Hmm... I freely admit I know not much, all I go by is limited personal experience whilse travelling in Asia. No doubt my own cultural blinders and thus my own cultural incompatibility are partly to blame for my (mis?)conceptions... and I am happy to learn more as I read on this forum and elsewhere, and also to extend my knowledge and experience and update my beliefs.
In any case it always felt to me like many Israelis just seem to treat Thai people like mere providers of service, in a very disrespectful, bossy way, looking down on them as if they (the Israelis) owned the place. Granted, many Westerners do this too, as we are also, by and large, an uncharming bunch. But much less so. One day a very friendly, gentle, and open-minded Israeli guy i had a chat with said: "I apologise for the behaviour of my fellow countrymen" or something of the sort.
Something I would consider rude under any circumstances bar panic or clumsiness is when a person pushes me out of the way in order to take my space, wherever that is, as if I didn't count for nought. This happened to me a few times... most notably in China (Beijing was horrible, especially the "new rich"... so disrespectful... by my cultural standards, I know) ... but also in Thailand a number of times - always by overbearing macho (and much more often than not) Israeli males whose vibe suggested they owned the fucking place, loved no one and were ready to mess with anyone messing with them. They would treat the poor Thai guy at the beach restaurant as if he was a slave... no please, no thank you... as if they were thinking "i give ye cash, that's enough, no need for politeness or respect"... totally ignoring the PERSON they're speaking to... as if they were compensating for all the shit they got during their years in the army, beign lashed out at for so long and now getting their own back, lashing out at the poor sod who is trying to get by, selling drinks to tourists for just a few baht or whatever. Knowing what you told me about their likely past experiences in the army and with all the bombings and that perma-tension going on and such, I try to understand where they are coming from - and yet i find that there is simply no excuse for such behaviour. I feel this a lot also in the KPN/Fullmoon/Goa/Psytrance scene... so many guys with egos so big the beach just isn't big enough to accommodate them all. We have much the same attitudinal/vibratory problem in my country in Europe, where there are many immigrants from former Yugoslavia, a territory that has known many years of civil war and bloodshed. Lots of guys from there who live here now have brought with them these vibes, they are violent, aggressive, etc... no wonder with what they have been through... even the police are afraid of them for they are tough. But of course they are not all like that, i know some who are gentle folks and all that...
When I feel such negative vibes - regardless of nationality or race or whatever - i cringe and do what i can to stay the f*ck away. Yikes. Sorry, but that HAD to come out.
About the Jews and the US government. You may think I am gullible for saying this now, but I do believe the conspiracy-theory accounts that suggest that in the 9/11 WTC disaster almost no Jews were killed because hardly any were in the towers on that day as they must have been informed by those in the know about what was about to happen . . .
And unless I am wrong, the Jewish community in the US is home to many of the wealthiest US citizens, and they are closely connected with the powers that be. These are all post-war (WW2) developments...
Googling just now, I found this interesting link on how Israeli citizens feel about the USA... Bush and Obama are really quite different...
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1245184872947
I do not really wish to take this further, it's so nothing to do with the purpose of the whole thread, nor do I wish to step on anyone's toes or foster any negative feelings toward any culture, nation or race.
let's all keep learning, and keep our minds as open as we can.
Back on thread-topic... About Thailand being less-than-friendly... yeah sure... I have only been going for 9 years and I know I probabyl missed out on the times when it was truly friendly... but I did see it go from ok to bad to worse..... no wonder, considerign how so many visitors treat the locals... visitors from all over the world, mainly the West. Many seem quite disrespectful, with vulgar displays of money, sex tourism, loud late-night drinking and singing... and no genuine interest in the country and its people or culture. beers'n'burgers'mediocre Western music galore... even in remote island paradises.. wtf... now that we have made the Thais so jaded and destroyed tha paradise that once was, seems that perhaps we will move on to newer, fresher, more innocent shores in order to do the whole thing again..... and the more numerous we becoem there the more decadent we will become and the more the locals - relying more and more heavily on the tourist dollar - will become jaded and treat us like the Thais seem to be doing now.
i did notice, in Thailand, that up North folks are way friendlier... in Bangkok I suppose the low end of Sukhimvit and KhaoSarn are among the worst, as are many places in Samui and pockets of Pha Ngan (the closer to Had Rin I go the more I can feel it). There is a hell of a lot of bottled-up anger in so many Thai males especially in the areas i mentioned, sometimes when many people gather in one place the air is so thick it feels like you could cut it with a knife...
(just my experience.. I welcome any constructive criticisms to my meanderings here)