News Forum - Russian Ambassador meets with Phuket officials, discusses establishing a sister city

[Manu]

9 hours ago, WR2 said:

Between the taxi Mafia and the hoards of disgusting rude Russians (the only tourists worse than Chinese), I have no desire to ever go back to Phuket ever again.  There's so many other better beach destinations in Thailand and the rest of SE Asia.

Yeah it is now the right time to let the Russian hate out, not that some people did not do it before, god knows they did, but now I guess it is more appropriate to let the hate out. My thoughts right now also go to the now 1000s of brave russians that have been arrested by their own Putin regime and are facing jail after protesting against the war in multiple cities in Russia. They will also suffer the actions of their mad leader. It is always our leaders that take us to war, but is there really in the whole world any normal human being that want war? In Ukraine? In Russia? Anywhere?

 

[Stonker]

7 hours ago, JamesR said:

It may not be racist as such but just self interest which happens within every country in the world not just Europe, all countries are only involved or cares if it suits them.

It has nothing to do with white Christians or any other religion as most people in the UK for instance are not Christians, most have no religion. 

We'll have to disagree rather strongly on that.

I'm absolutely sure it has far more to do with racism than self interest - after all, very few countries are actually affected by the invasion unless they choose to be involved.

... and I think it has a great deal to do with their being white, while if not directly to do with their being Christian then to do with their not being Muslim.

Why have none of those getting the most upset - Europe, the US and UK - done the square route of diddley about far worse in Yemen, the Gulf and across Africa when their 'interests' weren't affected any less? Pure coincidence, of course, that the others are all black, brown and Muslim! 

7 hours ago, JamesR said:

And I am not sure if there ever has been a world war, if the West are fighting then it is called a WW, for instance in WW2 only fifty out of the two hundred countries (200 depending on a countries politics) in the world fought. 

Going off topic, but at that time there were far less than '200 countries' and very few were non-aligned or didn't participate, and even many of those who didn't participate technically such as Thailand and Ireland were heavily involved - and 'the West' has fought in far more wars than WW's 1 and 2, from the Vikings and Romans to 1066, the Crusades. Agincourt, the Armada, and Napoleon.

[Stonker]

11 hours ago, Soidog said:

Would you like to give some examples of where “Farangs” (whoever they are) have been silent when soldiers are killing private citizens? Please don’t give examples such as Iraq and Afghanistan or you will be inundated with news clips of “Farang” protesters in just about every major city in “Farang land” 

Currently?

Yemen, Iran, Israel, Syria, Libya, and too many in Africa to name.

Recently? Sri Lanka, Fiji, India, Egypt, Hong Kong and again across Africa and South America, such as Argentina and Chile.

Previously? Most of the colonies, from Kenya to India, and obviously the Gulf and all the above.

With a bit more thought rather than off the top of my head, probably plenty more.

... but nobody likes being told they're racist hypocrites, particularly the West and 'farangs'.

[francoa]

14 hours ago, Tim_Melb said:

That would force them to join with Russia and support Russia. Is that what you want to achieve? 

They are supporting Russia, that is why the world has to unite. Starting with banning Russian planes over their territories 

[Insurgent]

18 hours ago, JamesR said:

Rest of the world?

It is more like a few Western countries. 

You need to get out more ! Try educating yourself before making up stories ! 189 members of the United Nations out of 193 condemned Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine…only one said NO “Russia “no surprise 3 abstained! 

[Insurgent]

18 hours ago, JamesR said:

It is funny reading all the moans and complaints about this topic regarding the lack of reaction towards the Russians by Thailand.

The farangs complaining have been quite silent for years on what is happening to other countries around the world where private citizens are being killed by soldiers.

But now because the Russians are up to no good which directly affects them they think the rest of the world should help. 

How selfish.

Which countries? You really have no idea what is happening 

[Tim_Melb]

5 hours ago, francoa said:

They are supporting Russia, that is why the world has to unite. Starting with banning Russian planes over their territories 

Agreed the world needs to unite in sanctions and banning Russian trade and transport. But we cannot punish neutrality that achieves nothing other than pushing the undecided into the arms of Russia and China. We need to deal with the neutral countries by showing them and convincing them of the atrocities that Putin has committed and continues to commit and the validity of peaceful sanctions and restrictions on Russia as a way of pressing Putin to stop. 

[JamesR]

12 hours ago, Soidog said:

If speaking out and helping support a democratic sovereign nation isn’t in the national interest, then I don’t know what is. Unless of course your own nation is itself controlled by a dictator and undemocratic. As the saying goes: The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing. 

And most of do do nothing except maybe talking/writing/complaining about it.

If you think talking or writing about something is 'helping' in that it won't change things then I agree.

