GeorgeO

Why is it deemed necessary in Thailand to disclose the full details of victims, such as name, age and full address? I haven't bothered to read the full story, but doubtless there will be a copy of the personal details page of the guy's passport...!

Wouldn't it be perfectly acceptable to report that an elderly American man's home in Bangsaray was burgled? It is known in the UK that where victims are seen as vulnerable, there can often be repeat visits, and not necessarily by the same villains. Hence, no such details would ever be circulated in the UK.

I sincerely hope that my home never gets burgled here, otherwise I have no doubt my full details will be bandied around without my authority.

Judging by the random shooting of unarmed people by the army I guess the photographers are just lucky to be alive.

Random,

Is this an admission of guilt that you were actually involved in shooting unarmed people??

Check the grammar. Informations ??????????????? When did we start using S. Information is both singular and plural

John,

Leave it ... expenditiures,educations, behaviors, revenues, all abstract (uncount) nouns ... we're obviously losing the battle.

Just make sure you maintain your own standards!

Harsh, some might say, but also quite fair really. There's little anyone can say to refute the 'charges'.

All we await now is the wikileaks details from other ASEAN sources on Singapore. Hope Singapore is also able to "take it on the chin"....!!

She's distancing herself from Taksin. She's threatening withdrawal of support for the PTP if they don't effectively champion the needs of the red shirt grassroots movement (ie rural poor).

Will the habitual Taksin/red shirt bashers who claim they sympathize with the plight of the rural poor join me in wishing Ms.Thida good luck in furthering their cause?

Or if this stance still fails to meet with their lofty requirements, perhaps they can admit this is at least a step in the right direction for the rural poor and suggest what else should happen before they will give this movement an even break?

Unfortunately, despite demonstrating an apparently worthy agenda, this does not take into consideration the faction within the Red Shirts which seems to thrive on violence. How would she be able to deal with those within her own ranks who seek only to gain their way through bullets and bombs?

The author suggests the PM should solve most of Thailand's problems overnight without suggesting how that may be done. Perhaps he could borrow Harry Potter's wand.

As for the hillbilly, may I suggest that most of your problems are currency, or lack of it, related, and that is the fault of your own country not Thailand. The little Oz dollar, once referred to as the Pacific Peso, is doing fine, thank you very much, and I have no problems with local pricing, or accessing the internet.

I can even afford to buy a visa, which is why border run entries were reduced to 15 days, to encourage you to do the same. I find it quite reasonable that any country should know who is living within their borders, and not grant carte blanche entry to anybody who can afford to get to a border once a month

As for southern tourism, how many tourists have been shot or otherwise affected. I regularly visit Had Yai, Songkla, Satun and even Sungai Kolok (you can cross the border there, and BUY a visa), by bike, and never had the slightest problem.

A most admirable reponse to a pile of trash from the Nation, and a very ill-considered post by the "hillbilly". Both the reporter and the hillbilly seem to think the grass is always greener (God knows where...).

I have been here long enough to know that things have the potential to be much improved under PM Abhisit than they have been for many a year (and please refrain from taking my sign-up date with TV as an indicator of my tenure in Thailand). And by that, I don't mean for me, johnny foreigner, but for citizens of Thailand.

KhunT apparently believed that extrajudicial killings were justifiable; to him, the end justified the means. Thus, no citizen of Thailand was safe under his style of governance.

The Nation reporter apparently believes that KhunT has a point to make. I would dearly love to see him appear before the Commission, and see how he struggles with the questions on human rights issues as they pertain to the South of Thailand. He certainly shouldn't be expected to have anything to say about the riotous behavior of his Red Army in Bangkok since he was never here during any of the uprising that he incited (and continued to fuel with his daily transmissions) ... nor were his family. All of them safely tucked away while he used the lives of his misguided followers to make a point. Exactly what his point was escapes me (please, don't bother me with the details).

PM Abhisit, if given the opportunity, will certainly ensure that his house is in order, but that will require an end to all of these petty cooked-up charges against him by the inept politicians in the various parties that oppose him. If we can see an end to all of these distractions, this man has the ability to put Thailand on track and rid the country of the blight of corruption, greed and self-serving behavior, which, by the way, despite the best efforts of this inept bunch, the current PM has been shown to have risen above.

