Australians GO HOME!

[My Cow Jai]

"Thought you may be interested to know that in last 24 hours, on the back of Bali, the Australian government has advised all Australians to:

 

1. Not travel to Thailand unless the need is essential.

2. For all Australians in Thailand to leave asap.

3. To not frequent tourist spots such as Temples, Bars, and nightclubs."

 

Are they really serious? Will this have any effect? Had they said Bali and / or Indoensia, I would have understood, but Thailand? Is the danger really that significant?"

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Whatever the risk in Thailand, be it totally minimal or real, western governments are OBLIGED to put out warnings like this... not just to cover the backs of their citizens, but the backs of their own government mandarins.

 

[Guest]

i wonder why they don't issue travel warnings to europe. i'm not that often there, but i was nearly stabbed in amsterdam, was in a night train from italy to germany where almost everyone sleeping on the lower bunks in the train was robbed. bombs in UK, regular racial hate attacs in some parts of germany, ETA in spain etc.

dunno, but i feel a lot safer here in the east.

[NokTang]

"""but i was nearly stabbed in amsterdam""" ::

 

 

Well, as I once said, Drugs and Drinking lead to violence.

 

Hope you are well kind man, I'll be on Sukmivit tommorow, yes, THURSDAY October 24th, should you like to have a soda pop and update me about Cambodia.

 

cheers

 

Nok the Kook

[Guest]

Its unfortunate but true.

Life as we know it with these towelheads has changed forever.

 

Being from NYC I can tell u my life has changed. I was recently in thailand last month and wondered to myself about the possible warnings. U.S Embassies were closed in MA and Indonesia while I was there.

I was in Nana Plaza and Disco and can assure you that these would be soft targets which would distrupt life for westerners.

The Thai Govt will need to be agressive like Singapore and tag people and follow there commings and goinngs more closely.

Singapore may be a little Big Brother, But that gives a sense of safety either false or true.

If the Thai Govt gets agressive now they can protect their tourist industry. Wouldnt Indonesia like that chance Now???

 

[Guest]

let me think about it.

but don't worry, i'm not a violent sort of a person.

[Guest]

personally, i do think those travel warnings are a bit paranoid. you can't really compare the situation in indonesia and thailand.

indonesia:

-a very large homegrown fundamentalist problem

-many parts have near anarchic conditions due to the powervaccuum left by the fall of suharto

-violence against westerners was expected already for a long time, the only surprise of bali was the massive bodycount

-indonesia is an integral part of the new islamic world the terrorists in their warped minds want to create

 

thailand:

-not part of the new islamic empire

-hardly any fundamentalist problem, the small problem in the south is less fundamentalistic oriented than secessionist, and in the recent years degressed more into pure banditry.

-relative political stability (compared to indo)

-a very competent intelligence service

-a place used by all sorts of organisations to do quietly business they don't want to shine too much light on

-bangkok is an underground transportation hub, very useful for people who want to travel inkognito, change identities etc.

 

personally, i believe that the chances are very small that anyone would seriously consider doing that kind of terrorist attack here. those terrorists might be warped and brutal, but they are everything else than stupid. thailand is very useful for them the way it is, too much lawenforcement here would harm them tremendously, the publicity of a terrorattack would not outweight that.

the aim of those attacks is to instill fear and paranoia, by us getting infected the terrorists have already achieved their goal.

[khunmi]

How can Oamas merry men could identify an ozzie in BKK

if we are at risk so is everybody. Mind you he could

easily identify a Kiwi by his sheep he has his arm around ::

 

This Aussie just picked up his tickets for the xmas one month

of sanuk and aint worried. ::

 

cheers

khunmi

[Guest]

they are the ones with the corks hanging off their hats

[Man at Work]

Says bibblies:

---

Imagine one of them getting into Grace Coffee shop at its most crowded.

 

Wankers. The lot of them.

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And you guys still question George W.s way of fighting those bastards wherever they are! I surely do not!!!! ::

[harlequinbkk]

I think My Cow Jai has hit the nail on the head. These overly cautious warnings are mainly to protect the backsides of senior civil servants who work in Foreign Affairs Departments. In the remote chance that another bombing does occur again in SE Asia, they can tell the grieving relatives "we did warn about this". There really isn't any downside from the point of view of the civil servants to issue the warning. Even thought there is little real risk, the preceived risk in the public eye after the horror in Bali is high enough for them to get away with it. Of course, public perception is what matters to these people, not being right.

 

Harlequin