beautifulthailand99

If the options are a firm hand or societal chaos then most people choose the former. If they stop feeding and housing their people with some comfort then they will feel their wrath. That's the implicit social contract and sadly it means rough justice for the malcontents should they wish to express that. That would include me I'm sure and I'm glad I don't live there.

Yes something which you for whatever reasons have checked out of. I will live and die in Europe and call me selfish if you want but I would wish to see out my final days in peace on the continent untroubled by distant squabbles at the fringes. Its what my dad fought for peace. My grandad who I never knew was gassed at the Somme and had problems all his life dying in 1961. He apparently never mentioned the war, never wore a poppy or went to Armistice commerations and had the ignominy in the 1930s of having the national assistance board rifling through their bare house looking for things to sell before he could get a meagre stipend. A country fit for heroes my backside.

This is how empires end hollowed out by venal financial elites , a restless populace and endless wars that destroy people influence and wealth. Whilst the US was busy fighting desert cave dwellers China was industrialising and building world class infrastructure. Its not difficult.If I was Ukraine now I would thank my western backers and politely decline any further aid and invite China in for the redevelopment and then let's see what sovereignty actually is. They would do a great job as well plus Russia wouldn't dare touch them.

If a Martian came down to earth and saw Xi Trump and Biden at a table within seconds they would be talking to Xi and within an hour Xi would have negotiated at Earth Martian peace treaty. As far as we can ascertain he has around 75% approval ratings I know I would vote for him as he has created development, prosperity and peace which beats this battle for democracy hands down.

My dad fought I'm ww2 and is sadly no longer with us. He was eternally grateful for the contribution that the Soviets made in winning the war and despaired at the reunification of Germany. I suspect he would strongly in favour of a messy peace rather than an endless war and he would be right.He would also have seen Ukraine as an unfortunate victim of being a relic of the Soviet empire and a neighbour to boot who should find their peace with their paranoid neighbour after all the allies did indeed gift Eastern Europe to Stalin at the end of war. Realpolitik and all that.

To twist a quote no representation without taxation otherwise words are cheap or indeed free. A recent opinion poll in the UK found only 17% of 18 to 24 year old would favour conscription. There is hope.

I assume you live in Thailand and enjoy the fruits of a fairly repressive authoritarian regime. There's a chap in Chiang Rai doing 50 years for a few posts. I know Thais that have suffered and are refugees from this land. The good news us I will have to pay in taxes for the outcomes you're willing on that and enforced Ukrainian conscripts being pushed into an endless war

Since Russia is on the brink of getting its agent into place as President of the mightiest nation on earth I wouldn't write it off just yet.

It's ludicrous in the extreme and merely a ploy to continue persuading western electorates to choose guns over butter and functioning pensions and health care system. Putin may be bad but he's certainly not mad.

He won't do that. What I see happening is a tacit ceasefire sometime this year when Ukraine realises it has no more men,ammo or equipment to fight the war of attrition. They along with the Russians continue to develop massive defensive fortifications over the stalemate frontline and a defacto armistice happens. Ukraine will quietly forget about getting back these regions and Crimea indeed it will probably be glad to ditch its Russophile regions. The Kremlin will also be happy to take what they now have as a win. If that peace holds for sufficient time then investment may come back into Ukraine from western powers and they could get some sort of NATO/EU lite. There will be no official peace agreement in the short to medium term and Zelenskiy will retire to allow to take on the mantle of leadership.

