Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear.

slow day

Thats what happens when people in power insist there is a threat and make its people fear in order to spend more govt money and make more money for the companies they are on the board of or have secret deals with for hefty kick- backs.Also a good way to control people and invade their privacy by using that same fear.and they call it 'land of the free' more like land of 'be affraid, be very affraid'

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

Do you mean Americas policy of making friends around the world? Is this the way you get rewarded? Maybe it's time to review your foreign policies.

Id say many Thais live in fear due to their "system" afraid to speak out for fear of death.

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

And some have no money left in the kitty to pay for protection

I wondered the same thing and posted a similar comment on the Chiang Mai forum a while ago. Unfortunately, when you are (or were) the number one economy in the world there are a LOT of whackos who want to take potshots at you for reasons only their twisted minds can explain. Radical Islamics who hate the US are not just located in Muslim countries. They are everywhere. Because the USA has had more money to throw around than other countries they like to show off with their large, imposing consulates. By contrast, the Canadian consulate is a small building way out on the Ring road somewhere and has one female attendent who may or may not be in attendence on any given week day. I drove right past it 3 times before finding it.

So what is your point? Was it the Brits that had the embassy taken hostage in Iran? Was it the British embassy burned in Tripoli in 1979? Was it a British embassy bombed and 63 killed in Beirut in 1983? Or Lima Peru in 1990? Or Greece or Syria or Yemen or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, August 7, 1998: The bombings of these two embassies brought the name up the name "Osama Bin Laden" to for the first time. The bombings resulted in over 4,000 people injured and 223 dead.

Throughout the years U.S. embassies all over the world have been targets of protests and violence by terrorist groups and discontented citizens trying to make a point, or just generally cause chaos and mayhem.

http://www.ibtimes.com/us-embassy-attacks-and-bombings-recent-history-782665

There should be a song, "Just another Yank bashing thread......."

Not sure who the op is referring to as being fearful, please enlighten me/us. Is it the armed guards (not US military personnal), the State Department personal of the Consulant, etc? What some would interpert as fear may be a precaution measure.

I have seen members of the Consulant going about their routine outside in the city, just as normal, so I am not sure that the op's fear assisment/opinion is valid to start with

Trying to keep the staff from fraternizing with the locals and uphold their marriage vows during this 'hardship' posting.

I think Thailand is doing a little tiny bit of guarding itself, way to the South. I think there are attacks and bombings.

I suppose somehow that's the fault of the US.

Godd@m terrorists kill more of their own people than any other, even in Thailand. They are simply bat shit crazy.

I suppose the 2005 London train bombings which killed more than 50 and injured 700 is a sign of how hated worldwide the Brits are?

The 2004 Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia proves how hated worldwide the Australians are?

No, it all just proves that terrorism knows no national boundaries and the the murderers are to blame, not the victims.

Of course there are also bat shit crazy people who blame crime victims. I see that in rape cases, even here.

Not sure who the op is referring to as being fearful, please enlighten me/us. Is it the armed guards (not US military personnal), the State Department personal of the Consulant, etc? What some would interpert as fear may be a precaution measure.

I have seen members of the Consulant going about their routine outside in the city, just as normal, so I am not sure that the op's fear assisment/opinion is valid to start with

Well, the US just had 4 people killed at a consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya. There was a LOT of criticism of those who failed to provide protection for that consulate. Maybe the powers that be are just CYAing. Link

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

Do you mean Americas policy of making friends around the world? Is this the way you get rewarded? Maybe it's time to review your foreign policies.

Why of course! How profound! Why didn't anybody in America think of this before?! Thanks so much for your valuable contribution. I wouldn't be surprised if world peace doesn't start first thing tomorrow morning.

PS: Those guards will be removed immediately.

PPS: Would you mind giving North Korea a call. I'm sure they'd love to hear your insights on not having to live in fear anymore.

No one else has the backbone to confront these terrorist organizations.

Of course they are the subject of attacks. They are the #1 sworn enemy of these backward thinking groups.

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

Are you?

I didn't think so?

It's flexing

Who North Korea just announce they are going to nuke?

Who does Iran call the great Satan?

Who did Japan preemptively bomb in WW2?

Who is the Taliban and Al-Qaeda consider their #1 enemy?

Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, China and others all consider the US and the US western allies their number one problem because the US and their alliances are the only ones who could stop them from continuing their abuses of their own people and neighbors.

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

Do you mean Americas policy of making friends around the world? Is this the way you get rewarded? Maybe it's time to review your foreign policies.

OK, can we make that retroactive too? I wish that the US had stayed home during WWII. NONE of that war happened on US soil. Hawaii wasn't a state yet. In every single case the US went after the bat shit crazies just because they needed killing for the sake of what we thought were our friends. Big mistake.

If the US had stayed on its own soil and out of that war instead of caving to Churchill's constant begging, 418,000 brave Americans wouldn't have died, and in exchange all of Western Europe would be doing the fkn goose step today.

I'd like to watch that fkn parade of clumsy ingrates myself.

Yes I would.

I wear a seat belt, but I don't consider myself to be driving in fear.

