theblether

You are not and never have been a lurker. There are far too many lurkers that suck info from the forum and give absolutely nothing back. That's inexcusable as there are so many subforums that there must be areas of specialist interest for most. You may remember I was active on the General Forum until the ludicrous and inexcusable decision by TV to undermine the second most important forum in expat Thai history. It was a truly abysmal decision and was the beginning of the end. The next worst decision ( actually probably the worst ) was rebranding TV to Asean Now, utterly shocking and self defeating. Not a single person on planet earth thinks to themselves "hey, I'm interested in visiting Thailand, let's use the search term ASEAN!! Wild stuff, truly ignorant of all marketing best practice. Rebrand this place ack to TV and numbers will rise again.

How many of you have started an interesting or informative thread recently? How many of you have started a humorous thread recently? The answer you seek lies within the previous two questions.

How many of you have started an interesting or informative thread recently? How many of you have started a humorous thread recently? The answer you seek lies within the previous two questions.

Utter filth. Glad to see the Grand Mufti condemn them. And they have played into Trump's hands. This will haunt them for years.

You can't reason with these people. This was and as deliberate.

Look at this image - dear me.

Oh, look - let's line up babies coffins in front of terrorist propaganda

I've made it clear I detested the USSR, and I have a lifetime deep and abiding hatred for Marxism. I am repelled by the actions of the Russian state. My point is simple, which should make it easy for our simpletons to understand. UKr cannot win. I would love a deal to be done which results in them immediately joining NATO as a condition of peace, just to ram it up Putin. But they can't force Russia back to 2022 lines never mind 2014. It's as simple as that.

Aye but according to him "enlightened Europeans" will save the day. He must be drunk.

Do you hear the drumbeats against the hearse? Can you see the cowardly scum riding the hearse like a fairground ride? Pick a side.

The man is off his head. Only the demented left would complain about a President trying to end two wars. And these clowns refuse to accept that when the Allies stood down in Europe we effectively lost half the continent to the communists. It was a price the Allies were willing to pay to end conflict. This new brigade of drivelous clowns cannot explain how Ukraine can win the war from here. They cannot win, all they can hope for is to minimise the damage done by a peace deal. Just the same way as the Allies decided charging into the Russian lines in 1945 wasn't worth it.

You're a nutter if you think fragmented states demilitarize. Did you not see what happened after the Arab Spring? and all the ethnic battles across the globe? Get a grip on yourself.

....celebrating babies coffins being returned to Israel. Support this, do you?

The world would be a better place if we had multiple new and unstable states with nuclear weapons? Get a grip on yourself.

4 to 1 casualty rate is impossible in modern warfare, It's actually embarrassing that a grown man would post such fanciful drivel. Independent Ukrainian officials are saying the casualty list is north of 500,000. I believe that. The Russians have not lost 2 million, no way. If the 500,000 figure is correct, that really means around 250,000 Ukr troops are dead or suffering life changing injuries. PTSD will devastate many of the remaining 250,000. What Ukraine is now actually playing with is the viability of their country. What makes it worse is that it's estimated that 1 million breeding age women have left the country. Many of these will never return, many are already in long term relationships all across the EU and elsewhere. The birthrate was already catastrophic. The only saving grace for the pro-Ukr contingent is that Russia is also on the edge of a demographic meltdown. Do your bit for the war effort - if you see a random Russian lady wandering around, marry her and keep her in Thailand. If enough of you do that there won't be enough Russian soldiers wandering around in 20 years.

You mention Germany - the same guys that opened the door to mass migration and laughed at Trump when he warned them about energy security and depending on Russia for their energy needs. The same clowns who shut down their nuclear reactors. The biggest single threat to the West is that we are now run by a managerial class who are cowardly and brainless. It is the definition of strong men make good times, weak men make bad times. Excessive empathy will kill the West and that will have dire consequences for the world.

AFAIC the Baltic states led the way with rapid moves to join NATO in the 1990's. Ukraine couldn't do so as it was still in the grip of Russian nationalists. The 2006 declaration by the Europeans saying that Ukraine would be welcome in NATO was undone by the 2010 Parliamentary vote saying no thanks. This invasion was telegraphed a mile off and Biden could have done more to make Putin think twice. I would have loved Ukraine to have defeated Russia but it now looks impossible. As it now looks impossible my thoughts are - do a deal, surrender the Donbass, stop the killing - and I would love Ukraine to now be fast-tracked into NATO.

