I would not mind seeing her being stoned by the crowd bearing in mind what she said. I do not think it was acceptable for her to theaten to guillotine anybody, let alone the person that is the head of the state. Who cares if she made a political speech, but she dug her own grave by making rubbish, vicious statements. Still, I don’t think she should have been sentenced to 18 years in prison for her stupidity. I want to see her out of jail as soon as possible to face her punishment in a variety of other ways. That would be even better.
Ah, jonfernquest at it again. The certain proof jonfernquest offers for the bankruptcy of “western Southeast Asian studies” is that Taylor completed a doctoral dissertation on Burma without getting to the country. But look at the context of that point in the review: “What explains Taylor’s particular vantage point? In his New Mandala interview Taylor tells us that because of visa restrictions for American citizens at the time, he was one of the very few individuals to receive his PhD degree from Cornell University’s Southeast Asia Program without having visited his country of study. He scrambled to overcome this disadvantage with extended visits inside Burma and advanced Burmese language study long after he had completed his doctorate in 1974.”
If we took jonfernquest’s comment seriously, then, at that time, no budding scholar should have been allowed to study Burma.
And this ignores jonfernquest’s own comment at the NM interview with Taylor: “Robert Taylor is a fine scholar. If it wasn’t for him, ‘Burma Studies’ would have long ago succumbed to sloppy scholarship in support of ideological points…”.
Taro: what do you suggest? Perhaps now that Thailand is again executing people, then having her sent to the lethal injection room might be enough to quench your royalist thirst for punishment of people who say things in public that you think are damaging to the king and queen.
Thank you for raising this important and complex issue.
You wrote: “the letter concludes by calling for approaches that would ‘prioritize alternative options for meeting Laos’ development needs, options that would in fact increase people’s food security and decrease poverty.’ I would like to see a little more detail on what those options might be.”
To my mind some of the most compelling research conducted recently on food security and rural poverty in rural Laos, comes from Jutta Krahn’s research and the World Food Program’s 2007 study. Ian Baird cites this study in the Don Sahong report.
The main conclusions from the WFP work are worth consideration.
The research suggests that the current model of promoting foreign direct investment into resource megaprojects in Laos, has not, to date, resulted in a broad-based improvement in food security or nutrition in the countryside.
It seems to me that instead of demanding more details on the options and alternatives to hydropower megaprojects (there are many good options and local initiatives), the onus should rather be upon the proponents of hydropower megaprojects, to provide legally enforceable guarantees, based on detailed, nationally and independently reviewed plans, studies, impact assessments, and baseline research, that their projects– which will inevitably undermine wild fishery stocks– will yet produce overall improvements in local nutrition, food security, incomes, and development options for immediately affected communities, while also providing solutions to the broader problems with child malnourishment and underdevelopment in rural and upland areas.
Given the track record in Laos and the Mekong region, with uncompensated and unmitigated socio-ecological externalities from large-scale hydropower development, including Nam Theun II, I would argue that the weight of existing evidence still favours the hydropower skeptics.
But perhaps others have some arguments which would be worth hearing?
Sincerely,
— Keith Barney
======================
Lao PDR: Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) (2007, World Food Programme)
тАв Chronic malnutrition in rural Lao PDR is alarmingly high. Every second child in the rural areas is chronically malnourished, affecting not only their physical development but also their cognitive capacity.
тАв The steady economic growth that Lao PDR has experienced over the past 15 years, has not translated into improved nutritional status of the rural Lao population. Chronic malnutrition is as high today as it was ten years ago.
тАв Thirteen percent of the rural households have poor food consumption (at harvest time).
тАв Two thirds of the rural households have a livelihood portfolio that puts them at risk of becoming food insecure should one or more shocks occur in a given year.
тАв Dietary intake of fat is too low. Use of vegetable oil in the diet is rare, and most of the fat comes from animal sources.
тАв Managed access to wild meat and aquatic resources (animal protein) is critical for ensuring food security for vulnerable groups. Wild meat and aquatic resources, especially wild fish, is the biggest source of animal protein in rural Lao PDR. Consumption of domesticated animals can currently not compensate for a potential
loss of access to and availability of wildlife.
Rapid changes in rural Laos, especially in the uplands, are also being driven by other forces that include fast-rising agribusiness (such as large scale plantations of rubber, corn, sugar cane), mining and hydropower development, and other foreign direct investments. The potentials but also potentially adverse effects of these livelihood changes on the Lao people and their particular link to food security and malnutrition have to be evaluated in depth and their evolution closely monitored.
