gearbox

Are defined benefit pensions taxed in the US? Seems harsh to me.

You will qualify easily for the new visa. Simple mathematics shows that if in 20 years you spent "millions", that would be at least 2 millions, divided by 20 makes $100k USD per year, comfortably exceeding the 80k required.

I'm not sure why you think I'm personally upset about it...I don't give a .... I'm here on retirement visa, easy to get. I work online from everywhere in the world and easily exceed their financial requirements and meet all the conditions except the 150 mil company. But if I'm below 50 and need long term visa I won't meet the requirements, my customers are large entities but pay invoices to my own company. Vast majority of people I know working remotely are getting paid in similar schemes, it would be rare direct employees to be paid while roaming around the world. This visa class would have difficulties attracting enough people.

Most of the people working online are freelancers working under some sort of incorporated umbrellas which won't satisfy the $150 mil corporate entity. Sure, there are pure remote workers working for global corporations directly as salaried employees, but they would be rare birds. On top of that there is a master's degree requirement which will further cull the list of potential applicants. Add to that also: "At least 5 years of work experience in the relevant fields of the current employment over the past 10 years" That sounds to me like technical expertise in some field, not vlogging or dropshipping. As the OP mentions briefly "the details are very scarce". For many months all they were able to produce is 3 pages brochure.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction "In 1993, International relations theorist and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer published an article including his prediction that a Ukraine without any nuclear deterrent was likely to be subjected to aggression by Russia, but this was very much a minority view at the time.[8]"

A country which has 6000 nuclear warheads invaded a country with zero nuclear warheads. The Russians probably would tolerate a stray rocket landing on their territory, but any big strike with a lot of casualties can trigger use of tactical nuclear weapons, which would be game over for Ukraine. The countries supplying weapons know that very well, hence no long range missiles are provided.

Meh...I just don't see many big corporations paying Joe Bloggs' salary or consulting fees directly to his Thai bank account. The HR/Payroll systems are normally working with local bank accounts, payments to exotic countries will raise eyebrows and trigger questions. If indeed a big corporation is willing to pay to a foreign account then it may be better to get paid in tax heaven with zero tax. The difference between zero and 17% can buy Elite visas and more.

From what I read in OP they are discussing "connectivity", probably land connectivity. Malaysia and Singapore are too far, Phillipines doesn't have land borders.

Looks like prices are higher than these reported in the OP - foot passenger tickets Donsak to Nathon is now 190 baht, car with driver 610 baht. As far as I remember the car with driver prices were around 450 baht year ago. Bangkok Airways are back to their usual practices charging between 4-5k baht one way Samui to Bangkok.

If it is during the school holidays it can go that high, it's the prime rip off time. Tickets with Jetstar in October - November recently were as low as $175 from Sydney to Phuket.

Yup...these pesky Chinese are trying to win the race by working harder and smarter. Most annoyingly all attempts to kneecap them failed so far. On top of that they look different.

Your "World" and other countries "World" seem to exist in different universes...I went through the Abu Dhabi and Istanbul airports last week, they were packed with Russians going somewhere. And there was a recent BRICS meeting in China with Putin attending together with Modi and Bolsonaro... more than 40% of the world population represented there and they are talking of inviting other countries like Indonesia.

These charges were there for ages, I'm surprised they haven't charged you even before you went to Australia. I went back to Thailand January 2021 and paid 14 days quarantine, I remember comparing Australia and Thailand and the Thai quarantine was way cheaper.

Samui is in better shape now in terms of tourist numbers, but still far from the pre covid times. A couple of days ago most restaurants in Chaweng had 2-3 tables during peak times, Surf Up ( the current Ark Bar reincarnation) had zero customers 7:45pm. Still the trend is slowly up, yesterday I flew out with Bangkok airways, there was a sizable check-in queue. Quite a few Indian tourists around, mostly couples and families.

Read my answer....just do it, spending a night at an airport is trivial exercise. I've slept at a few, having a 10 hours stopover in Abu Dhabi tonight. Don't get discouraged.

There is no trill sleeping in Amari. Much more exciting is to lay on the floor and don't give a <deleted> about anyone passing by.

https://www.sleepinginairports.net/guides/bangkok-don-muang-airport-guide.htm As far as I remember there was no carpet there but I could be wrong. There are quite a few relatively cheap food outlets at the domestic departure side sесond floor, not sure if they work 24x7. Give it a go...worst that can happen is they boot you out, there a few cheap hotels iin the vicinity, have inDriver and Grab installed on your phone. Obviously it is not Changi but you can go though a night easily IMO.

Only half...this is too optimistic.

The EU agricultural imports from Ukraine are 5% of their agricultural imports. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Extra-EU_trade_in_agricultural_goods#Main_trading_partners_for_agricultural_products EU itself has a sizable trade surplus in agricultural products of 43 bn, no chance of going hungry. And as far as trade is concerned they import 3+ times more from Turkey which is far from becoming a member: https://tradingeconomics.com/european-union/imports-by-country They even import more from Malaysia. Try harder next time.

That's if EU lasts that long in its current shape. Take out Eastern Europe and club Med, and there are a few countries left funding the bloc. Last thing they need is another big poor country to fund. EU needs to take a look at its competitiveness, not concentrating on politicking. East Asia is slowly making them irrelevant.

Europe is self sufficient in terms of food, it is also a wheat exporter. The only sizable import from Ukraine is sunflower, and sunflower oil can be easily substituted.

PAM is the core of all sorts authentication on practically every Linux distribution, plus Solaris and others. The most widely used corporate 2FA (RSA securid) uses stacked PAM modules to do its job.

Don't forget to scan the backups after you reformatted the system, or you'll reinfect yourself again. Scan with multiple engines so you don't miss something.

Sydney to Samui is always quite expensive, pre covid the cheapest was to fly Sydney to Surat Thani via KL, and then get the shuttle to Nathon for 400 baht. I don't think AirAsia resumed the KL to Surat Thani flight. In other news seems that Thailand pass is getting abolished in July, so Samui may get a bit of high season taste. But some venues in Chaweng like Hard Rock cafe and Palms are still not open, and the Ark Bar renovation seems to go slowly slowly...I doubt they'll be able to open with its former glory early August.

Direct conflict with Russia can trigger nuclear war and mutually assured destruction... https://truthout.org/articles/chomsky-we-must-insist-that-nuclear-warfare-is-an-unthinkable-policy/