KevinBloodyWilson

Why do people feel the need to constantly state the obvious "scams happen everywhere in the World", or bold or highlight foreign places they have been scammed in some lame effort to protect Thailand or its reputation?

Thailand is awash with scams, trickery, deceit, lies and crime and people should be informed if they come here.

Luckily the internet and programs like 'Big Trouble' have highlighted the problems and people are now seeing Thailand for what it is, despite Thai officials (and some posters here it would seem) best efforts to the contrary.

The truth always comes out in the end folks.

My Aussie doc told me to cut them off myself with a pair of nail scissors. A dab of antisceptic and a brave smile is all you need.

If you want to do them yourself, put a paper clip on them, or tie them off with cotton. A week later they will fall off; if they get a bit sore from clothes, use cotton put a plaster over the top.

What my Aussie doctor said and I got rid of a few doing just that. Never been a problem, never been painful.

The only abnormality in the current political state of affairs is the poisonous actions and rhetoric coming from Thaksin, but that will be dealt with in time. Meanwhile, the country goes on, lives are improving. Law and order hasn't broken down, and any attempts to try and break them down were well dealt with by the governing authorities. Your biggest complaint is that you personally are being fecked up by the Thais attempts to deal with the current divisions in the country, yet you have the audacity to complain about a lack of adult discussion, and try to drag the country down to a level it clearly isn't at.

Well, we disagree.

Personally I don't think universal law and order are in place.

Personally I don't think Thailand has universal suffrage.

Personally I don't think Thailand is an honest or trustworthy place, either in government, bureaucracy, or judiciary, and the evidence for that is overwhelming and beyond question.

Personally I don't think the Thai education system is socially serviceable or useful.

Personally I don't think the standard of living in rural areas has kept up with the standard of living among the elites at all (in other words the gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown wider throughout the past 60 years). rather, it would be true to say that the standard of living of a select few Thais has improved very satisfactorily (for them).

Personally I do think that Thailand is on the verge of becoming a failed state, for all of the above reasons, and I am very far from being alone in this, in fact one prominent person spoke recently about the country 'falling in to ruin' as I recall. The Thais who are ruining Thailand are ruining it for all people who live here, Thais and ex-pats alike, this is the context of my previous comment. Thankfully, it is only a minority of Thais who are determined to maintain their present privileged positions who are doing the ruining, and (so far as I can see) are making a violent overthrow pretty much inevitable, but these are the ones with influence at the moment.

To think that any of the above is not true is (I believe) to fail to see what is blindingly obvious. But that is only my opinion.

I am sorry you had the experience, but it isn;t that uncommon these days, Thai hi-so are often truly obnoxious and horrid excuses for people, and I speak from experience having once been married to one.

Thaksin's fault no doubt. Blame him

Anyone out there got a Peugeot 406? Are there any Peugeot-savvy repair shops out there? - Not Yontrakit, I don't deal with Yontrakit.

I just don't see the facts for "failed state" at all. I also don't buy at all "nothing has changed in 20 years". The facts don't back that up.

Fair enough, but the criteria for 'failed state' status were given, and you have addressed different criteria, some quite subjectively.

Then you compare Thailand with other Asian economies and note that it doesn't stack up so you compare it with Africa instead.

Nothing wrong with an opinion, but the stats you quote don't always support your covering comment. Thailand's corruption rating for example is among the worst in the world, not ' slightly above average' as you state. Haven't had time yet to have a look at the other links you posted - but thanks for posting them, I have an open mind so I will follow through in that spirit.

Thanks for the opinion, you went to the trouble of getting supporting numbers so it wasn't the usual polyanna stuff. And you didn't get abusive either, which puts you several steps ahead of the game compared with some of the others who just can't seem to grasp what adult discussion is about...

I think you'd refuse to see that it's better regardless of any arguments.

Well, that's because I appear not to agree with you, not because you know anything about me or why I think what I think.

Freedom of speech - in T-days people were sued left and right for billions, not happening anymore.

Any facts in there, or just perceptions? If you are going to state things as fact you should support them.

Freedom of press - there are half a dozen anti-government publications. In T-days he sued every media outlet even slightly critical.

Now the government just threatens to close them down, or pressures the station to sack dissenting voices.

Justice - for the first time in history power does not give immunity anymore.

Why don't you look at it through Thaksin's lawyers eyes, they've spent six months in jail, or former EC commissioners who were jailed, or Pojamarn, who was convicted of tax fraud, or Samak who tried to fool the court with fabricated evidence, or Thaksin himself who can't escape justice despite all his money and fan clubs everywhere.

Oh please... Tell me you aren't being serious. Prosecuting the Thaksin camp is no kind of evidence that justice prevails and influence cannot be bought in Thailand, it is evidence for exactly the reverse. You defeat yourself with your own argument.

It is clear you have strong views and that is good, we should all have strong views. 3 years ago I had the same views, but then a number of things happened which meant I was obliged to change those views and the underlying beliefs which engendered them. Now I see things differently.

