gearbox

You can extend it with a few extra choices like "I don't have 800k for visa"

This is short term issue, longer term issues would be like this one below and growing: https://merics.org/en/short-analysis/made-china-electric-vehicles-could-turn-sino-eu-trade-its-head Once the Chinese squeeze them from the markets (as the Japanese and Koreans did before), it would be interesting where they would find money to fund the poor countries lining up for membership.

No worries, Albo says we are going to be a superpower soon: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-aims-for-superpower-status-in-global-energy-transition-20220711-p5b0sq.html

There are the no 1 polluter, one would expect that, it is the global factory and there are nearly 1.5 billion of them. However having 1200GW generation capacity by 2030 only from wind and solar is a lot, considering that all sources of generation capacity of US are 1115GW combined. "In 2020, the pandemic year, installed electricity generation summer capacity [14] in the United States was 1115.68 gigawatts (GW), up 16.57 GW from 2019."

From the airport to Ark Bar is around 3km, so you are guaranteed to be ripped off, but there is no competition at the airport. The other way around you can bargain it to 250-300 baht. Sometimes when I arrive with a carry-on I just walk to Chaweng ???? The petrol has increased a lot similar to everywhere in the world, filling up a motorbike is approaching 200 baht, it was nearly half before. Diesel is capped a bit but there are no taxis running on diesel afaik. Many ingredients used by restaurants are way higher now, the very popular chicken breast in Makro us nearly 50% up compared to year ago. Veggies are way more expensive than before. Fruit which is in season like mangosteens or rambutans right now are keeping more or less the same prices as the last year. From my observations the imported stuff hasn't moved that much so far, e.g olive oil is pretty much the same price. 320 baht for a whole fish would be average price for average quality sit down restaurant. The retirement extension is still 1900 baht.

There are mobile cart vendors with tiny small kitchens offering popular Thai dishes for lunch like Papaya salad, Pad Thai and noodle soups. Their customers are 99% Thai and the dish price doesn't exceed 50 baht, if anyone tells you higher price they are ripping you off. There are pretty much none of them on the Chaweng beach road, but there are few on the road at the lake running parallel to the beach, they are there for an hour or two until they sell out their stuff. What you get would be lower quality of food, no big fresh shrimps in the Pad Thai or soups, stuffed with MSG, but if not a foodie good enough to fill in the tummy. I've eaten from carts quite a few times, never got sick, but friends of mine visiting wouldn't go near them even if you paid them.

I haven't seen Pad Thai on Chaweng beach road for 50 baht across the whole stretch of the road...it would be 80-100 baht for lower end restaurants with small frozen shrimps used, and up to 200 baht at the good quality restaurants. For cheaper options you need to take the road away from the lake towards Makro at the roundabout near Central, there are many cheaper Thai restaurants, but depending where you stay you may need to pay for taxi to get there and the cost of your Pad Thai may double. Another option is the market at the lake near Central, but they don't do it every day. As phetphet mentioned it they refurbished the market near Thai international hospital, it is cheaper than the market at the lake or the Fisherman walking street, but is quite further from the beach. It is open every day. For good restaurant just look at the Google or TripAdvisor rankings near you (afaik both have "near me" option), many restaurants have menus online or someone took a picture of the menu, you can see what's available without the need to go and look around. Avoid asking Facebook groups for recommendations, as usually you'll get "recommendations" from either the business owner or their staff. Usually the restaurants attached to hotels are poor value wrt price and quality, I very rarely eat at the hotels I'm staying.

China is a world leader in renewables and is likely to be the first big country drastically reducing dependency on fossil fuels: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-30/china-set-to-double-last-year-s-record-solar-panel-installations The Chinese don't want dependency on foreign oil and gas, Russian or from anywhere else.

The Die Welt article is there, go and look at their web site, but it is in German and behind a paywall. No need to post Sputnik sources to imply that the Russians somehow fabricated this. And the article claims the talks are "secret" so one wouldn't expect government press release.

The Ukrainians may reject ceding land for peace, but Die Welt reports about secret negotiations between EU and the US to end the war with diplomacy. I highly doubt the Ukrainians are invited to these talks. The West can force Ukraine to cede land if self interest dictates it, and the Ukrainians may be left high and dry. The electorate in the EU wants the war to end.

