THE WEEK THAT WAS Invasion! Eyes towards Europe as people in Thailand ponder the consequences

[webfact]

 

Most eyes in Thailand looked west this week as the much anticipated invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia began on Thursday. 

 

Many people in Thailand - especially Thais themselves - are largely oblivious to events outside their borders, outside Asia, complacently assuming that it won’t affect them.

 

This conflict - the extent of which remains to be seen - will test that indifference, test that casual complacency. 

 

Rooster does not have the answers. If I’m honest I didn’t think it would come to this. I thought it was all political brinkmanship and Putin would back down after scoring some diplomatic victories. 

 

Shows what I know. It now appears he doesn’t give a monkey’s about the West’s sanctions.

 

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The comparisons to WW2 are concerning. How many believed in the late 1930s that Hitler would not attack, how a spurious claim that Germany responded to insurgents as a pretext for invasion in Poland. 

 

We all know how that turned out.

 

What Putin is up to after years of rhetoric about NATO expansion will hopefully become clearer in the next days and weeks without too much bloodshed. 

 

Certainly the warnings of western politicians have proved to be on the money. 

 

Thais will probably react more with the continuing rise in fuel prices, extra effects on tourism after the pandemic, travel restrictions, a rise in gold prices, that sort of financial thing.

 

Few could pick Ukraine out on a map, even if they could locate Europe!

 

Here in Thailand in the last seven days it all seemed mundane in comparison. As I begin a week’s ASEAN NOW holiday with my grown up children who arrived from the UK last weekend, here is a list of what I found noteworthy last week:

 

Thursday saw a record number of daily Covid cases smashing previous 2021 records. When PCR tests confirmed ATK tests the figure was expected to be 45,000+.

 

Anybody remember back in 2020 when ONE case in Rayong shut down the whole province?

 

Deaths are increasing but still low - we have to get used to this menace, follow the advice and trust - a poor word - that the government in Thailand will believe their own rhetoric and learn to live with the virus. 

 

Let’s face it, we’re all fed up with the restrictions and parents are still going stir crazy with young children off school for the best part of two years! Madness.

 

And who knows, or even cares, what ramping up the threat to Level 4 even means. I’m losing the will to live.

 

Health minister Anutin - an ASEAN NOW staple if ever there was one - said that Thailand could cope no matter what. Dr Yong predicted 100,000 cases daily, at least. 

 

Blah, blah effing blah!

 

The road carnage continued - and some - with the site focusing many column inches on the appalling death and destruction. 

 

In Pattaya an expat cyclist died after being hit by a pick-up. 

 

You particularly take your life into your hands as a cyclist on the roads. 

 

Back in 2007 a doctor told me I was getting seriously overweight. I went from the surgery to Lotus and bought a bike and cycled 25 kms to and from school for months until the weight dropped off. But I figured that if I continued much more I’d be killed - not by obesity but collision.

 

I continued eating much less to keep the weight off. 

 

Other accidents showed the Thai propensity for grisly pictures of blood and bodies on the roads. I’m in favor of this - anything to warn people of what really happens when flesh hits metal or tarmac.

 

Why sanitize the issue?

 

One of the most read stories of the week had posed a question as to why so many foreigners fall off balconies in Thailand. 

 

Yes, some balconies are absurdly low for many tall westerners; I remember how on school trips we used to ban older teens from going on them at all.

 

But many foreigners come to Thailand - either as retirees or lovelorn - convinced that the problems they left behind will magically disappear.

 

Nonsense. Your troubles follow you around and I genuinely believe that most balcony fallers were not pushed but jumped - a result of severe mental health issues looking for a quick, free and instant way out. 

 

On holidays in the UK I have often been to Beach Head to ruminate on why people go there to end it all. Americans speak of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

Thailand has its balconies, sadly. I would urge anyone who knows someone with mental health issues to reach out to them. It happened in my family and I’m glad I did.

