PeterRS

The Supreme Court of Thailand has sentenced Thaksin to jail for one year. It ruled that his previous prison term was a sham. At that time, on his first day he complained of feeling ill and was taken to the VIP Wing of a hospital where he spent the entire period of his jail term in a great degree of comfort before being pardoned after 6 months. The Supreme Court ruled this was unlawful and Thaksin was not in fact ill. That case is known in Thailand as the "14th Floor" case as it was on that floor in the hospital where Thaksin lived in a degree of luxury. Last week Thaksin flew on a private jet to his second home in Dubai allegedly to receive medical treatment. He must have assumed that by returning he could escape a prison term. He must now be wishing he had not come back! The Thaksin political dynasty has finally suffered what must surely be a fatal blow. Sic transit . . . .!

Poppers are illegal in Thailand - and in several other Asian countries. If you buy on the streets, I suspect there is a very good chance they are fake.

It also appears he was not only alone at the time he made the jump, he had been alone in his room all day. It also states "luxury" hotel. That would indicate he could have had a certain degree of wealth, either that or he blew his savings before ending everything. As far as the sound from above is concerned I would not count on the Pattaya Mail's reporting being accurate. Presumably it was an eye witness statement when the poor man's landing might have sounded as though it had come from above. The attached article from another news outlet says nothing about sound from above - merely "a loud noise from meters away". It also ooints out a Chinese fell to his death just last Sunday. Why the British man fell can only be a matter of speciulation. Boy friend problems? Girl friend problems? Health issues? Acute depression for another reason? Probaby we'll never know. It makes me wonder, though. What facilities exist in Pattaya for foreigners to consult suicide hotlines (if any) or psychiatrists about issues with which they are struggling mentally? https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2025/09/08/uk-man-the-latest-foreign-tourist-to-die-in-high-rise-balcony-fall-in-nong-prue-pattaya-last-saturday/

For virtually the first time in decades, the Myanmar junta's army is losing both territory and manpower. Consequently it is also losing much-needed cash. The various militias have gained a lot of ground fighting largely with hope and without proper military gear. The junta uses its air force to try and keep its territory, and primarily as a result of a large number of desertions conscription is now fully in force, even to the extent of men being hauled off the streets in major cities to become soldiers. Most recent supplies to the junta's air force have come from Russia in the form of six advanced Su-30MSE fighter jets. The purchase was financed by a Russian loan and was made necessary due to problem issues with older Chinese military aircraft. The junta maintains that these jets will be used to maintain the country's territorial integrity, but it is well known from various sources that they have been used against anti-junta militia forces The junta has a wide assortment of fighter jets and military helicopters in its arsenal. In the 1990s it bought 20 Mil Mi-2 and PZL W-3 Sokol helicopters from Poland and 13 Mil Mi-17 from Russia. In 2001 it bought 12 MIG-29 fighter aircraft from Belarus. This was followed by an additional order of 20 MiG-29s as part of a $570 million defence package in December 2009. 10 MiG-29Bs were upgraded to SM standard in 2017. The air force also ordered 10 Mil Mi-35 gunship helicopters as part of a $71 million defence package signed in December 2009. Private airlines have also been forced to hand over to the government a number of French-made ATR turbo prop aircraft which have been adapted for military use. All this has to be paid for! And given the strike power of the airforce, it is remarkable how successful the militias have been.

Many thanks for this. I knew Ronan Farrow had been investigating Epstein for a long time but thought it was only for articles in the magazine he writes for. Just downloaded this book on kindle.

Appalling and disgraceful! And only because the Repulicans already thin majority in the House would have been reduced even further. Lord Acton stated in the 19th century, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Before she became a fallen angel, Aung Sang Suu Kyi stated in 1989 that Lord Acton was wrong. What he should have said is that "Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it."

There is a long and fascinating article about the Myanmar scam centres on today's Guardian website, although it considerably underestimates the number of trafficked workers there compared to other official estimates. The earlier discussions in this thread outline most of the points. But this map created with drone footage with the known scam centres, increased in the recent past from 11 to 27, marked as red dots illustrates the scale of the problem. And this of the totally new scam city at named KK Park south of Myawaddy. Photo Jittrapon Kaicome/The Guardian on-line One who was rescued from KK Park remains traumatised by his experience. If feels "like all the evil in this world" exists inside these compounds, he told the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/sep/08/myanmar-military-junta-scam-centres-trafficking-crime-syndicates-kk-park

It is a trait which many westerners and non-Asians fall into, especially if they are only visiting on vacation. Those who live in Asia soon get used to the sometimes subtle differences in conversation and social interaction found in different Asian countries.