The analysis shows that the main food group that differentiates households with acceptable food consumption from households with poor or borderline food consumption is animal protein, mostly wild fish and meats. Access to such food sources is therefore critical in ensuring acceptable food consumption. Promotion of a higher intake of fruits, oil and fat would also be highly desirable.
Children’s nutritional status
The level of chronic malnutrition, or stunting, is alarmingly high in Lao PDR. Every second rural child under 5 years of age is stunted. The survey shows that 38 percent of rural children under 5 are underweight. Wasting is at 8 percent for the same group. There has been no improvement in the chronic malnutrition in Lao PDR over the past 10 years. A small reduction in underweight has been noted, and some reduction in wasting. These reductions are positive, but the persistently high chronic malnutrition rate remains a big challenge.
Somsak,
Outsiders are specially interested in Thailand, because of the parallels between Thai current affairs and the last 400 years of European history. Whereas the struggle between absolutism and democracy is largely over in Europe, it is very much alive in Thailand. Present developments in Thailand throw light on what is really the biggest story of European modern history, and more importantly for Thais, vice-versa.
This is truely a shame for Darunee (along with all others facing this draconian trial) and a disgusting blight on Thailand.
Where are those thugs who closed two airports for eight days, obstructed government and police from going about their duties, shot at, with fatal and injurious results, the police and civilians?
Where is that young chap, from very wealthy family, who intentionaly drove his Mercedes into innocent by-standers, causing death and disability?
Such good advice, so it’s a shame that you can’t follow it yourself. If you had bothered reading through the thread you would have found my “someone accused me of being an absolutist” referred to a comment by RN, not yourself.
Also of course, if you had bothered reading what others wrote you would have found out I was probably not an academic. I left school at 16 which was 3 years more than my father. My children have gone much further which makes me happy. Believe me I have nothing against academics and I’m jealous of their opportunities to bury themselves in books. There are some that I respect, but I respect them as people not for what they are as many Thai people tend to do.
So you and other academics are able deconstruct the Pibul regimes and say they were not fascist. Good for you, I’m sure there are scholars in Europe who can do the same with the Franco governments. And yes it’s probably true I come from a generation that threw the word fascist around too much. But one thing I have learned over the many years I’ve been around is “don’t believe everything you are told” even if it is by an academic and the more that someone shouts to get their point across the less likely they have a good argument.
So Somsak carry on doing what you do, even possibly as an expert on recent Thai history, confirming or denying those rumours I heard many years ago. Me, I would rather be a fool than become you. And when Thai kids with just a basic upcountry education start to get killed in the streets, their leaders in the academic world can be sitting at their desks in Chula or Thammasat, writing modern Thai history.
Tragic and and unjust, but I’m not sure we should call her Thailand’s Suu Kyi. She’s not the legally elected leader, as Suu Kyi was. Torpedo is an agitator, a courageous but prickly exception to the Thai rule of compliance and silence. That doesn’t make her a Suu Kyi or a Mandela, not nearly. She’s more like a Patrick Henry-type, a one-note symbol. Not a leader of state.
Lets not ruin two important things with sloppy parallels.
Somsak, I actually agree and sympathise with you almost everywhere, but your posts (and mine, I admit) are showing obvious signs of frustration as the debate degenerates.
What I am missing is a better quality argument for absolutism.
Reg: The issue was not whether Thaksin was an “internationalist”. I pointed out what his critics said. You weren’t asked to sign up to a Thaksin fan club, just to consider that the terms used lacked nuance and thought. You might also note my use of words like “riven by contradictions” and “recognizing that there were also ‘nationalist’ policies” before jumping to far toward conclusions.
Somkiet at #4 is wrong about Europe – this has been pointed out many times in the past. On Saudi Arabia – not sure. Any references?
Kira at #16: “She did not just express her opinion, did she? She accused the establishment of things they never did and even threatened and incited violence against the head of state.” Yes, she did express her opinion. Did she incite violence against a head of state? Actually, that is not the issue. She is convicted of insulting the monarch and the queen. That’s different. Did she incite violence? That would seem a matter of opinion. We’ll never know if the court even considered the question as it was a closed court.