If the Nation can't think of anything better to report, then maybe they should consider taking page 3 of the Sun mewspaper and using that as their cover page. As for "hillbilly", take the advice of OzMick, get a real presence here in Thailand, and stop blaming others for your own situation!

It makes you wonder (just a little bit) if THIS might be the payoff for Victor B.

Extradition of Thaksin to Thailand from the US? It would make me proud

Can anybody answer the following questions:

1. Is t barred from entry to the US?

2. This Helsinki Commision, what sort of a set up is this? Is it just sit and listen to t talk? Or would there be people there who are tasked to (and have sufficient background knowledge) to ask detailed relevant questions and to, if needed, challenge what t says?

Just another thought, has this OSCE / Helsinki Commission ever investigated t for his human rights abuses?

Wonder if someone should bring that to their attention and they could interview him on two cases at the same time.

I'm with you 'scorecard'. As soon as I saw this I started putting two and two together.

Extradition procedures have already been established between the US and Thailand with the recent Victor Bout case. The OSCE is essentially an NGO, as it does not have any veto over US authorities. If he does land in the US, I have no doubt the authorities will be there waiting for him to repay the favour to Thailand.

On the other point, however, there was a brief mention in the report of a discussion on incidents that occurred in the restive South. If they do get on to that subject, well he's got to be bang to rights...surely!

As noted above, this will require a way of separating waste/recycleable materials.

I make a point of separating waste into (i) paper/plastic, (ii) glass, (iii) cans and (iv) kitchen waste. This results in only small amounts of waste (iv) which has to be disposed of quickly, whilst the other containers can be emptied every two to three weeks.

When these bags of recycleable items are full, they are placed outside the front of my driveway and, lo and behold, they disappear in minutes..!! There are obviously many people out there ready to take this stuff away and make a few satangs.

The only trouble is, if I happen to place this stuff out on the morning when the official waste collection service is due to call, everything simply gets thrown into the back and crushed together with the food waste!

There clearly have to be alternatives to this!

It is becoming quite clear that things are now completely out of control. When a scammer become a knife wielding thug with total impunity from the long arm of the law, it is time to reconsider our future here in Thailand.

Is there nothing to be done to reign in these daylight robbers, and to bring some sort of semblence of law and order to this country?

Just how long do they believe that they can continue with such antics before tourism becomes a forgotten word?!

I think some of you are missing the point. The OP is asking why call Thai females 'ladies' and not farang females. What he is asking is why the difference?

I think it's a good observation and as somebody has alluded to already, it is possibly overcompensation for derogatory sentiments.

I would have to agree with an earlier comment, which is that (certainly in my experience) English "females" began objecting strongly to the term "girls". However, we English "gentlemen" or "blokes" (I don't mind) felt that to use the term "women" was slightly less than proper. So we settled for the term "ladies". Nothing more to it than the 'political correctness' referred to earlier.

"that of one million pregnancies in Thailand each year, 80,000 are illegally terminated"

Beats me how anyone knows the real numbers

Absolutely ... using the Black-Scholes (1973) model, my estimation was 78,373..!

Beware of any country, political party or organization of political party with the name: Democratic in it. They seldom are...

But the DP is right of course. thailand does have freedom of speech, that is why hundreds of people are arrested on computer crimes acts, or lese majesty charges. There are no political prisoners, that is why the government under the leadership of the DP have blocked websites as Politicial Prisoners Thailand and everything is great in the country.

That is of course when you are rich, vote DP and kiss up with generals. The same generals that interfere in soldier;s family lives by intruding and infringing on their privacy. Their phone calls and internet are monitored even when they are not under suspicion of a crime. In a matter of fact in Burma there is more freedom for soldiers.

At least under Thaksin we could write about it on the internet or comment on it on community radios. No such freedom anymore in the Kingdom of Thailand, soon to be renamed Democratic People's Kingdom of Thailand or something like that.

Mythbuster,

I am staggered by the spin that you manage to put on the various issues.

1. Having spent time in Myanmar, I can tell you that the only reason the soldiers appear to be less oppressed there is that they are totally ruled by fear. Anyone deviating from the junta line is well aware of the consequences.

