StoneSoup

Gee, there is a vicious war going on in Ukraine. Blood in the streets. Our normal flight route traverses the center of combat between two warring nations. Let's see .... we can divert our flight route to avoid the combat airspace - at an extra cost of US $5,000 in fuel. Or - we can fly into the hornet's nest, and chant "Inshallah". Decisons, decisions - what shall we do?????

Boom goes the dynamite!!

Idiots

SS

See: https://www.onnutcondos.com/

Ideo Verve Sukhumvit condo development is directly across Sukhumvit from Tesco-Onnut, a few steps from Onnut BTS. Other nearby condos are:

Rhythm Condo - Sukhumvit and Soi 50 - maybe 150 meters from Tesco-Onnut

My Condo Sukhumvit 81 - Maybe 250 meters from Tesco-Onnut

The Room Condo - Low-rise on Sukhumvit Soi 79 - very quiet. 350 meters from Tesco-Onnut

The Next Condo - Sukhumvit Soi 52

Condo One - Sukhumvit Soi 52

President Sukhumvit Condo - At Soi 81 - Brand new, just opening - 100 meters from Tesco-Onnut

Q House Condo - Brand New, will open soon - In Sukhumvit, near Soi 79 - 200 meters to Tesco-Onnut

Cheers,

SS

I agree that the flowing headline banner behind the DJ appears to be in Vietnamese.

Well, you know, Thailand has very rainy weather, but sometimes it gets warm. Is this a good thing?

Yawn......

http://youtu.be/GSjA3voJydk

And - it wasn't even Pattaya .....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Abrams

'Last I heard, ISIS (Al Qaeda in Iraq) might have a couple for sale - including a pair of matching UH-60 Blackhawks:

http://www.lucykafan...into-isis-hands

It sure is a good thing that Joe Biden and Obama have everything under control:

http://youtu.be/tLteUGkvpOc

What's that Joe? Did you say "I'm very optimistic about Iraq. I think it's going to be one of the great achievements of this administration"? Yeah, Joe, I think you have that sentiment framed perfectly.

Oh well, at least Obama has Al Qaeda "on the run"

It was a Tweet:

Rusty® â€@Rusty123B Jun 11

The England team visited an orphanage in Brazil today. "It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope," said Jose, age 6.

Cheers!

SS

OK, you have to watch this one at least twice. 'Best on full screen. 'First time, just watch the large commercial ad clip. Second time through, watch the smaller inset screen. Brilliant!

http://www.wimp.com/spicecommercial/

"Old Man" steps into some street football:

http://youtu.be/nGvOMUZrqVM

This is a bullshit PC campaign - but - it will inevitably succeed. Washington Klingons - go for it. 'Beats Washington Parasites. Washington Oligarchs. District of Columbia Bedwetters. Capitol Plunderers.

SS

Former American Ex-pat

Now - American Exile

National gambling interest.

680 baht? 'Must have been foreign customers. Thai customers would have just laughed in the driver's face.

SS

Dear General P -

I’m a foreign ex-military officer who spent a couple of years in a military psychological operations unit. It appears that the Thai Army has nothing similar (or at least, not anything that is functioning usefully). So – allow me to offer a few suggestions.

I am specifically referring to your provisional government’s stated intention to pursue mass arrests of civilian protest groups flashing what you have described as “The Hunger Games Salute.â€

As an alternative, here is my idea:

1. Develop a public relations outreach program that spreads the following information:

B. Definition of a new salute – the “Unity Salute†- executed with the RIGHT HAND – extending three fingers skyward to

express support for Thai unity – the three colors of the Thai flag – or whatever alternate three concepts you wish to celebrate –

and encouraging all those who wish to see Thailand get back on the right track and prosper to flash that “Unity Salute†at any

opportunity.

