Globally we are entering a very fragile state: is Asia ready?

[Jingthing]

16 minutes ago, Mr Derek said:

How is it misbehaviour to support an oppressed minority of your own people? Normally that stuff is heroic, especially to the west. In judging this war you simply have to understand who the actual victims are.

 

Btw, any discussion of this war which doesn't address the primary issue of the Donbass Russians is irrelevant and uninteresting.

The primary issue is Putin doesn't think Ukraine should exist at all.

Hitler used the same excuse about ethnic Germans to invade Czechoslovakia.

It was BS just like the Donbas excuse is BS.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, kennw said:

If you want a secure future for the world it is essential that any attempt to take a country by force must be stopped. Sitting on the fence for short term gain eg Russian money is a recipe for disaster. Show moral strength Thailand. 

They won't but nice sentiment.

I'm more concerned about the Putin loving coming out of India as they are a major power.

China of course is a lost cause.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've not watched one report.

The answer is to not watch western anti-Russian, anti-Chinese propaganda.

Was it any different when America was invading Arab countries?

Did we all feel the need to boycott America?

Well said indeed. If I didn't go on this forum I'd never even know it was happening. After it's all over it'll be as important to the world as Syria.

Compared to the economic destruction imposed by governments in reaction to covid, IMO it won't have much effect.

 

Where I live the Ukraine war is so unimportant that not a single person I've talked to mentions it.

[peterg40]

Michael, thanks for your excellent, unbiased perspective on the Russian 

invasion ( illegal) of Ukraine.

 I like yourself have similar thoughts and emotions watching the situation 

unfold in realtime from my home 

in Huahin.

As the situation darkens daily in Ukraine and the barbaric atrocities are shown across the media, the western powers do nothing more than condemn, meet, or sanction Putin,s regime, for sure they have 

stepped up with aid including everything from Stinger anti tank missiles to formula baby milk.

Along with the above the Allies have 

opened their doors and their hearts to the refugees.

Then there’s Putin, who in my view ,has been in the driving seat from day one and before when 100 or so days of training exercises got underway along the borders with Ukraine.

As you say the fragility of the situation remains acutely dangerous.

However, Putin presses on regardless.

Until he is prepared to engage in 

meaningful dialogue, leading to some kind of compromise, ceasefire,

or armistice to stop the War, then the western world is entirely at his 

mercy.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, peterg40 said:

Until he is prepared to engage in 

meaningful dialogue, leading to some kind of compromise, ceasefire,

or armistice to stop the War, then the western world is entirely at his 

mercy.

If the west depends entirely on some dictator having a "meaningful" dialogue we really are screwed, IMO.

 

Perhaps we really are so pathetic, but I am descended from people that didn't bother with "meaningful dialogue" when they went out and conquered half the planet. Where are the people in the west with the guts to do that now- all no more than dust?  

[thaibeachlovers]

26 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

They won't but nice sentiment.

I'm more concerned about the Putin loving coming out of India as they are a major power.

China of course is a lost cause.

There are a few million Chinese that disagree with your opinion. IMO to them the west is an oppressor that exploits the poor of Asia to get rich ( the west has been doing that since they introduced opium to the Chinese to get rich ), and IMO they probably like it that the west is looking impotent to do much no matter how many brave words they say.

[BritManToo]

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

There are a few million Chinese that disagree with your opinion. IMO to them the west is an oppressor that exploits the poor of Asia to get rich ( the west has been doing that since they introduced opium to the Chinese to get rich ), and IMO they probably like it that the west is looking impotent to do much no matter how many brave words they say.

I went to China for a holiday a couple of years back.

It was really nice and totally unlike the 'police state' western media would have us believe.

Immigration didn't even look at me, despite being the only white face on the flight.

Nobody followed me or cared what I was doing, the police were really nice and polite (when I got a bit lost). I spent a very nice 2 weeks hiking in the mountains on my own, almost no people around once out of town.

The people seemed happy, if poor like everywhere else in Asia.

[DefaultName]

The trouble is that Putin has no easy way out without losing face, and hence power.  If that happens he's dead and he knows it.

[Stevemercer]

Putin has been in power for too long and wants to leave his legacy. His vision is to regain the former Soviet empire proud and stron. This will be his legacy for which he will be a hero to the Soviet people forever.

