OPINION

Airline in distress

Re: "Govt prods THAI about plane buys", (BP, Sept 21).

So, loss-making THAI plans to spend over 100 billion baht on new aircraft by the end of this year. Technically, doesn't this make THAI bankrupt when its outgoings exceed its income and other assets?

Also, during the above-mentioned probe, will this include, or conclude, the investigation into the alleged massive bribery scandal which engine supplier Rolls-Royce said it engaged in a few years ago with officials in Thailand, or, has this been swept under the carpet?

Re: "Team seeks to reverse THAI's fortunes", (BP, Sept 21).

Most passengers look first and foremost at the cost of flying prior to other considerations. THAI is usually more expensive than its competitors for international flights.

As long as I can fly from Toronto or San Francisco to Bangkok and back, safely and comfortably, I'm concerned with the price, not how great the food is, or how it is presented.

Most airline food is the same, (except that served by the Chinese carriers which I avoid taking at all, regardless of price or amenities).

Re: "Complainants lose millions to scheme", (BP, Sept 20).

The urge to make money seems to rob many of any sound judgement, let alone critical thinking. The perpetrators of those offences should of course be neutralised but aren't the "victims" also to blame for their blind pursuit of money that caused them to be taken advantage of? As someone said: "If a deal is too good to be true, it is too good to be true".

Re: "Winds of change", (PostBag, Sept 19).

In the 1950s it was global cooling and they predicted the return of the ice age. In the 1980s it was global warming and they conjectured the polar ice caps would melt and the coming of the second great flood.

Now they're not sure what they are talking about, so they toned it down to climate change and concluded it is man made. I'm glad they don't blame mankind for earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, or do they?

Considering the earth is 4.5 billion years old (6,000 years for creationists), this climate change thing could be a natural phenomenon that occurs in cycle, say, every 2,000 years or 10,000 or even a million years, and it has nothing to do with mankind.

So relax, we are going to die anyway.

I suggest Eric Bahrt read "No, global warming isn't causing worse hurricanes" on the New York Post website. So much for Mr Bahrt blaming Trump for an increase in hurricanes due to global warning. To help Mr Bahrt and others, the first paragraph of the story reads, it's human nature to assign blame for catastrophes. In medieval times, witches were blamed for weather woes. Trials and burnings increased when the weather got worse. In hurricane season today, many find a scapegoat in global warming.

A little over four years ago I happened upon the Bangkok Post insert including soi dogs available for adoption. We had recently lost our dog to cancer, and felt compelled to adopt and save a life from the local area here in Bangkok. The pictures including a brief description and easy-to-reach phone number put us quickly in contact with Pickapet4home.

As we all know living in Bangkok, the soi dog and street cat situation is a difficult one to manage. Those locals, especially those willing to be a go-between for expats to get involved, should continue to be a part of the Bangkok Post. Many expats are in situations that allow them to find local adoption and truly make an impact. For us, this is how we now have one rescued soi dog from Pickapet4home and a rescued street cat from a local cat organisation.

This section not only gives quick access for expat pet lovers to get involved with local service organisations around the saving of and humane treatment of animals, but it also puts into the limelight one of Bangkok's bigger issues -- addressing the soi dog and cat population. I hope you reconsider and put it back.

The recent condemnation of Myanmar for its forced removal and violent abuse of the Rohingya is going to have great difficulty getting any traction due to the "big five's" attitude towards accepting any criticism. Britain and France, who attained whole empires by insisting that religious superiority gave them the right to rob and plunder, are showing little interest in intervening. America, a country whose natives were removed in similar ways to the Burmese atrocities, has just expanded on its opinion that no-one has the right to judge them for the deaths they have instigated worldwide with their military involvement in places thousands of miles from home soil. Russia has shown no interest in listening to criticism and its takeover of Crimea has passed with little comment. China, battling to hold onto both Tibet and Xinjiang and deeply involved in religious persecution, has no time for alternative opinions or argument. The UN with its outdated and hopeless policy of veto by any of the big five can talk all it wants, no final decision will ever be issued.

The big powers of our modern world think, and often act, like they can do what they want and always get away with it. They do. They are not ashamed, millions of deaths around the world haven't caused pause for thought from any of them. Who is going to stand up for the Rohingya if it opens the tiniest crack that allows people to criticise them. The days of international tribunals look to be over. By their past and present behaviour the powerful countries of the world have shown they aren't fit to pass judgement when they are in fact the worst offenders.

Of course the right-wing thugs on Fox "News" don't give a hoot if Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh is a sexual predator. The demented Judge Jeanine Pirro was screaming on her Fox "News" programme that Kavanaugh is innocent until proven guilty. This is the same Judge Jeanine Pirro who had said earlier that Hillary Clinton should be thrown in jail when she was never even indicted.

Of course Anita Roderick, who is as phoney as a three-dollar bill, is a favourite guest on Fox simply because she accused Bill Clinton of raping her. No presumption of innocence here!

Actually, "innocent until proven guilty" refers to a court of law and Kavanaugh is not on trial. The US Senate has every right to deny him a place on the Supreme Court if they even suspect he's guilty of sexual assault. Proof is not required.

Re: "Back in Beijing's orbit", (Asia Focus, Sept 17).

Larry Jagan writes that Myanmar's President Thein Sein suspended the $3.6 billion Myitsone dam project in 2011 "because that (sic) vast majority of the power that would be generated would be exported to China". There's another possible reason for the decision to halt work on the Chinese-backed project on the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River. Opposition to the project in Myanmar, where I was working at the time, was unprecedented because it united the majority Bamar and ethnic nationalities like no other issue since the national uprising in 1988 that came close to toppling the junta. Pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment found expression at emotionally charged and escalating protests at which the Irrawaddy was described as the "soul of the nation". I think it's most likely that the cautious Thein Sein suspended the Myitsone dam project to avoid any possibility of facing another scenario like that of 8-8-88.

CONTACT: BANGKOK POST BUILDING 136 Na Ranong Road Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110 Fax: +02 6164000 email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th

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