I didn't post that link to clarify and "distribute" blame about who started the war, it is obvious that the Russians invaded Ukraine. There seems to be some obsession who is to blame, the cooler heads reason what can happen from now on, not to play the blame game. And the outlook is not good any way you look at it.

Well, the Ukrainians themselves think that NATO/US has contributed to flaming this war: https://dimitrilascaris.org/2022/07/01/poll-finds-most-ukrainians-believe-ukraines-government-nato-and-the-u-s-bear-some-responsibility-for-ukraine-war/ The war is wrong, all wars are wrong, but here we are, the war is there and can become quite dangerous for everyone. As the article points there is no favorable outcome of this war due to one of the countries having the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. No bar stool talks can change that. The longer the war is going the worse it would get, if the Russians keep winning the Ukrainians will lose more territory, if the Russians start losing the risk of nukes being used increases a lot.

Ignoring the propaganda noise from both sides and applying some abstract thinking, the reality is really simple. The Russians at the moment are winning slowly. If they start losing, then there is a pocket full of nukes. Pocket full of nukes is undeniable reality, and that's the point the author makes. Imagine a war between US and Mexico and the Mexicans start getting upper hand. Would the Americans use nukes to change the course of the war? They did it once already in WW2.

If nuclear weapons are used it won't matter at all who started it, the outcome would be disastrous. Even if only Russia uses nuclear weapons without any strike back from the west, this would still ruin the world for generations. People tend to forget that these two countries were under communist rule for many years. The human life doesn't matter much there. There are probably tons of crazy heads behind the scene at the Russian side. Hardened ex communists taught from the cradle that the only thing important is to win.

True..but I personally have no intention to finish my life like this, because of a war in some remote part of the world which can go nuclear.

The conclusion of the article is the author's personal opinion, nothing else. And the conclusion that he is wrong is your opinion, nothing else.

The reality that the Russians are not going to lose this war...if Ukraine somehow starts winning there are tactical nuclear weapons to change the outcome.

They don't need to rediscover the wheel, the banks in the west (at least in Australia) have a way to deal with contractors/freelancers in regards to loans and credit cards. Usually copies of filed tax returns are required for the last 1-3 years. In regards to contracts it would be very rare to state periods longer than 12 months explicitly in the terms of the contract.

There are very few details to say with certainty that the total fee for 10 years would be 50k baht. I suspect there would be some kind of "check-in" every year which would involve payment. Medical insurance is also required.

They are not overplaying anything as long as they keep the other visa options intact. Hopefully they are not that dumb to make negative changes to the other types of visas.

I flew with them a few times between Singapore and Sydney, no issues, new planes, good service. It would be my option for Europe next year if the prices stay high or go higher. I bought a ticket USM to Istanbul in January this year return 18900 baht with Etihad, at the moment that price looks exceptionally good taking into account that it includes the rip off section Samui - Bangkok with Bangkok airways. Looking at the airfares now the cheapest options are nearly double any time of the year. One thing to note the budget carriers often cancel and reschedule, if the times are constrained better look at the full service airlines (whatever is called full service these days). No issues for me plus/minus couple of days.

Fly the low cost budget carriers, they are always good for one way. To Europe it would be probably Scoot, to Australia both Scoot and Jetstar. AirAsia X started flying too but the prices are higher than the competitors.

Look at another thread "how old are you"...many here were born close to the WW2 period, still think the Thais must call them "master" and invasions are done with trains.

The USSR was trying to export communism around the world, the Chinese don't export ideology. Nobody is going to force you to live the Chinese way. They are interested in trade - to export preferably high value added products, and import preferably low added value products. Same thing many countries are trying to do.

Spot on. Thailand should look after its own interests. The Chinese are the technology and market leaders in EV and green energies, Thailand should use their expertise to try to green the economy and reduce the energy imports. https://www.naturalgasintel.com/south-asia-buyers-again-sidelined-by-high-lng-spot-prices/ Look at what happens with the LNG - Bangladesh, Pakistan and India are facing energy shortages as the wealthier countries outbid them. That's nearly 2 billion people, zero help for them, the gas is now going to Europe for financial and political reasons. Members of the "Commonwealth" - what a joke.