YimSiam

Okay, so gov't says gov't lottery is over-priced... and also takes action against Bangkok casinos. It's a law-n-order government! I wonder who controls the non-government lottery in Thailand? Who benefits from the Cambodia casinos, along with Khmer biz, and SEAsia Chinese godfathers? Maybe those guys will be next on the junta target list, you know, as they set about controlling vice and exploitation. Or if not them, maybe the military guys on the border with Myanmar, to bring yaba under control. Or maybe not.

Where's Purachai these days? He's the 'moral cleansing' expert... though perhaps more than a little too earnest for his own good!

Different people, perhaps, but yes, many rich people, there's corruption and abuse of power by all parties who have enjoyed power in Thailand. (Different people except Newin... he was able to play both sides, albeit consecutively rather than concurrently...). And redshirt violence has been abhorrent, no doubt. And I've never been a fan of Thaksin (I could even trot out an anti-Thaksin oped I wrote for the Bangkok Post some time ago, before becoming convinced that the anti-Thaksin, anti-populist forces are the greater evil.... and the BP and Nation their moutpieces...). For me, the "difference" is in the reality that the populists have been elected in every election in recent memory, and will be elected again and again if elections are permitted. The others are an anti-democratic force that prefers the voices of the Thai people are ignored, and they enforce this through use of the military and influence in the administrative and judicial institutions. That's the difference, to me. Given the sensitivity of these issues, I'll stop with my comments on these particular issues, as one never knows... Peace! YimSiam

Golly, that would be an unfortunate loss of business for Lucifer, and a spoiled evening for the Israeli gentlemen, all over a misunderstanding. Perhaps he went to the ATM and wanted to buy drinks, possible. But why this time? With thousands of tourists coming through, do they really just randomly pick occasional pairs for wanton beat-down? Again, possible, but I don't think so. Of course, the worst outcome for the brothers is that their wives now know that the "business trip to Gaza, sorry honey communications are really bad there, you can't reach me while I'm gone" excuse is shot all to hell... At least they haven't been drugged and robbed by the three six-foot-tall ladyboys they took back to their room, that one is the worst to explain to the wifey....

Heavy-handed, but shit, he was warned, it was a reasonable policy, and he tried to sneak around it... Can't be too surprised, and call me cynical, but I would bet there was discussion or interaction that contributed to the severe response... I've seen a number of people get a serious beat-down by Thai bar staff (JP staff have an exemplary technique of swarm attack, and seem to know when to call off the kicking, etc, before serious damage is done...), and every time I've seen, it can't be said the punter didn't know what was coming if he pushed his point... YimSiam

Ouch - feel for you. I've spent maybe a year, two years in India in total over time, it is not the easiest place to work, not at all. Depends where you'll be, but if it's in a malarial area and you're not going to be living the pure five-star life, and it's just a month or so, then consider taking daily Doxycycline to cover both malaria risk and to keep your gut in good shape - it works out well on both counts. Just have to stay out of the sun for prolonged periods, as Doxy tends to turn you red as a lobster (unless you're black, perhaps? Although that would be a rare black dude, with a duck dynasty avatar!) YimSiam

Wow, that is Doha/Singapore worthy! Something else going on here, for sure. The animal thing is strange - maybe this has something to do with her husband, an expat in Thailand with some kind of animal fetish: http://www.catandnat.com/pages/content/frank-cuesta-jungle-man#.U5svXPldVR5 Damn, 15 years...

Right - more Thai than a bowl of hot noodle soup! More Thai than the Buddha! More Thai than Preah Vihear! More Thai than... well, my examples are not really working out - but yes, totally right, every government has been like that. I think it's best though when the people choose to be exploited, rather than forced into it. Probably an academic distinction in the long run. The part of my thinking that I should excise is: believing that anything else is possible.

