beautifulthailand99

But selectively quoted with my usual insightful narrative - but well spotted nevertheless.

https://www.ft.com/content/98f15b60-bc4d-4d3c-9e57-cbdde122ac0c Biden is worried about feeding the Trump monster - higher oil prices feed into that. If energy prices go up in any meaningful way, he loses in November. Then Trump is at the helm and Ukraine is toast. It's the Republicans withholding aid, not Biden. So there isn't any doublespeak with the 'US' telling Ukraine it can't have more aid and at the same time telling them what they can bomb. Can't Kyiv just stop blasting energy infrastructure until after November? If Biden wins re-election, Ukraine is more likely to receive additional military support. At which point, they can bomb whatever they like. The US has urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, warning that the drone strikes risk driving up global oil prices and provoking retaliation, according to three people familiar with the discussions.The repeated warnings from Washington were delivered to senior officials at Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, and its military intelligence directorate, known as the GUR, the people told the Financial Times. One person said that the White House had grown increasingly frustrated by brazen Ukrainian drone attacks that have struck oil refineries, terminals, depots and storage facilities across western Russia, hurting its oil production capacity. https://archive.is/OTRef

Thanks, I shall copy over my post.

https://www.ft.com/content/98f15b60-bc4d-4d3c-9e57-cbdde122ac0c Biden is worried about feeding the Trump monster - higher oil prices feed into that. The US has urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, warning that the drone strikes risk driving up global oil prices and provoking retaliation, according to three people familiar with the discussions.The repeated warnings from Washington were delivered to senior officials at Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, and its military intelligence directorate, known as the GUR, the people told the Financial Times. One person said that the White House had grown increasingly frustrated by brazen Ukrainian drone attacks that have struck oil refineries, terminals, depots and storage facilities across western Russia, hurting its oil production capacity. https://archive.is/OTRef

Call me a cynic but since Russia has had an increasing alliance with Islamic Iran and has just 'won' the election on a stability ticket (I know that's doing a lot of heavy lifting there!) who stands to gain from such an attack - Occam's razor says US/Ukraine. It wouldn't even have to be a direct connection, either - there were certainly murky alliances of conveniences in the Syrian civil war and ISIS was fighting the Assad regime along with other western proxies.Or it might just be what it looks like, some homegrown ISIS variant that will inevitably be ruthlessly crushed.

The truth is had he taken the ride Ukraine would be back to its median norm of a peace, oligarchic control of the commanding heights of the economy and some anonymous moustachioed leader in place who knew to bow to Putin and wash his hands before doing with his fingers crossed. Thailand's wartime leader General Phibun surrendered to the Japanese within 1 day of being invaded and saved the country from great destruction had he resisted. I'd say he called it right. It's the equivalent of Khrushchev backing down with nukes in Cuba when he knew he was beat and this was America's backyard sovereign state or no.

The writing is on the wall. Israel will get the future it deserves. There is still a narrow path out of the hellscape of Gaza. A temporary ceasefire and hostage release could cause a change of Israel’s government; the rump of Hamas fighters in south Gaza could be contained or fade away; and from the rubble, talks on a two-state solution could begin, underwritten by America and its Gulf allies. It is just as likely, however, that ceasefire talks will fail. That could leave Israel locked in the bleakest trajectory of its 75-year existence, featuring endless occupation, hard-right politics and isolation. Today many Israelis are in denial about this, but a political reckoning will come eventually. It will determine not only the fate of Palestinians, but also whether Israel thrives in the next 75 years. Israel’s trajectory will intensify its ethno-nationalist politics and pose legal threats to the economy. As estrangement from the West deepens, so deterrence may weaken. Firms could be blacklisted. Bosses could move high-tech businesses abroad or, if they are reservists, be arrested there. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/03/21/at-a-moment-of-military-might-israel-looks-deeply-vulnerable https://archive.is/EsctK

