PeterRS

Absolute nonsense! Homosexual relations were far from uncommon in pre-revolutionary Russia. In various articles on this Board I have stated that Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, his brother Modest, the impresario Diaghilev, his protege the greatest male dancer of all time Vaslav Nijinsky, varous choreographers like Leonid Massine were lovers of Diaghilev for some years, as was the famous scenery and costume designer Leon Bakst. Add to that list the artists Serge Sudeikin, Pavel Tchelitchew, Alexander (known better as Sascha) Schneider, Aleksandr Nikolayev and Konstantin Somov . . . Even Grand Duke Konstantin, grandson of Tsar Nicholas 1 and uncle of Tsar Nicholas II was gay. The history of the gay movement in St. Petersburg has been quite well documented. Russians had for a century denied that its most famous composer Tchaikovsky was gay. Yet in 2013 Putin acknowledged on Russian State Channel 1 television that Tchaikovsky was gay and used that as proof that Russia is not anti-gay in spite of his new laws. As Putin stated - "Tchaikovsky was gay - although it's true that we don't love him because of that - but he was a great musician and we all love his music. So what?" Asked whether he would meet members of the gay and lesbian community, Putin said, "I assure you that I work with these people, I sometimes award them with state prizes." So much for @Moses contention that Russia as a country has always been homophobic at the everyday level.

What else wou;d we expect a Putin propagandist to say?

I suppose many of us who think of Terence Stamp remember him as the transexual Bernadette in the 1994 camp movie "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" in which a group of gay guys cross Australia in a bus. I can still remember him in his breakthrough role as the handsome young Billy Budd in the 1962 movie of that name for which he earned an Oscar nomination. He then became well known as part of the swinging 60s in London often seen dating a number of well known models and actors, including Julie Christie. His 1965 movie as a creepy loner in the psychological thriller "The Collector" who captures a girl and keeps her captive in his basement turned out to be somewhat prophetic as similar kidnappings were later discovered in Austria and the USA. For that role he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. But probably most remember him as the supervillain General Zod in some of the early "Superman" movies. Having played the role of Alfie in the play of that name on Broadway, he was considered for the movie role. But the Broadway play flopped and Stamp decided not to take the role. It was then given to his flatmate, Michael Caine. Stamp took part in a number of other notable movies, but more often in secondary roles. The actor died yesterday at the age of 87.

Typical @Moses response. But I agree that if you take the lifespan of the atomic bomb survivors the number is certainly over 300,000. Even in the 1980s, though, the numbers who died as a direct result of the atomic bombs was regarded by all, including the Japanese, as less than 300,000. It is only more recently that those who suffered delayed cancers and other results of the bombings have been taken into account - and rightly so in my view. Yet arguing over numbers of dead in two clear massacres - first in Nanjing and secondly in Hiroshima and Nagasaki - is surely pointless. Both were the ghastly results of war. And in war, both sides resort to desperate measures to win. The difference between Nanjing and the two Japanese cities is that Nanjing had very little to do with the war other than it was Chiang Kai Shek's capital. It was pure barbarity on a huge scale as most of those killed were civilians and the outcome had little impact on any war the Japanese were fighting at the time. Fast forward to 1945 and Japan knew it was on its knees. There are natually opposing camps. The one taught in American schools is that an invasion of the Japanese mainland would quite literally be fought until the last Japanese fell. Thus the bombs shortened the war and resulted in hundreds of thousands of American lives being saved. The other, frequently taght in Japan, is that the bombs were dropped as geopolitical calculation to keep advancing Russia at bay. Russian forces had after all entered the Pacific War and were advancing towards northern Japan. Stalin had ended Russia's neutrality pact with Japan in April and was massing troops towards Japanese held territory. Delaying the end of the war was therefore in its interests. Russia after all invaded Japanese-held Manchuria the same day as the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. As this view goes, the USA was determined both to put an end to the war and prevent Russian troops from advancing further. Yet still the Russian troops continued their advance through September until the Americans quickly occupied Japan's main islands. The Russians then pulled back.

I think what @vinapu may have heard in January was the annual series of 6 casual Sunday concerts in Lumphini Park presented by the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. These mix classical and pop. If not, then I do not know of other park concerts there or elsewhere - but there may well be some.

Threads going off on tangents is common on most chat boards like this. But I do think linking Ukraine with the thread about the end of the Pacific War is going too far, and so I'll start this one. @Moses has made comments in the Lest We Forget thread about there being no "forced mobilization" in Russia and all the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine are volunteers. Now that is plain wrong. Every male aged between 18 and 30 has to spend 12 months military service without pay. Avoiding this is a crime. Further, men in that age group cannot obtain work uless that have the papers to prove their mandatory period of military service. Well, if this is not conscription, I wonder what is! Even the Moscow Times calls it "conscription", pointing out on April 2 2025 that 160,000 had been conscripted as servicemen during the first of two annual conscription periods, an increase from the previous year. So what baloney is @Moses spounting now! Putin has alleged that these young men do not serve in the Ukraine War. And who believes that, I wonder? As The Moscow Times points out, some conscripts are drafted to fight in the war by signing up for it at high salaries. Once signed up, they cannot get out of the contract - presumably unless dead! And some basic conscripts who did not sign up have indeed been on the front lines and died there - as also stated by The Moscow Times. We do know that long-term prisoners have been given the opportunity to fight on the front lines in return for their sentences being reduced. Although they are not Russian, North Korea is Russia's ally. We know that last year 10,000 North Koreans joined the front lines. 12 milion 152-millimeter artillery rounds were also sent to bolster Russia's fighting machine. @Moses loves to sweep everything under the carpet as western propsaganda. He cannot do that re the addition of North Korea trooops and aid, for Kim Jong-il actually announced this publicly at the end of April! We know, too, that just before Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visited North Korea on July 6 and met with both Kim Jong-il and his counterpart Choe Son-hui, North Korea pledged to increase its forces to fight on the Ukraine front lines by a further 25,000 - 30,000. Approximately 4,000 of the original 10,000 have been killed or badly wounded. This is in addiition to the estimated 970,000 Russian troops who have been killed, wounded, captured or are missing in action since the start of the invasion in 2022. https://mwi.westpoint.edu/the-second-north-korean-wave-in-ukraine-what-next-as-pyongyangs-troops-arrive-on-russias-front-lines/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/04/02/so-youve-been-drafted-into-the-russian-army-what-does-that-mean-a88569