One point I failed to mention earlier. A lot of people think that sitting in the shade under a sun umbrella will stop them getting either a tan or sunburn. Most will stop some of the harming sun's rays from getting to the skin but they do not shield you from rays reflected from surrounding surfaces. Always use sunscreen even under a sun umbrella.

I regret your recollection is not so good and your earlier post absolutely does not compare anything like with like! You refer to the case of one Gayle Bishop. The two cases are completely different! Ms. Bishop lied to a Grand Jury. She had attempted to cover up her felony under oath. She perjured herself. I understand in the USA that is a crime punishible by up to five years in prison. Ms. Bishop was also found guilty of using her staff to run her law practice as well as her campaign for re-election. The judge was also concerned that Ms. Bishop showed no remorse and refused to take responsibility for her actions. The Rayner case is totaly different and invoves a second house which had in fact been sold to a trust to benefit Ms. Raynor's special needs child. Ms. Raynor had taken legal advice. She never lied and always admitted her underpayment. And you are wrong. You stated Ms. Bishop went to prison for "between 2 - 3 years"! She spent all of 19 days in jail. There is absolutely zero reason for Angela Rayner to spend any time in jail. She owned up to an error and has paid a hefy price for it. Senior US politicians rarely do that unless actually caught comitting one of several crimes. Even then, many remain in office. The Nixon Presidency was a den of thieves going right up to the Vice President Spiro Agnew. In President Reagan's administration the Attorney General Elliot Abrams, Michael Deaver, Melvyn Paisley, Victor Cohen, James Gaines and others were all convicted and found guilty of crimes for which several spent well over one year in jail. Under George Bush 1, among the guilty were the Treasurer of the USA who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and tax evasion. Under every President since there have been allegations against Congressmen and Senators who remained in their posts before prosecutions and jail time for various crimes. Need one mention George Santos?

That's a 9 year old article. It in absoutely no way compares with an ad issued in mid-2025! Go back in many countries' histories and you will find endless stupid and senseless ads.

I am merely curious. Since my first offs in Bangkok around 45 years ago I have always understood that bars depended on off fees to pay some of the overheads. It used to be said in olden times that if a new boy failed to achieve a certain number of offs over a certain period, he would be dismissed. But then of course, all the bar boys were Thais. Does this still exist? I have zero idea. But if some overheads have to be included, it could perhaps explain why off fees rise during the low season. I cannot believe building owners and the binbs lower their prices depending on the season! But if this is correct, then off fees should come down in the high season. I am assuming they do not.

