. That could happen if positions were appointed based on merit and skill. Does anyone see that happening? Does anyone see Thailand becoming a better version of itself? No, it is a nation moving backwards. Many of us still love it here. But, there are countless things that could be improved, and many of us avoid luxury purchases here, entirely.

Isreal gets around $12 billion a year in aid from the US, and turns around and spends around $2 billion of it lobbying the US Senate and Congress. They are the largest lobbyist on the planet. The US has no independence. Obama is the only president who has truly stood up to their machine.

American foreign policy has been lost in space for a long time now. It is a nation in severe decline and the politics is a reflection of that.

Can one blame them? China is not exactly wearing their power with grace and dignity. They are a major bully.

This had absolutely nothing to do with security. It was all about repression, showing the people they have no voice and a cruel, over reaching judiciary that is still controlled by the extremely toxic army. Thailand joins Burma, Cambodia, Russia, China, Saudi, Vietnam, Ethiopia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Azerbaijan as a nation that is intolerant of telling it like it is. Shame in the judiciary. Shame on the army. All moral authority is gone, baby gone.

They will continue to get more Indian, Malaysian, Arab, Russian, and some Chinese tourists. But most will be lower income, and lower middle income tourists. Thailand just cannot attract higher income tourists anymore. Very few. The focus on quantity over quality will continue to erode the nation on countless levels. More is rarely better. It just lowers the quality of life for nearly everyone, creates more congestion, more smog, more traffic, longer lines at immigration, and makes life difficult, especially in the big cities. There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists, and go for quality over quantity. Quantity over quality is never a good thing, unless you are selling one dollar items at a swap meet. It just lowers the quality of the experience for all.

In my humble opinion, alot of straight guys consider it kind of a free pass, for a gay experience.

I tend to agree. I was solo for nearly two decades. Dated a bit. Had a few relationships, but nothing serious. Then, I met my current Thai woman, and after being with her awhile, I realized I had really missed being with a wonderful woman. For me, nothing beats a quiet home, with an outstanding woman who is a great mate, a fun person to be around and always has your back. Every day with her is a very good day. She is the same lovely woman from one day to the next. She has a smile on her face when she wakes up in the morning. Never experienced that in the states. Some Thais manifest that unbearable lightness of being, that is so delightful to be around. I cannot really get enough of that spirit, and feel so blessed to be around that, and to have found such a well adjusted and delightful creature. I don't know if it gets any better than that. Sure beats living alone in the desert. For me, anyway.

Leave it to the commies to mess up an economy. I don't think it is possible to point to a single success story. Maybe Vietnam. Maybe. All others have failed miserably. The world is not ready for an idealist philosophy put into action. We are simply too backwards as a species.

A very good summary. Thanks for that. And we can add in a lifetime of grifting, theft, swindles, and now mooching off his devotees.

The Thais were suckered into buying an MG quality sub, at a Rolls Royce price! It was a massive Chinese swindle.

70, no doubt. Not a good time to be a youth in this world. The issues facing them are far greater than we faced. And social media ruins many lives. I cannot even imagine a scenario where Twitter (not X!), Instagram or TikTok would improve a single youths life. Also, not a good time to have kids. Please, please spare them the grief.

When they are complaining about not enough tourists and in the next sentence bragging about the number of arrivals, how goes 10,000 extra tourists cause them to grapple?

He did not have much competition. Clinton was a terrible candidate. But, she just might have been a better president. Her husband certainly was. If only he was not a pathological liar!

The subs will make a nice addition to the naval museum, once they realize that they are too expensive to maintain, they break down often, and they are too difficult for the inexperienced captains to pilot.

Many years ago, my sister in law, was involved with a rather dodgy Brit, while living on Samui. When she finally ditched him, he was livid, and just could not handle it. He ended up coming one night, at 3:30am, and burning down her bungalow, which was made of wood and thatch. It went up like a bomb. Fortunately, neither she, nor her roommate were there at the time, or they would have either died, or ended up with major 3rd degree burns all over their bodies, which I believe was his intention. In most countries, this would be treated as attempted murder, correct? The police were able to find a video of him racing away from the scene, at around 3:35am, as there was a CCTV camera in front of the police station, only a few hundred meters away from her bungalow. They took him in, and told him he would have to leave Thailand, and could never return. Not sure what exchanged hands, for him to not have been arrested. He was also told he would have to pay my sister in law 120,000 baht for the destruction of her gold, cash, and possessions. Same for her friend. He did pay. We know that for a fact, as we were friendly with a couple of his friends. When she went to the police station to collect, she was told that he never paid, and he was already back in Thailand. But, that they had advocated for her, and made sure he could never come back to Thailand! When she pushed, and told them that she knew for a fact that he had paid them, she was told that her life was now in danger, and that she needed to back down, and go away, or her safety could not be guaranteed. That is the Samui police. Some things never change. They re-define both corruption and a lack of real law enforcement.

He lost 17 businesses. He lost 19 merchandising deals while in office. He lost all his clout, when it comes to management deals with his name on them. He lost the trade war with China, and the negotiations with Kim. MBS and Putin both outsmarted him. Then, he lost the election. Yet this crime boss thinks he could have prevented this? With his Kushner foreign policy imbecile? The real irony of his whole persona, is that he cannot negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag, much less negotiate a treaty with an adversary, which made him very dangerous, and still does.

Does better preparation mean Sretta has better moral character than the sleazy army? Or better read of the optics, perhaps? Either way, it would be a step up from the moral wasteland the army previously imposed upon the nation.

Are they expressly forbidding those flights? Or is it an air force coordination issue?

Not necessary a realist. More like an ignorant fool. Someone asks, you tell them your opinion. Otherwise, you stay out of their face. You are simply a nasty, bitter pessimist trying to rain on people's lives. None of us know how long we have left. And none of us need to hear it from you.

Very few seem willing to discuss cause and effect, but Israel never should have let the extremists visit the mosque. And Israeli policy toward the Palestinians is not helpful, on any level. A solution must be found. Not condoning Hamas. But this did not happen in a vacuum. The Israeli government formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last December is the most right wing in Israeli history. This government has made no secret of its desire to annex the West Bank and has permitted significant expansion of Jewish settlements in the territory, which are illegal under international law. That has led to conflict between settlers and young West Bank Palestinians, who in the past year have formed a loose grouping known as the “Lions’ Den”. This grouping, comprising independent militants with apparently no central control, has scant regard for the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank and is led by the octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian Authority has little real administrative, security or moral authority in the territory.