[JamesR]

4 hours ago, Insurgent said:

Which countries? You really have no idea what is happening 

Do you realise there are two hundred countries in the world who are mostly ignoring what is going on in the Ukraine?

[JamesR]

4 hours ago, Insurgent said:

You need to get out more ! Try educating yourself before making up stories ! 189 members of the United Nations out of 193 condemned Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine…only one said NO “Russia “no surprise 3 abstained! 

Yea right, a few words won't make much difference, they will still use Russian gas/oil etc, it is easy to talk. 

You should get out more and realise the world does not revolve around sitting at a computer talking like a five year old. 

[JamesR]

10 hours ago, Stonker said:

Currently?

Yemen, Iran, Israel, Syria, Libya, and too many in Africa to name.

Recently? Sri Lanka, Fiji, India, Egypt, Hong Kong and again across Africa and South America, such as Argentina and Chile.

Previously? Most of the colonies, from Kenya to India, and obviously the Gulf and all the above.

With a bit more thought rather than off the top of my head, probably plenty more.

... but nobody likes being told they're racist hypocrites, particularly the West and 'farangs'.

Every country in the world is a racist and hypocrite not just the West.

Most of the world is just talking about the Ukraine just to make it seem they are part of the solution but in affect will do nothing. 

[Stardust]

9 hours ago, francoa said:

They are supporting Russia, that is why the world has to unite. Starting with banning Russian planes over their territories 

Russian planes will be soon no where they cut today any spareparts delivery to Russian Airlines. And most airspace of the world is already blocked for all Russian aircrafts.

[JamesR]

10 hours ago, Stonker said:

We'll have to disagree rather strongly on that.

I'm absolutely sure it has far more to do with racism than self interest - after all, very few countries are actually affected by the invasion unless they choose to be involved.

... and I think it has a great deal to do with their being white, while if not directly to do with their being Christian then to do with their not being Muslim.

Why have none of those getting the most upset - Europe, the US and UK - done the square route of diddley about far worse in Yemen, the Gulf and across Africa when their 'interests' weren't affected any less? Pure coincidence, of course, that the others are all black, brown and Muslim! 

Going off topic, but at that time there were far less than '200 countries' and very few were non-aligned or didn't participate, and even many of those who didn't participate technically such as Thailand and Ireland were heavily involved - and 'the West' has fought in far more wars than WW's 1 and 2, from the Vikings and Romans to 1066, the Crusades. Agincourt, the Armada, and Napoleon.

True,Thailand was involved, they were on the side of the Japanese after the alliance treaty in 1941.

In 1942 Thailand declared war on the allies.

"from the Vikings and Romans to 1066, the Crusades. Agincourt, the Armada, and Napoleon." None of these were world wars.

[JamesR]

16 hours ago, Fundok said:

So if you haven't made negative experiences with neither you've been lucky I would say. Russians can be very annoying, especially when drunk. And they do like to drink. Chinese can be very special too. But then, also other nationalities can make nasty tourists too.

A few years ago I stayed for two nights in a very large hotel near Pattaya, apart from the three of us everyone else in the hotel were Russian.

They seemed quite polite to me on the beach, in the hotel bars and shops and in the restaurants, they were very quiet in general. 

I met a group of Russians three years ago at a bar in Phuket, very educated and polite and were interesting to talk to. 

A few years before that I was sitting at a hotel restaurant in Phuket, there were two of us, a group of Russians invited us to sit with them and we had a very fun evening.

It also happened to me with a group of Chinese.

If you pre-judge people they will see it on your face and will avoid people like that, maybe that is the reason you think them unfriendly as they see you as unfriendly. 

[JamesR]

12 hours ago, Stardust said:

It is clear who will win. China cannot deliver anymore because Germany said no, the Russians are kicked out of the world finance, trading, their economy was already before down and now it is complety crashed, Russian banks bankrupt, the Russian Central Bank is blocked and the Russian reserves are frozen and taken. All loans of Thailand are in Euro and US dollars like with Thai airways the debitors are Germany, Swiss, USA and Japan, thats why they had to apply there at the courts for debt protection that they can operate. Guess where the reserves of Thailand are. Not in China

The Russians planned this for years and over those years they have build up massive amounts of reserves including gold, the reserves can not be blocked as you say as they are in Russian and under Russian control.

It will take quite a while, well after they have completed the take-over of the Ukraine before external policies affect them. 

[JamesR]

15 hours ago, Thommo said:

It must make it right then

It makes it so we do a lot of talking but not a lot o doing.

[Stardust]

9 minutes ago, JamesR said:

The Russians planned this for years and over those years they have build up massive amounts of reserves including gold, the reserves can not be blocked as you say as they are in Russian and under Russian control.

