Thailand: Terror In The Red-Light District

[OzMick]

In London today 12,000 Muslims are gathering for prayers of peace and to condem terrorism. Unfortunately in other parts of London there are groups who are declaring 'sharia controlled' zones and enforcing their laws like no alchohol, no gambling, even no music!, with bands of basically young upstanding good Muslim thugs. It's the religion teaching this madness and disrespect for the country and any people's who don't subscribe to their beliefs.

My Muslim friends are basically the same as any westerner, drink, party and don't take religious things too seriously; maybe believe in a god but don't listen to dogma and call themselves Muslim because that's the religion of their birth; prity much the same as most people in uk. But it's the ones that really get in to the religion and believe word for word that come to make problems; both Christian and Muslim; however Muslim extremism is by far more dangerous and intolerant.

So basically moderates are good people despite of their Religion where as extremists can b bad to various degrees because of their religion .

I wouldn't b classed under any religion but disregarding the waffle in holy books and just focusing on the main mans- it's clear one is a war mongering pedophile , while the other was a prity peaceful dude. Like the difference between Gandhi and Osama bin Larden

Not pc To say it but it's all there in black and White and accepted; just different terminology used to glorify indecency

I was born into the christian faith, but chose to abandon it at a pretty early age. Your muslim friends do not have the same privilege - abandoning their faith is a quite risky measure.

Malaysia is a great example of this. Lina Joy has tried for years to change her religion - a really interesting story if you google. The only case, so far as I have heard of, where a person was given the right to abandon the muslim faith, occurred 2 years after her death. Generous to a fault. I must ask a muslim scholar if that means she will be kicked out of paradise.

Expansionism is one of the muslim tenets, achieved by low level border wars, slow motion invasion, and over-breeding the indigenous population. it is likely our grandchildren may not have the freedoms we now enjoy.

[iono]

That must have been interesting. What kind of work did a US soldier do in Southern Thailand 20 years ago. I thought they all left Thailand in 1975.

Joint training has been going on for years of course cobra gold being the most advertised...

[CNXBKKMAN]

"jihadis consider soldiers, cops, Buddhist monks, government teachers and their Muslim collaborators as fair game."

Lets not forget the dirt poor farmers, rubber tapers who get beheaded and there throats cut while out working. Many of them elderly.

[iono]

please learn your history before you make stupid comments (this goes for all of you). the issues in the far south have nothing to do with jihad, or extremists wanting to bomb westerners. in fact it has little to do with religion at all.

Sure it may seem that religion has nothing to do with the issue, but let me ask you, how do you bring a group of people together to fight for a cause, oh let's say land and governing themselves or perhaps separatism is the issue...hmmm the population is predominately Muslim, hmmm maybe we can use religion as a binding force, then the really bad guys get a sniff of this and enter stage left to show them how to gain their independence the proper way (praise be to allah) of course using religion as a righteous cause for their independence...how far off am I?

[Dag]

Sounds like Abdul is getting all excited....

[MaiChai]

In London today 12,000 Muslims are gathering for prayers of peace and to condem terrorism. Unfortunately in other parts of London there are groups who are declaring 'sharia controlled' zones and enforcing their laws like no alchohol, no gambling, even no music!, with bands of basically young upstanding good Muslim thugs. It's the religion teaching this madness and disrespect for the country and any people's who don't subscribe to their beliefs.

My Muslim friends are basically the same as any westerner, drink, party and don't take religious things too seriously; maybe believe in a god but don't listen to dogma and call themselves Muslim because that's the religion of their birth; prity much the same as most people in uk. But it's the ones that really get in to the religion and believe word for word that come to make problems; both Christian and Muslim; however Muslim extremism is by far more dangerous and intolerant.

So basically moderates are good people despite of their Religion where as extremists can b bad to various degrees because of their religion .

I wouldn't b classed under any religion but disregarding the waffle in holy books and just focusing on the main mans- it's clear one is a war mongering pedophile , while the other was a prity peaceful dude. Like the difference between Gandhi and Osama bin Larden

Not pc To say it but it's all there in black and White and accepted; just different terminology used to glorify indecency

I just read the original article, and though it made a change to read a balanced article, rather the normal Thai propoganda.

