PeterRS

We have all become too used to gun massacres in the United States. Indeed there was one on Rhode Island just two days ago. In the Sydney attack, more than one shooter was involved. It also took place near to where a bunch of Australians were celebrating theJewish holiday of Hanukah. Initial reports indicate ten have been killed including one of the gunmen and 18 are in hospital. More are being treated by paramedics at the scene. It is likely that more would have been killed had not one individual tackled a gunman. The attached Guardian article has two videos: of two of the gunmen and the hero tackling one. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/dec/14/nsw-police-responding-to-reports-of-shooting-at-sydneys-bondi-beach-follow-latest

I really do believe that is a load of nonsense. The dispute has been going on since the 1950s and never expanded outside the two countries. Neither country has been particularly affected in that time - apart from occasional flare-ups of violence and sadly some casualties - and so nothing is likely to change in terms of other countries in future. This is nothing like the 1969 border dispute between China and the Soviet Union in 1969 which seriously threatened to go nuclear.

I would like to agree, but do not. If a Board that is completely open for all to see (with the exception of one or more types of thread), young children could open it. If that child then sees a post with a naked man with an erection, that - at least a far as I can see - could lead to some sort of activity by the authorities against the Board if a parent decided to report it. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope so.

Well, Infantino's arse-licking of Trump is paying off. Four days ago Federal prosecutors moved to drop charges against certain FIFA officials for corruption. It would end years of investigation! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-moves-drop-charges-hernan-lopez-fox-full-play-group-soccer-corruption-case/

There is clearly some confusion between what some members believe should be possible and what is stated in the Board Covenant - basically its rules. These state - Personal information that can be used to identify a member, a user, or a go-go boy or bar boy, whether or not a Gay Thailand member, shall not be permitted. No member shall publish or cause to be published such personal information. A violation of the Covenant shall be cause for immediate termination of Forum privileges. SInce the Covenant also includes a prohibition about nudity in threads which can also result in banning for at least a period and this is frequently not observed, my view is that the Covenant was probably written at least a couple of decades ago and really needs to be updated. I would urge the Aministrator to review and update it.

There is no similarity. The Russian-Ukrainians who brought down MH17 were using high range surface-to-air missiles. No such missles are used in the Thai-Cambodian conflict. MH17 was at 33,000 ft when the missile reached it and exploded beside it. Cambodia does indeed have missiles that can reach that height but they require ground equipment in place to fire them. No such equipment exists nor do they have the need to use them in what is an ultra low level Thai border regional conflict. Further, checks on Flight Radar make it clear no aircraft flies anywhere near that border dispute region. The Russian-Ukrainians had imported the delivery system from Russia the day of the crash and returned it immediately after the crash. Those who fired the missile also believed they were shooting down a Ukrainian Air Force transport plane. ICAO in April had already issued a warning to commercial carriers about flying over south-eastern Ukraine. Minutes after the accident, Ukraine closed all its air space to commercial carriers.

Very true. But you surely cannot seriously believe that any airline - or even privately owned plane - would ever consider a take-off or landing near a conflict zone? Cabin briefing: "Ladies and Gentlemen, now that you know about seat belts and emergency exits, let me just remind you that you may see the occasional rocket passing by the windows. No need to worry. This aircraft is fully insured!" FYI the nearest functional airport is Ubon Ratchanthani - 100 kms away. No aircraft is going to approach or depart from that airport anywhere near the disputed border area. On the Camobdian side there is one airport relatively close but it does not have a commercial licence.

Dear @vinapu, you have an overactive imagination. Do you seriously expect any airline to fly anywhere near to that skirmish? And do you seriously believe either party has the rocket power to down a plane - as happened with the MH flight over the Ukraine? And do you further believe that even if one of their nationals is killed, that will mobilise that country to join this little skirmish between two relatively insignificant countries? Not in the slightest, is my view.

The web has many indices. Factual figures illustrate that over the 60 years from 1965 and today £100 then is now the equivalent of £2,474.45. That accounts for average inflation at 5.34% per annum. Considering that actual inflation in 1975 was 25% and the average actual total for the 1970s more than 13% per annum, my earlier figures were an underestimate. We are too used to the low inflation following the 2008 financial crisis and it tends to skew our perception. £1 in 1965 is worth just over 4 pence today. My starting salary was £19.90 per week. The equivalent now would be roughly £500 per week - and that's pretty much about average in my line of work. https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1965?amount=100

Nice idea, but I regret my view is it will never happen. Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, other ASEAN countries and bigger players like China, Japan and South Korea have not the slightest interest in stopping what is a minute border skirmish between two nations who have had decades to sort it out themselves. All these nations have far more to concern themselves with.