I think a new thread for Ukraine is called for. There have been valid points made about WWII which I di not believe are associated with Ukraine. So I'll start one!

You compare the readership who 'like' posts my as "subpar to my own intelligence". I suppose you do sometimes joke, for that is not merely a monster of a joke, it is utterly demeaning in the extreme to those who do enjoy my posts. And that is the more so compared to small number who actually bother reading your posts and then downvote them. Reality is clearly not your thing! But you fail to note that it is still a lie and that @Riobard has done nothing to correct it. Funny how a random check of long-term posters shows that all have a specific start date going back to 2006. Well, I suppose that accounts for most of @Riobard's posts being in a fantasy land since no Board existed in 1970

It does not matter. The fact is that @Riobard has a false start date and has not bothered to update it. Corrupt misleading activity!

The Reform UK movement is already on the march. Durham County Council, run since May by the dreadful ultra right-wing Reform UK Party, is withdrawing the funds it has contributed regularly to the annual Gay Pride March from next year. Councillor Grimes (a somewhat appropriate name, I'd have thought) has said "Taxpayers shouldn't be bankrolling it. Durham Country Council isn't an ATM for contested causes." Instead the Council spend its funds on "the services everyone relies on, not on flying the latest alphabet flag for the professional offence industry." Durham Pride 2025

DId you even bother to try the internet? I have not tried any of these which are based in Tokyo. https://www.travelgay.com/tokyo-gay-massage-spas https://www.jptherapist.com/en https://gaymassage.jp/en/venue/show/menssalonfriday https://boyinthai.com/detail/topboy/ http://35.75.66.216/en/venue/show/aktis There are many more if you just do a googe search.

Don't worry. I'll put them in the washing machine.

Another of your non-facts which is untrue. Less than 300,000 in total were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The statistic site has a wide estimte of between 110,000 and 210,000 deaths. Others agree with the higher end - https://www.britannica.com/question/How-many-people-died-in-the-bombings-of-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-people-died-hiroshima-nagasaki-japan-second-world-war-1522276

Guess what? We have aother Beachlover on the forum. Apart from lying through his teeth trying to make readers believe he was a mid-20s Australian Chinese businessman from Sydney, he was a bored old expat somewhere in or near Pattaya who flooded several boards and led to the demise of one. More to the point, he posted photos of his alleged travels but made certain that anything which would identify him was blocked out. Now @Riobard does likewise. Is Beachlover your cousin?

Well now you reallly have me confused. You wrote - I immediately responded with - In other words, dear @Olddaddy, you have just again referred to Nice Boys. And guess what? So did my response! Now you again state you are talking about Nice Boys. Did I never once refer to Winner Bar. Ooops, no! I think you have your knickers in a bit of a twist! I am working on a hammock on the balcony that might be big enough for two.

Sometimes no alternative but to wait near this time of year.

So your reading is impaired. The Search engine is good. Or are you one who expects everything to be done for you?

Funny then. SInce you know that and that bar is not for you, why did you ask?

More than your posts do. Have you any idea how boring they are? Probably yes, because you deliberately set out to be a bore.

Like Stalin who trusted Hitler and then turned on him? Don't get me wrong, though. Without Russia, the Nazis would have overrun Europe as Churchill and Roosevelt were well aware. I'm not sure why you suddently bring up the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although they certainly persuaded the Japanese their war had come to an end. But this thread is about remembrance of the end of the war in the Pacific and particulary the horrific atrocities by the Japanese in that war. Not about who is winning a present day arms race. You are certainly free to start another thread should you so wish.

Fair point again. But there is no bus that goes within 1 km of my apartment and the nearest MRT station is even further away. Besides, on a Friday afternoon getting on any bus in the upper Silom area means waiting a very long time as there are very long queues.

What utter garbage - as we have come to expect from this poster. On how many topics have you posted? How many readers actually have expressed their liking of your posts? How many have you on ignore? You ridiculously claim to have joined the Board in 1970 long before it started, yet your first post was at the end of 2017. Perhaps not surprisingly it was on the subject of syphilis and gonorrhoea. Obviously right up your alley. 🤣

I fully understand your point. But how do you get from A to B when the distance is between 3 - 4 kms with a backpack and two relatively full shopping bags? When you live in a place there are sometimes other commitments making it difficult to shop at other times. Add in rain, however light, and would you plan to walk? You'd probably have to as empty taxis will be thin on the ground and available motorcy guys non-existent.

I do not recall downvoting any post until your posts appeared. And there is a good reason for that, as other posters have pointed out.

There are several posts on this subject, some quite recent. I suggest you use the Search box.