Quite agree with your post above. Just had a conversation with a young Pakastani girl from downstairs (I am in the UK). She sounds really brainwashed with her religion and very intolerant about others religions. I tried to steer her away to talk about other things, but she kept coming back to her religion. This kind of indoctrination is very dangerous. How can you persuade her that you are perfectly happy for her to practice her religion, but its not for you? I also have Muslim friends from Malaysia who are lovely people, easy going, but also religious. They are much more worldly and tolerant of others. How does the world deal with this extremism?

[spoon1967]

The crusades will return but to the streets of UK and Thailand........very sad.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts deleted and a few comments edited out.

Please stay on the topic and refrain from unnecessarily negative comments about any group of people.

[alstaxi]

Muslims are our friends, they are all peace loving wonderful people, it is only a couple that do all the damage.

Edited September 24, 2011 by alstaxi

[slipperx]

Muslims are our friends, they are all peace loving wonderful people, it is only a couple that do all the damage.

The sad thing is that many people will not understand that this is true. They are neither friends nor nor enemies actually. Most are just ordinary folks brainwashed by the nearest religion and so ill educated to tell the difference. Then there are the truly stupid ones who are what we call extremists who want to kill and maim and destroy peoples lives and dreams because the people teaching them have no dreams except power. It is manipulation of the stupid. You cannot blame a specific religion for that - every religion has had its turn and now it is the muslims. People are people - we come into this world ignorant and learn from the people around us, for they are who make us who we are. Good and bad everywhere. A few bad Muslims who want to destroy the twin towers or bomb the buses in the UK does not mean every Muslim is bad - any more than one bad monk makes every Buddhist bad or any one crusader makes a Christian bad. Jeez it is not the religion, it is the people who want to use whatever religion to justify their cause who are bad - John Lennon had it right - I am just beginning to realise.

We are all human - all people - yet we are shepherded by governments, civil servants, religious cranks and the like - why are we so gullible to these disgusting manipulators? We are all stupid. Probably me the most!

[bristolgeoff]

i bet some of their best customers were from the muslim side as well.they are the ones who are causing the terror

[sfbandung]

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Please name me a tolerant religion

For one, I was raised by intolerant Catholics.

Take the Serbs and the Croatians, which ones are the Orthodox and which ones are the Catholics again?

Anyway, they killed each other and the Muslims who were in their way too.

As Christopher Hitchens said it so well: "Religion poisons everything"

I too come from a Cathlic background and it isn't far behind Islam in the "intolerance stakes", certainly from a historical perpsective. But the RC church has sort of come of age and no longer openly advocates violence towards "non believers". Islam does. And sorry, but I absolutely refuse to draw a line between radical and moderate Islam. The fanatic Muslims are the responsibility of the moderate Muslims and Islam in general has not taken any decisive steps to disown the murderous elements in their ranks. Far from it, they are revered.

Perhaps I'll get shouted down, but Buddhism is probably as close as you get to a tolerant religion. If indeed you regard it as a religion, which many people don't.

Couldn't agree more with the Hitchens quote.

[vpi78]

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Please name me a tolerant religion

For one, I was raised by intolerant Catholics.

Take the Serbs and the Croatians, which ones are the Orthodox and which ones are the Catholics again?

Anyway, they killed each other and the Muslims who were in their way too.

As Christopher Hitchens said it so well: "Religion poisons everything"

Throughout history good people do good things and bad people do bad things, but for good people to do bad things religion is often involved.

[Traxster]

One thing that amused me was............

The Americans sneak into Pakistan and kill Usama Bin Laden

and what happens next ?

Some Muslim people called Al Qaeda then proceed into Pakistan and start blowing up, bombing and killing other Muslims !!!!

WTH is that all about ??.

Edited September 25, 2011 by metisdead
Odd font returned to defautl forum font. Please default forum font when posting.

