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254
Winning
Winning, stopping the funding of my & other Americans tax dollars going toward what use to be a good cause before the party of Socialist/ Communist/ Terrorist supporters, and DEI woksters far Leftist propaganda , took it over. Ba Bye,see ya. Adios ! -
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Thai - Cambodia Conflict Tensions Flare as Thai-Cambodian Forces Grapple Over Temple
Let’s face it, if you can’t appreciate that the Thai media's reaction to the current Thai-Cambodian conflict has been in general nationalistic, sensationalist, and, in many corners, disturbingly uncritical , you are just a media patsy.. So here’s a look at the dynamics and what is revealed about the broader issues surrounding media literacy and public gullibility in Thailand – including the expats…… Anyone reading or watching the media in the last few days must have noticed a tsunami of jingoism over journalism. The coverage overwhelmingly portrays Thailand as the righteous victim defending its sovereignty, with Cambodia as the unmitigated aggressor, when in reality the factual situation is far more nuanced, ambiguous or bilateral. Always in these situations the main media is state-influenced to say the least, for a start the military owns most of the TV channels and there are many other state-owned outlets (e.g., Channel 5, Thai PBS, Royal Thai Army Radio) All these readily adopt an overtly patriotic tone, mirroring government or military positions, without scrutiny or balance. There's little effort to explore Cambodian motives, context, or grievances or look at the history of international agreements in Cambodia’s favour— the narrative is reduced to "they're threatening us" with near-zero nuance. Successive Thi governments have been able to take advantage of the nation’s public gullibility and naïve trust in authority, which is still deeply embedded in the old Sakdina caste system. The result is a blind faith in military and monarchy-linked voices. There is an almost obsessive compulsion not to disrupt “harmony” – a powerful way of quelling any criticism. Decades of top-down messaging have fostered a public that often equates criticism of military actions with disloyalty or disruptive. So often Thai people instinctively side with official narratives, assuming they must be protecting the nation's harmony and therefore its interests. Education has played a major part in all this; there is no media education at all - Thai audiences, especially outside urban centres, aren’t taught to critically evaluate news sources. This leaves them vulnerable to manipulation and misrepresentation. This also can be seen in a lot of the comments by expats on this site. Facebook and Line groups serve as echo chambers, reinforcing this nationalist fervour. “Fake news” and misinformation spreads rapidly, and then are responded to with equally apocryphal counter-narratives by Cambodia, A lot of the international and legal angles are dismissed or censored or banned by the Thai media Even on the streets of Thailand we have seen the demonization and dehumanization of Cambodia; even attacks on Cambodian people. Thai history is to blame too - most academic histories of Thailand are banned often under the draconian lase majeste laws Historical misrepresentation stands uncorrected for decades with old nationalist tropes such as the Preah Vihear temple dispute used to vilify Cambodia as duplicitous or inferior. Loaded language is everywhere Cambodians are referred to as “encroachers,” “invaders,” or “puppets of foreign influence” (with China sometimes hinted at) This is used to create an “us vs. them” siege mentality. It is common in many countries to blame “foreigners” or any readily identifiable group as the source of the problems – we’ve even had “Reds Under The BEDS” spy scares! There are also many potential ulterior motives for the current situation. This sort of thing often happens at times of domestic discontent or “unrest”. Conveniently, the media-fuelled border scare comes at a time of government instability. It’s a time of economic anxiety, corruption scandals, and unpopular leadership. Nationalism becomes a tool to unify the public and distract from internal criticism. Thailand seldom has room for dissent. Any Thai public figures or journalists who raise questions about the government’s handling of the conflict or urge restraint are branded as unpatriotic or “Cambodian sympathizers.” What this all says about Thai Society is that it reveals the national propensity for gullibility and naivety. Their widespread acceptance of simplistic, emotional narratives shows how vulnerable parts of Thai society can be to state-led narratives and shallow nationalism. For many years now the control of information has remained strong. Despite internet access, much of the population still consumes heavily filtered or biased content. (nearly 200.000 web sites are blocked by the Thai government – they even considered blocking Facebook) Alternative viewpoints are not welcome especially English Language ones from independent Cambodian media, they rarely reach a mass audience. Thailand has a dire need for critical literacy: (as does this site) The crisis exposes the urgent need for independent journalism, civic education, and platforms that foster critical thinking. To sum up, the Thai media’s nationalistic coverage of the Cambodian conflict is not just biased reporting, it’s a more, it’s a window into how state-aligned narratives are absorbed, internalized, and echoed by a population raised on loyalty, not inquiry. It’s a case study in how media, when weaponized, can obscure the truth, manipulate emotions, and make the public complicit in sustaining conflict , and they don’t even realise it! -
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LONDON - Then and Now
In America at that time the stewardesses were young, sexy and wore mini skirts. Now, grumpy old bags with Union seniority, especially on the long hauls. In fairness, the passengers have descended into pajama wearing Greyhound bus clientele.- 1
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Trump is on the ropes as Maga turns against Israel
Hamas is not the government of Palestine. The Palestinian National Authority is de jure the government of Palestine. 2006 saw a civil war ensue in Gaza, with the Hamas group winning. In a legal sense, the PNA claims the Gaza strip, but Hamas exerts de facto control, in the same way that the Houthis exert de facto control of Western Yemen, but are not recognised as the legitimate government of Yemen. 147 out of 193 UN members recognise Palestine as an independant state. You and others, including the Israeli government, continue to inflate the power of Hamas, as part of some sort of effort to delegitimise the PNA. Any discussion about Palestinian sovereignty should not be dependant on the breakaway group's actions. You have made up the conditions of Palestinian recognition. France's recognition is unconditional. Macron might call for demilitarization and a ceasefire, but recognition is not dependant on these conditions. The UK and Canada are towing a similar line to each other; recognition will happen unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire, changes its West bank settlement policy and makes "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza and commits to a long term sustainable peace". If the UK and France recognise Palestine, that means 4 out of 5 members of permanent members of the U.N. Security Council will take a similar position. The current UK government is following a similar stance to previous UK governments, who all believed in a two state solution, but believed that recognition needed to be reserved until it has maximum effect. The judgement is clearly that time has come. The UK doesn't recognise governments, it recognises states. That is an important distinction. Hamas is proscribed, and that won't change. Conditions in Palestine won't change because of this recognition. But conditions outside of Palestine will. Britain and France will be now be talking to regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt not as countries with fundementally differing positions, but now closely allied positions with respect to the sovereignty of Palestine. Of the EU4+UK, only Germany and Italy don't recognise Palestine, and its probably just a matter of time before that changes. Even Meloni, the only significant European leader ideologically aligned with the American leader (I dismiss Hungary as a significant state, its a former Comecon state that hasn't understood the world has moved on), has indicated she supports the idea of a Palestinian state, but disagrees on the timing. The UK has signalled to Israel that if it doesn't want a Palestinian state established not on its terms, this is what it needs to do. Israel might have the US as a friend, but it still professes to be a European state on the shores of the Mediterranean. It has undeniable cultural, familial, political and economic ties to Europe. It participates in EU institutions , such as Horizon. I speak to Israeli companies all the time, and, without exception, they all say their number one market is not the US but Europe. Israel is part of an EU free trade area, with mutual standards recognition, very important for market entry. -
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