I remember the first fime I went on holiday after I started working. It was 2 weeks spent in early November at the Villa Rosa in Malta. Not much was heard about sunscreens in those days and I would spend most by the pool in what was then a very deserted part of the island. After 3 days I felt my skin begin to get quite itchy. I was suffering from prickly heat - over exposure to the sun, even in November - and had to find a drug store to cover my body in soothing camomile lotion. In the ensuing years before I came to live in Asia, I took two week vacations in many sunny spots, usually much closer to summer. What I put on my body then I cannot recall, but it helped me get a tan while avoiding the prickly heat rashes. It was when I moved to Hong Kong that I really started to become a sun worshipper. Having arrived in early March, a month later a friend invited me to spend a day on her junk - a lovely few hours swimming, eating, drinking and gossiping, but with no sun. It was quite cloudy that day. Towards the end, my friend told me to put on some sunscreen. But it's not sunny, I ignorantly replied. Just do it, she said! That eveing as I was about to get into the shower, I noticed that my face was almost beetroot in colour and my nose glowing like Santa's Rudolf. I learned my lesson. But if I recall correctly, sun lotions in those days did not have factors. You just rubbed some oil or ointment onto the skin and that was supposed to protect you. I suppose after Sundays at sea (one of the joys of living in Hong Kong), my face was less red, but it was still red. Exactly when I learned about skin protection factors, I cannot recall. But the moment I became aware of them, I always put a 16 or something like that on my face and 8 on my body. After all I still wanted to get a tan! Having the roof above my apartment meant I was tanning more than most and no doubt more than I should. But the dangers of overexposure to the sun were only starting to become known. It still took some years, though, before I exchanged the 16 for a factor 50 for my face. Moving to Bangkok 24 years ago and with a pool in the condo, on days with free time or no work I'd be at the pool virtually every lunchtime for at least an hour. It kept my tan going! Thankfully I was not based in Australia for by then the dangers of skin cancer had become very well known. My Australian friends covered themselves with factor 50s before our regular beach outings, whilst I stuck mostly with my 8 or slightly higher on my body. Australians love the sun, but rightly they also fear it. 66% of Australians will require surgery for at least some form of skin cancer during their lives. In an article on today's BBC website, Australians and indeed many around the world should be not just worried - but very worried! The country has the highest rate of skin cancers in the world even though they use the highest factor screening. So why be worried? In a damning June Report, Choice Australia tested 20 of the most popular sunscreens. 16 failed the factor tests. One, Ultra Violette's Lean Screen SPF 50 Mattifying Zinc Suncreen was the "most significant failure". The test showed its SPF was just 4. A second test came up with the same result. Other brands which failed their SPF factors included Neutrogena, Banana Boat, Bondi Sands and Cancer Council. Lean Screen was sold in nearly 30 countries at a price of US$50 upwards. The company hit back claiming its brand had been thoroughly tested. Two months later it was recalled from sale after eight separate tests showed eight different results. In the last few weeks, another four sunscreen products - not included in the original Choice Australia survey - have been withdrawn from sale. In Europe sunscreen is classified as a cosmetic. In Australia as a medicine, and therefore subject to some of the most robust regulations worldwide. How did this happen? An investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) discovered that half the brands which had failed the Australia Choice testing had been certified by just one laboratory based in the USA, and this laboratory had consistently recorded high test results. A lab in Western Australia using the same base formula had also passed sunscreens. This is not the first time fake results have been posted. In 2019 a probe by US authorities into a suscreen testing lab ended with the owner being jailed for fraud. How to avoid fraud? Well, doctors point out that even if a Factor 50 is actually a Factor 25, you still have some important cover. In future, regular use of an accepted high Factor applied every two hours, use of hats and other protective clothing, and more use of shade will certainly help. GIven the amount of unprotected sunshine I experienced decades ago, I am now surprised and thankful I am for now free of skin cancer. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzl41rpdqo

Asian Boys! LOL

Not having offed anyone for several years, I perhaps should not comment other than generally. What in the view of those who write about them does an off fee actually cover? Given we are in the low season, does any part go to bar rental, wages of any paid staff and the regular payments to the binb? I realise that it is supposed to cover the non-attendance of the guy for a period of time when another punter could perhaps have taken him off. I just wonder if the increasing amounts seemingly now sought by some bars cover more?

Indeed! It has appeared several times in recent years. The "boys in the bars" was a regular saying when I first started visiting Thailand. Perhaps we have become politically more correct since then. Personally I try mostly to use twink or guy but boys do slip into posts occasionally. But then again I do not think it matters if the word boy is used or not. There are plenty of sensible posters here who would shoot down any post that specifically referred to anyone aged under 18 and seek its removal by the Moderator. On the other hand, with respect to Ruthrieston, going to a bar to see "young gentlemen" on stage does seem like something out of the 19th century!

Wishing you a speedy recovery after the surgery - and perhaps a longer stay in Thailand next year.

An excellent and excellently brief analysis. Just one question. It would seem that the USA has rather drifted into the present quagmire over very many decades, if not a century or two. It also appears to some outsiders, of which I am one, that power and money are at the root of the problems. And since it seems power has always throughout that time been a factor that could be purchased, do you think the influence of the mega-rich ever be diminished? It is interesting to compare the USA with its former colonisers in the UK. The UK has very strict limits on spending in elections, even though the first-past-the-post constituency system to my thinking is inherently anti-democratic and on occasion open to corruption. But there is at least a greater degree of morality in the understanding of public trust. Just yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister of the ruling Labour Party, a lady who rose from working class origins to become virtually the most powerful woman in the land, resigned. A mother of three, one of her children was born prematurely, is blind and has special eucational needs. She resigned because she had been found guilty by the Party's Ethics Advisor that she had broken the ministerial code of Conduct. That breach concerned her failure to pay the correct amount of tax on a second home. She had paid £40,000 but it should have been £80,000. Would any politician of any rank in the USA resign over an underpayment of US$54,000? I somehow doubt it!