[Steely Dan]

In London today 12,000 Muslims are gathering for prayers of peace and to condem terrorism. Unfortunately in other parts of London there are groups who are declaring 'sharia controlled' zones and enforcing their laws like no alchohol, no gambling, even no music!, with bands of basically young upstanding good Muslim thugs. It's the religion teaching this madness and disrespect for the country and any people's who don't subscribe to their beliefs.

My Muslim friends are basically the same as any westerner, drink, party and don't take religious things too seriously; maybe believe in a god but don't listen to dogma and call themselves Muslim because that's the religion of their birth; prity much the same as most people in uk. But it's the ones that really get in to the religion and believe word for word that come to make problems; both Christian and Muslim; however Muslim extremism is by far more dangerous and intolerant.

So basically moderates are good people despite of their Religion where as extremists can b bad to various degrees because of their religion .

I wouldn't b classed under any religion but disregarding the waffle in holy books and just focusing on the main mans- it's clear one is a war mongering pedophile , while the other was a prity peaceful dude. Like the difference between Gandhi and Osama bin Larden

Not pc To say it but it's all there in black and White and accepted; just different terminology used to glorify indecency

Good post. Yes of course many Muslims are good people, I also applaud the demonstration by moderate Muslims against the extremists, this seems to have been all too rare and I often wondered why. Perhaps people don't like being told what to do, but I really suspect the dynamic may be similar to protesting against the Italian mafia or Mexican drug cartels who will use violence and intimidation to silence dissent.

There is another problem though, a cone of political correct silence seems to have stifled all debate about Islam, which is frankly playing into the hands of the extremists. The fact that death is prescribed for apostasy groups Islam with cults and the scripture itself has a very large proportion devoted to how to deal with outsiders making it akin to a political movement and here lies the danger.

I have no idea how many people subscribe to radical Islam, but I'm convinced it is vitally important to find out. Recently I read a scientific paper which stated that once 10% of a population have an unshakable belief in something it is only a matter of time before this is adopted by the population as a whole, so a Country with 10% convinced radicals is going down the road Pakistan and Egypt appear to be. Steps have to be taken in my view to ensure this 10% threshold is never reached in our own Countries or a nightmare future will ensue. This threat is in my opinion as great as the threat of Nazism in the 1930's and lets face it not all Germans were bad, but the dynamic of fear and evil ideology got a foothold there.

[Ulysses G.]

One thing that amused me was............

The Americans sneak into Pakistan and kill Usama Bin Laden

and what happens next ?

Some Muslim people called Al Qaeda then proceed into Pakistan and start blowing up, bombing and killing other Muslims !!!!

WTH is that all about ??.

Muslims killing Muslims has been happening long before the US brought Bin Ladin to justice.

[montrii]

No news here.

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Absolutely correct.

Whoever bothered to read Al Koran in Spanish (the English translations miss lots of nuances and as of late suffer from an acute case of PC) that has thousands of vocables in Arabic, will find that in the first 10 pages that it is exactly what it mandates: "If the infidel cannot be persuaded to believe in the only true God, Allah and his prophet Mohamed, he should be eliminated."

Yet, Bush and Obama have both stated that Islam is a religion of peace.

The messenger of God Mohamed lead over 40 raids and wars that expanded Islam while he found time to marry Aisha, his second wife, when she was 6. Marriage was consummated when she turned 9.

If I wanted to, I am sure I can cherry pick similarly outdated paragraphs from the bible or whatever religious text you happen to want to bash. But this thread is not about the merits of Islam and specifically, I am sure bashing Islam or Muslims (or any religion) is NOT ALLOWED. You need to get out and meet more Muslims, many of whom are as moderate as your garden variety Christian.

I am not a Muslim but I do find your post above about as hateful as any terrorist can muster. Shame.

Sorry to burst your bubble, friend, but you have obviously not read the Koran. The statement you are responding to is correct, and I don't see anything hateful in it. It's basically just fact. There are passages in the Koran that call for peace, yes, but I think the "cherry-picking" would be more to say those represent Islam. There are many references to "Allah the merciful," but no examples of mercy that I've seen except towards believers. Unbelievers are, in the Koran, nonentities, not worthy of respect. There isn't much about compassion or tolerance in the Koran. Start reading it, I think you'll see.