 

Hitler, and many conquerers before him, want the same thing for Germany or whatever empire.

 

Putin has gone to far now to negotiate. Those who know him best say he will never stop until he has won his legacy, been outfought/outbluffed or dies. 

 

The trouble with being a leader for life is that there is no change, corruption and nepotism settle in, leadership becomes isolated from the day to day life of people, the cult of personality becomes a mantra and different opinions are suppressed.

 

Maybe Putin doesn't care if he drags Russia and its people down with him. Maybe he really believes he will win. The West will finally see sense, the media eye will turn away, and he can consolidate his gains and rebuild his military for his next conquest.

 

[Anant72]

6 hours ago, Tom H said:

„..few months fragile?…“

Think again! It will be a Decade!

 

Agreed, and I would add we are entering extremely dangerous waters, what with a still raging pandemic, economies in shambles, a war of agression that may last a long time and possibly escalate to new horrific heights and a deteriorating planet that may become unlivable. I pity the upcoming generations. Very dark times await them. I keep hoping I am mistaken.

[gearbox]

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I went to China for a holiday a couple of years back.

It was really nice and totally unlike the 'police state' western media would have us believe.

Immigration didn't even look at me, despite being the only white face on the flight.

Nobody followed me or cared what I was doing, the police were really nice and polite (when I got a bit lost). I spent a very nice 2 weeks hiking in the mountains on my own, almost no people around once out of town.

The people seemed happy, if poor like everywhere else in Asia.

If you read the Australian newspapers China is about to invade Australia any time soon... people should be digging bomb shelters in the backyards.

Today's article informs us that they are also trying to grab the Australia's share of Antarctica, which apparently is 42%. 

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/while-putin-s-hurricane-rages-xi-calculates-20220404-p5aajk.html

[gearbox]

World fragile, is Asia ready? Asia is ready. When I go in the shops or look around the house almost everything is manufactured in Asia. The world needs much more Asia than Asia the world.

[chilli42]

I would be a bit more concerned with the the annihilation of a WWIII and/or a financial Armageddon caused by sanctions than the tourism numbers.

[John Drake]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

However, if crunch came to crunch could the current Thai government afford to upset its NATO allies and the US by continuing to be seen to be supporting Russia?

Outside of the US, does Thailand have a defense treaty with any other country?

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Mr Derek said:

How is it misbehaviour to support an oppressed minority of your own people? Normally that stuff is heroic, especially to the west. In judging this war you simply have to understand who the actual victims are.

 

Btw, any discussion of this war which doesn't address the primary issue of the Donbass Russians is irrelevant and uninteresting.

I suggest you go back further in history, the issue of the Donbass Russians was created by Russia, after they moved them in to replace the Ukrainians who starved to death in the Holomodor of 1931-32.  On Stalin's orders.

Permit me to doubt the minority you speak of are heroic in any way, after shooting down MH17.

[chilly07]

War is all about money! Regime change is about money! Invading a apparently rich neighboring country is about money. International allegiances are about money. Coups and Dictatorships are all about the accumulation of money! Politicians are driven by money. Commerce is driven by excess profits. Greed drives all the worst excesses of the human race! To accumulate wealth an individual must make tens, thousands and millions of fellow humans poor and destitute. Until we learn to love and care for all our neighbors we only encourage greed and wars!

[placeholder]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

 

Me, I don't care, let them kill each other, I couldn't tell a Russian from a Ukrainian and wouldn't talk to either.

Well there's something for Russians and Ukrainians to be grateful for.

[micmichd]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

They won't but nice sentiment.

I'm more concerned about the Putin loving coming out of India as they are a major power.

China of course is a lost cause.

India and China are both Asian countries. So what is your point? 

[juice777]

6 hours ago, starky said:

Now what other influential political figure claims to be a close personal friend of Putin amd thinks he is a genius? It was someone recent. Never mind im sure it will come to me.

Is the Answer Nigel farage????

 

[Jingthing]

32 minutes ago, micmichd said:

India and China are both Asian countries. So what is your point? 

I would like to see more of the world beyond the west unite against Putin. Japan and Australia are western.

