We will know the junta is serious about anti-corruption when we start seeing stories like this one from Australia http://m.smh.com.au/national/australian ... ztwb2.html
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We will know the junta is serious about anti-corruption when we start seeing stories like this one from Australia http://m.smh.com.au/national/australian ... ztwb2.html
Wow, so they're just the same like communist revolutionaries! Who WOULD have thought...Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Oliver's assertion is true for politicians generally, both democratic and non-democratic, and whether they've grabbed power or merely hope to do so.Quote:
Originally Posted by lego
On a slightly different point I read recently that General Tasty has got his underlings working on how they can prevent future governments from implementing "populist" policies.
They will have to restrict the vote to those considered trustworthy....that is by class. This was always Suthep's aim. He couldn't do it with his pathetic little gang in Bangkok and so the fascists took over. As planned, the South American banana republic was imported to Thailand. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatamala most recently (thanks Hillary!) Honduras. The only element missing was the CIA torturers in their dark glasses....probably.
Come along Oliver, join the real world. You obviously don't know your Mao - "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Stop whining! General Tasty and his merry men are here to restore the status quo ante and make sure that if anyone's going to benefit from corruption it will be the right people, not jumped up nouveau riche like Thaksin. Thailand doesn't need to import the banana republic model (banana kingdom, surely?), it's not going to be more than a tin-pot Third World country in our lifetime, and always has been a banana something. (Cue for Thai pun on banana vs. penis by modulating the tone, a favourite with every Thai boy).Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Yes.
Thailand desperately needs its own Hugo Chavez to depose the generals and begin a massive redistribution of wealth....decent hospitals and schools for the poor, criminal law applied to the rich as well as the poor, no more posh kids in BMWs allowed to mow down peasants with immunity....
Chavez at least had Argentina's oil revenues to rely on. What's Thailand got? Sex tourists?Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
In his current form, I wouldn't mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Absolute nonsense:Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Corruption: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Venezuela
Murder rate: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/2 ... 06363.html
Economy: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... d/follows/
How Venezuelans see their own country: http://www.gallup.com/poll/167663/venez ... tests.aspx
The general state of Venezuela: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/moises-na ... 74523.html
These few links speak for themselves. But there's lots more, most of which carry the same basic theme: Mr. Chavez was a disaster for the country. Him croaking relatively early in life (he was 58) was perhaps a godsend . . . now hopefully there is some wriggle room to fix things up.
Chavez's new crowned prince is the same kind of paranoid incompetent as his boss, but somewhat more free of the bloated bombast.
The dictatorship of the proletariat dreamworld Oliver lives in carries on apace ... getting dreamier as he ages. Next thing we'll hear from him is his favourite list of hosannas regarding Mr. Mugabe's little thug-run fiefdom, Zimbabwe.
Argentina? No; Venezuela has its own oil reserves; which is why the US industrial/military complex has always been so determined to reinstate the neo-con establishment who can return to their favourite past-time of screwing and disenfranchising the poor. It's money in the bank for them.....and US tycoons and their friends in Washington.
Venezuela's oil revenues.Quote:
Originally Posted by kommentariat
Frankly the only thing that interests me about anywhere in South America is James Rodriguez and I'd like to fuck his brains out.
"anywhere or anyone"
I hear ya!!Quote:
Originally Posted by kommentariat
Just for you: https://www.google.ca/search?q=james+ro ... B650%3B500
For those singing the praises of the junta, here is another one to consider:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... -to-kowtow
What a ludicrous bunch.....Thailand needs a Jonathon Swift (as well as a Hugo Chavez) to mock their idiocies.
Still, it's good to see the BP having the courage to publish. I wonder when they will be censored? and the journalist imprisoned?
You need to be careful there Oliver. Those who mock are among those most commonly labelled "trolls".Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Sorry. I forgot.
I must remember Swift's epitaph in St Patrick's Cathedral....
"Here lies the body of Jonathon Swift, Dean of this Cathedral, where savage indignation can no more lacerate his heart.
Go traveller and emulate , if you can, his strenuous vindication of Man's liberty."
Savage indignation indeed. The hallmark of a Sawatdee Troll.
Some recent news, the King endorses the temporary constitution (video) :
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 96153&_rdr
and the Voice of America take:
http://m.voanews.com/a/thai-junta-unvei ... 63363.html
I want to know who that young flunkey is, so I can add him to my To Do list.
