2.5 Hours And Not A Word About Chiang Mai Consulate?

[elektrified]

[kaptainrob]

So long as they don't nuke The Dukes ...

[Genericnic]

Not much to say about it really. Pretty much anyone in the world that follows the news knows that any U.S. entity - consulate, military base, etc., - is a possible target for al-Quaeda or its related organizations. Would the Chiang Mai consulate be a good target for them? Sure. Terrorists usually pick soft or softer targets. Seldom do they take on places that are significantly armed or secured. Would the government (Thai or U.S.) be discussing whatever security steps they have taken/are taking? One would hope not. As they said in WW II - "loose lips sink ships."

David

[Puwa]

Been following the Thai press since about 2.15. Seems like the special police and national security apparatus are saying that there was a specific threat to the US consulate in Chiangmai. They're announcing that they are tracking a number of persons from North African countries, connected to the Salafists and Al-Qaeda, who were planning to meet up and attack the consulate. Some names have been released. It's not clear if arrests have been made. The governor of Chiang Mai has been trying to play it down, at first saying that it was just a normal increase in security, but then other government sources confirmed that there was/is a plot.

[elektrified]

Been following the Thai press since about 2.15. Seems like the special police and national security apparatus are saying that there was a specific threat to the US consulate in Chiangmai. They're announcing that they are tracking a number of persons from North African countries, connected to the Salafists and Al-Qaeda, who were planning to meet up and attack the consulate. Some names have been released. It's not clear if arrests have been made. The governor of Chiang Mai has been trying to play it down, at first saying that it was just a normal increase in security, but then other government sources confirmed that there was/is a plot.

Thanks for the update.

[Loaded]

I'm not convinced at all.

[hellodolly]

I'm not convinced at all.

Nither am I.

However I can see it happening.

A friend of mine would go for a walk every day and stop at the Mosque they were building in the Night Bazaar area. A lot of the workers were Muslim. I asked him if in one ever bothered him he said no a few were friendly but there was a couple who made it clear he was not welcome there.

[uptheos]

I'm not convinced at all.

Nither am I.

However I can see it happening.

A friend of mine would go for a walk every day and stop at the Mosque they were building in the Night Bazaar area. A lot of the workers were Muslim. I asked him if in one ever bothered him he said no a few were friendly but there was a couple who made it clear he was not welcome there.

Al Queda has absolutely nothing to do with your every day Muslim. They would just as likely blow it up as the rest of the place. The Night Bazaar and Walking street are soft targets and a suicide bomber could do more damage than warrants thinking about!

[hellodolly]

I'm not convinced at all.

Nither am I.

However I can see it happening.

A friend of mine would go for a walk every day and stop at the Mosque they were building in the Night Bazaar area. A lot of the workers were Muslim. I asked him if in one ever bothered him he said no a few were friendly but there was a couple who made it clear he was not welcome there.

Al Queda has absolutely nothing to do with your every day Muslim. They would just as likely blow it up as the rest of the place. The Night Bazaar and Walking street are soft targets and a suicide bomber could do more damage than warrants thinking about!

Last time I checked they were Muslims not Catholics.

[uptheos]

I'm not convinced at all.

Nither am I.

However I can see it happening.

A friend of mine would go for a walk every day and stop at the Mosque they were building in the Night Bazaar area. A lot of the workers were Muslim. I asked him if in one ever bothered him he said no a few were friendly but there was a couple who made it clear he was not welcome there.

Al Queda has absolutely nothing to do with your every day Muslim. They would just as likely blow it up as the rest of the place. The Night Bazaar and Walking street are soft targets and a suicide bomber could do more damage than warrants thinking about!

Last time I checked they were Muslims not Catholics.

I won't clarify, it's obviously gone over your head.

[LomSak27]

So does this mean I will be strip searched when I go in for my passport renewal? I love the timeing

[SteeleJoe]

I'm not convinced at all.

Nither am I.

However I can see it happening.

A friend of mine would go for a walk every day and stop at the Mosque they were building in the Night Bazaar area. A lot of the workers were Muslim. I asked him if in one ever bothered him he said no a few were friendly but there was a couple who made it clear he was not welcome there.

Walking by the Mosque construction.

Potential Islamist terrorism.