2. As (as opposed to in) a matter of fact, reliable Internet access is non-existent, so posting any comments is quite an arduous task.

3. Freedom of speech is something enjoyed by those who do not use it to commit acts of defamation.

4. If you preferred things under Thaksin, then we must assume that you are willing to turn a blind eye to extra-judicial killings!

And finally, as for lese majeste (as opposed to lese majesty), I would suggest that you take a little more care in suggesting that His Majesty's Kingdom is soon to become a Republic. That to me, would appear to be the pinnacle of lese majeste!

"Although Bangkok has been rattled by a number of minor blasts since rallies by anti-government protesters in April and May, " - can you explain this comment too.have the bomb blasts been "claimed" by any one particular body? or were they anonymous

Secondly - who says this was a bomb? Is it universally accepted already that this is in fact what happened - has any group claimed responsibility?

Are you suggesting it was nothing more than a firecracker? If a device targeted at someone/something explodes, then it is a "bomb".

Why do you need clarification other than the fact that a person died and several others were injured?

The classification of the device as a "bomb" is irrelevant, what matters more is the reason behind such a mindless attack, and how those responsible can be brought to justice!

It should be in the hands of a lawyer. Not on thaivisa. I would expect their are liable for a VERY large law suit.

You should first of all be aware that you have been libeled, not slandered.

Made a suggestion about this many months back.

1/ Should complete the partly built sky train to Don Muang.

2/ Turn the biggest unused building into a market like an indoor jata-jak.

3/ Another big building could be a mall/supermarket.

4/ Revamp all the other unused buildings as rental or for sale rooms and condos, in a range from basic to luxuary.

5/ Make all other unused space into parking.

Should be returning a good profit in a few years.

Bankok is littered with container parks, many of which are adjacent to housing estates.

They could pick all of these up and transfer them to Don Muang, thereby releasing the rest of the smaller plots of land for useful development.

This would of course then necessitate a specific road (or rail) link from Don Muang to the Port area, but such costs would enormously reduce the heavy traffic problem in the inner city areas caused by container trucks

to be honest, is anyone surprised ?

Surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes. Ordering a probe is a futile gesture if there is no follow up action taken against the culprits. It is time for khun Abhisit to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk! Unless he does so, he might as well just walk.

Agreed, Abhisit should get out there and do the investigation himself.

He wouldnt be able to uncover any evidence of kickbacks though his rose coloured glasses... and the ever increasing bulge in his hip pocket.

Words words only to make him look good. Needs someone with strength and action to put the culprits (if any) in the village stocks as a previous poster said. 6 months penned up may do the trick.

Oh my goodness, it never ceases to amaze me how so many of the apparently uneducated trolls on this forum belive that their comments are worthwhile. Do you honestly believe for a single second that Abhisit is in this for the money? ... the ever increasing bulge in his hip pocket..???

For Christ's sake, he is the only one in this godforsaken country who actually has the good of the country at heart!

Save your nonsensical comments for the real culprits, Khun T, the abhorent Jakaporn, and the rest of them.

I only hope that when commonsense eventually takes hold in this country, if it ever does, PM Abhisit is still around to provide the necessary guidance!

I love the last sentence in the last paragraph 'These men allegedly drove off in the outbound lane on a motorcycle for women with no licence plate.'

What is a motorcycle for woman? lol....

I would be more interested to find out what constitutes "women with no licence plate"?

I thought a gurney is what the US government kills people on. This must be a definition I haven't come across yet. Thanks for enlightening me.

The only definition of gurney I have ever come across is a wheeled stretcher, a "hospital trolley" to us Brits.

"Give back?"

More like take something from about the only country which cares about golf but doesn't know what he's truly like.

His image is destroyed, his marketing gone to hel_l, but Thailand, which knows nothing about what goes on outside its borders still loves him.

He's got nothing left so he'll, cynically milk the lat dollar he can.

But He Thai, He Rich Man, He OK.

Tiger got caught for what the vast majority of farangs living in Thailand believe is de rigueur, and your suggestion that his image is destroyed couldn't be further from the truth. Just listen to the crowds when he turns out. They strill love him, and he most certainly is not a spent force as you suggest; indeed, he still has the potential to win many more Majors.