Second : the politicians who are toying with lese-majeste law… are making a big mistake… they attract light… and with such INSANE verdict, they put a HUGE WEIGHT on the King’s shoulders…
Because, now, the burning issue will be : will the King pardon her ?
Yes ? Or no ?
So again, even a child could understand that the first rule of lese-majeste law is that : you don’t use the lese-majeste law.
But all those maniacs don’t understand this basic principle.
They pretend to defend the monarchy. But actually, they are the hotest destroyers of the monarchy.
Poor Somsak is incoherent with rage at the tiresome Les Abbey. Relief may be in sight. Les Abbey appears to have promised to stop flooding New Madala with verbiage if people are less than polite to him.
That would be most unfortunate. While I am in general political agreement with most who post here (and with Nich and Andrew), I do think the blog benefits from posters who disagree with the general tenor here, so long as they remain civil in their disagreement and refrain from personal or ad hominum attacks (I won’t name names, but you know who you are). Our discussions may have been a bit heated, but I have mostly enjoyed my debate with Les Abbey so far. It would be a shame if he stopped posting b/c he feels his views are unwelcome here.
“..he was one of the very few individuals to receive his PhD degree from Cornell University’s Southeast Asia Program without having visited his country of study.”
I would say ipso facto proof of the bankruptcy of western Southeast Asian studies.
Great review. Western standards of academic productivity over a period of several decades consist of repeating the same ideas and adding one chapter. This really amounts to a joke.
Cradle to grave academic jobs insulated from the real world and academic tenure to protect “freedom of thought” ?
More likely protect the upper-middle class elite who can afford or at least appreciate the value of a PhD.
When will it ever change? When people realize that the web is the medium, for papers, books, shared course materials…
Ralph. None of those things exactly indicate Thaksin is an internationalist. They’re are all about his finding ways to harness the state for his own personal profit. I suppose you are now going to tell me that he didn’t stand to gain massively from those moves.
“So if Thaksin is a “xenophobe” it is difficult to know what his critics were “uber-xenophobes”?”
Well, I am inclined to agree with that. Army, police, military, civil service, big business types. A very self-serving lot who like nothing better than a cheap labor economy. However, it is possible to be a Thaksin critic without belonging to this exclusive club. Indeed, my main criticism of the man is actually that he tried to pull exactly the same corrupt stunts as his critics. Having seen them in action for way too many years, I am not about to run out and endorse a man who has exactly the same completely cranked-out ultra-nationalist tricks up his sleeve.
Hey Sween, you haven’t read my comments at all. You are just putting your spin on them. You might want to look at the comment about freshies tp side and wonder if that is a pro-elite remark. I most certainly don’t belong to the wealthy (so-called) educated elite of this country. Perish the thought!
I’m actually criticizing the very same people you accuse me of supporting. For all their supposed wealth and education, neither side in this conflict has done anything concrete to help the electorate other than sling them the occasional desultory 500-1000 baht in return for a mandate to rob them of even bigger sums of money. I have yet to see a single government in this country that is capable of really listening & responding to their ordinary citizens needs. All they do is preach down. One turgid sermon after the next. The elite aren’t even remotely capable of following the rules themselves, so how do they ever expect any one else to do so.
Yes, ‘they’ have a heart. Much more so than their self-appointed rulers. As for education, all I see is university-educated people who think it is OK to steal other people’s money and assets.
My original post is about the need for more choice than the current lousy choice of two factions with the same corrupt intent.
I’m listening. You seem to be listening. That’s more than we could ever say about either side in this ridiculous power struggle.
She did not just express her opinion, did she? She accused the establishment of things they never did and even threatened and incited violence against the head of state. I suppose it is ok to say that you would guillotine someone as part of free speech in some countries? Even so, I still think the sentence is a bit harsh (not).
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Thailand’s royal disgrace
I would not mind seeing her being stoned by the crowd bearing in mind what she said. I do not think it was acceptable for her to theaten to guillotine anybody, let alone the person that is the head of the state. Who cares if she made a political speech, but she dug her own grave by making rubbish, vicious statements. Still, I don’t think she should have been sentenced to 18 years in prison for her stupidity. I want to see her out of jail as soon as possible to face her punishment in a variety of other ways. That would be even better.