The excellent Simon Jenkins is a brave outlier amongst the cacophonous criers for endless war, which at this sad stage is looking like an endless slaughter of ageing Ukrainian conscripts being bombarded by megatonnes of glide bombs with barely any air defence whilst Zelenskiy screams for help which isn't coming. Future historians will underline both our collective betrayal and disastrous missteps with regard to Ukraine. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/22/putin-dictator-tyrant-criticism-regime Nato’s escalation of its logistical aid to Ukraine into an all-out economic war on the Russian people enabled Putin to construct an anti-west coalition. It now extends from China and India to embrace a stage army of authoritarians across the globe. This economic war has clearly been counter-productive. The Economist reports this week that the sanctions have in fact “juiced the [Russian] economy”. Russian GDP growth of approximately 3 % in real terms last year outstripped Britain’s. Western policy is actively helping Putin retain power. As the historian of modern Russia Mark Galeotti points out, Putin’s defiance of his western critics has entrenched his “shabby police state”, possibly for his lifetime. We can hurl abuse at him, as we can at Xi, Modi and the rest. It may make us feel better. And perhaps we should, not least on moral grounds: these are not regimes we would cast as admirable. But let’s be realistic. There is not the slightest evidence that in doing so we are making the world a safer place for democracy; probably the reverse. And the much anticipated Western tanks have been mostly ineffective. If the west lacks the collective will to support with money, matériel and sacrifice the continuing war with Ukraine, it would be better to broker a messy peace than this senseless WW1 type slaughter which clearly now Ukraine can no longer win. Big-Ticket, Expensive, Heavily Armored NATO Tanks Mostly Overweight Duds in the Russo-Ukrainian War Considering how much kerchief-twisting there was about it in the first place, and how they are doing in the war right now, handing over top-end NATO tanks to Ukraine doesn’t look like a great idea. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/29778

There is a top brass official army mor-dhu (clairvoyant) that lives in a state funded palace and is used by the Generals to help with their decision-making processes. https://www.voanews.com/a/thai-politics-challenges-fortune-tellers/1939913.html

I couldn't see that in the post. The Buddha wrote this about violence. These duelling monks like many Thais are not true Buddhists just superstutious humans beleiveing in anything that rocks their boats. "Monks, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourselves: 'Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading these people with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with them, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.'

You really don't know and have lived there for years - no wonder you want to leave it must all be a confusing mystery with "fit birds" !

Probably these one week monks to show off the photos and pretend they are anything other than they are not. The Abott if he had any scruples should have kicked them out there and then.

It's called diplomatic immunity and Cameron may have a diplomatic passport. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-01-09/debates/24010944000008/DiplomaticPassportPolicy

You're right, in my mind I must have knighted him as he truly deserved to be. Every Friday he invited Embassy staff both serving and retired to dine at his table in the Residence with his wife for lunch so he could meet everybody in person. You got one invite, and it included cleaning staff, gardeners and the like. A few of the Thai locally engaged staff were really put out that he would invite what to their mind were 'the lower orders". He just saw people, not positions or titles. Just looked him up, he got a CMG.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/15/ukraine-village-mobilized-men-war/ https://archive.is/yJlbf MAKIV, Ukraine — Few men of fighting age are left in this village in southwest Ukraine, and those who remain fear they will be drafted at any moment. Their neighbors are already hundreds of miles east in trenches on the front lines. Some have been killed or wounded. Several are missing. Others from this rural area — about 45 miles from the borders of Romania and Moldova — have fled abroad or found ways to avoid the war, either with legitimate exemptions or by hiding. “It’s just a fact,” said Larysa Bodna, deputy director of the local school, which keeps a database of students whose parents are deployed. “Most of them are gone.”

The situation at the front "is worse" than reported and more Ukrainian soldiers are losing their lives - including those from the US and Europe fighting in the international legion. The US Congress, for more than half a year, has refused to pass funding to support Ukraine in its existential fight against Russian aggression. Ariah Ben-Yehudah has been serving in the International Legion since the start of the war. Now after two full years of storming Russian points, Ben-Yehudah is injured a fourth time - forcing him to call it quits. He opens-up about how things are really at the front and how abysmally under armed Ukraine is in combat with the Russians. https://www.kyivpost.com/videos/29771

That Newsweek is simply wrong - this poll aggregator has them all. Look for yourself and if Biden is piling up votes in Dem states which he will get anyway but not the swing one's he's a gonna anyway. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/

Do you actually know any women to ask that question ! It's all women btw not just Asian ones.

