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sharksy

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Posts posted by sharksy

  1. Not moved to Thailand yet, but for the first time in my life, I think I could live in Pattaya.  Its changed a lot in the last 15 years, more upmarket places to go, nightlife quality has improved.  Always a festival of some sort on at the beach, and Bangkok is not too far away either.

    Lots of fairly cheap thai food and fancy places too.

     

     

  2. My reason for posting was twofold :-

     

    Firstly, to raise awareness of this new account.   I suspect other banks other than HSBC have similar now.

    Secondly, I wanted feedback (good & bad) from anyone who is actually using it.

     

    My best card is currently Halifax Clarity, but still easy to clock up charges.

    This Global card appears to offer rate of the day and money is taken from the account in the same way as a debit card.

  3. Popped in branch yesterday, ended up chatting with a staff member who told me about the above account offered by HSBC (free).  I applied there and then on my phone HSBC app, very easy it.  Should get card through the post tomorrow.

    It offers payment to several (all?) currencies without cost.  No bank charges at ATM machines (except 200Baht fee or whatever the local Thail banks are charging).

     

    Anyone using this account who can give a first-hand experience of pros / cons?

     

    Thanks

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  4. 23 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

    Seems a lot of the pro Russians in Bakhmut have switched sides and are fighting for Ukraine............

     

    Hundreds of Russians are fighting on the side of Ukraine in the battle for Bakhmut, The New York Times reported.

    I believe Bakhmut was 80% Russian speakers, so no doubt there will be 100s fighting for Ukraine.  But that leaves the majority who are not.  The gist of my post was that Ukrainians weren't met as heros when they initially liberated the area, in the same way they were in the southern Kherson.

    It seems that a couple of posters would rather call me a Russian sympathiser than recognise the actual point I am making.  This will be my last post about this on this thread

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  5. 9 hours ago, placeholder said:

    You sure about that?

    What Next for Ukraine’s Formerly Pro-Russian Regions?

    "Russia’s invasion largely put an end to this pro-Russian sentiment: by May 2022, only 4 percent in Ukraine’s east and 1 percent in the south still had a positive view of Russia. Support for Ukraine joining NATO, on the other hand, had surged to record highs: 69 percent in the east and 81 percent in the south, up from 36 percent in the east and 48 percent in the south, according to a poll taken on February 16 and 17 of this year...

    Sixty-eight percent of respondents from the south and 53 percent from the east now describe Ukrainian as their native language, though 49 percent of people in the south and 47 percent in the east still said they used both Ukrainian and Russian in their everyday life."

    https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/88542

     

    Good article, I've read similar to this recently too. 

    There was a Guardian article(can't find it) I read that residents in Bakhmut did not welcome Ukrainian troops, unlike, for example Kherson.  This is not general knowledge, maybe the article was later pulled as it was not what people want to read?

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  6. 5 minutes ago, heybruce said:

    Should Chechnya be allowed to break away and become another country?  They tried it once, Russia did not respond well.

     

    Should Russian Manchurian be allowed to break away and join China?  If the people there expressed a desire to do so, would you be ok with China invading the area to liberate them?

    Absolutely! - In an ideal world.  Unfortunately, we don't live in that.

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  7. 17 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

    Your message was the same tired one used by Russian & Putin propagandists. That Ukraine has been shelling its own people, when the reality is far from that.

     

    As for Minsk:

    A major blockage has been Russia’s insistence that it is not a party to the conflict and therefore is not bound by its terms.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/9/what-is-the-minsk-agreement-and-why-is-it-relevant-now

    I usually enjoy reading your posts, but you are labelling me wrongly.   I'm actually surprised you are quoting Aljazeera who are slightly pro-russian.

     

    Regarding the shelling:

    "On Friday, 11 July, two days before the shelling, 36–37 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a Grad rocket bombardment.[5][6] In response, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that for "every soldier's life, the militants will pay with dozens and hundreds of their own."[1]"

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Donetsk,_Russia

     

     

    You do realise that there were 2 Minsk agreements (different dates).

    Minsk1 was about peace between the Ukraine Government and the 2 separitist groups - but much wasn't implimented, hence a Minsk2 was necessary.

    Minsk2 was about withdrawing any heavy weapons, Russia claimed it didn't have any, so the agreement didn't apply to them.

     

     

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  8. 15 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

    Sounds like you've been watching too much RT News. That's far from the reality of what happened since 2014. There was shelling from both sides, government controlled areas and the Russian backed separatist areas. The Minsk agreement failed because Russia would not recognize it.

    Not an RT watcher here. Don't shoot the messenger, I'm simply flagging up that it's never really 100% one sides fault, 0% the other.

     

    The Minsk agreement failed because of the separatists:-

     

    "In late October, DPR prime minister and Minsk Protocol signatory Alexander Zakharchenko said that his forces would retake the territory they had lost to Ukrainian forces during a July 2014 offensive, and that DPR forces would be willing to wage "heavy battles" to do so"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_agreements#:~:text=The Minsk agreements were a,forces playing a central part.

     

     

     

    https://historica.fandom.com/wiki/Donbas_War

     

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  9. 3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

    Ukraine's defense against the Russian aggressor IS as black and white a war as you're ever going to find. Most recent wars haven't been. This one is.

    Do you realise that the war in the Donbas didn't start last year?  It started many years ago.  You do realise that Ukraine were shelling their own people in the Donbas region going back many years, closing down local TV stations etc.  Just sayin

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  10. 3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

    You sound like someone that has fallen for the propaganda that Russian speaking Ukrainian means pro Putin. Nothing could be further from the truth. If some areas of Ukraine eventually want to break away, that is not OK without buy in from the central government the same as with any other sovereign nation. 

    I feel like you are trolling me somewhat here - I already stated I do not support Russia.

     

    I suppose I should have posted a link in my original post referring to the fact to which I was trying to convey, in as much as nothing is really black + white.

    I can't find the Guardian article i read recently, but read the wikipedia entry under "Background" section to illustrate what I was alluding to.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bakhmut

     

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  11. 2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

    Russia invaded a sovereign nation that has chosen democracy and independence over being a puppet nation of fascist Russia or potentially not existing at all. That's not complicated.

    Whilst what you state is correct,  the fact is areas of Ukraine would rather be ruled by Russia than Ukraine.

    Democracy is surely what the people want, not what the rules want.

    People of Scotland were given the vote the leave the UK, for example.

    The world would be a happier place if people were ruled by people whom they want to be ruled by.

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  12. Did get trapped in a bungalow with no other way out, other than up the steps.  What a beatiful creature.  Girlfriend was terrified so had to call hotel staff.  I hope they released it safely, made my day!

    IMG_0591.JPG

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