2. Stop trying to block the flow of information. Information wants to be free. Like with the wind, or with the ocean tides – it is senseless to try to block natural forces. Much better is to exploit opportunities to harness the flow, and turn those forces into supportive movement – by simply redefining challenges as opportunities for improvement.

The last I heard, Thailand had 90 million mobile phone SIM cards in service, 24 million Facebook users, and 1.73 million Twitter users. Realistically, you cannot suppress information flow within that network without alienating more than a third of Thailand’s population. So – instead of resisting inevitable flows, you should seek to bend them to your preferred outcomes.

Sincerely,

SS

I can read Thai text in standard printed fonts - at perhaps the level of a retarded Thai seven year old. But - in most cases, I cannot read hand-written Thai - because the individual letters always seem to be compressed horizontally, with whirls and strokes indistinguishable. In other words, I cannot differentiate between hand written sets as follows:

ต ด ค

ข ช ฃ

บ ษ

ถ ภภ

Thailand has effectively had a "foreign resistance government" for the last two years - based in Dubai. Yawn.........

SS

The one thing that Thaksin and his minions absolutely, positively cannot allow to transpire is for a peacful reconciliation process to proceed to a successful, outcome, with no provision therein to exonerate Thaksin, and return to him his seized assets.

Had the coup occurred ten months ago, when Thailand was nominally running in routine fashion, executing the coup would have been outrageous - and all the current resistance and teeth-gnashing would have been quite appropriate.

But - as it happened - the coup occurred ten days ago - when Thailand's political landscape was teetering on the edge of total chaos - with two large, seething mobs of extremists preparing for a bloody showdown amidst the capital city of Thailand. In that environment, the coup was a welcome "lesser of multiple evils" event.

The protesters who seem to want to return the situation to the scenario that was present two weeks ago seem to me to be completely insane.

Right now, if all the "three finger" Redshirt protesters would simply mind their own business and stop agitating, the military would most likely go back to barracks, the curfew would end, and life for 99.999% of all Thais would continue as it was ten months ago, before the ill-fated parliamentary amnesty shenanigans.

Instead, the antics of a few hundred Redshirt activists continue to cause turmoil and hardship for the broad majority of Thais who would otherwise be leading normal lives.

The protesters belong in reeducation camps - not to force them to abandon their political views - but to teach then how to coexist in a society of differing beliefs, without feeling compelled to force everyone else to play involuntary roles in the protester's own personal political dramas.

SS

Well, I have a somewhat similar view to Ura Dick - except that instead of suggesting that the US Government "put all resources blown .... into domestic programs", I would instead suggest the US Government leave that money with the people and companies that earned it in the first place.

Productive people and businesses are being bled white to fund everything under the sun. The government is TERRIBLE at putting money to use effectively. Private enterprise is MUCH superior.

SS

Once, a long time ago (circa 1997) I was walking with a Thai girl in tow, on the second floor of Nana Plaza around 5:00 pm, headed to Woodstock, from the escalator - and I was approaching a group of Thai louts playing dominos on a board set up accross two plastic milk crates. I was amused by the very animated way in which they played each domino - SLAMMING it down to make a loud smack.

Then, there was some sort of a "hoot" exclamation from behind me - back by the escalator - and in a flash of assholes and elbows - the domino "table" disappeared - the dominos were dumped into one of the milk crates, and the board now became a bench covering the milk crates - and two of the players were now seated, lounging lazily on the "bench", picking their noses. This all happened in the space of me taking about three steps - I had NEVER seen Thais move that fast, and I burst out laughing. The Thai girl scolded me, and pushed me on past the scene of the crime. Once we were inside Woodstock, she told me that the "hoot" was a warning call that Police were heading up the escalator (or stairs) - and that the domino game was illegal in Thailand, because it was a gambling game - and I thought she was joking - but further investigation revealed that she was spot on.

Pinball machines are also evidently "illegal gamblimg devices" - so you will rarely see one (although there are a few of some type of similar machine in the alley bewteen Sukhumvit Sois 5 and 7).