He is not duty bound to give anything to Thailand, in the same way that he is not duty bound to give anything to his homeland ... but he does. He is the single greatest provider of funds and facilities for junior golf in the States. If he is planning to do something similar here, then you should prepare yourself for a large portion of humble pie.

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Rimmer,

I wholeheartedly appaude your stance, but can you extend this to those who post for no apparent reason than to raise thier post count.

The recent post which suggested that the drowning of a Thai woman left her (imprisoned) farang husand off the hook, since he would no longer be responsible for child support left me feeling cold!

"I was not an adviser either" but he went to the rally from time to time "and offered advice to the red shirts' chief guard, Aree Krainara, when he saw some security flaws". Quite .

And we must of course believe that the one man who for some time was closest to Khun T, and ready to take a bullet for him, never contacted him again after 2004, despite, coincidentally, turning up at the main battle site in Bangkok "from time to time", and despite not being an advisor whilst giving advice on security.....

Clearly as innocent as the day is long.....

set-up or no set-up if you are 'clean' you don't need to worry.

Oh if only that were true, but it has to be said that it's naive at best.

When mud is being slung around, some of it will stick, even to the squeakiest of squeaky clean!

Take your shirt off while your at it, wear shorts and then you'll look like a complete arshole.

Seems I still need to make a LOT of inane post before reaching 6K+ posts like you

Based upon his joining date, you would not to make over 16 posts every single day of the year. You've probably got better things to do!

I truly believe that Thaksin looks upon Kim Jong-il with envy and jealousy of the first degree. I am sure wherever he was watching the recent military parades in North Korea, he was sat dreaming of himself in the same situation passing on some form of dynastic power to his offspring.

This man will bring great great trouble to Thailand before he is done, and will make his move when a certain event occurs that sadly cannot be to much further in the future.

If Thaksin can finance a war then i guess he will can finance a aid releif.

YEAH where is all that MONEY they confiscated from Thaksin ????????????????

Just another reason why the Thaksin supporters hate the BKK elite they robbed thaksin and are now enjoying his money instead of putting it to good use which might breed some good will with the reds but no better to buy a new Mercedes or 2

I guess you weren't here in May, huh?

The money was put to excellent use.

Sorry to interrupt a good rant with reality, but...

Thaksin's confiscated cash goes to Thai national debt repayments

The Thai government has decided to use 42 billion baht (1.3 billion dollars) confiscated from fugitive politician Thaksin Shinawatra and his family to help repay the country's public debt, media reports said on Tuesday.

The Comptroller Department decided to use Thaksin's money for national debt repayments after 46 billion baht were transferred to state coffers from 32 bank accounts in six commercial banks previously holding the frozen cash, the Bangkok Post reported.

DPA - May 4, 2010

An excellent response to an unresearched and ill-considered accusation of corruption against the current government.

I do wish the supporters of this vile blot on the landscape of Thai politics would actually read up on things and find out the truth about their glorious leader Khun T.

Having now been educated with regard to what the government has actually done with the legally confiscted ill-gotten gains of this plunderer, why not consider how many new Mercedes their illustrious leader managed to acquire during his time in office....

Behind the silence is the unspoken "Oh shit" as BJT realizes they have overplayed their hand. Abhisit hasn't been PM for two years during the most amazing turmoil because of his good looks - he is also one of the most impressive politicians Thailand has ever seen.

comedy gold

sorry that deserves a few more :lol::lol::lol:

he is also one of the most impressive politicians Thailand has ever seen.............Yes,you tell that to the families from all the people who were killed last april.

What has he done in the south??????Every days killing?You must be a top joker.

I find it quite unbelievable that various commentators on this forum actually believe the sort of nonsense that they write.

Anyone witn any intelligence knows what happened in April and May, and it wasn't a situation that was created by the government or Abhisit.

Yes, please do speak to the families of those that were killed, and as we have seen on YouTube, there are many of these who now confirm that they were duped by a conniving individual whose only aim was to see his funds returned and get back into total control of the food trough by overthrowing a government which, despite cries of "foul" from various quarters, is actually the only government with any legitimacy that we have seen in decades.

And if you prefer to see what we had before returning to power, then I am sure you are looking forward to several thousands of additional extra-juducual killings in the south.