ZERO connection.

(And why would "one" bother him?)

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[junglechef]

seems like a lot of air traffic yesterday, military helicopters and planes in the San Sai area and when I drove thru Area 41 there were lots of helicopters getting ready to take off, more than I've ever seen before. Thought might just be an exercise but now that I read this news perhaps related.

[LemanRus]

seems like a lot of air traffic yesterday, military helicopters and planes in the San Sai area and when I drove thru Area 41 there were lots of helicopters getting ready to take off, more than I've ever seen before. Thought might just be an exercise but now that I read this news perhaps related.

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND – A large-scale military training exercise began Monday in northern Thailand involving 13,000 personnel from the United States and six Asian countries — Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the host nation.

Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said at an opening ceremony held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai that the annual exercise is a demonstration of the commitment of the participating countries to pursuing peace and stability in the region.......

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/12/national/asia-pacific-military-exercise-kicks-off-in-northern-thailand/#.URr6DPK5O3k

[Microwave]

There's a mosque and muslim school near Kaew Nawarat Soi 3, behind the Duangkomon Hotel. The people in the area have been nothing but extremely friendly to me when I walk by. These peaceful people accurately represent the vast majority of people of all faiths.

[SteeleJoe]

There's a mosque and muslim school near Kaew Nawarat Soi 3, behind the Duangkomon Hotel. The people in the area have been nothing but extremely friendly to me when I walk by. These peaceful people accurately represent the vast majority of people of all faiths.

I live adjacent to a Muslim community of many thousands. My home is between two mosques and across from a large Islamic college. Virtually every day I pass a mosque and every day I interact pleasantly with Muslims known to me and not.

I know a fair bit about Islamist extremism having studied for a very long time and I am by no means one of those PC cultural relativists who refuses to acknowledge evil where it is but to suggest that people constructing a mosque would be gratuitously hostile or dangerous or somehow linked to a terrorist attack is ludicrous - as is the idea that one's friend walking by a mosque under construction gives any insight into the likelihood of a terrorist attack.

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[hellodolly]

There's a mosque and muslim school near Kaew Nawarat Soi 3, behind the Duangkomon Hotel. The people in the area have been nothing but extremely friendly to me when I walk by. These peaceful people accurately represent the vast majority of people of all faiths.

Exactly

The key words are vast majority . People on this forum are so willing to turn that into all. Why they are not willing to face the fact that it could happen here in Chiang Mai is beyond me. As I said in an earlier post A friend of mine would stop at a Mosque they were building here in Chiang Mai and there were a couple of people who made him feel unwelcome. There were as you say most of them were friendly.

The point is it only takes one person to be a suicide bomber and kill innocent people and you can watch them do it shrug your shoulders and say most of them are friendly.

Edited February 13, 2013 by hellodolly

[daoyai]

There's a mosque and muslim school near Kaew Nawarat Soi 3, behind the Duangkomon Hotel. The people in the area have been nothing but extremely friendly to me when I walk by. These peaceful people accurately represent the vast majority of people of all faiths.

Exactly

The key words are vast majority . People on this forum are so willing to turn that into all. Why they are not willing to face the fact that it could happen here in Chiang Mai is beyond me. As I said in an earlier post A friend of mine would stop at a Mosque they were building here in Chiang Mai and there were a couple of people who made him feel unwelcome. There were as you say most of them were friendly.

The point is it only takes one person to be a suicide bomber and kill innocent people and you can watch them do it shrug your shoulders and say most of them are friendly.

and it only takes one random visitor to an active construction site to ....... maybe the unwelcoming ones were in charge of security?

[LawrenceChee]

The folks are all staying at the Meriden spotted the Singapore and Japanese uniforms officers there when I went there for a buffet

[harrry]

There's a mosque and muslim school near Kaew Nawarat Soi 3, behind the Duangkomon Hotel. The people in the area have been nothing but extremely friendly to me when I walk by. These peaceful people accurately represent the vast majority of people of all faiths.

Exactly

The key words are vast majority . People on this forum are so willing to turn that into all. Why they are not willing to face the fact that it could happen here in Chiang Mai is beyond me. As I said in an earlier post A friend of mine would stop at a Mosque they were building here in Chiang Mai and there were a couple of people who made him feel unwelcome. There were as you say most of them were friendly.