 

In tourism news billionaire Pipat said he was determined to press on with the so-called 300 baht tourist charge. He wants the money to pay for foreigners who need medical treatment and to improve tourism infrastructure. 

 

Why does Thailand always have to complicate everything? (to justify jobs I hear you say). If they just said the money was a visa on arrival barely anyone would bat an eyelid. 

 

They continue to make a rod for their own backs. 

 

The Soi Dog Foundation were bigging up their efforts to mark “World Spay Day” on Tuesday.

 

Can’t we have World Kill a Soi Dog Day, please, that’ll work for me and thousands of others threatened by these mangy mutts all over Thailand. 

 

Monks Behaving Badly continued like it was the title of a British sitcom!

 

Hilarious pictures of some of the saffron brigade in Pathum Thani holed up in a collection of “booze tents” were followed by the discovery of seven bogus monks in Rayong begging for money after being revealed eating “gai yang khao niaw” (chicken with sticky rice).

 

Thai reporters went to a filthy beach after a woman found medicine bottles and syringes. What washes up on the shore in Thailand beggars belief.

 

Years ago a teenage boy at my school hanged himself from the back of his bedroom door. 

 

It was a tragic case of pressure from school work. Thai Rath shocked our community by claiming it was because the boy thought he’d caught AIDS from a needle on the beach during an international school trip.

 

Rooster - as trip coordinator - had to write a huge report to debunk that complete nonsense. 

 

A reminder of the utter twaddle sometimes in the news in Thailand.

 

In Pattaya - again - a foreigner barricaded himself in a massage shop’s toilets after what was called a “major public disturbance” of an “erratic and unhinged” man. 

 

Some suggested it was an ASEAN NOW poster having some time off the keyboard.

 

In police news it was announced 36 cops had either been sacked or dismissed since the start of the year. Apparently there’s a difference.

 

The RTP spokesman asked us to believe that this was evidence of PM Prayuth Chan-ocha - as head of the Police Commission - continuing his drive to rid the country of corruption. 

 

Ask any Thai and they will tell you that the first 8 years of “Uncle Too’s” 20 year anti-corruption crusade has been a total, unmitigated failure. 

 

Bent officials are everywhere, not just in the RTP. Schools, hospitals, local and central government officialdom…politicians, of course.

 

And the Thai people continue to connive in it by taking part and not standing up to it en masse. We’re all guilty to some degree.

 

As I mentioned earlier my grown up children arrived after a three year pandemic hiccup. They were impressed by the arrangements for their 1st and 5th day quarantine but there was a lot of stress that the tests might be positive. All was well.

 

Please end all this nonsense, insist that tourists are vaccinated and do ATK tests at the airport - surely that’s enough to help get the tourist industry back on track and stop scaring potential visitors. 

 

Finally the week started with Rooster spluttering his coffee all over the translation keyboard.

 

A woman in Phuket was offering a 10,000 baht reward for the return of her silkie chicken. 

 

Wisely perhaps, my new editor rejected my headline that referred to the lady’s need to be reunited with her prized cock.

 

In a troubled world us wannabe journos need to have our childish fun.

 

Rooster

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-02-26

 

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[Gandtee]

The woman had said "Find my cock and pullet."?????

[BritManToo]

Can't say I care about Russia or the Ukraine.

(or Europe for that matter)

 

Of course NATO and their new globalist world order are seen as a threat to the non-aligned.

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by BritManToo

[Card]

The best case scenario for the effect of the Ukraine war is that Russian tourists won't be able to afford to come to Thailand. Hip...hip.......

[delgarcon]

11 minutes ago, Card said:

The best case scenario for the effect of the Ukraine war is that Russian tourists won't be able to afford to come to Thailand. Hip...hip.......

Tell that to the restaurateurs!

[Enoon]

What is happening in Ukraine bears more resemblance to what happened in Czechoslovakia during 1938 than Poland in 1939.

 

In the case of the Polish invasion it triggered a declaration of war by Britain and France......they were treaty bound to do so.

 

At the moment Putin is being "appeased", as Hitler was in 1938.