The points in your reply which I have marked 1) and 3) only go to prove my point. The majority of those in the USA have "little need to travel." So if there is little need, how is it they find out about other countries, their histories, societies, different forms of governing etc.? Seond or third hand from their local media! As for #2, the fact is that a vast percentage of the new passports being applied for and given out in the USA are for millennials - i.e. the young. In 1994 only 10% of Americans held passports as noted in the BBC article below. So if it is the young Americas who are now travelling, older Americans who prefer to travel within their own country still have little idea what really goes on in the world. The world's nations with the highest percentage of passports and the easiest access for visa-free travel to most countries can be found in Asia. Singapore, Japan, and South Korea head the list, with many European countries not far behind. US passports do not provide as much visa free travel for the simple reason that 20 or more countries require visas obtained in advance of travel. In the Henley Passport index, the USA comes in at #36 after countries like Croatia, Estonia and Slovenia! https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42586638 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index

Frankly I just do not know. But surely there are plenty of instances of people being abducted from one country to another where the country from which the person was abducted resorts to little more than diplomatic means? Some, like China, possibly Russia and perhaps a handful of others, find covert ways of returning individual citizens, usually citizens they believe to have broken their laws. Unilaterally invading another country invites all sorts of major, major problems, the more so when the citizens involved have willingly made the move - willingly but under false pretences. Besides, who knows precisely who and how many have been abducted from any one country? If, say, Thailand invaded Myanmar to rescue a dozen citizens, what if it unknowingly left behind two dozen more? The PR consequences would be very detrimental. Myanmar is a huge country and the scam centres are not just located in one place. Has any country anywhere been able to solve the business of the trafficking of its people? Not to my knowledge. The UN estimates that human trafficking is one of the world's fastest growing crimes. At any time it further estimates that in 2021 27.6 million had been trafficked worldwide. https://www.dhs.gov/human-trafficking-quick-facts https://2021-2025.state.gov/humantrafficking-about-human-trafficking/

Everything @unicorn writes is mostly logical - apart from the fact you are are dealing with a country in the midst of a ghastly eight decade civil war. There is no one authority in the country. It has a total of 135 different ethnic minorities. Even China which has a population over 26 times larger than that of Myanmar only has 56 different minorities. The Thais basically do not like the Myanmar people and they are not going to do anything to stop illegal activites over the border unless it has some direct effect on Thailand and its people. China has its fingers in both pies - it supplies weapons to the ruling military junta (which now has control over well under half the country) and also arms some of the militias (of which there are many dozens). Although there are a great many Chinese living in the Shan State (which borders China's Yunnan Province), there are far fewer in the Karen State. In any case, many of the Chinese in the Shan State are up to their eyes in coruption and illegal activities. Incidentally, I think the number of Thais and Chinese in the scam centres is quite small. The scam of the Myanmar operation was largely brought to world attention earlier in the year when one of those hijacked to work in the centres was a well-known Chinese TV actor, Wang Zing. He was rescued thanks to Thai/Chinese cooperation. As for Thailand and/or China invading Myanmar, think again. No country is going to invade another merely to stamp out illegal activities. None! But China has other reasons for not interfering too much, and not only because large Chinese companies have a direct imvolvement in operating the scam centres. China's long term object has for almost a century been securing its borders. The border with Myanmar is a very long 2,129 kms. It wants that safe and secure. Secondly it has a vast number of smaller investments, some legal, in the Shan State many overseen by ethnic Chinese. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is constructing major gas and oil piplines through the country linkng China with the Andaman Sea. It also plays a key part in President Xi's Belt & Road initiative with the construction of a major railroad again linking China with the Andaman Sea. It has several times tried to broker some form of peace and there have been I think three meetings with senior Chinese leaders in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, to try and hammer something out. The Chinese Foreign Minister even visited Myanmar in August last year but with again no success. Of interest, I think, is the absolute lack of action in any way by the USA, the world's policeman. Myanmar is the fourth largest country in Asia - twice the size of Japan. With China involved, most of ASEAN involved and Russia involved (solely on the side of the ruling junta), the USA has sat on its hands on the sidelines. Yet the massive sanctions imposed on Myanmar have little effect. Myanmar companies operate out of Bangkok. Singapore sits on the fence. In June 2024 its Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "“Legitimate trade and financial links between Singapore and Myanmar are necessary to support the livelihoods of the Myanmar people." Despite Obama having assured the Burmese on an official visit in 2012 that “one of the things that we can do as an international community is make sure that the people of Burma know we’re paying attention to them, we’re listening to them, we care about them.” Those words proved to be competely hollow as the USA has done precious little to assist the mass of the ordinary Burmese. Biden did at least try to get a bill through Congress. In April 2022 the BURMA Act aimed at providing financial aid for the militias sailed through the House of Congress with bipartisan support. It then was killed in the Senate! US sanctions continue to hit certain industries, but oddly not the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. This is a state enterprise which provides much of the income required by the military juntas. One of the fields at Yadana mostly suppies gas to Thailand. Go figure! It's all a ghastly mess and it's the ordinary people of Myanmar who, in the words of Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, have been suffering mightily for decades. "unbearable levels of cruelty and suffering" and are mired in this "unending nightmare."