And - believe it or not - there is also a law on the books (generally unenforced) that requires businesses with pool tables to get a license for them - so as to control them as potential "gambling devices".

Cheers!

SS

There are no such "animals" in Thailand. Both card games, and dominos, are considered as "gambling activities" - and are illegal. I kid you not.

Cheers!

SS

200 people in the heat of day. Let's see how many show up after sundown.

It appears to me that the Army is in the process of losing control - and the anti-coup protest movement will swell to a level where it takes control of the streets. And - I see no way for the Army to pull off a "soft" reversal of that momentum.

This does not portend a good ending to the month of May in Thailand.

SS

The pushback that I am seeing by anti-coup forces - yesterday at BACC, today at Maojor-Ratchayothin, and perhaps this evening at Victotry Monument - presents huge proiblem to Prayuth. The Army's only legitimacy comes from an argument that they had to step in, to reestablish the rule of law, after the Police had proven themselves unable to enforce the rule of law, and had allowed street mobs to effectively practice/impose "law of the jungle" or "tribal law" on whatever swath of Bangkok they happened to control.

Thus, the Army must maintain order, and remain in control - in order to justify their role in the first place.

They have to neutralize whoever is organizing the anti-coup protests - and they need to do so quickly. 200 protesters on Friday, growing to 2,000 protesters on Saturday, may quickly bercome 20,000 protesters on Sunday, and 200,000 protesters on Monday, And - it is only matter of time until protesters start showing up armed.

I think that the backlash scenario opens the door for a schism within the military itself. If the Army splits into two or more partsian factions - then the real nightmare scenario begins. Let's hope that this scenario never materializes.

Cheers!

SS

.

It seems to me that the entire reason that Thailand ended up facing yet another coup was simply the result of the Royal Thai Police demonstrating no ability to uphold the rule of law on the streets of Bangkok. The Police simply abdicated their role, and let mob rule flourish.

Now that the Army has implemented martial law as the law in force, it is pretty well essential for them to enforce their rules. If they do not - if the Army also surrenders the initiative and the local rule of law to street mobs - then the Army has no legitimate role any more, either.

I heard a quip yesterday that made me chuckle - and also made me wish that I had thought of it myself. In Thailand the purpose of the Army is not to fight against, or defend the country from its enemies. In Thailand, ther main function of its Army is to prepare for, and then execute, its next coup against its own government. Sad, but true,

Cheers!

SS

I would be very supportive of efforts to push back against the dynastic Thaksin hegemony - if the opposition appeared to be at least a minor improvement. Suthep and his band of miscreants do not in any way appeal to me as an alternative to the Thaksin regime.

Thailand appears to have a choice between two despotic camps - and I sympathize with the "middle of the bell curve" Thais who must be crying into their Tom Yam Goong, looking at the bleak alternatives that confront them.

Thailand's present situation marks the only instance that I can think of where I find myself saying "Military rule looks downright attractive, compared to the pathetic choices offered by the dysfunctional 'democratic' political system."

If we are going to live in a country ruled by warlords, I'd just as soon see Chulachomklao alumni in those positions..

Cheers!

SS

I remember about 2002, going to renew my driver's license at the license office at Sukhumvit Soi 101 (or thereabouts). There was an area of counters for filling out the application, and each horizontal counter surface extended from a Plexiglass vertical panel that was effectvely a display board. All of the display boards featured large colored photos of accident scenes - and all of the scenes that I saw that day were of the same scenario (but all different incidents): a pickup truck carrying a load of primary school students in its bed - with students in school uniform - had crashed at high speed - throwing seven-year olds all over the highway - resulting in a panorama of twisted, bloody dead bodies in clean white and red/blue/purple uniforms - with little brains spilled out onto the roadway. It was horrific.

I'm not sure if it might not have a good effect, reminding drivers to not do stupid things. But - it definitely put me off lunch that day.

Cheers!

SS