American report details human rights abuses by Thailand
Thailand epiphany: We have too many tourists
Welcome to the world famous and likely soon to-be honoured early edition of Fishwrap for Tuesday April 23, 2024
This is the Fishwrap Before Passover edition; we hope you have Good Things planned for the weekend.
What do you get when you cross a polar bear with a seal? A polar bear.
Authorities took some steps to investigate and punish officials who committed human rights abuses or engaged in corruption. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government officials; arbitrary arrest and detention; political prisoners; political interference in the judiciary; arbitrary and unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, including arrests and prosecutions of those criticizing the government, censorship, and the use of lèse majesté and criminal libel laws; serious restrictions on internet freedom; interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; restrictions on freedom of movement; restrictions on political participation; serious government corruption; harassment of domestic human rights organizations; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence; and significant restrictions on workers' freedom of association.
-- U.S. Department of State, summary of human rights situation in Thailand.
Full report: https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/thailand/
Photo: U.S. secretary of state Don Tony Blinken. 'Thailand has significant human rights issues'. And the treatment of Uyghur by China is literally genocide.
The overtourism of Thailand
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin decided from Day 1 (last year) that foreign tourism would be the Number One economic policy of the government. He may have to pay for that.
Tourism operators are urging the government to seriously consider the nation's carrying capacity. And maybe it's time to begin the long-delayed plan to charge every foreigner from babies to decrepits, 300 baht to set foot in the kingdom -- about US$8 or 11 loonies at the current exchange rate.
Srettha has promised to make 2025 a landmark year for tourism.
Adith Chairattananon, secretary-general of the Federation of Thai Tourism Associations (Fetta), promised yesterday to revive a 2019 White Paper on "too many tourists, and if that hurts the government's policy, so be it.
This year, less than four (4) months old has taken obvious harmful steps on the southern resort province of Phuket:
There has been traffic congestion, water shortages and the international airport has run out of available slots for airlines.
In the Central Region, there is no useful bus service between U-Tapao airport and Pattaya.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2780329/
Earth Day Doom & Gloom Extravaganza Turns 50. Remember when Earth Day was cool?
Earth Day founder Ira Einhorn has died in prison, age 79.
His followers celebrate that time he killed his girlfriend but composted her, totally environmentally. https://t.ly/4SNz4
https://t.ly/Xp42d
As Earth Day P.J. noted cogently: Everybody wants to save the Earth; no one wants to help Mom do the dishes.
History: https://shorturl.at/ptzC9
[The Wednesday Morning Joke]
An old hillbilly farmer had a wife who nagged him unmercifully. From morning till night (and sometimes later), she was always complaining about something. The only time he got any relief was when he was out plowing with his old mule. He tried to plow a lot.
One day, when he was out ploughing, his wife brought him lunch in the field. He drove the old mule into the shade, sat down on a stump, and began to eat his lunch. Immediately, his wife began haranguing him again. Complain, nag, nag; it just went on and on. All of a sudden, the old mule lashed out with both hind feet; caught her smack in the back of the head. Killed her dead on the spot.
At the funeral several days later, the minister noticed something rather odd. When a woman mourner would approach the old farmer, he would listen for a minute, then nod his head in agreement; but when a man mourner approached him, he would listen for a minute, then shake his head in disagreement. This was so consistent, the minister decided to ask the old farmer about it.
Following the funeral, the clergyman approached the elderly farmer and inquired why he nodded in accord with the women but consistently shook his head in disagreement with the men.
The old farmer said: "Well, the women would come up and say something about how nice my wife looked, or how pretty her dress was, so I'd nod my head in agreement."
"And what about the men?" the minister asked.
"They wanted to know if the mule was for sale." (H/T Hadrian the Seventh)
ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS STANLEY CUP
Leafs win Game 2 less shamefully than they lost Game 1. Best of Seven Series tied 1-1.
The Eleven-Million Dollar Man Auston Matthews turned it up, got two assists and the winning goal, out of three.
Game 3 at Toronto Thursday 0600 (Wednesday 1900 Letterkenny time) broadcaster ESPN
Game 4 at Toronto Sunday 0700 (Saturday 2000 Hockey Night in Canada on CBC, TBS
Toronto Star: https://shorturl.at/wyFGW
Boston.com -- 3 Takeaways: Game management mishaps and sloppy puck play.
The Bruins didn't show enough urgency. https://t.ly/Vj1bD
GLOBAL WARMING SOLAR WIND
Why solar and wind aren't winning
by Bjorn Lomborg of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and long-time critic of the Global Warming Industry.
PHOTO: Thailand has two massive solar farms, at Tak and Sukhothai provinces in the North.
If solar and wind really were cheaper, they would replace fossil fuels without the need for a push from politicians and the industry. AND IF we want to fix climate change, we must invest a lot more in low-CO₂ energy research and development. Only a significant boost in R&D can bring about the technological breakthroughs that are needed.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2779034/
Not only is Thailand too broke to finance what is needed to combat global warming aka 'climate change'
It hasn't even the funds to deliver the promised 10,000-baht handout for every citizen (270 U.S. dollars).
Meeting the demands of that 2023 election promise by now-Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will require direct help from the Bank of Thailand (BoT).
By freelance economist Chartchai Parasuk
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2777704/
The government needs 500 billion (with as "B") baht to meet that promise. Half a trillion.
Without the Bank of Thailand's (BoT) liquidity support, it is almost impossible to find money unless the government decides to pull some nasty tricks -- as there is no dormant 500 billion baht in the monetary system to borrow in 2024.
Barring a 'liquidity injection' by the BoT, one can be 90% sure there will be no cash-handout this year.
My concern is "where is the money?" It really does not matter how the financing of the Digital Wallet Scheme scheme would legally come about, as long as there is money in the system to borrow.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2777704/
Related
The government's announcement on the details of its digital wallet scheme on April 10 was meant to boost the popularity of both the Srettha Thavisin administration, as well as the Pheu Thai Party.
It failed the task.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2778549/
TECHNOLOGY
Speaking at the Open Source Summit, Linux creator Linus Torvalds shared his thoughts on AI, security, and everything else. (ZDNet)
On the AI question, the most useful thing he sees is that Nvidia now talks to the Linux kernel developers so they can work around hardware bugs.
Other than that, he suggested that AI might actually be useful in 10 years.
Maybe. He's a very clever man, Linus.
Half of China's major cities are sinking. (NPR)
Everyone said I was mad to build a city in a swamp, but I built it all the same.
It sank into the swamp.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1244795971/chinas-cities-are-sinking-putting-tens-of-millions-at-risk
Three suspected Chinese spies arrested in Germany — caught stealing sensitive tech secrets
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/three-suspected-chinese-spies-arrested-in-germany-caught-stealing-sensitive-tech-secrets
Is the Minisforum V3 any good? Yes. (Notebook Check)
It looks good on paper, and it also looks good in actual use.
The one shortcoming is the battery life, which is only around six hours because of the high idle power draw - about twice that of a Microsoft Surface tablet.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Minisforum-V3-3-in-1-review-the-first-ever-Windows-tablet-with-AMD-s-Hawk-Point-APU-aka-the-AMD-Ryzen-7-8840U.829081.0.html
Who does not need a 256-core carryon? (Tom's Hardware)
This squishes two 128-core servers each with 2TB of RAM into the size of a regular carry-on bag.
https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/servers/carry-on-server-flexes-up-to-256-cores
Not everyone needs that kind of power over their shoulder, but those who need it really need it.