OPINION

Right man for the job

Re: "Expats welcome?" (BP, Feb 18).

It is noble of expatriates to offer Thailand assistance in uplifting our standard of command of English. However, the proposal of the Ministry of Education to recruit 30,000-plus retirees should be subjecting to stringent vetting.

The officials in charge of this programme should themselves be proficient in the language, ability to sieve through the applicants, mature, and have learnt from programmes previously adopted.

Having officials from the British Council or Khun Burin Kantabutra, that prolific PostBag writer, on the vetting committee could have helped.

Re: "Pandemonium," (PostBag, Feb 18).

In response to Terry King's letter quoting Kevin Bass, related to Covid and Covid measures and vaccines in Newsweek, I beg to differ.

Here is what Kevin Bass said: "I believed that the authorities responded to the largest public health crisis of our lives with compassion, diligence, and scientific expertise. I was with them when they called for lockdowns, vaccines, and boosters. I was wrong. We in the scientific community were wrong. And it cost lives.

"I can see now that the scientific community, from the CDC to the WHO to the FDA and their representatives, repeatedly overstated the evidence and misled the public about its own views and policies, including on natural vs artificial immunity, school closures and disease transmission, aerosol spread, mask mandates and vaccine effectiveness and safety, especially among the young. All of these were scientific mistakes at the time, not in hindsight. Amazingly, some of these obfuscations continue to the present day."

It is also abundantly clear that the vaccines are not safe or effective.

Those interested in these facts can obtain an excellent new book, Turtles All The Way Down Down, and find out for themselves.

I'm sure the 1,200 references it is based upon are more than sufficient to inform even the likes of the most uninformed, even Mr King, since it is written to help parents make decisions regarding vaccinations for their children.

Re: "No shortcuts in war," (PostBag, Feb 18).

You say letters are subject to editing.

Please do so in such a case as when Mergen Mongush states that the US was humiliated in Vietnam after twenty years. It took half that time.

Re: "No shortcuts in war," (PostBag, Feb 18).

Yes, indeed. The Ukraine war may become a protracted conflict like the Israeli-Palestine territorial saga. Thousands will die on both sides, and millions will be displaced, especially in the Russian-occupied areas. Similar conflicts have rocked relations between India, Pakistan, and China. Territorial and cultural disputes have killed thousands in Thailand's deep south, within Sir Lanka, and many African nations.

The good news is the European Union is nearby, allowing millions of Ukrainians to quickly flee and resettle in the EU, USA, and other countries funding the war.

The Covid pandemic and environmental degradation are causing havoc and have decimated many economies. Sadly, the longer this war goes on, the economic consequences on countries that trade with Ukraine and Russia will grow more severe.

We are already seeing inflation rising in the EU, the USA, and the other countries trading with both sides. Those supporting this proxy war must find a middle path to end it, or it may turn into another cold war.