BITTER DREAMS I
Felix Vallatton 1918 Sunset
Wikipedia:
Félix Edouard Vallotton (December 28, 1865 – December 29, 1925) was a Swiss painter and printmaker associated with Les Nabis. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He was born into a conservative middle-class family in Lausanne, and there he attended Collège Cantonal, graduating with a degree in classical studies in 1882. In that year he moved to Paris to study art under Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger at theAcadémie Julian. He spent many hours in the Louvre, where he greatly admired the works of Holbein, Dürer and Ingres; these artists would remain exemplars for Vallotton throughout his life.
The daily robbing, drugging, bashing and murdering of foreign tourists on Thai soil has led to
many predictions that the Thai Tourist industry will self-destruct.
The representatives of virtually all major governments diplomatically represented in Thailand have expressed concern over the welfare of their citizens while on Thai soil.
As the death toll rises, along with the number of injuries and robberies, and foreign embassises are forced to deal with the legacy, warnings to the Thai government have become more blunt.
For Australians, with more than a hundred of their number dying every year, Thailand is now the most dangerous destination on Earth.
The deaths of Swedes, hitting 100 a year, is now at record levels.
The deaths of British citizens is approaching 400 a year.
But so far, and despite the tarnished image of the so-called Land of Smiles, the tides of tourists just keep on coming.
Predictions that holiday makers, Asiaphiles and retirees will choose safer destinations, have proven substantially false. While neighbouring countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, have seen substantial rises in tourist numbers, Thailand maintains a unique allure.
Official predictions, although themselves queried by sceptics, put the number of tourist numbers
arriving at more than 20 million a year, with some forecasts forseeing the numbers soaring towards 30 million.
Such numbers, imposed on an increasingly affluent but still largely poverty stricken or rural based population, has already imposed massive strains on Thai society.
And will continue to do so.
As host of the 2015 ASEAN Summit the senior ranks of the Thai government, including Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, have woken up to the fact that they have a major political, social and economic issue on their hands. And that the frequent stories of the problems afflicitng tourists is destroying the carefully manicured image of their nation and their people's as a welcome and open society.
The advertising slogan, The Land of Smiles, has served the nation well.
INSERT HISTORY OF SLOGAN
INSERT STATS ON THAI TOURIST INDUSTRY.
INSERT HISTORY ON THE USE OF THE WORD FALUNG
There has been a substantial failure to manage the expectations of the local population; many of whom regard foreigners with distaste.
Far from being swept up in an open, hospitable and welcoming culture, many foreigners find themselves at the brunt of hostility, ridicule and distaste. Among some elements, including the Thai police, robbing foreigners is little more than a sport. It is certainly not the subject of regret, embarrassment or guilt.
An open secret among long term foreign residents of Thailand is that the Thais actively dislike the foreigners flooding their country, do not understand them, have zero empathy for them, and find any misfortune befalling a cause for mirth. For ethnic Thais, there is little they find funnier than a "falung" having an accident.
ORIGINS: SEE THEMSELVES AS A UNIQUELY CULTURALLY ADVANCED AND SUPERIOR RACE.
While they have opened up their country to foreigners and their money, the Thais remain amongst the most racist and xenophobic people on Earth.
They not only actively dislike and speak disparagingly of Europeans, Americans and Africans, they are hostile to their neighbours.
One of the worst insults a Thai can utter is to call someone an "Indian".
"If you see an Indian and a snake, which do you kill first? The Indian."
This is a joke the Thais find endlessly funny.
Yet there are large numbers of Indians resident in Thailand.
They regard the Cambodians as backward and corrupt, and the the Vietnamese and Laotians as rice farmers.
WHITENING OF THE SKIN. FARMERS LOW CAST. FEUDAL SYSTEM.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23830590
The UK and the US have threatened a "serious response" if it emerges Syria used chemical weapons last week.
Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama spoke on the telephone for 40 minutes on Saturday.
Both were "gravely concerned" by the "increasing signs that this was a[n]... attack carried out by the Syrian regime", Mr Cameron's office said.
But intervention would have serious consequences and the US case was weak, the Syrian information minister warned.
In an interview with Lebanese TV, Omran Zoabi said: "If the US leads a military intervention, this will have dangerous consequences. It will bring chaos and the region will burn."
The Syrian government has denied any use of chemical weapons, blaming rebel fighters instead.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended recording an appearance on an ABC TV show before being briefed on the unfolding crisis in Syria on Saturday.
He said his department head had advised him the earliest a briefing could be held was on Saturday night or on Sunday, so he honoured a pre-existing commitment to tape the show before flying to Canberra for the briefing.
He said he had ‘‘absolutely not’’ suspended his campaigning on Saturday after announcing in the morning he would seek briefings in Canberra on the crisis later that day – despite holding no other media or public events that day.
‘‘I think given the escalation of developments in Syria ... that had I not been in the business yesterday of saying to the Australian people that this crisis is developing at a pace of knots then legitimately I would have been criticised for not doing so,’’ he said on Sunday.
The Prime Minister’s campaign headquarters put out a statement late on Saturday denying News Corporation suggestions that he delayed the Syria security briefing for a recording of the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet.
The statement said: "We understand that the Sunday Telegraph is intending to report that the Prime Minister delayed a national security briefing on Syria in Canberra today because of a previously arranged media commitment in Brisbane.
"This is wrong."
ABC TV host and Fairfax Media columnist Annabel Crabb confirmed that Mr Rudd did film a pre-arranged episode of her show Kitchen Cabinet, from 12.30pm to 2.30pm on Saturday.
News Corporation reported that the Prime Minister had "taken a taxpayer funded VIP jet to fly home to Brisbane" to appear on the cooking show. The story said: "In a bungle reminiscent of his infamous Dawn Service scandal on the Sunrise show, he made no reference to his afternoon-long commitment."
Twitter was running hot with speculation about whether or not the briefing in Canberra was delayed to film the segment and how the story has been covered by the media.
News Corporation published a story on Saturday evening that contained a headline saying Kevin Rudd had abandoned his security briefing in Canberra to record the show, and Mr Rudd then released a statement saying he did not delay the briefing to appear on the show.