 

 

 

 

If Putin stands by his stated ambitions he will next go for the Baltic States.

 

If NATO manages to wriggle out of fighting him there he will go after,  from his allied Byelorussian base, the Czarist Russian Empire possessions in Poland........

 

 

We're not just reading about History now.......witnessing

it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Enoon

[juice777]

I won't be returning to Jomtien anytime soon that's for sure not sure if I could keep my mouth shut if I meet any Russians. All Russians should be banned from getting tourist Visas for any country, That will help decrease his popularity at home. Get ready for WW3 when Ukraine refuges start firing across Natio border at Russian troops in Ukraine.

Edited February 26, 2022 by juice777

[10baht]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Most eyes in Thailand looked west this week as the much anticipated invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia began on Thursday. 

Talk about Blah, blah <deleted> blah!

[Asquith Production]

Well it would not surprise me if China invaded Taiwan while the world is busy with watching Russia..

We we would truly be into a WW3 scenario then

[sanuk711]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Few could pick Ukraine out on a map,

That's easy---its part of Russia.................................

[sanuk711]

Some of the headlines appearing in the western Newspapers------you couldn't write them better as a joke.

 

The TALIBAN call on Russia and Ukraine to 'resolve the crisis through peaceful means.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10551037/The-TALIBAN-call-Russia-Ukraine-resolve-crisis-peaceful-means.html

[KhunLA]

29 minutes ago, juice777 said:

All Russians should be banned from getting tourist Visas for any country, 

Russians are not putin or represent the gov't of.

 

By that logic, US, UK & NATO member citizens should be banned for invading & occuppyng Iraq & Afghan ... ????

Edited February 26, 2022 by KhunLA

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, delgarcon said:

Tell that to the restaurateurs!

Rather hoping that the ones still open have a big sign outside saying 'STRICTLY NO RUSSIANS !!'

[hotchilli]

38 minutes ago, Enoon said:

If Putin stands by his stated ambitions he will next go for the Baltic States.

Putin pines for the USSR... 

[peter zwart]

38 minutes ago, Enoon said:

What is happening in Ukraine bears more resemblance to what happened in Czechoslovakia during 1938 than Poland in 1939.

 

In the case of the Polish invasion it triggered a declaration of war by Britain and France......they were treaty bound to do so.

 

At the moment Putin is being "appeased", as Hitler was in 1938.

 

 

 

 

If Putin stands by his stated ambitions he will next go for the Baltic States.

 

If NATO manages to wriggle out of fighting him there he will go after,  from his allied Byelorussian base, the Czarist Russian Empire possessions in Poland........

 

 

We're not just reading about History now.......witnessing

it.

 

 

 

 

 

What scares me the most is that if Nato steps in there is no way that Poetin can beat that kind of force (unless China starts to back him up which i wont think they will), what will be his last move? Russian roulette with the bullet on the right place or press the button?

[illiterate]

It’s time to move all the eyes away from the Covid blunders 

[juice777]

I know they are not guilty and the 1000s that are protesting at home are heroes.But it's all about decreasing his popularity. And maybe they should have banned us then if that makes you fill better I did protest against the Iraq war but at no point did I expect that to  Escalate to a nuclear war but go on then you can have that if you want.

[juice777]

35 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Russians are not putin or represent the gov't of.

 

By that logic, US, UK & NATO member citizens should be banned for invading & occuppyng Iraq & Afghan ... ????

I know they are not guilty and the 1000s that are protesting at home are heroes.But it's all about decreasing his popularity. And maybe they should have banned us then if that makes you fill better I did protest against the Iraq war but at no point did I expect that to  Escalate to a nuclear war but go on then you can have that if you want.

[Will B Good]

Shame that all the UK has as a leader is a "Pound Shop" Churchill........more worried about upsetting Russian donors to the Tory party than peace in Europe.

 

And as for SWIFT, the US and the EU will not suspend Russia, so he knows he is free to bang on about it to make it look like he gives a fig.