There certainly are moderate Muslims, but in the current climate, even they have to pretend to sympathize with the militants.

And to say that the above statement is as hateful as the attitudes of the terrorists is extremely misguided. Terrorists call for murder. Pisico simply stated an opinion, and pretty much fact-based, at that.

Edited September 25, 2011 by montrii

[Scott]

One off-topic post has been removed.

[carvets]

Ive always been curious about the so called moderates . If i was in a position of authority in a large group of people and some of those people were misbehaving , it would occur to me that its mine and the other leaders responsibility to not just condemn the actions of the people in my group but to actually do something to stop it, given that we know them better than anyone. And to not leave the responsibility up to those who are being affected by this wayward group .But i dont see this from the the people in such positions in the muslim world. I hear a little condemnation, but not much action.

I know a lovely muslim couple in my town,...my girlfriend and i used to trade with them and they sold their wares at the local market. Everyone liked them. But when the incident with Salman Rushdie occured and a fatwa was issue by the Ayotollah , they were asked by a local reporter what they would do if they came across him. They replied they would have to abide by the terms of the fatwa,....basically turning your lovely moderate muslim couple into assasins . This scared a lot of people in my small town.

[DanielToddGilbert]

Unfortunately in other parts of London there are groups who are declaring 'sharia controlled' zones and enforcing their laws like no alchohol, no gambling, even no music!,

Isn't that a face you would just love to slap!

[osiboy]

No news here.

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

biggest hypocrites too , thousands of them come to thailand for sex especially those that are gay , as it can mean the death penalty in some muslim countries , and yet so many of them are turd burglars, .........and who is their target in the south ?? other muslims seeking more sexual freedom freedom , .....woth dying or killing for ??? me thinks not , i wish they would stay in their own countries and kill only each other rather than trying to impose their intollerent culture on others

[osiboy]

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Please name me a tolerant religion

For one, I was raised by intolerant Catholics.

Take the Serbs and the Croatians, which ones are the Orthodox and which ones are the Catholics again?

Anyway, they killed each other and the Muslims who were in their way too.

As Christopher Hitchens said it so well: "Religion poisons everything"

i maybe being presuptious here, but i would bet the majority of "islam bashers"are not practicing christians or of any other relegion, ...and thats the difference, westerners now live as they see it by " morally good standards'' in life , we think its fine , we dont get out our mats and pray to alah 5 times a day and thats the difference,.... we are not religious fanatics so can be critical about the "freaks" that are , its the cause of too many wars , we would all be better off without any religions. BAN THEM ALL !, especially the fanatics that pray 5 times a day , .....hasn't helped them has it ???

Edited September 25, 2011 by osiboy

[lannarebirth]

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Please name me a tolerant religion

For one, I was raised by intolerant Catholics.

Take the Serbs and the Croatians, which ones are the Orthodox and which ones are the Catholics again?

Anyway, they killed each other and the Muslims who were in their way too.

As Christopher Hitchens said it so well: "Religion poisons everything"

i maybe being presuptious here, but i would bet the majority of "islam bashers"are not practicing christians or of any other relegion, ...and thats the difference, westerners now live as they see it by " morally good standards'' in life , we think its fine , we dont get out our mats and pray to alah 5 times a day and thats the difference,.... we are not religious fanatics so can be critical about the "freaks" that are , its the cause of too many wars , we would all be better off without any religions. BAN THEM ALL !, especially the fanatics that pray 5 times a day , .....hasn't helped them has it ???

It's not the "cause" of the wars. It's the "justification" for the wars.

[osiboy]

Unfortunately in other parts of London there are groups who are declaring 'sharia controlled' zones and enforcing their laws like no alchohol, no gambling, even no music!,

Isn't that a face you would just love to slap!

ugly , muslim and ginger,......some guys have all the luck !

[osiboy]

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Please name me a tolerant religion

For one, I was raised by intolerant Catholics.

