gearbox

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.

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.