Tag: geopolitics
Coercion of the willing
Maniacs – 8th September 2025
Inspired by this piece by Caitlin Johnstone
Shared with dVerse OLN this week as not many eyes made it to this poem.
Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis
said to be crazy lunatics
They are no longer ‘our’ terrorists
providing cover for our dirty tricks
Those madman megalomaniacs
are a danger when being pressed
slaughtering their own people
when asked to, at ‘our’ behest
Weapons so securely hidden
there’s no chance of being found
the insane are suddenly so smart
their evil intentions are now profound
Hand in hand with the maniacs
Gaddafi, Assad and Hussein
eliminated once the spoils are divided
between the maniacs that remain
Most Hated – 4th September 2025
Solidified as a clogged pipe,
with a hunger never sated;
stubborn, with a fistful of lies,
illegal to be debated;
The wrong colour or wrong type,
in murder, congratulated;
to blacken perfectly clear skies
far from where you are located;
Populations submit to hype
or kept pleasantly sedated;
it’s them or us, all broken ties,
arguing until frustrated;
So the timing has become ripe,
in the fervour you’ve created;
it really comes as no surprise
that you’ve become the most hated.
Spy On You – 21st June 2024
My lizard eye spies surprise
Sideways sly spy in the skies
Explain a name, much the same
A play for fame explains the game
To beat the heat or face defeat
You gotta cheat the play complete
I did the do in watching you
So talk me through the dimmest view
Before there’s more along the floor
See what I see, saw what I saw
Split decision at the supervision
I got television with precision-vision
I got an eye on you
Submitted to Three Things Challenge #M729 and #M730
4th Dec 2024 – Shared with dVerse – TV shows
Today I’m feeling:
Not as tired as I usually am by Friday which is pleasing. I’ve already done my morning classes again and they went pretty well. Just my lively grade 8s to go and then off home again.
Today I’m grateful for:
The last drips and drops of my pay cheque that allow me to buy my yoghurt, that should tide me over until next month.
I don’t have enough money to pay for Amy’s birthday dinner now and have to figure out a way to get the credit card out of her wallet on the night without her noticing!
The best thing about today was:
The many interactions with students again, mostly mine but also a few new ones that wanted to talk.
Days like this make all the effort I put in feel worthwhile. I feel like any little small interaction is helping these kids in some way.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I have a sore spot right on the end of my tailbone. I’ve had it before and maybe it was at the same time last year. It feels like dry skin that has maybe split. It could be from spending more time sitting on hard wooden chairs or from doing more exercise at this time of year. I’m not sure. It’s more annoying than painful.
After my first class, I walked past the classroom where George was with the grade 11s that I also teach. The kids were mostly sprawled out across the floor asleep and George sat at his desk engrossed in his phone.
Well…. That’s not a great look in my book but whatever. It seems most of the Thai teachers don’t care either. But I feel at least a little bit responsible for giving these kids as much as I can, whether they would prefer to sleep or not!
Something I learned today?
China just found a cure for Type 2 diabetes and the USA wants to stop their citizens from getting access to treatment by blocking US scientists from working with Chinese Pharmaceuticals.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
Aida was looking a bit down again today and she said that she has a falling out with a couple of her friends in the class. I encouraged her to not overthink things and that it may already be ok again by next week.
I can feel that she thinks quite deeply about things and maybe focuses too much on the negative.
Dancing In The Street – 25th May 2024
I used to enjoy the dance of days
Seized each second in many ways
Yet the sunshine never stays
– And here I am contemplating
I’d foxtrot my way through the rains
Tango a message that explains
Until only a rumba remains
– To leave the fat lady waiting
Waited she did until too late
I could not escape this certain fate
And ever since that fatal date
– I walk the streets alone
Thinking of a flamenco strut
Dressed and shaved, hair clean cut
Nowadays I’m anything but
– Can’t even dance on home
Submitted to No Theme Thursday and Ovi Poetry Challenge 49
Today I’m feeling:
My usual Saturday morning tired already. It’s only been a three-day workweek for me too.