Works both ways, I think - there's a stalemate on law enforcement at least in part due to that internal tension between police and military, with the police forced to show unreasonable restraint in the shadow of the military, and the military having to tolerate - for a while - the rules of an ostensibly democratic system. I agree about Hun Sen - or many other governments in the region and beyond - they would have wiped those camps off the map.in no time, using methods that I would hardly support. But the degree to which a protest movement of dwindling participation (and of dubious origins and essence, I personally feel - but leave that aside for now!) was allowed to monopolize so many public spaces, for so long, costing so much, with so little effort to mitigate the effects of the exercise of the right of expression - that's strictly because they are supported by and in concert with the elites and the palace, therefore the army, and any effort by the police to remove the camps would have resulted in immediate army intervention and an instant coup. As it was, the army got their coup anyway, despite what seems to be an apparent and reasonable desire for some months by the army not to be seen as implementing just another military coup under the direction of antidemocratic conservative institutions. But in the end, that's what happened anyway - probably would have been better off just calling a coup in late 2013, the end result is the same. Again. This twilight period will go on for a year or whatever while the 'road map' is followed - we've seen it before, it will not be very interesting. What I do look forward to is seeing how creative - and they will have to be madly creative! - the powers-that-be are in finding a way to ensure that some variation on T and populist parties do not win the election that should eventually be held. It may be fear-mongering, labeling more insistent populist factions 'terrorist', and working up Red Gaur/Krating Daeng-style support groups in the villages. Or just some disenfranchisement that limits the vote enough that the Dems-yellows win. Or, what the heck, they may say, this on-again, off-again approach to democracy has worked for nearly a century, kind of, it's a lot of hassle but they could just keep rotating prime ministers and parties, using the courts and the army, and ensuring things just kind of muddle on as they have been... Anyway, it will be interesting and depressing, watching these desperate but probably efforts in the 21st century, an age of information when democracy has been generally accepted - if not exactly honored - as the least worst of a bad set of options for government... YimSiam

I'd say they - police and/or military - won't put an end to any of it - police run many of these rackets, or collaborate in some form of cooperation/protection with mafia types. What they - the coup military - will do now is try to break the hold of any red shirt support people, Thaksin's buddies, on government positions, sources of revenue, access to press and expression, but they will cloak it in language of reducing corruption, serving Thai people, ensuring order, etc. (What, exactly, was the disorder they are solving , again?). Thaksin's a cop, that's where he made his money, and where he has ensured that he would have many friends - until now. The army and the cops are opposed and associated with opposite color groups, which slows the cops from being able to, say, break up those ridiculous protest camps that dotted bangkok for so long - any reasonable city force would have resolved that issue much sooner, but the cops were hobbled because they compete with the military for power. Now the military will try to gut any police power, as well as the police incomes gained through control of various rackets, to try to weaken Thaksin's support base. They're removing his people from the powerful posts they have in government and law enforcement, and will take them over for themselves and their associates. Fix traffic problems or reduce scams and protection rackets? That would only come as an incidental side effect of trying to weaken Thaksin's base, I think.

Man, naked girls find themselves in the oddest of places sometimes! Wheat fields, upside-down on rocks by the sea, DP'd by random filthy porn stars, and so on. Being a naked girl is a hazardous occupation, from what I've seen!

Was hoping this dancer might be a contender for Miss Replacement Miss Thailand - then found out this dancer's a guy. Damn you, France.

Brilliant strategic move - hits the police in the pocketbook, as the military steps onto their traffic income turf. Bribes won't go down, they'll just get redirected from the cops to the military in charge...

Yeah, but the Irish DO fight a lot, and lots of them are short and funny-looking like that, and who other than the Irish routinely wear green suits, shamrock hats, and yellow shoes?! Maybe a pimp or two here and there, but otherwise, it's all Irish. Drunken, slurring, stumbling, fighting Irish.

Indians had a PR campaign not long ago with e.g. New York Jews and San Francisco Chinamen, including similarly racist caricature logos - but people just don't seem to get it, or don't want to care. The condition of native Americans in the US is appalling - maybe it's such a deep shame, and the genocide such an incomprehensible history, that it's easier to gloss over, just wait 'til their gone and all that remains are some junk casinos and a few sports teams with strange names and logos.