I think we can safely say if Zelenkiy effectively had to sack his long standing Defence Secretary over corruption allegations then there is a fair amount of endemic corruption in the system. When I worked in IT testing software finding and fixing bugs didn't mean that the software was getting better quite the contrary it led to the belief that there were further bugs lurking unseen to risk the integrity of the system. These upsets like the current Zelenkiy/Zalunhyi spat are papered over and quickly hidden from the western media less the great unwashed get hints that their billions of dollars of aid isn't being wisely spent. Effectively these guys nicked our money and committed treason in their own but there is very little accountability as far as I can discern. https://www.politico.eu/article/defense-minister-reznikov-ukraine-corruption-probe-war-russia-zelenskyy/

Just past Sattahip is a fishing village which is quite a nice play to stay and from the national park near the natural history museum you can get a boat trip to the uninhabited navy controlled islands. Two of them that you need to book separately so that's 2 days sorted. The fishing village is like old Thailand not a girlie bar,massage place or ganja shop in site.Bolt goes there as well took 50 minutes and 450 baht to get there,if you are on a budget use a whit sonthaew on Sukhumvit Road to get to Saatahip and a Bolt for the last 15 minute trip around the headland.

Old grumpy people move to Thailand old grumpy people get grumpy. Is this a story ?

Continuing discussion in western and Ukrainian media about the feud that has opened up between President Zelenskiy and his hugely popular and respected army chief Zalunhyi. Zalunhyi has gone public to face him down. It would appear from the commentary here and elsewhere that the army wants more compulsory conscription to face off Russia in the meat grinding front lines ,that and the Presidents jealously at a more respected player on the political stage. There will be considerable concern from western allies if Zelenkiy through apparent defect of character allows personal enmities to get in the way of successfully prosecuting the war. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/01/zelensky-zaluzhny-ukraine-military-shakeup/ https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/02/01/exp-ukraine-zaluzhny-ouster-matthew-orr-intv-020102aseg1-cnni-world.cnn Kyiv Post almost mutinous in its reporting in support of the army chief. It is of course to Ukraine's great credit they can have such a frank debate in Russia bodies would be dying. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/274388

You're not allowed to criticise the guards @Morch

Imagine good people got into power and opened the books and revealed what is inside done by the people with the guns. Imagine is all that you can do brain doesn't beat bullets particularly in one of the most effectively brainwashed citizenry I can imagine. Plus it would put prices up for us so there is that.

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It's an utter disgrace nothing will change though the whole political/executive state is rotten to its core and those that could have changed this wonderful country have effectively been gerrymandered out of office. Mask up get an air purifier or leave the country.

Defending US interests I.e. those of big capital plus the normal psyopathic/sociopathic bloodlusts of a wounded and dying hegemon,comrade !

Thanks that is interesting it would appear from your anecdote that the existing resident can stay if the have inherited a minority interest from the owner and there isn't total agreement from all the owners to sell. In essence either all agree or the sale is effectively blocked until they do.

Like I said it's being reported by the BBC, New York Times ,The Spectator - the esteemed Russia commentator Mark Galeotti no less and many other sources. Which means in the terms of reference for this forum at least it happened. None of you want to discuss this intelligently it would seem. Never mind I am on X with several hundred followers and Reddit with 20k karma where we do of course. Slava Ukrainia ! https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/zelenskys-rivalry-with-zaluzhny-spells-bad-news-for-ukraine/

Thanks but that's not how the family dynamic works in our case.We are fairly wealthy and my wife loves these two sisters more than everyone else. If I die before her she will sell up in the UK and move back to her family and be quite a wealthy woman. We have no children. The aim here is to encourage the resident member to move particularly as this is Yala southern Thailand where the local situation isn't ideal and closer to our condo in Jomtien and her daughters in Bangkok. The husband we feel would like to stay close to his sister down South and is a quiet but sober man. Frustrating at the pace of getting something done. But thanks to all the responses here we have some info to feed into the process.

I take those type of emojis as a badge of honour which means my post is over the target. That said there should just be 2 a +1 and maybe a similar counter for sad.

I've read Andrew Drummond's take on him. Interesting indeed.

My wife wants to sell along with the other sister like as soon as possible. She wants 2 million back and at least 1 million fir the eldest sister.With the reminder she will help / gift the residents to find another place hopefully near to these family members. That said if she refuses to sell for whatever reason, entrenched ways,superstition or such could a minority stake force the sale if the oldest sister dies. Hope that is clear. Many thanks for your help thus far.