Review of Taylor
Ah, jonfernquest at it again. The certain proof jonfernquest offers for the bankruptcy of “western Southeast Asian studies” is that Taylor completed a doctoral dissertation on Burma without getting to the country. But look at the context of that point in the review: “What explains Taylor’s particular vantage point? In his New Mandala interview Taylor tells us that because of visa restrictions for American citizens at the time, he was one of the very few individuals to receive his PhD degree from Cornell University’s Southeast Asia Program without having visited his country of study. He scrambled to overcome this disadvantage with extended visits inside Burma and advanced Burmese language study long after he had completed his doctorate in 1974.”
If we took jonfernquest’s comment seriously, then, at that time, no budding scholar should have been allowed to study Burma.
And this ignores jonfernquest’s own comment at the NM interview with Taylor: “Robert Taylor is a fine scholar. If it wasn’t for him, ‘Burma Studies’ would have long ago succumbed to sloppy scholarship in support of ideological points…”.
What was that about ideological points?
Thailand’s royal disgrace
Taro: what do you suggest? Perhaps now that Thailand is again executing people, then having her sent to the lethal injection room might be enough to quench your royalist thirst for punishment of people who say things in public that you think are damaging to the king and queen.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
She did NOT JUST make a political speech. Shame on her for making accusation like that. She deserved more than 18 years in jail.
Spot the forest encroacher
Nice. Humor. It’s in short supply today in Thailand.
I guess Daeng. He looks like the criminal type.
Development options for Laos?
Hi Andrew/New Mandala:
Thank you for raising this important and complex issue.
You wrote: “the letter concludes by calling for approaches that would ‘prioritize alternative options for meeting Laos’ development needs, options that would in fact increase people’s food security and decrease poverty.’ I would like to see a little more detail on what those options might be.”
To my mind some of the most compelling research conducted recently on food security and rural poverty in rural Laos, comes from Jutta Krahn’s research and the World Food Program’s 2007 study. Ian Baird cites this study in the Don Sahong report.
The main conclusions from the WFP work are worth consideration.
The research suggests that the current model of promoting foreign direct investment into resource megaprojects in Laos, has not, to date, resulted in a broad-based improvement in food security or nutrition in the countryside.
It seems to me that instead of demanding more details on the options and alternatives to hydropower megaprojects (there are many good options and local initiatives), the onus should rather be upon the proponents of hydropower megaprojects, to provide legally enforceable guarantees, based on detailed, nationally and independently reviewed plans, studies, impact assessments, and baseline research, that their projects– which will inevitably undermine wild fishery stocks– will yet produce overall improvements in local nutrition, food security, incomes, and development options for immediately affected communities, while also providing solutions to the broader problems with child malnourishment and underdevelopment in rural and upland areas.
Given the track record in Laos and the Mekong region, with uncompensated and unmitigated socio-ecological externalities from large-scale hydropower development, including Nam Theun II, I would argue that the weight of existing evidence still favours the hydropower skeptics.
But perhaps others have some arguments which would be worth hearing?
Sincerely,
— Keith Barney
======================
Lao PDR: Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) (2007, World Food Programme)
Available at:
http://www.wfp.org/content/laos-comprehensive-food-security-vulnerability-analysis-cfsva
Selection of main conclusion:
тАв Chronic malnutrition in rural Lao PDR is alarmingly high. Every second child in the rural areas is chronically malnourished, affecting not only their physical development but also their cognitive capacity.
тАв The steady economic growth that Lao PDR has experienced over the past 15 years, has not translated into improved nutritional status of the rural Lao population. Chronic malnutrition is as high today as it was ten years ago.
тАв Thirteen percent of the rural households have poor food consumption (at harvest time).
тАв Two thirds of the rural households have a livelihood portfolio that puts them at risk of becoming food insecure should one or more shocks occur in a given year.
тАв Dietary intake of fat is too low. Use of vegetable oil in the diet is rare, and most of the fat comes from animal sources.
тАв Managed access to wild meat and aquatic resources (animal protein) is critical for ensuring food security for vulnerable groups. Wild meat and aquatic resources, especially wild fish, is the biggest source of animal protein in rural Lao PDR. Consumption of domesticated animals can currently not compensate for a potential
loss of access to and availability of wildlife.
Rapid changes in rural Laos, especially in the uplands, are also being driven by other forces that include fast-rising agribusiness (such as large scale plantations of rubber, corn, sugar cane), mining and hydropower development, and other foreign direct investments. The potentials but also potentially adverse effects of these livelihood changes on the Lao people and their particular link to food security and malnutrition have to be evaluated in depth and their evolution closely monitored.
