The following is straight out of the Bangkok Post.

Unfortunately when someone writes rubbish, the editorial staff say ooh goody some farang saying something good about Thailand. Equally unfortunately they never read this forum, so garbage such as that presented as informative by the eloquent David Martin gets no response.

Some things just make me mad. after his wonderful 2 weeks in LOS, this idiot wrote the following. See end of the diatribe for my thoughts..

Quoting Post November 3, 2003, Letters in Postbag:

Thaksin was equal to tough decisions

I've just spent a fortnight in Thailand, the first week coinciding with Apec, and I wish to congratulate the Bangkok Post on what I consider fair and unbiased coverage.

The letter pages certainly showed the differing opinions of a knowledgeable population, and I also believe Thailand must never again become a puppet kingdom of the United States of America.

Having said that, security is paramount given the terrorist threat posed worldwide by several terrorist groups. Therefore I believe this subject deserved the high profile it was given during Apec.

Before arriving in your country, I had never heard the name of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Personally, I think that, although short in stature, he behaved as a giant of a man throughout Apec.

Of course, he made hard decisions affecting the day to day lives and incomes of the street traders and other less well off Thai taxpayers who suffered disruption of their lives during Apec. But I think Mr Thaksin's superb leadership and the tremendous organisational skills shown by local Apec organisers, gained many admirers and Thailand will reap benefits from the excellent all round effort.

On a more personal note, this was my first visit to Thailand and one I immensely enjoyed, although Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle offered much more excitement than the seediness of Bangkok and Pattaya.

As the international athletics correspondent of The Press Association in Great Britain, I found your sports pages a great read, particularly the high profile drugs coverage currently enveloping athletics.

Your main contributors might be world agencies, but the intelligent manner in which your sports desk produces its pages reflects a high quality operation. Well done, all concerned.

David Martin

England

When was Thailand ever a puppet state of USA? The war they provided airbases and that was it. Does that make LOS a puppet of USA. Bet Mr Taksin would disagree, as would more than a few other long time pollies and social commentators.

Article a total load of rubbish.

Keep it real!