CampbellDaycruiser wrote:
To a certain extent it depends upon how you feel about living in a country without very much freedom. For example: Thailand is a military dictatorship where foreigners can be imprisoned for critiquing the king. The Philippines is run by a murderous vigilante.
It also matters how you feel about living on an ex-pat island in a sea of locals or living in a society with extreme income inequality where everyone is just scraping by except for the elite who run everything.
For some folks, as long as they are the ones on top this is irrelevant and I suppose that as long as you never leave the safety and security of the bubble it does not matter. Like a trip to Dubai: just ignore the near-slaves building the malls and high rises and don't worry about the religious police since they often do not target foreigners. But IMHO, sooner or later the real world intrudes and makes it impossible to ignore what it is really like in your new home for the ordinary citizens.
I think your view of the situation is skewed at best and my guess is you have never been to the Philippines or Thailand or spent any real time there.
Thailand is a very free country in terms of freedom of the press, movement and speech. The current Military Government is one of a long line of such that usually takes over when the democratically elected governments fail miserably. If you talk to many Thais they will express a higher degree of confidence in the Military than their elected leaders.
This particular government was brought about by the failure of Thaksin Shinawatras Daughter as head of the government. The other issue at hand was the continual unrest between the RED and Yellow factions.
With the imminent demise of the King unrest was a real factor. The Yellows were royalists and wanted to retain a strong monarchy, the Reds wanted a weak monarchy more akin to that of Cambodia.
Since the military has taken over there has been relative peace. But only very rarely do the internal politics of the country affect the tourist or expat.
I have lived and traveled there under both types of government and can tell you that for the expat there is little or no effective difference. Thailand for the retired foreigner is a peaceful and great place to live.
And when you live as a guest in another country it's only good manners not to go around getting involved in their politics or dissing their beloved King.
As for the Philippines more Social Security checks go to there than any other country and in fact the embassy has a full time SSA official on site. Lots of Americans especially ex servicemen have moved there.
As for the current president of the Philippines? well he bears an uncanny resemblance to some other politicians currently running for office around the world and some recently elected. He is an idiot for sure this I can agree with.