The analysis shows that the main food group that differentiates households with acceptable food consumption from households with poor or borderline food consumption is animal protein, mostly wild fish and meats. Access to such food sources is therefore critical in ensuring acceptable food consumption. Promotion of a higher intake of fruits, oil and fat would also be highly desirable.
Children’s nutritional status
The level of chronic malnutrition, or stunting, is alarmingly high in Lao PDR. Every second rural child under 5 years of age is stunted. The survey shows that 38 percent of rural children under 5 are underweight. Wasting is at 8 percent for the same group. There has been no improvement in the chronic malnutrition in Lao PDR over the past 10 years. A small reduction in underweight has been noted, and some reduction in wasting. These reductions are positive, but the persistently high chronic malnutrition rate remains a big challenge.
====
Montesano on Thailand in April 2009
Somsak,
Outsiders are specially interested in Thailand, because of the parallels between Thai current affairs and the last 400 years of European history. Whereas the struggle between absolutism and democracy is largely over in Europe, it is very much alive in Thailand. Present developments in Thailand throw light on what is really the biggest story of European modern history, and more importantly for Thais, vice-versa.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
This is truely a shame for Darunee (along with all others facing this draconian trial) and a disgusting blight on Thailand.
Where are those thugs who closed two airports for eight days, obstructed government and police from going about their duties, shot at, with fatal and injurious results, the police and civilians?
Where is that young chap, from very wealthy family, who intentionaly drove his Mercedes into innocent by-standers, causing death and disability?
The Land of Smiles and gross injustice.
Montesano on Thailand in April 2009
Somsak –
Read what I wrote:
Such good advice, so it’s a shame that you can’t follow it yourself. If you had bothered reading through the thread you would have found my “someone accused me of being an absolutist” referred to a comment by RN, not yourself.
Also of course, if you had bothered reading what others wrote you would have found out I was probably not an academic. I left school at 16 which was 3 years more than my father. My children have gone much further which makes me happy. Believe me I have nothing against academics and I’m jealous of their opportunities to bury themselves in books. There are some that I respect, but I respect them as people not for what they are as many Thai people tend to do.
So you and other academics are able deconstruct the Pibul regimes and say they were not fascist. Good for you, I’m sure there are scholars in Europe who can do the same with the Franco governments. And yes it’s probably true I come from a generation that threw the word fascist around too much. But one thing I have learned over the many years I’ve been around is “don’t believe everything you are told” even if it is by an academic and the more that someone shouts to get their point across the less likely they have a good argument.
So Somsak carry on doing what you do, even possibly as an expert on recent Thai history, confirming or denying those rumours I heard many years ago. Me, I would rather be a fool than become you. And when Thai kids with just a basic upcountry education start to get killed in the streets, their leaders in the academic world can be sitting at their desks in Chula or Thammasat, writing modern Thai history.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
Tragic and and unjust, but I’m not sure we should call her Thailand’s Suu Kyi. She’s not the legally elected leader, as Suu Kyi was. Torpedo is an agitator, a courageous but prickly exception to the Thai rule of compliance and silence. That doesn’t make her a Suu Kyi or a Mandela, not nearly. She’s more like a Patrick Henry-type, a one-note symbol. Not a leader of state.
Lets not ruin two important things with sloppy parallels.
Montesano on Thailand in April 2009
Somsak, I actually agree and sympathise with you almost everywhere, but your posts (and mine, I admit) are showing obvious signs of frustration as the debate degenerates.
What I am missing is a better quality argument for absolutism.
King Bhumibol expresses his worries
Reg: The issue was not whether Thaksin was an “internationalist”. I pointed out what his critics said. You weren’t asked to sign up to a Thaksin fan club, just to consider that the terms used lacked nuance and thought. You might also note my use of words like “riven by contradictions” and “recognizing that there were also ‘nationalist’ policies” before jumping to far toward conclusions.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
Somkiet at #4 is wrong about Europe – this has been pointed out many times in the past. On Saudi Arabia – not sure. Any references?