It has been so for decades since the days of its President Joao Havelange in the mid-1970s. From being a worldwide event to be celebrated by the ordinary man in the street who loved the game, the arrival of money - vast sums of it - corrupted both FIFA and the World Cup. He resigned as President in 1998. A Swiss Prosecutor's Report (the HQ of FIFA is based in Switzerland) found that during his time at FIFA Hevelange and his son-in-law had syphoned off 41 million Swiss francs in bribes related to the awarding of World Cup marketing rights. By Havelange's time, big sporting corporations and others appealing to a mass market had realised the marketing potential of the World Cup. It then became a monster fund raising outfit where it had to turn down more sponsors that it could ultimately be seen to accept. That money and the profits from the World Cups were supposed to go to the development of soccer around the world. Some did, but a lot went to individual's pockets. Sepp Blatter was elected President after Havelange but only because he had courted the African and Asian delegates on the Executive Committee, non-entities as far as the European and South American delegates were concerned. He promised more exposure for their Federations. And at least he fulfilled that promise. The 2002 World Cup went to Asia for the first time with matches in Japan and Korea. He steered it to South Africa, again the first time on that continent, in 2010. By then, though, power and cash had long gone to his head. When he was twice re-elected, it was all but known he had bought off the opposition. One had been Michel Platini, a distinguished and highlly respected former footballer who headed UEFA. It was widely assumed he would win. Then he withdrew his candidacy. Later it was discovered Blatter had paid him US$1 million - "for services rendered"! Both claimed it was for genuine advice. Then tor the first time ever in 2010 he announced the next two World Cups at the same time. 2018 would go to Russia and 2022 to Qatar. The soccer world was aghast. Less about Russia and far more about Qatar. Qatar was not a footballing nation. It had hardly any stadia (and about 8 are required for World Cups). Worse, the World Cup had always been held in the west's summer months when most western countries have a long break. The heat in Qatar would, according to Blatter and the Qatari authorities, be minimised by special cooliing systems spraying water on to the fans. It was of course nonsense, and the dates ultimately had to be moved to November. Qatar ended up having import immigrant labour to build eight special stadia. The country promised they would be fully utilised after the Cup. Another broken promise. Most remain unused, just sitting gathering desert dust and are effectively white elephants. But Blatter's corruption really came to the fore with a company named ISL. Since around 1990 FIFA had engaged ISL to manage its highly lucrative corporate sponsorship deals and the sale of worldwide TV rights. Inevitably it is a long murky story, the essence of which is that ISL was managed by none other then Blatter's nephew. Worse, he had little marketing knowledge. In 2001 ISL filed for bankruptcy. A later Swiss investigation found that ISL had paid out hundreds of millions of Euros in bribes and was left with €150 million in debt. FIFA then took it over and put - surprise, surprise - Sepp Blater in charge. It doesn't end there! At the end of May 2015, seven FIFA officials were arrested outside a hotel in Zurich and US authorities charged a further 39 football officials with bribery. Swiss officials also stated they had opened investigations into the award of the World Cups to Russia and Qatar. The Swiss Attorney General's Office stated executives were being questioned on suspicion of "criminal mismanagement" and money laundering. FIFA's North American regional body known as CONCACAF was discovered not to have paid taxes for several years. Its former Sevrtary General Chuck Blazer was then found to be an FBI informant who had worn a wire in discussions with other Executive Committee members. FIFA then was a den of thieves. Under Infantino, it seems to be as bad, if not worse. https://yle.fi/a/3-8540226

And that is never going to happen. A tiny border skirmish that has been going on since the 1950s? I can just see the reaction of Iceland's people after its PM declares, "We have to get involved to stop this"!

I was too hasty. Fighting has once again restarted.

One of the expensive seated tickets for the 1966 World Cup Final in England (where stadia also had much cheaper standing areas) cost of all £3.15. In tody's money that is probably around £500-£600. In those days the highest weekly wage for a soccer player in England was typically £100. Today Erling Haaland who plays for Manchester City earns £525,000 per week.

I was merely making a simple point. No need to blow it up into something which it is not.