Neither are my style, where are those lithe little brown bodies that Shrimp used to do the calendar pics of? Those are the girls for me - even if they'd only reach the waist of the other girls onstage... Check this pic of her at the resignation - she's quitting because she's f'ugly! http://mashable.com/2014/06/10/thai-beauty-queen-quits/ Let's see how long the second one lasts before something from her past brings her down... YimSiam

Ah, The Nation and Bangkok Post, setting new low standards for "Yellow Journalism"... They're not such bad newspapers, so long as one skips over anything they write about Thailand! After 15 straight years of clear elections results, it will be interesting to see how they come up with a plan to achieve the result they want. Chats with Gen. Sisi and Bashar Assad might be a good place to start, since Saddam's no longer available for consultation. YimSiam

Bread and circus... treat the people like children and hope they don't notice that they are getting robbed blind by the wealthy few who pull the strings. But hey, good on the generals for at least doing something that people will enjoy! I can only imagine that the wagering types will be highly energized by being able to see the games on TV, there must be a few very pleased bookies around shouting GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL! with this outcome... kind of like after 2006 when the gov't lottery was declared illegal and the numbers games went back underground to their relieved owners. Wait, could it be that... oh nevermind. YimSiam

Western governments don't give a damn about Thai democracy -- it's not ugly enough, Thailand does far too many favors to be slapped down, and everyone knows Thai coups aren't really real coups, more just a seasonal pruning back of the nation's democratic growth... Someone hosts your black site, you don't go stabbing them in the back over a little coup action... Here's the US military aid response (and yes, that $85,000 dollars... ouch that must really hit Thai military in the pocket book!): Question: What is the breakdown of FMF and IMET that has been suspended? Answer: Immediately following the military coup in Thailand, the State Department announced that we are reviewing all U.S. government assistance to Thailand. We have suspended approximately $3.5 million in unspent and unobligated Foreign Military Financing (FMF) assistance to Thailand. Most FMF assistance to Thailand consists of training and education programs. We have also suspended the International Military Education and Training (IMET) we provide to Thailand. Thailand receives approximately $1.3 million in IMET annually. We have suspended the remaining $85,000 of unspent funds this fiscal year while the Department undertakes a comprehensive review of assistance to Thailand. All IMET and FMF-funded courses for Thailand have been cancelled, and no further ones are planned. The Department does not currently expect to send home any Thai officers who are currently participating in educational programs in the United States. Thirty-three students participated in IMET programs in Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13).

Not so, I think. Methamphetamine is still champion, there's nothing similar but more addictive (read: works better). Myanmar yaba-style pills are usually very adulterated with income-generating filler like forms of caffeine or MSM, so they are not very pure and thus not as dangerous. At least the change in administrations has not reduced the English language press capacity for BS... Would be interesting to know what motivated the cops to come up with this warning - they need to check Google. The Nation, too. YimSiam

Jesus, throat slit... Incredible. I had great experiences while I was there, and there are great charms to Mae Sot and its complex dynamics, but stay for a little while and you can just feel the evil pulsing under the surface. Slavery, human trafficking, corruption, drugs, arms, internecine violence in the Karen groups - it's all going on, all the time. Glad I spent time there, but glad I left, too!

And Yim Siam? YimSiam

It was a dark night, rainy season - place was fairly quiet, I can't really visualize - but do remember that I ended up with a sweet girl Burmese girl who spoke Burmese, Thai and English very well. She had a motorbike, she got a phone call from the border crossing, a businessman or official was visiting out at the bridge and was staying in a kind of government bungalow out there and wanted a Thai girl. So we got on her bike, rode to some house, picked up a plump and young-looking Thai, and the three of us rode out to the border to drop the girl off with the guy from Burma. Drove back to my girl's place, the bottom floor in a townhouse-type building, spent a couple hours with her, then she drove me back to where I was staying (do they still have Baan Thai up there? Used to stay in the greatest little bungalow - simple but quiet and private, I really enjoyed the time I spent up there). Dropped me off, then she went out to the border to pick up the girl at the guesthouse! Probably just before dawn, I'd guess. This was in the day of the mini-photo-sticker, and I actually still have a little sheet of photos of that chick with the motorbike somewhere in my stuff... Not so hot, but cute enough, smart as hell and a good little businesswoman... one of those very fun, weird, unexpected nights that stick in your mind long after (but not apparently enough for me to remember what that karaoke looked like inside...) How about Y2k? That place still open? Thai disco, friendly if you're not an asshole. (Not that you're an asshole - everything suggests otherwise!) YimSiam

Once you mentioned karaoke, I was thinking: Opposite Seven, up the stairs! That was years ago, though - 10 years ago. Glad that some things never change!