I have read today an article about this new book Lower Than The Angels. I have not read it myself yet and so I will merely quote parts of the article. I see it is available on amazon and there are more comments there. The book is the last in the Guardian article to be reviewed. Jesus never mentioned homosexuals, masturbation or the role of women in social, let alone sacred, life. Yet that hasn’t stopped millennia of godly scholars and lay Christians acting as if he had. According to these finger-waggers, extrapolating from biblical apocrypha, exegesis and their own personal fantasies, women are either morally superior or corrupt whores. Likewise, same-sex love is at one moment the emotional glue that binds celibate monastic communities and at another a sin that requires participants to be stoned. In this masterly book, the ecclesiastical historian Diarmaid MacCulloch sets out to show that the source for Christianity’s confused teachings on sex, sexuality and gender is its own untidy DNA . . . MacCulloch deals candidly with the clumsy and often cruel way in which churches in the post-second world war period dragged their feet on contraception, gay and lesbian rights and the ordination of women. His book is not in any sense a campaigning document, but he concludes with the mild and sensible suggestion that what is desperately needed is a general agreement that the church’s teachings on sexuality have little to do with scripture and everything to do with the muddled fears, fantasies and self-interest of subsequent commentators and the historical societies in which they lived. The best thing to do now would be to look beyond the old and often damaging dogma and take proper notice of how real people, in all their splendid variety, organise their sex lives most comfortably when left to their own devices. https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2025/sep/03/this-months-best-paperbacks-haruki-murakami-richard-powers-and-more#lower-than-the-angels

So there are indeed two issues here - the Supreme Court and the 2nd Amendment. What I fail to understand is that if laws can be repealed - and I am sure some have over the centuries in the USA - why cannot an Amendement to the Constitution be altered?