Hate to burst your bubble - Nirish Guy already has him on a monthly retainerQuote:
Originally Posted by kommentariat
:ymparty:
Tourism accounts for only about 5% of Thai revenues. What % is the sexy bit I don't know but I'll do the research on the gay portion if someone will pay accommodation and exps. for me around Silom, Ch Mai and Pattaya etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by kommentariat
"OFF" fees will come under the general heading of FEELWORK.
You do need to be careful, Oliver - if you are reading widely you'll know already.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Let's hope the NCPO doesn't get the two Oliver's mixed up!
Well, as a foreign fool, Oliver probably would just get deported in case he is caught. I wouldn't worry about his safety and well-being too much. Sadly, the same cannot be said for those Thais who simply have a genuine interest in exercising what should really be their civil rights, without sharing the same delusional communist agenda. They, indeed, have my sympathy.
Don't worry; I shall be in Palestine in a few weeks and only get to Thailand in October if I survive the Israeli "Defence" Force. I am over twelve so I'm pretty confident that I shall.
"Foreskins at 10 paces"?Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Well, in that case, all the best of luck! Quite a mess there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Thanks. I know my way around after twelve years of staying but it can be frightening. My Palestinian friends take good care of me and, when I'm on my own, traditional Arabic hospitality means that everyone is warm and helpful- they appreciate the fact that I'm there in solidarity. There is always someone to talk to in the buses and while waiting for hours at checkpoints.
Surprising as it may seem, much as I have loved Thailand (and my teerak!), if I were to relive one day in my life it would be the one when I was with the people of Bethlehem marching from Daheisha to Aida (two of Bethlehem's three refugee camps) to commemorate the 1948 catastrophe when Palestinians lost their homes to invaders.
Though desperately poor and oppressed, the young people had such optimism, determination and an overwhelming zest for life. It was an immense privilege for me.
That was five years ago. I wonder how many of those bright youngsters have survived the settlers and IDF?
Oliver Quixote, I presume.
The new Thailand - Myanmar axis:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/the-new- ... nmar-axis/
I've been waiting anxiously for fountainhall's "take" on the latest update on the "corruption" in the rice-pledging scheme. Keen readers will recall it was one of the reasons the coup leaders gave for their actions. Here's the latest from the Bangkok Post, well-known as a bastion of Red Shirt support: "After the completion of the inspection [in 14 north-eastern provinces], it was concluded that 4,298 sacks of rice from a total of 23,235,449 stored at 297 warehouses had gone missing. The amount was only 0.018% of the total and did not exceed the 5% margin of error fixed by the committee set up to check the quantity and quality of rice." However perhaps fountainhall is off with his hero seeking holiness?
I'm rather unimpressed with the reports on lost/stolen/rotten rice so far, too, I have to say that.
The sort of headline that's in the nudge nudge wink wink category http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/08/01/ ... it-gallery
Great story in todays online papers no the Thai ones of course about how the junta are torturing political prisoners it makes me proud to be a tourist in this great country
The junta are doing everything possible to encourage tourism as this story reveals
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/4 ... e-campaign
Torturing dissenters? Of course they do; that's in the nature of Right-wing military dictatorships. It's patriotic....and fun, too. The victims' lives are as worthless to these thugs as those of Palestinians are to Zionists.
As those of Palestinians are to Hamas, surely? In this current conflict I'm firmly with the Egyptian government.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
What a surprise! another military dictatorship that has massacred and imprisoned thousands of its citizens for dissent. Pinochet another hero?
Perhaps those sexy uniforms appeal.
Best to avoid puerile references to Hamas; you don't know what you are talking about. Second-hand regurgitation of Fox News doesn't cut much ice. Too many dead children, Yet again.
Intemperate response; apologies. I'm in daily contact with friends in Palestine...too many worries as to whether they and their families can survive. But no excuse for rudeness.
My sources include Prospect magazine here in the UK, hardly a right-wing publication. I don't watch Ratbag TV aka. The Fox Network. This article includes an excellent discussion of Hamas - http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/opini ... ant-refuseQuote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
Surfcrest - you might consider pruning the last few posts into their own thread; I should hate to pollute a discussion on Thailand with one about the intractable problems of the Middle East.