SC

So what is your point? Was it the Brits that had the embassy taken hostage in Iran? Was it the British embassy burned in Tripoli in 1979? Was it a British embassy bombed and 63 killed in Beirut in 1983? Or Lima Peru in 1990? Or Greece or Syria or Yemen or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, August 7, 1998: The bombings of these two embassies brought the name up the name "Osama Bin Laden" to for the first time. The bombings resulted in over 4,000 people injured and 223 dead.

Throughout the years U.S. embassies all over the world have been targets of protests and violence by terrorist groups and discontented citizens trying to make a point, or just generally cause chaos and mayhem.

http://www.ibtimes.com/us-embassy-attacks-and-bombings-recent-history-782665

There should be a song, "Just another Yank bashing thread......."

Wow, thats a lot of Googling. But I think you got the point.

I wear a seat belt, but I don't consider myself to be driving in fear.

SC

If you make friends around the world, you won't need one.

I wear a seat belt, but I don't consider myself to be driving in fear.

SC

If you make friends around the world, you won't need one.

If everyone was a good driver, I'd not need a seat belt. 99% of people are good drivers. I still wear a seat belt.

I actually only need to wear a seat belt on one or two occasions in my whole life. But I'm not going to gamble on my ability to guess which journeys those are.

Even if you have lots of friends, even if you are pleasant and polite, you can still have enemies.

SC

I wear a seat belt, but I don't consider myself to be driving in fear.

SC

If you make friends around the world, you won't need one.

Because that works so well. The police make friends with the criminals and that stops crime.

The OP uses the Dalai Lama as his profile image but doesn't even seem to know the D.L.s views on the critical importance of promoting Democracy and the D.L's favorite world leader is/was W Bush.

Who gave the D.L. $7 million dollars(>50million in todays $'s) when he had to flee Tibet?

You can't fix stupid

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

Do you mean Americas policy of making friends around the world? Is this the way you get rewarded? Maybe it's time to review your foreign policies.

Why of course! How profound! Why didn't anybody in America think of this before?! Thanks so much for your valuable contribution. I wouldn't be surprised if world peace doesn't start first thing tomorrow morning.

PS: Those guards will be removed immediately.

PPS: Would you mind giving North Korea a call. I'm sure they'd love to hear your insights on not having to live in fear anymore.

Now there is an interesting though!! I wonder what would happen if the American guards that stood staring at there opposite numbers in North Korea. Suddenly just walked away and went back to there barracks. My guess is not much it would take them weeks to come to terms with the fact that we don't care to waste time playing there silly game. How embarrassing for them that they are not treated as a significant threat. De escalate the problem and talk with them, you never know.

What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear.

Just a snide little America bash. Have at it.

Some countries are big and important enough to have enemies and so, not having their heads in the sand, they take precautions to prevent disruption and loss of life. It's not a matter of fear particularly. Other countries are simply insignificant despite their noise, bluster, and once-proud traditions.

BTW, what does the vast number of surveillance cameras in Britain say about the fearless Brits?

At the end of 2006, the UK was described by the Surveillance Studies Network as being 'the most surveilled country' among the industrialized Western states.[5] Although, the report this was based on has since been disputed. The original study states that there are ~4.2m CCTV Cameras in operation in the UK, a new report in 2011 shows that there are actually ~1.85m cameras in operation in the UK,[6] 92% of which, being privately owned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance#United_Kingdom

Considering some embassies are targeted for terrorism across the world I think there is no harm in being cautious.

I'm British but I see this as a yank bashing thread. Not even quite sure what the OP is trying to achieve?!

Not even quite sure what the OP is trying to achieve?!

Enlightenment ... ?

are you privy to whatever information may have lead up to these precautions?

I didn't think so.

"Living in fear, or live with fear.

The big difference can be seen here.

I could not help but notice the large number of armed guards around the heavy fortified US consulate in Chiang Mai Thailand. Armed guards at the gate and along every wall and corner, security cameras and what have you. The UK consulate near by in stark contrast has no armed guards (that we could see) or heavy defenses, just one or two very nice helpful Thai men who smile and rush to open the door for people.What does it say about the people? Some live in fear and some learn to live with the fear."

Do you mean Americas policy of making friends around the world? Is this the way you get rewarded? Maybe it's time to review your foreign policies.

Why of course! How profound! Why didn't anybody in America think of this before?! Thanks so much for your valuable contribution. I wouldn't be surprised if world peace doesn't start first thing tomorrow morning.

PS: Those guards will be removed immediately.

PPS: Would you mind giving North Korea a call. I'm sure they'd love to hear your insights on not having to live in fear anymore.

Now there is an interesting though!! I wonder what would happen if the American guards that stood staring at there opposite numbers in North Korea. Suddenly just walked away and went back to there barracks. My guess is not much it would take them weeks to come to terms with the fact that we don't care to waste time playing there silly game. How embarrassing for them that they are not treated as a significant threat. De escalate the problem and talk with them, you never know.

Actually, they are South Korean guards. And they fear getting pulled into North Korea.

I think you mean well. But, this is not the age of aquarius. Evil exists. Get over it.

Not even quite sure what the OP is trying to achieve?!

Enlightenment ... ?

Hardly. Just a fleeting and false sense of superiority.