As for Putin all available research says you are plain wrong. Many Ukrainians commentators lament how popular he is with the "Orcs" and use that fact for a blanket Russian condemnation. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/12/europe/russian-support-putin-election-intl-cmd/index.html The latest polling, from the respected Levada Center in Moscow, puts public trust in Putin at an astonishing 86%. Of course, in a country where critics are routinely jailed, exiled or killed, public opinion polls are flawed. Another factor is the constant pro-Kremlin propaganda pumped out on state-controlled media, where most Russians get their news. But as this election approaches, you can’t discount what so many ordinary Russians tell you, face to face.

The concept of a cruise/ferry/travel choice maybe be one that works, so it is a bit of everything. Starts in Bangkok goes to Sattahip then Samui and terminated at Songkhla. But this is Thailand with endless vested interests to keep happy. Good luck - we wanted to use it this year but sadly you have paused the service.

Exactly non are trafficked they pull that ruse when they are busted to then try and stay here.

It is probably the best review I've seen to date. Ozimoron posted the full link before he flounced off. There are no winners in this war - both sides have lost heavily and for decades to come.

If they do lose Zelenskiy will be the fall guy - both internally, particularly amongst the fight to eternity ultranationalists and the west saying that his sacking of Zalunhyi was a strategic misstep, that and corruption that mislaid vast amounts of support provided. Why an actor/comedian should know more than a seasoned battle hardened General universally loved by his troops is mystery to me.

Momentum Shifts Toward Russia in Ukraine War, US Spies Warn - BLOOMBERG I think Ukraine is making a grave mistake relying on the "West" for long-term support. By the very definition of democracy, the country does what the majority of its people want. And after 2 years of fighting to an eroding stalemate, the majority of people in some countries might start to think it would be maybe better to build a new hospital, instead of providing another Patriot system to Ukraine. Government changes, and whatever promises were made before are forgotten. On the other hand, if you make a deal with N. Korea, Iran or China, you can be damn sure they will deliver unless there is some kind of major revolution. This is the sad reality Ukraine has to fight with on top of everything else. And then there's the Trump threat - not a penny more lurking in the wings. The Pope wasn't wrong that the best option Ukraine has is to negotiate as soon as possible. Over time, they only get weaker, their future is further crippled, their leverage worsens. The longer this drags on , the worse it will be for them. It is a choice between lose softer now and lose much harder later. An authoritarian parallel economic universe is being born, one that is immune to sanctions and benefits the players at the expense of the US dollar hegemon. For better or worse, the American century is coming to an end and it's naive to think that the old orthodoxies still hold true. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-11/momentum-shifting-toward-russia-in-ukraine-war-us-spies-warn?leadSource=reddit_wall Moscow has made continual, incremental battlefield gains since late 2023 and benefits from uncertainties about the future of military assistance from the US and allies, the top intelligence officials told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in their annual presentation on the biggest “worldwide threats” facing the US. “This deadlock plays to Russia’s strategic military advantages and is increasingly shifting the momentum in Moscow’s favor,” they said. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns testified that “the Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity. They’re running out of ammunition, and we’re running out of time to help them.” FULL REPORT https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/unclassified_2024_ata_report_0.pdf

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-11/momentum-shifting-toward-russia-in-ukraine-war-us-spies-warn?leadSource=reddit_wall Hamas’s Persistence Their joint report warned of the risk of regional escalation in the Israel-Hamas war. It said armed resistance to Israel by Hamas is likely to continue for years and “it is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism,” they said. It was an implicit rejection of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge that Israel’s current offensive will wipe out the group that’s considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. The report said US spy agencies assess that “Iranian leaders did not orchestrate nor had foreknowledge of the Hamas attack against Israel” on Oct. 7 that sparked months of fighting.