Last night I felt kinda invincible. Throw anything at me and I can do it.
Come the morning and I can feel my brain struggling to connect things together. As I was reading about John Lee Hooker and BB King I was thinking about something else entirely and I can barely remember either.
Quick coffees today as we will take Nong Na out for lunch to thank her for taking care of our cats last weekend.
Today I’m grateful for:
Taking the time to go to the city for lunch, picking up Na on the way. We got to the hotpot restaurant at 12 and I couldn’t believe that it was 2 pm when we had finished. Time went so quick and I was very relaxed.
The best thing about today was:
The mix of the hotpot soup that soaked into the rolled-up tofu sheets, then dipped into a peanut and sesame oil sauce with chopped garlic and then a sip of some Chinese milk drink to take off the heat. Awesome!
The staff were concerned that the soup would be too spicy for me but to be honest I could’ve done with some more Sichuan peppers in there!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
As seems to be getting more normal these days, time is out of my control and disappearing faster than I would like. I sat in my room after lunch and started investigating a cento poem, which required looking through lots of other people’s poetry to pick out lines from.
Doing that and catching up on some other poetry reading evaporated 3 or 4 hours and I didn’t end up coming up with anything for the cento yet. I still need to collect more before trying to put it together.
Something I learned today?
The USA has threatened the capability to shut down chip manufacturing in Taiwan if China should invade. The short-sightedness of the threat is incredible as it would mostly affect USA products such as Apple, nVidia etc.
There’s a lot of crazy in the world right now, perhaps I should stop looking.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
We drove to pick up Nong Na this morning as there was a bit of rain around and I drove us to the city and back. Whilst Amy paid for lunch I paid for the durian bingsu dessert.
I also picked up a couple of 20 baht Japanese toys for Baipad and NamHom whilst at the bingsu shop.
Spreading The Pain – 10th August 2023
I hate myself and I’m letting go
I’m about to tell you what I know
Transferring hate counters my pain
Until I start to feel the hate again
A vicious circle, beyond my control
I chose to further damage my soul
If you refuse this hate from me
How will I ever learn to be?
Closed my mind to all your tales
All my successes feel like fails
I found myself brought to my knees
To spread more pain as I please
A walking contradiction runs away
From all the friends that want to play
A pain no longer able to bear
And no helping hands left to care
A loser in life, love and existence
Taking the path of least resistance
Kill me now, I’m scared to commit
Suicide – I just can’t do it
Today I’m feeling:
Bleary but upbeat. I hung around at school for an hour enjoying hanging out with all the many students I know and even some I don’t know. I came out for coffee but sitting here for a couple hours has seen my energy levels fall and I decided to cancel my class this afternoon and go home, especially as Amy leaves again tomorrow morning.
Today I’m grateful for:
Some sun breaking through for an hour or two to dry our washing. I still have a couple of doonas to take to the laundromat that will need washing and drying which I’ll try and do this weekend.
The best thing about today was:
Coming home to find that Amy had mopped and vacuumed before she leaves tomorrow. As we have another long weekend coming I can enjoy a clean and relaxing house.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
We’d told Aing that I fly to Australia on October 12th so asked her to come here on the 11th. As I had to tell Bronwyn and Jochen what dates I would be there I thought to double-check my flight details and discovered that I actually leave on the 9th! Luckily we hadn’t booked her ticket already! With a few messages back and forth everything is confirmed and we’re good to go!
Something I learned today?
I watched another Jerry’s Take On China about how the US is stirring up trouble in the South China Sea about a reef claimed by both China and the Philippines. Amazing how easily reality can get distorted through the lens of corrupt and compromised media. I find it difficult to reconcile that I’m more likely to trust Chinese state media these days. At least in amongst the weirdly Asian political presentation style it is just generally facts that are stated. No opinion or bias just plain reporting. The criticism will be that it is completely biased to the party’s doctrine but that criticism can also be directed to any Western media these days too. No matter the many-party system, there is really only one party. As the old saying goes, ‘It doesn’t matter who you vote for, the government always wins’.