An excellent summary of what I think many believe, apart from gunowners that is. Some years ago I wrote a long article about how the USA has not kept pace with history and social advances. Basically, in addition to retating much of @jimmie50's post, I queried a number of other issues. Why, for example, does the USA consider it still requires around ten weeks between the date of voting and the installation of the new administration? Other countries achieve this in a matter of days. The UK in just 24 hours. No doubt it is because when the USA became a country vote counting was a much more laborious affair, with horses and buggies having to take the voting slips to Washington where they could be re-tallied and a result finally announced. Yet we have lived in the age of the computer for several decades now. The result should be known - and then contested if so desired - within days and the new President immediately sworn in. In the UK a contested constituency result is recounted within a matter of hours - by hand! What damage could an outgoing President do during that ten-week interregnum? When attempts were made to reduce the influence of money in elections, the Supreme Court got rid of that little annoyance by permitting the starting of Super-Pacs. That only resulted in vastly more money from groups with even more entrenched political positions influencing elections. And no-one in the electorate seems to bother about it. That individual states should have the right to choose their own voting system is understandable - for their own interstate elections. A general election is a country-wide affair and there should be just one voting system that is exactly the same for all states. Yet the present system means Presidents can be elected on the basis of disputed "hanging chads" in just one State! Then there is the Supreme Court! Who mandated that judges be recommended by political parties? And who mandated that judges serve until death? To me that is some form of idiocy as we saw during Trump's first term with three Conservative judges appointed. Why was 87 year old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a superb judge but who suffered from a battery of illnesses, not persuaded to stand down by Obama so that another moderate could be put in her place? DId he just assume that Hillary Clinton would win and all would be well? If so, then that was sheer stupidity. In the UK top judges must retire at 75. We also saw it in Bush I's term with his ridiculous claim that Clarence Thomas was the most suitable candidate to fill an empty seat on the Court. Thomas had been a judge for only 19 months! Despite the claims of sexual advances by Anita Hill, other ladies with similar claims were prevented from giving evidence. The appointment was shoved through with indecent haste - and the Chairman of that Select Committee who prevented the ladies from backing Ms. Hill's claims was Joe Biden! So now the US has two alleged sex offenders on its top Court. Had a 75 years old rule been in place, Thomas could have retired and taken up all his bribes from the rich without any threat to his position. In 2025, the time of a four-year Presidency is no longer tenable. It is too short, even though Trump haters will not agree. With only two political parties having any chance of running the country, as we have seen it results in constant changes in senior administration personnel and policies. With the world's second largest power having no such restrictions and President Xi able even to extend his own tenure, the Chinese have long been able to think and act long-term. No matter that the country is now experiencing considerable economic hardships and other problems, it is in a far better position than the USA to solve them and grow faster, both economically and militarily. While the USA has concentrated on its relations with just a few countries, China has expanded its reach, and is continuing to do so through the Belt & Road initiative. And then of course there is the fact - fact - that most voters in the United States vote on US-related issues. That is perfectly understandable - but surely not in the world in 2025? Since WWII, the USA has been the world's policeman and many of us are and should be extremely grateful to that country for taking on that role. Yet, we cannot escape the fact that voters in the United States vote on the basis largely of local issues. That, I understand, is particularly true in the central belt. Yet it is estimated that between 45% and 50% of US citizens do not have passports and have never travelled outside their country. The majorty of those who do have passports are to be found on the east and west coasts. So the majority of those in the USA have never travelled abroad, know about other countries, their peoples, their societies and their problems only from their own media sources. A 2021 census showed that roughtly 85% of Britons have passports. No doubt understadable given the proximity of EU countries. Yet surely Canada and Mexico are as easy for US citizens to visit? China issues more passports than the USA. When you add in valid travel entry/exit permits, that's another 300 million. Even though China is vastly bigger in terms of population, my view is that in the next few years the Chinese as a whole will soon know more about the world than Americans. I write all this in the full understanding that other countries, including my own, have their own set of major problem issues which they have failed to solve. But then other countries are not the leader of the free world.

Absolutely true. But . . . and it is a huge but. Regarding Asia how do you go after the scammers when the scam centres are located in a country like Myanmar which has been in an horrendous state of civil was for nearly eight decades? A country in which the rule of law hardly exists and where hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young, who lost so much during the covid years were enticed by false promises of better jobs with better salaries? The Thais and Chinese, along with a few from Myanmar, have been trying to put an end to this but zero success. Originally the scam centres were based in the country's Shan State - just one Myanmar State which is almost four times larger than Switzerland. When the Chinese in particular turned up the heat, the scammers just moved their operations further down the eastern border into lawless Karen State. Please read the BBC link below and watch the video embedded in it if you want to understand how impossible it is to stop the scammers. The huge city of Shwe Kokko was built in just seven years with the sole intention of using it as a massive scam centre. "The scams have grown into a multi-billion dollar business. They involve thousands of workers from China, South East Asia, Africa and the Indian subcontinent kept in walled-off compounds where they defraud people all over the world of their savings. Some work there willingly, but others are abducted and forced to work. Those who have escaped have told harrowing stories of torture and beatings. Some have come from Shwe Kokko." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04nx1vnw17o