[sambum]

"Health minister Anutin - an ASEAN NOW staple if ever there was one"

 

So that's how he got the job! Not due to his enormous wealth, or his abilities in putting up/not putting up buildings, or his excellence in diplomacy, or public relations with foreigners - no, it's his ability to keep bits of paper together! Pity he never seems to have them in the correct order as each page seems to contradict the previous one! 

[vandeventer]

19 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Rather hoping that the ones still open have a big sign outside saying 'STRICTLY NO RUSSIANS !!'

The world needs to react to Putin and his madness but not by attacking Russians. With a weak and uncaring  President in the WH who still imports oil from Russia instead on opening the drilling rights in the USA so America can supply oil and gas to America and most of the EU is be on me. Chia is very close to us and good friends with Russia, who knows what this partnership will lead to. To me the only thing that will stop Putin now  is the Russian people as they are not the cause of this invasion, it's Putin alone

[shackleton]

Most Thais have properly never  heard of a Country called  the  Ukraine 

Russia Yes lots of Tourists very popular in Phuket buying property and spending ???? ???? 

[Enoon]

1 hour ago, Enoon said:

What is happening in Ukraine bears more resemblance to what happened in Czechoslovakia during 1938 than Poland in 1939.

 

In the case of the Polish invasion it triggered a declaration of war by Britain and France......they were treaty bound to do so.

 

At the moment Putin is being "appeased", as Hitler was in 1938.

 

 

 

 

If Putin stands by his stated ambitions he will next go for the Baltic States.

 

If NATO manages to wriggle out of fighting him there he will go after,  from his allied Byelorussian base, the Czarist Russian Empire possessions in Poland........

 

 

We're not just reading about History now.......witnessing

it.

 

 

 

 

 

 "Czechoslovakia during 1938" should read "Czechoslovakia during 1938 and then 1939."

Edited February 26, 2022 by Enoon

[wwest5829]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Russians are not putin or represent the gov't of.

 

By that logic, US, UK & NATO member citizens should be banned for invading & occuppyng Iraq & Afghan ... ????

I was not aware that the reasoning was the same …. Still, in democratically elected countries (as Putin declares Russia is as he was elected), are the citizens not responsible for their government’s actions taken in the citizens’ name? Yes, I include the US & NATO in responding to the attack on the USA in 2001 …

[Thunglom]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

What Putin is up to after years of rhetoric about NATO expansion will hopefully become clearer in the next days and weeks without too much bloodshed. 

WHAT???

[Enoon]

1 hour ago, peter zwart said:

What scares me the most is that if Nato steps in there is no way that Poetin can beat that kind of force (unless China starts to back him up which i wont think they will), what will be his last move? Russian roulette with the bullet on the right place or press the button?

Unfortunately NATO is sitting back and playing by the rules.....which effectively hobbles them.

 

Nobody is going to do anything to NATO if it chucks away the rule book.

 

It's insane to "play the game" while a mad dog is loose.

 

 

[Thunglom]

There are many Ukrainians in Thailand - and Russians. I notice English speaking expats tend to call any "East European" andRussian regardless of their actual origin.

 

Would you serve Russians in your business?

[wwest5829]

4 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 "Czechoslovakia during 1938" should read "Czechoslovakia during 1938 and then 1939."

Nonetheless, I certainly got the point of Hitler’s justification of unilaterally invading the Czech Sudetenland because many Germans lived there. I also have reflected on both poor intervention decisions, as well as, not taking action against national aggression. Ah, do we not all seek simple answers. I favor recalling Santayana’s admonition, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

[Thunglom]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Russians are not putin or represent the gov't of.

 

By that logic, US, UK & NATO member citizens should be banned for invading & occuppyng Iraq & Afghan ... ????

So are you suggesting that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is justified by the abuses of other countries?

[Thunglom]

8 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 "Czechoslovakia during 1938" should read "Czechoslovakia during 1938 and then 1939."

...and 1968?