What are some of my favourite song lyrics?
All the quotes that I entered here for 2022 I entered into a little notebook to send to Hayden. As there was lots of space left I decided to fill it with lyrics that I love. But when going through them and looking at them as words they somehow lose their impact. Some words carry their emotion in the way they are sung along with the memories of sweet times gone.
Thank Goodness For Paranoia – 8th August 2023
A cautious step on an icy ledge
Let slip the dogs of war
The days of diplomacy are over
And goons are knocking at the door
Never hold the gaze for more than a second
The men in black are tweaking
The files are closed on past misdemeanours
Until they’re ready for leaking
Good job Gloria, that’s how you do
Surviving all these years of top
Surveilling from behind the screen
Until the penny is about to drop
Baby’s got a blankie to hold
A security against the fear
The blinds are drawn, doors are locked
So it will not happen here
A boy in a bubble, breathing hope
He wants to be just like you
Who decides on a normal life
When they will surely die too?
Today I’m feeling:
Ok so far though getting up was difficult.
In the middle of the night, I was dreaming of Forest Cottage again and knew I needed to pee but, still in the dream, it felt like it was so close I had to run to the bathroom and when I got there I saw in my pants that I couldn’t contain it all in time but I enjoyed the feeling of relief as I wondered when I would ever stop peeing.
Finally, the dream woke me up realizing I needed to pee and thankfully I had managed to contain it so far. I fumbled out of bed still not quite with it and stumbled around the edge and head first into the wardrobe. With a loud crack, I dropped back onto the bed waking Amy and suddenly wide awake myself. I have a nice forehead bruise for my troubles this morning.
Today I’m grateful for:
My subconscious, telling me to wake up and go to the bathroom before wetting the bed. I hope these dreams don’t stop and I long have the ability to make it to the toilet in time.
The best thing about today was:
Hearing that our aircon component is here. However…. he’s here working on it right now and whilst it is working the air is not cold. One problem fixed and perhaps another created. Have to wait and see. It would be nice to be back in our familiar bedroom again although Amy is saying that my snoring is disturbing her sleep and wants to sleep in separate rooms!
About an hour later and we finally have it fixed again. Woohoo!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
For my second class today I planned on using Quizizz online but as I sat to start it everything had disappeared from my account which was a bit of a worry as there are weeks of work of mine there, but I figured it must be some site-wide issue that will get fixed in time. But what to do for my class that was already ten minutes through the one hour allocated?
In my earlier class, I had played categories with them which went well enough but took about 20 minutes to get set up. During my break, I had taken five minutes to put together the table in a document so the kids didn’t have to draw it (which one student had struggled with!). So I quickly ran and printed off the sheets and divided the kids into groups, taking most of the phones off them, and allowing just one per group to use for searching answers.
Thankfully this group of kids are pretty obedient and even if they are not sure what I’m saying they quickly learn from each other. We were able to quickly have fun playing the game with 95% of the class taking part before I allocated 4 students to clean and kicked the rest out to their next class. Job done!
Also, with the aircon repair taking an hour or two I’ve run out of time to play guitar today which is a little annoying but I know that in the future there will also be days with lots of free time and I will be too lazy to play. Also, sometimes taking a break from something reminds you how much better you’ve become when you pick it up again.
Something I learned today?
Wow, I just finished a long chat with another student suffering depressive symptoms. Although I didn’t see it before their behaviour makes sense in hindsight.
Who has made a difference in my life lately?
I guess this one is pretty obvious for me right now as Amy has been back for three weeks and is about to leave again already. When I’m by myself I can get into a very familiar routine that becomes comfortable and though the acceptance of that change wasn’t that difficult it was still something to work through. When she is back again permanently things will change again and a new routine will reveal itself.