The point is it only takes one person to be a suicide bomber and kill innocent people and you can watch them do it shrug your shoulders and say most of them are friendly.

and it only takes one random visitor to an active construction site to ....... maybe the unwelcoming ones were in charge of security?

or the foremen in charge of the concrete pour which was being held up by the workers being to polite to tell the foreigner time wasting that they were too busy to talk.

Edited February 13, 2013 by harrry

[SteeleJoe]

There's a mosque and muslim school near Kaew Nawarat Soi 3, behind the Duangkomon Hotel. The people in the area have been nothing but extremely friendly to me when I walk by. These peaceful people accurately represent the vast majority of people of all faiths.

Exactly

The key words are vast majority . People on this forum are so willing to turn that into all. Why they are not willing to face the fact that it could happen here in Chiang Mai is beyond me. As I said in an earlier post A friend of mine would stop at a Mosque they were building here in Chiang Mai and there were a couple of people who made him feel unwelcome. There were as you say most of them were friendly.

The point is it only takes one person to be a suicide bomber and kill innocent people and you can watch them do it shrug your shoulders and say most of them are friendly.

I apologize. I missed the word "stop". That makes it a tiny bit less ludicrous to me. People making an interloper feel unwelcome at a place they felt was very special to them is a LONG stretch from being an indication of being potential suicide bombers. So long a stretch that it doesn't even merit consideration.

Not sure who has stated or in any way implied it couldn't happen in Chiang Mai. Certainly not I. Given that Islamist terrorism has killed more Muslims than anyone else, why couldn't it happen anywhere there was a soft target?

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[kalbo123]

http://ourchiangmai.com/2013/02/13/nimmanhaemin-terror-threat/?utm_source=subscribe2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=postnotify

Also Nimanhaemin terror!

[meadish_sweetball]

The discussion is completely absurd.

Is there a risk of a US diplomatic posting being targeted by terrorists? Yes.

Is there a high likelihood of specifically Al Queda operatives wanting to attack a US diplomatic posting because of the US policy on the drug trade in the region as stated in the news report? No.

Does hellodolly's anecdote say anything at all about the matter? No.

Thank you.

[ARISTIDE]

The Mosque near Night bazaar are the Chinese Muslim originally from Yunan province. They've been here in Chiang Mai since for mid 19th century. They were the inventor of Khaw Soi, city's signature dish! I think they are none violent type? But if they didn't like your friend may be because they had a bad day

I'm not convinced at all.

Nither am I.

However I can see it happening.

A friend of mine would go for a walk every day and stop at the Mosque they were building in the Night Bazaar area. A lot of the workers were Muslim. I asked him if in one ever bothered him he said no a few were friendly but there was a couple who made it clear he was not welcome there.

[Loaded]

It was an alcoholic mafia godfather police captain who fathers police killers who is the only source of this so far... allegedly.

[Loaded]

The Mosque near Night bazaar are the Chinese Muslim originally from Yunan province. They've been here in Chiang Mai since for mid 19th century.

AKA as Jin Haw

[orang37]

The discussion is completely absurd.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Meadish_Sweetball,

But, isn't absurdity posing as profundity ... or the reverse ... what brings us to this masqued-ball, where everyone hears a different music, but no one stops dancing ?

"The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true." Niels Bohr (Nobel Prize for Physics, 1922, at age thirty-seven)

~o:37;

Edited February 13, 2013 by orang37

[kaptainrob]

Makro are taking this threat seriously and have stepped up security .... security staff now wave a metal detector over TG's hand bag upon entry

I was in Bali after the 2001 bombing which boosted security personnel hiring exponentially. Terror threats are good for local employment, not much else.

[hellodolly]

Makro are taking this threat seriously and have stepped up security .... security staff now wave a metal detector over TG's hand bag upon entry

I was in Bali after the 2001 bombing which boosted security personnel hiring exponentially. Terror threats are good for local employment, not much else.

Not to worry rob they are a long ways from Dukes.

[Rasseru]

Interesting dilemma. However much one might be pleased at the prospect of the destruction of outlying symbols of the American empire, one finds oneself concerned by the prospect of collateral damage hurting innocents.