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

There are a few million Chinese that disagree with your opinion.

Yes, but they all think as one......

[sscc]

The title was  " Is Asia ready ? "       1.5 months into this war,  one drastic change in Asia had already occurs.   Turn out India had suddenly discovered another dimension in past month and a half and jockeyed self to brighter prospect. 

 

QUAD  which had been heralded by Trump and Biden,  is changing into a TRIO and more replacing foursome.      Such that it will be  3-1/4  or 3-1/2 at best.    

 

Mainstream Western Media of course failed to see this angle and report it,  nor the original writer Michael Bridge of this article. 

 

[sambum]

7 hours ago, NemoH said:

I am not supportive of any side Ukraine or Russia. It was a war that could have been avoided. Politics have always been about "engagement", even with your enemies. Sadly, this was totally discarded by some parties resulting in this war and massive suffering. I will not be trusting too much on any media report and casting any judgments as history has proven that we have been lied to many times by the same parties who seek us to believe in them and many decades later (if we live that long) we will have hindsight to see it all... 

So exactly what "news" should we believe - Russia's version, or the rest of the World's "live" coverage?

 

If your answer is neither, then the implication is that everybody should just sit back and let events take their course and believe nobody?

 

The consequences of that are too horrendous to even think about!

[tomster]

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The COVID restrictions have destroyed the western economy, they desperately need 'bad guys' to point the finger of blame towards, in order to distract the proletariat. Russia or China are equally good in the role of 'bad guys'.

 

Expect several years of hate from the media.

 

 

[sambum]

6 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Personally, I check news from international sources. of course one might claim everyone of them are in cahoots to make Russia look bad. We live in a great time with individual Ukrainian citizens posting their individual witnessing of events from the Russian War on Ukraine. Does not take any real effort to "make Russia look bad", just show what Russia, in fact is doing by invading another sovereign country.

They are making themselves, or rather, making Putin look bad.

 

Another poster likened Putin to Hitler, and the events in Ukraine only serve to confirm that.

 

I saw a News clip yesterday of an unarmed man with his arms raised in surrender being shot by Russian soldiers - remarkably similar to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany by Hitler and his SS.

 

This man needs to be stopped before he starts WW3. 

[sawadee1947]

7 hours ago, vandeventer said:

used to lying to it's own people,

Well, at least 3 billion people will believe Putin's View on History. China, Russia and India.

So, we Western contries with our View on Life, freedom and rights are apparently not the majority.????

[geisha]

Yes, Thailand will suffer. The whole world will feel the knock on effect from this cruel war.  People still vote with their feet when considering a holiday. As Thailand has seen during two years of Covid, tourists go elsewhere. European holidays are the first choice now, along with the Americas, Mexico, Caribbean etc. Hotels in EU are choc a block with reservations for this year. Covid is not over. Same with the Russian invasion of a sovereign country. Do you really think westerners agree with Russia ?
we have television reporters from all over the world in Ukraine filming the attacks on civilians, hospitals, schools. The west will “ suffer” from lack of gas and oil, flight prices will rise, tourists will choose closer to home for their dose of sunshine. Retail prices are going sky high because of oil prices, so people have less money for extras. This was already happening in Thailand, and will continue.  The situation will worsen over the year to come, and also more so if this despot Putin doesn’t pull out of Ukraine.  The Thai government have shown how incapable they are to run the country during a crisis, the only place they will run the country now is into the ground.

[vandeventer]

9 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Well, at least 3 billion people will believe Putin's View on History. China, Russia and India.

So, we Western contries with our View on Life, freedom and rights are apparently not the majority.????

Not so right this time. India is a democrat and republic state since 1947 and the worlds population is 7,953,952,577 

[geisha]

12 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Well, at least 3 billion people will believe Putin's View on History. China, Russia and India.

So, we Western contries with our View on Life, freedom and rights are apparently not the majority.????

Of course the countries you mention May believe in Putin. They  do not benefit from freedom as we do. They are locked in the dark with their leaders.  The wider world knows better. 

[friendofthai]

We will see a lot of efforts to involve neutral countries into the Ukrainian conflict. Will the West benefit from this? Yes, it will. But what about ordinary expats? I am sure they would prefer to enjoy peace and silence of a neutral country.