Let me know when PAD are prosecuted for shutting down the airport last year and I will review the views and beliefs I have today.

Probably more relevant to ask if you have a failed life in Thailand and in general or not.

It's a reasonable question given the number of no-hopers we all know flee here from Europe and America.

As for myself, I count moving here as one of my better decisions, and I have made some pretty bad ones over time. I am more free here than I ever was in the UK, I have a much better lifestyle and I have been more professionally successful for a number of reasons. I also consider my personal growth as having been much more significant in Thailand than it ever was in UK - again for a number of reasons.

Am I a loser? Possibly, depending on the benchmark you set. I am successful professionally, comfortable financially and emotionally happier in the onsetting autumn of life than I have ever been. I do not smoke, I do not drink, I have no need of bargirls. Depends on the benchmark.

Am I a loser for not agreeing that Thailand is some kind of Polyanna heaven? Perhaps.

Does Thailand does attract a large ammount of Farang Failures ? Yes !

Agreed. This is certainly true.

Thailand as a whole, a failed state ? No!

I am interested in hearing why you say that. Can your opinion be supported by facts? You have a series of definitions to work with and your only able to give a one-word answer, which although clearly your own opinion (to which you are perfectly entitled) is hardly persuasive.

I fully agree. it is my domicile of choice too. And they are <deleted> it up for me

Politically, Thailand hasn't really changed for decades, so if it's currently a failed state it must have been so for just as long. I'd say you're looking for an excuse for your own failure to come to terms with the way it works, and have come to the conclusion that, because "they are <deleted> it up for me", it must be the country, and not you, that's failed.

I' m sure you would say lots of pretty unreasonable (and unreasoned) things, and you assume both that I am a failure here and that somehow you pointing this out is going to sting. You could probably be more wrong if you tried harder but at the moment you are doing pretty well on natural ability, so I don't think additional practice is going to enhance your performance in adult discussions.

Do you really think that the fact that Thailand hasn't changed for decades is something which evidences success? Really? Wow. I think most people would call that an abject failure in an evolving world.

the fact that many Farangs who have failed in their own countries live in Thailand indicates that the situation can't be too bad

Some people spend their time criticizing Thailand..

They'd better ask themselves why they come here,and what positive are they doing for this country..

Unless of course they are perfect people coming from perfect countries,which of course they are not

Well, the first quoted comment is ridiculous and the second is just facile. I expect I have contributed as much as any farang to my choice of home. if anyone wants to step up to the plate I would be more than happy to trade. In the meantime, stop reducing a reasonable debate to ad-hominem comments.

If this is all you have then trust me, you need more.

The country is in a mess and it is not better without him. The corruption that he is accused of had been going on for a very, very long time. It continues now, but there is a long standing conspiracy of silence amount some of the upper echeleons of society. Under Thaksin, the noses in the trough changed and the other piggys started to squeal.

A pertinent question is would the country be better off if he returned? I very much doubt that it would be.

Thailand is Thailand. Not because of Thaksin, but in spite of him.

Seems like a couple of pretty good thoughts...

I can really relate to Thailand personally. I also once had a lot of potential ...

Potential and five bucks will get you a latte at Starbucks.

Thing fall apart ...

The center cannot hold

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

And what rough beast indeed... the influence of the Golden Dawn is there for all to see.

Yeats is da man. Yay!

I think that is too strong a term. Somalia is a failed state. Thailand is no Somalia, thankfully.

Maybe a term like "floundering state" or "stalled state" or "stymied state", something like that but not failed. Not yet anyway.

I think that is about right. But it is heading for failure.

Yes and it's a damned shame. That is what drives us expats nuts. Thailand has sooo much potential -- it's very very frustrating watching Thailand so often being it's own worst enemy.

I fully agree. it is my domicile of choice too. And they are <deleted> it up for me

As much as some of you apparently want it to be, no it is not anywhere near so.

Is that a rebuttal? Why is it not a failed state? What characteristics of a failed state does Thailand not yet show?

Jest the fax ma'am, jest the fax.

What's wrong with the economy? Outside it's the worst crisis since Great Depression, but in Thailand unemployment is minimal and when companies start rehiring, the workers are reluctant to come back.

I see. So outside of the fact that the economy is in a shit state, it's in a pretty good state... - right? :D

Human rights - of course it's better, in Thaksin's days he was rallying the country not to show any mercy to dead drug dealers, he ordered an inconvenient lawyer to be abducted and killed by the police and next day declared that the man simply ran away from his wife.

So how is it better now? Freedom of speech is better? Freedom of the press is better? Individual liberties better? LM prosecutions are fewer? How exactly is it better now?

Justice - for the first time in history power does not give immunity anymore.

:D

The real worry for Thaksin is that the country IS getting better...

:D

Cheers Plus, this made me laugh, and on a Monday morning that is never a bad thing

<snip>

This isn't the first or the second valid farang reference to Hitler/Thaksin. The reference has been recurring over time, which is why there is a viability to it. Of course Thaksin isn't out to conquer the world, but for Thaksin Thailand itself will do just fine.