4/6 Time – 1st August 2023
Keep the rhythm
Hold onto harmony
No sleepwalking
Meditate on
Presence and principles
Mindful essence
Stop pulling strings
No imagination
Confine yourself
To the present
All with objective calm
It’s up to us
inspired by a recent Stoa Letter newsletter
9th Jun 2024 – Submitted to the Word of the Day Challenge
Today I’m feeling:
A bit more lively and with it. Forgotten now, I know that I had a few different but quite realistic dreams. I was happy to enjoy them. I also managed to push through 75 star jumps and ride my pushie to Utopia for coffee. If I could tell myself every morning that a good day always starts with exercise perhaps I could motivate myself to do it at weekends.
Today I’m grateful for:
The digging tool we have for working in the garden. I guess it’s a hoe of some sort as it can be used for that too. Swing it high and hard enough though and it can dig. I’m also grateful for the recent rains making the ground a little easier to dig too. The two little trees were quickly in the ground and I look forward to watching them mature.
The best thing about today was:
Watching Amy bravely battle an arm-sized tokay in the kitchen and work room. I knew she wouldn’t rest until it was caught and outside. We had to chase it a bit and move some furniture but eventually, I managed to trap it in a plastic bin against the wall and Amy slid a mat across the top and quickly carried it outside where it finally ran off.
I think the lizards look amazing and they are pretty shy. They only get agitated if you bother them. They do shit everywhere though, along with all the little geckos that are running around our house.
I’m going to buy some lizard repellent sometime, though Amy said she read reviews that they can actually attract more lizards rather than get rid of them!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Amy had a few requests for jobs for me to do during the day but as I was in an improved mood I just did them happily.
Something I learned today?
I chuckled at a report today of the EU sending warships to the South China Sea to protect trade routes from Chinese interference. More than 80% of the shipping through the SCS are ships coming from and going to China! The spin of the hypocrites in the West is amazing. Is there another agenda?
What do I want to focus on this month?
Focus? I’m not sure to be honest. Trying to save a little money would be useful because I have to buy a lot of cat food and get the car serviced this month. But basically, it is business as usual. Teaching, learning, reading, writing, guitar, cleaning, coffee, exercise.
Idea Of Heaven – 4th July 2023
We still have to teach the Gods to be human
They should bend to our will, not us to theirs
First, we have to understand ourselves
And an idea of heaven that everyone shares
Today I’m feeling:
I didn’t sleep well but felt ok at my alarm. Two hours into the day though and I’m feeling a little low and flat. My eyes are sore again and the cloudy grey skies feel depressing.
Last night Paen (Baitoey) contacted me again feeling depressed and suicidal. I don’t know how much more I can give her. I know she doesn’t have the skills but it seems like she doesn’t want to do the hard work and is always looking for the easy way out. She needs some guidance to turn her thinking around and I’m not the best person for that.
Her struggles weigh me down too.
Today I’m grateful for:
Payment coming through today as I was just about to run out of money. It meant I could pay the gardener who came today and can also order some more cat food now too. I still have money put aside for the aircon fix and hopefully enough spare for the plumbing fixes. Not sure if there will be enough for the guttering though.
The best thing about today was:
Many interesting conversations with my students outside of class. They usually remind me about things I went through when I was their age.
Also, Champ was back from Australia for a quick visit and he was telling me that he had to do some part-time work to be able to afford to stay there whilst studying. He’s working at a school teaching grade 5 kids. He was comparing the difference between the education systems in Oz and in Thailand and that he now has a clearer understanding of us farang teachers when we work here and get frustrated at the way things work. I’ve adapted myself now but it does feel like a little vindication.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
When I got home I could see that the gardeners had been. I’m thankful to them for tidying up our home but also can’t help noticing what a bad job they are doing. After asking them to clear the weeds properly along the driveway last time, this time they made no attempt at all. Worse still was that they cut the avocado tree that Bruno gave me last year, cut at the trunk! It was just starting to grow well and looked like it would develop into a nice-looking young tree. Fucking careless.