Kira at #16: “She did not just express her opinion, did she? She accused the establishment of things they never did and even threatened and incited violence against the head of state.” Yes, she did express her opinion. Did she incite violence against a head of state? Actually, that is not the issue. She is convicted of insulting the monarch and the queen. That’s different. Did she incite violence? That would seem a matter of opinion. We’ll never know if the court even considered the question as it was a closed court.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
First : people have to know what Da Torpedo actually said.
http://thaicrisis.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/lese-majeste-quotes-of-the-infamous-speech-general-prem-russia-royal-family-guillotine/
Second : the politicians who are toying with lese-majeste law… are making a big mistake… they attract light… and with such INSANE verdict, they put a HUGE WEIGHT on the King’s shoulders…
Because, now, the burning issue will be : will the King pardon her ?
Yes ? Or no ?
So again, even a child could understand that the first rule of lese-majeste law is that : you don’t use the lese-majeste law.
But all those maniacs don’t understand this basic principle.
They pretend to defend the monarchy. But actually, they are the hotest destroyers of the monarchy.
For that matter : it’s a double shame.
Montesano on Thailand in April 2009
Poor Somsak is incoherent with rage at the tiresome Les Abbey. Relief may be in sight. Les Abbey appears to have promised to stop flooding New Madala with verbiage if people are less than polite to him.
That would be most unfortunate. While I am in general political agreement with most who post here (and with Nich and Andrew), I do think the blog benefits from posters who disagree with the general tenor here, so long as they remain civil in their disagreement and refrain from personal or ad hominum attacks (I won’t name names, but you know who you are). Our discussions may have been a bit heated, but I have mostly enjoyed my debate with Les Abbey so far. It would be a shame if he stopped posting b/c he feels his views are unwelcome here.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
This is the Thai Aung Kyi case. Shame you Thailand
Review of Taylor
“..he was one of the very few individuals to receive his PhD degree from Cornell University’s Southeast Asia Program without having visited his country of study.”
I would say ipso facto proof of the bankruptcy of western Southeast Asian studies.
Great review. Western standards of academic productivity over a period of several decades consist of repeating the same ideas and adding one chapter. This really amounts to a joke.
Cradle to grave academic jobs insulated from the real world and academic tenure to protect “freedom of thought” ?
More likely protect the upper-middle class elite who can afford or at least appreciate the value of a PhD.
When will it ever change? When people realize that the web is the medium, for papers, books, shared course materials…
King Bhumibol expresses his worries
Ralph. None of those things exactly indicate Thaksin is an internationalist. They’re are all about his finding ways to harness the state for his own personal profit. I suppose you are now going to tell me that he didn’t stand to gain massively from those moves.
“So if Thaksin is a “xenophobe” it is difficult to know what his critics were “uber-xenophobes”?”
Well, I am inclined to agree with that. Army, police, military, civil service, big business types. A very self-serving lot who like nothing better than a cheap labor economy. However, it is possible to be a Thaksin critic without belonging to this exclusive club. Indeed, my main criticism of the man is actually that he tried to pull exactly the same corrupt stunts as his critics. Having seen them in action for way too many years, I am not about to run out and endorse a man who has exactly the same completely cranked-out ultra-nationalist tricks up his sleeve.
Security forces prepare for next Thaksin phone-in
Hey Sween, you haven’t read my comments at all. You are just putting your spin on them. You might want to look at the comment about freshies tp side and wonder if that is a pro-elite remark. I most certainly don’t belong to the wealthy (so-called) educated elite of this country. Perish the thought!
I’m actually criticizing the very same people you accuse me of supporting. For all their supposed wealth and education, neither side in this conflict has done anything concrete to help the electorate other than sling them the occasional desultory 500-1000 baht in return for a mandate to rob them of even bigger sums of money. I have yet to see a single government in this country that is capable of really listening & responding to their ordinary citizens needs. All they do is preach down. One turgid sermon after the next. The elite aren’t even remotely capable of following the rules themselves, so how do they ever expect any one else to do so.
Yes, ‘they’ have a heart. Much more so than their self-appointed rulers. As for education, all I see is university-educated people who think it is OK to steal other people’s money and assets.
My original post is about the need for more choice than the current lousy choice of two factions with the same corrupt intent.
I’m listening. You seem to be listening. That’s more than we could ever say about either side in this ridiculous power struggle.
Thailand’s royal disgrace
She did not just express her opinion, did she? She accused the establishment of things they never did and even threatened and incited violence against the head of state. I suppose it is ok to say that you would guillotine someone as part of free speech in some countries? Even so, I still think the sentence is a bit harsh (not).