Fallacious proposition. The idea of a flat earth recurred for a very long time, but that didn't turn out to be true. The popularity of a concept does not guarantee its veracity.

<snip>

... and God forbid if he ever came back...it would certainly be far worse.

<snip>

Why would it be worse? How would it be worse?

He might win. He might not. But never by a landslide. That is because he has lost major face with millions of Thais and he is a corrupt COWARD. REAL strong heroic national leaders earn their moral authority by their deeds. Skipping out on charges, evacuating your family while launching a violent revolution, don't cut it.

Might be the way you see it JT, might even be the way you think most Thais should see it, but be assured it is not the way every rural Thai I have spoken to sees it. They see him as a victim of the same corrupt power cabal that threw out their democratically elected leader.

And they do not like it much.

Interesting to note the subdued coverage by the English-language press. If it had been the other way around and the yellow protest was peaceful while the red protest turned violent, I wager the coverage would have been rather different.

Q: Would Thailand become more of a 'democracy' than it is now with Thaksin at the helm?

A: No.

Q: Can the current coalition government lead by the Democrat Party lead to the country to some sort of reconciliation?

A: No.

The ongoing power struggle has left this country in shambles, it's not even funny. A real mess LOS has become. I believe something dramatic will happen in the 'not too distant future' that will change Thailand forever, and for the better. I can't tell you what it is, it's just a gut feeling I have.

Enough politics for today... Time for some EPL football! LATER.

I agree with you. Been saying so for a while. Famous for it.

As for the gut feeling, you are perceiving a lot of non-obvious things, this is how intuition works. I have the same feeling, something is approaching a denouement and I think I know what it is who will be gone.

Wouldn't it be nice if it weren't only 'Not the Nation' reporting this..?

Recovery from (what I believe is) the failed state status begins with listening to people who have something more than just ego-stroking to offer.

<snip> Although megalomania is a term often ascribed to anyone who is power-hungry, the clinical definition is that of a mental illness associated with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

Narcissism is most simply defined as self-love. Though it is considered healthy to care about your own well-being and have a healthy self-esteem, when someone loves himself to the exclusion of all else and others become objectified to be used only to serve the self, this is no longer considered healthy or normal.

There are different psychological theories about how and why NPD develops, most of which relate to the integration of different aspects of ego and self as a child, and the nature of the parental roles in that process. Regardless of theory, NPD is characterized by extremely low self-esteem, which is compensated for by delusions of grandeur and megalomania, a narcissistic neuroses. With the propensity to act only on behalf of one's self, the unbridled need to feed one's ego, and the objectification of others to serve the power-hungry needs of megalomania, it is easy to see how this can be a recipe for disaster, especially when wrapped in a charismatic personality. <snip>

I don't agree that he is NPD. though he shows some of the characteristics. do agree he has real self-esteem problems, hence his obsessiveness with wealth (not alone in that), his refusal to concede defeat and his vindictiveness.

To be candid (and I have no boat to row on this), I think that he is still the best option for Thailand (let the flaming begin!), but he could surely use someone or something to mitigate his natural urge towards totalitarianism.

As bad as he was, he was also good. If one could take more of the good things he did and lose the bad things he would pull Thailand out of the shit it's currently in, and there is no-one else on the scene who can do it. Not even.

imho

If Mr T was so good for the country can some one please explain why the powers to be eventually ousted him? He was pretty canny at putting as i see it all his people friends and relatives in top places..what happened?

I actually think he was negligent. With his majority he probably thought it would not, nay could not happen.

He was wrong.

He wont make that mistake again, and please make no mistake about this. Imho, he is coming back.

Whilst foreigners focus on the scams, local Thais stare in shame at the debauchery

shown in the documentaries! Thailand is a Buddhist country and respect should be given to its religion.Why do foreigners come to Thailand to practise such debauchery?Do you not come to enjoy the sun,the sea, the natural beauty, the food and the culture?Thais have to protect their young and shield them from this hedonistic lifestyle and culture so different from theirs.

Just getting your money is a heavy price to pay for eroding their culture, their religion and corrupting their young!

Are you able to do that next door in Malaysia? You would have been whipped even before you go cavorting at the beach!Maybe foreigners should be more sensitive and have more respect for the host country. After all you are the guests and guest do not misbehave!

Yes those dastardly foreigners, creating, living with, employing, exploiting, and funding a sex industry that they have to travel half way around the world to visit. I could give you a dozen Christian quotes about removing the plank from your eye and the such, but I will keep short and sweet.

The Thai sex industry is Thai owned, Thai operated, Thai staffed, Thai policed, governed under Thai law, taxed in Thailand, policed by Thais', and is believe it or not in Thailand.

There is not foreigner here who can have any effect on closing it. That lies with Thailand and its people.

And there is no chance whatever that will happen. Camel, needle, eye.