Something I learned today?
The great Chinese spy balloon incident is over. The US admitted that they found no evidence of anything beyond the weather instrumentation that the Chinese told them it was. The US is in the hands of adults acting like 5-year-olds.
How did I practice kindness?
Today I sat down with Paen and listened to her grievances about her life and what help she would like me to give her. She actually didn’t say much, I did most of the talking. I challenged her a lot because I can see that she is just running away from the real issue which is her own self-esteem, insecurities and problems at home. I can see that the things she wants me to help her with are not long-term solutions.
I have shown her a lot of kindness and tried to help her many times. I can’t fix what happens in her head but I will support her as best I can.
I also ran into Preawa during the day and she was having some kind of problem with her boyfriend who was following her around forlornly. I messaged her this evening to see if she was ok and she said she was and appreciated my concern.
I think one of the reasons that the kids like me is that the can feel my empathy towards them even as I might be berating them for being lazy. I may not be the best teacher in the world but I think I’m a pretty good human.
What do I want to focus on today?
It looks like I will have to focus some time on helping Paen to see if she can change programs back to English. I see this as a band-aid solution for her because the problems are coming from within herself. I’ll try and find her the school counsellor and also find out why she stopped taking her meds. She seemed to be doing well in the first couple of weeks of the new semester.
Forked Tongues – 10th June 2023
These Indians red took the word
Of these well-dressed men of cloth
But soon lines were drawn and blurred
And the taking was never enough
One man whispers truths to be bent
And conquered all within his path
Claiming their gifts were heaven sent
And the pious enjoyed the last laugh
On and on the conquerors strode
Until the world fell to its knees
So as the words further flowed
They would see the world less pleased
Promises broken along with trust
Would see anyone’s station fall
So rises the river as needs must
To flood the lowest of them all
Today I’m feeling:
A little tired again but enjoyed a Saturday sleep-in. I was a little relieved that Matt hadn’t replied to my message about going over so that I can relax at home. At Utopia, Noey was working so it’s nice to see a pretty face and as Art was off doing coffee stuff, she and the boys, Gong and little Art, were enjoying a little freedom at work.
After a haircut, I rode to the 20 baht shop to get some batteries and rode by the grilled pork stall on the corner. I’d previously seen a girl there wearing a CRPAO shortcut but didn’t recognise them. Today though the girl working waved and smiled a big smile at me. It was my student AumAim. I stopped and chatted a little with her and her mum, telling her that she was a good student, which is true. They live in the soi along from me.
In the afternoon I ran out of energy again and woke up feeling shit after a nap.
Today I’m grateful for:
Realising I had potatoes in the fridge, which I then baked, covered with butter, cheese and a little onion, salt and pepper. I’m wondering if this is what made me feel tired though?
The best thing about today was:
Definitely the morning. I felt good, my mood was good and I got things done.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I was planning on getting Art to come with me to the air conditioning shop to convince their mechanic to come and fix mine but when I got there they told me he’d gone into the city. Maybe I’ll catch him tomorrow. Either way, the temperature is a little cooler now and a fan or two is ok to sleep with.
Something I learned today?
US media is claiming China is racist for not going to see the new Disney movie because the lead actor is black, discounting the fact that the top-selling movie in China is the latest Spiderman which also has a black lead. Anything for a China Bad story, it’s ridiculous.
What was the most interesting thing I saw or heard today?
Amy’s student from a couple of years ago, Na, will go to the university near us and Amy said she will ask her to house/cat sit for us when we need. Great idea! She’s got common sense and is respectful.
I guess my day wasn’t particularly interesting but this possibility could give us a little extra freedom to travel when want.
How did I embody a beginner’s mind?
I remind myself that I know a lot of things and that amount to a fraction of all the things that are known.
When I’m teaching in class I’m reminded by my students that we all share a beginner’s mind and that we should never be complacent that we know everything.
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