It will take quite a while, well after they have completed the take-over of the Ukraine before external policies affect them. 

Most of them are in Europe and their accounts are frozen and they will now also seizing their yachts, gold assets and villas. Today news in France.

[JamesR]

11 hours ago, Politenessman said:

Some years ago I decked a Russian tourist who was aggressively demanding cash from all and sundry (he grabbed me) in a Phuket bar.

and the Chinese are renowned in Thailand for their lack of manners (eg crapping in the moat in Chiang Mai in broad daylight).  

I suggest staying away from rough bars, many rough people go to rough bars including rough Russians so it may bias your experiences of tourists in Thailand. 

[Vigo]

Of course we would want the Thais to have done something different, but we all knew they would do something like this didn't we?  The Thais see this a European problem and in large part it is. It's a horrific and wrongful act, but this is typical of much of European history is it not? Up until recently, much of the core bloc of western Europe enabled Russia with UK, Switzerland, Benelux  providing safe haven for Russian money transit, and France,  and Germany did their utmost resisting any sanctions against Russia. Even USA last administration wanted to bring back Russia to G8. 

Why then would we expect Thailand to do anything when the Europeans themselves did little for too long? The Europeans certainly won't touch the precious oil and gas which gives Russia USD 1 billion/day.

Yes, I too am disgusted with Thailand in this matter, but they are more transparent than many of the countries which continue to transact with Russia. The other day, PM of Pakistan was in Russia to heap praise on Putin and to sign deal to buy oil and arms. When the UN security council was asked to condemn Russia action, UAE, India and China abstained.  India with all its problems with its border and illegal occupation of Kashmir, showed true character. 

Anyway, with Apple and Google pay suspended, access of Russia banks to Visa and MasterCard and  collapse of rouble,Russian tourism will take a holiday and we will not see regular Russian visitors for a long time.  Thailand won't take vodka and potato for barter.

 

 

[JamesR]

11 hours ago, Stardust said:

Most airspace of the world already blocked for any Russian aircraft. Started today. Already the Bospurus is blocked for russian navy. They are locked in Nato countries area in the mediteran sea.

No airspace anywhere is blocked, Boris Johnson was asked to block the airspace over the Ukraine and he said no as it would mean shooting Russian planes down causing an escallation in the conflict. 

Airports can block planes from landing at their airports but no one is banning the passage of aircraft over its airspace due to the above. 

[Stardust]

5 minutes ago, JamesR said:

No airspace anywhere is blocked, Boris Johnson was asked to block the airspace over the Ukraine and he said no as it would mean shooting Russian planes down causing an escallation in the conflict. 

Airports can block planes from landing at their airports but no one is banning the passage of aircraft over its airspace due to the above. 

The airspace over europe and til USA,Canada etc is blocked for any aircraft from Russia.

https://www.reuters.com/business/airspace-closures-after-ukraine-invasion-stretch-global-supply-chains-2022-03-01/

I wonder where your sources are for information because it is in all news outlets in Europe.

[Soidog]

52 minutes ago, JamesR said:

And most of do do nothing except maybe talking/writing/complaining about it.

If you think talking or writing about something is 'helping' in that it won't change things then I agree.

James, You are changing the topic to suit your agenda. You claimed no one in the west complained.  Can you defend your initial comment or respect yourself and concede you made an erroneous comment. 

[Stardust]

1 minute ago, Stardust said:

The airspace over europe and til USA,Canada etc is blocked for any aircraft from Russia.

https://www.reuters.com/business/airspace-closures-after-ukraine-invasion-stretch-global-supply-chains-2022-03-01/

I wonder where your sources are for information because it is in all news outlets in Europe.

By the way it was also in the uk news 2 days ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60539303

 

[Stonker]

47 minutes ago, JamesR said:

Every country in the world is a racist and hypocrite not just the West.

Most of the world is just talking about the Ukraine just to make it seem they are part of the solution but in affect will do nothing. 

Agreed absolutely, @JamesR, but unfortunately its those from the West who are pushing the "if you're not with us you're against us" meme.

[Stardust]

13 minutes ago, JamesR said:

No airspace anywhere is blocked, Boris Johnson was asked to block the airspace over the Ukraine and he said no as it would mean shooting Russian planes down causing an escallation in the conflict. 

Airports can block planes from landing at their airports but no one is banning the passage of aircraft over its airspace due to the above. 

Btw nobody needs the uk for blocking the airspace. If the Eu block the airspace no aircraft can go the uk anyway. They go also now on media outlets who are involved missiformation campaigns from Russia

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/27/22953563/eu-ban-russia-aircraft-state-backed-media-ukraine-sanctions