Anyway, back on topic cos I've had enough of this lunatic nuclear talk. Not a single one of you has put forward a coherent plan which involves Ukraine winning back their territories.

I can't be bothered. Really can't be bothered

And away you go again. RN, my brother served, 25 years service. You are beyond deluded claiming the above to be a true reflection of what happened politically. The Americans wanted a bulwark in Europe, the French were acting up, only the UK was stable enough but highly indebted - and had the added benefit of being a permanent of the security council. Wilson had to bend after being caught out claiming the the British army was suited to jungle warfare while the SAS and RN destroyed the communists in Borneo. The nukes were rammed down his throat. By the way, my bro-in-law collected his Malaysia campaign medal a couple of years ago. I cannot take you seriously. Utter stupidity to believe that our nukes are independent in the face of all evidence including your benighted NATO saying that they are not truly independent. And you chose to ignore this pointed retort - why? Too many complicated words for you? But some other experts are deeply skeptical about the current state of affairs. “As a policy statement, it’s ludicrous to say that the US can effectively donate a nuclear program to the UK but have no influence on how it is used,” says Ted Seay, senior policy consultant at the London-based British American Security Information Council (BASIC), who spent three years as part of the US Mission to NATO. Advertisement

You'll believe anything, gullible be thy middle name. By the way, I've been on both bases, have you? Is this another example of you gibbering a lot of drivel? If you seriously believe that the UK retains independent first strike status on our leased Trident's there's something wrong with your head. And as was clearly pointed out when the deal was signed, "we've just signed up for a £100 billion Trident commitment and we don't even own the weapons." No one had the bottle to say - "oh, and we can't use them without permission too." I suggest members read this article from Politico which explains "when an independent nuclear deterrent isn't and independent nuclear deterrent." And don't listen to the village idiot........from the article "But there is one simple question that nobody is asking. When is an independent nuclear deterrent not an independent nuclear deterrent? To many experts, the answer is all too obvious: when the maintenance, design, and testing of UK submarines depend on Washington, and when the nuclear missiles aboard them are on lease from Uncle Sam................ The report makes for striking reading. The UK does not even own its Trident missiles, but rather leases them from the United States. British subs must regularly visit the US Navy’s base at King’s Bay, Georgia, for maintenance or re-arming. And since Britain has no test site of its own, it tries out its weapons under US supervision at Cape Canaveral, off the Florida coast. A huge amount of key Trident technology — including the neutron generators, warheads, gas reservoirs, missile body shells, guidance systems, GPS, targeting software, gravitational information and navigation systems — is provided directly by Washington, and much of the technology that Britain produces itself is taken from US designs (the four UK Trident submarines themselves are copies of America’s Ohio-class Trident submersibles)." https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-trident-nuclear-program/

I'm genuinely shocked and often entertained at the level of stupidity some posters on this forum display. I lay short odds that 99% of you didn't know we lease our nukes. There was a major political row a few years when the bill for the upgrade was presented. I suggest some of your study Denis Healy and Harold Wilson's attitude in this matter - they knew they couldn't sell a deal to the British public where they had to admit we were paying but had to ask permission to use the weapons. As Wilson famously said "you don't kick your creditor in the balls." In that matter he was referring to the Vietnam War, but he knew the servile relationship we had to the USA after the war. Anyone who watched Tony Blair's world tour of obsequiousness on the lead up to the Iraq War knows that. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68357294#:~:text=It cost £12.52bn,renew the Trident submarine fleet.

Hilarious. You really fell for that lie, eh? The British government cannot launch American nuclear weapons without the permission of the USA. Under no circumstances with the UK government launch US missiles on a first strike against any enemy state without the express permission of said US government. You being a world expert in everything will also be aware that the home base for the British nuclear fleet ( Faslane ) is actually in Georgia, USA. All logistical and technical support is at the mercy of the US government under the 1970 Polaris Agreement. ( lease ). We don't even own the effin things.

Kasparov is unaware that many British nukes have an effective veto controlled by the Pentagon and US government.

Idiots at it again. The social security system is operating on a 1970's computing framework. Musk knows all about default dates etc He is driving towards modernising the system and deleting obsolete SSN's. There is no doubt there is fraud. One woman was jailed for claiming her mother's pension for 48 years after her death. 48 years. Unbelievable. All numbers should auto deleted at 120 years. I think states should be checking "proof of life" at 100. It doesn't need to be intrusive. Literally a visit from a state official with a Presidential birthday card. We send out Royal birthday greetings to everyone who turns 100 in the UK. It's a nice touch but useful.