Take the Serbs and the Croatians, which ones are the Orthodox and which ones are the Catholics again?

Anyway, they killed each other and the Muslims who were in their way too.

As Christopher Hitchens said it so well: "Religion poisons everything"

i maybe being presuptious here, but i would bet the majority of "islam bashers"are not practicing christians or of any other relegion, ...and thats the difference, westerners now live as they see it by " morally good standards'' in life , we think its fine , we dont get out our mats and pray to alah 5 times a day and thats the difference,.... we are not religious fanatics so can be critical about the "freaks" that are , its the cause of too many wars , we would all be better off without any religions. BAN THEM ALL !, especially the fanatics that pray 5 times a day , .....hasn't helped them has it ???

It's not the "cause" of the wars. It's the "justification" for the wars.

both being "reasons " to ban religion, if only in the west it would mean more peace

[osiboy]

Islam is the most intolerant religion on the planet. Far from sanctioning or condoning murder in the name of Allah, it embraces it.

Please name me a tolerant religion

For one, I was raised by intolerant Catholics.

Take the Serbs and the Croatians, which ones are the Orthodox and which ones are the Catholics again?

Anyway, they killed each other and the Muslims who were in their way too.

As Christopher Hitchens said it so well: "Religion poisons everything"

i would say the christian country of the U.K is a pretty tolerent , muslims are allowed to build mosques on any street corner and have their own schools that teach the kids to hate westerners or non-believers,.......... cant see that happenin in any muslim country , or perhaps you do ??

Edited September 25, 2011 by osiboy

[roamer]

Just thank buddha that the jihadists have decided not to take matters further up north. After all, I believe it is consistent with their extremist jihadist beilefs to bomb westerners and better still if they are in red-light areas say in Pattaya, Phuket or Silom. Their counterparts in Indonesia may come along and share their experiences re:Bali and Jakarta Marriot. I wonder how effective the Thai anti-terrorism mechanism or are we all just waiting like sitting ducks for the jihadist to make their move in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya?????

please learn your history before you make stupid comments (this goes for all of you). the issues in the far south have nothing to do with jihad, or extremists wanting to bomb westerners. in fact it has little to do with religion at all.

Well, I was making a general comment,but, please free to tell me and others what is the basis of the problem down south? I am not being sarcastic, tell me and others the way you see it.

I think I know my history. I also know that the troubles in the deep South have been variously attributed to the long running separatist movements, drug trafficking, repression/disrespect of the Muslim inhabitants, the list is endless.

I also know that only an idiot would fail to recognise that Islamic extremists will move in to exploit such a situation.

I think you will find that the possibility of attacks moving beyond the South has been speculated on by others and not just by fools like us on TV.

History is just that, history. If history was all that mattered then we could ask librarians about future events .

[emilyb]

Just thank buddha that the jihadists have decided not to take matters further up north. After all, I believe it is consistent with their extremist jihadist beilefs to bomb westerners and better still if they are in red-light areas say in Pattaya, Phuket or Silom. Their counterparts in Indonesia may come along and share their experiences re:Bali and Jakarta Marriot. I wonder how effective the Thai anti-terrorism mechanism or are we all just waiting like sitting ducks for the jihadist to make their move in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya?????

many people, myself included, that it has not already happened in Bangkoks hotspots.....such easy targets....one day no doubt, but many have been saying one day soon for years now.

It's true. And they've all been stupid and wrong for years now, because they want this to be about themselves and their world instead of what it's actually about - which has nothing to do with them.

[rametindallas]

Bet the mid east terrorists don't hit any of the Arab watering holes and pickup joints around Sukhumvit Soi 3. That is THEIR (and their funders) R&R retreat area.

Most extremist violence around the World is against other Muslims; possibly for not adhering closely enough to the Holy Koran or for being too Western or associated with the West. Certainly 99% of Muslims are moderate and want peace as much as anyone but if you read transcripts of some preachers in Indonesia and elsewhere, you will fear the extremist elements of Islam. There have been times in history where Christians terrorised people but we are in the present now and the threat is coming from extremist Muslims. This too shall pass.