nkg

10 hours ago, beechbum said:

Why post the same story twice?

Good question!

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Chinese consuls called to hear Phuket’s tourist safety measures, again

Again again? Another meeting?! They had this exact same discussion last Friday!

1 hour ago, johng said:

Do you happen to have a list  of licensed Thai electricians,  maybe a  phone number of the licencing body  to call and check if Somchai really is qualified ?

Falang think too much!

Quote

 

A few seconds after holding his glass up in triumph, the man lost consciousness and fell forwards onto the floor where he died in front of his horrified co-workers and mates.

"Nobody knows the actual cause of death yet and we didn't know if he had any allergies or medical conditions."

 

Alcohol doesn't affect you a few seconds after you have a drink. It seems unlikely that the jug of beer was in itself the cause of death.

Previously imbibed spirits, drugs or an unrelated cause could all account for it. Guy might have just had a heart attack.

They should be more ambitious.

Why not have them maintain spacecraft for NASA and SpaceX? It's the same basic mechanical principles as patching up an old Honda Wave. Maybe they could get the maintenance contract for the US F-35 squadrons too.

Edit - I missed this from the actual article, it seems that they ARE aiming to maintain spacecraft ..................

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has great potential in the sector, as the Kingdom is already a regional aviation hub and boasts a strong automobile and electronics manufacturing base on which to build an aircraft and spacecraft sector, he said. 

An excellent initiative, well done the BMA.

11 hours ago, porphyry said:

China is definitely winning this battle- Trumps first round of tariffs against China failed due to them cleverly devaluing the yuan 7.5% against the dollar over the past year. That offers Chinese exporters an important cushion against Trump’s tariffs. On top of that Xi has more fiscal and monetary firepower to stoke demand than Trump. 

Today - $1 USD = ¥6.8668

1st July 2018 - $1 USD = ¥6.628

Relative to USD, CNY Depreciated   3.4776%

So it wasn't 7.5% as you said. Was it so hard to spend a couple of minutes finding out the correct figures? I'm surprised you didn't, as from your other posts you seem to be an expert on economics.

1 hour ago, KneeDeep said:

 

?

What is liberals?

Do you think that you are somehow harder than me because you think you have more extreme views?

I am writing about the sleazy hypocrites who fail to see that their ghettos are equally as unedifying as the ghettos that they describe as unsavoury. 

What has that to do with being liberal? That I am not on one's side or the other?

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, KneeDeep said:

We have a name for people who get off by amusing themselves.

Everybody "gets off by amusing themselves" in one way or another. Some people seem to get off on taking themselves too seriously, and being internet "tough guys".

24 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

No....I am posting on topic. Concerning the attitudes some lowly beings have towards their fellow man. In this case, the North Africans and Middle Eastern visitors, having convinced themselves they are somehow superior.

Whereas you are posting about cookies and hookers. But you are only amusing yourself. We have a name for people who get off by amusing themselves.

 

Liberals?

10 hours ago, stevenl said:

They don't pay them, the consumer pays them. And with considerably more dependence of UK on exports to EU than the other way round you have a clear disadvantage there.

The UK has a trade deficit with the EU.

Quote

The EU, taken as a whole is the UK's largest trading partner. In 2017, UK exports to the EU were £274 billion (44% of all UK exports). UK imports from the EU were £341 billion (53% of all UK imports). ... A surplus of £28 billion on trade in services was outweighed by a deficit of -£95 billion on trade in goods.

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7851

On 6/21/2019 at 5:46 AM, AlexRich said:

We have plenty of bigots and racists in Scotland, who bend their knee to the English Queen. We always have had. 

 

But the point stands ... Brexit is simply little England in the voting booth ... insular and narrow minded. And the areas that rejected it ... Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Bristol, London, are a good deal more outward looking.

Did you just watch your Braveheart DVD again? ????

There is an amusing irony to Scottish remainers who want a second referendum. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU:

As you can see from the numbers above, if Scotland were to leave the United Kingdom, the Brexiteers would easily win a second referendum .....

11 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

This guy seriously wants no help when the US is attacked, one day. And it will happen.

Don't be silly. What country could attack the US without being obliterated themselves?

3 minutes ago, JAG said:

The treaty was designed to put strict limits, no to prevent, Japan from having the capability to engage in expeditionary warfare. This was, is and will long continue to be a significant source of reassurance to many nations in this part of the world.

 

Requiring Japan to reconfigure it's defence capability to come to the aid of the USA would require them to develop a global capacity - geography dictated that.

 

Leaving aside some of Tom Clancy's more elaborate (hysterical) plotlines, such a capacity would alarm many countries and lead to a destabilising ramping up in defence activities in the region.

 

Japan has extremely capable and effective defence forces. I would council leaving them as such. By all means renegotiate elements of the treaty, add codicils, but do not walk away from it, particularly on some incoherent Presidential whim that it is "unfair".

 

The USA emerged from the debris of 1945 as, if not the world policeman, then certainly the guarantor of peace in a number of regions. That can cost - heaven knows we British know, we did it for donkeys years - and it has not always worked, especially when it comes to overenthusiastic support for some unsavoury clients; but to abandon it would cost far more 

Japan has a world-leading space program, and large stocks of uranium and plutonium from its 42 operational nuclear reactors. They could probably build fully functional ICBMs with warheads in a matter of months. That is really all they require to possess a "global capacity".

I absolutely agree that it would make no sense whatsoever for the US to walk away from its treaty obligations. And I feel certain that they will not, despite Donald's recent sabre-rattling.

However, taking into account the growth of China as a military power, giving Japan a little more latitude with regards to its armed forces might be no bad thing.

1 hour ago, AlexRich said:

That’s not what he said. But China will be pleased to see alliances weaken, just as Putin would be pleased to see NATO weaken. 

If Japan were allowed to have a larger military force, it would be a major setback for Chinese regional power.

In reality, I think there is little risk of the treaty being broken. Trump was responding to the possibility of the USAs Okinawa base being relocated with his usual "tactful diplomacy", and in a follow up Reuters article Trump clarifies that he is "committed to the military treaty".

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-japan-defense-reaction/trump-reassures-tokyo-he-will-stick-with-security-pact-japan-government-idUSKCN1TQ0PP

34 minutes ago, JAG said:

They were, and the Japanese lost, and surrendered. As a result governing Japan, and turning it into the society which it became (is now) was taken on by the victors (USA). The treaty which Trump thinks unfair was drawn up by, and consisted entirely of terms dictated by the USA.

 

Have they refused him planning permission for a golf course?

Well, it has now been over 70 years since the treaty was drawn up. How many years have to pass before its terms can be renegotiated? 100? 1000?

Japan has the 3rd largest economy in the world. Few would consider that they pose a military threat to the West. Perhaps it is now safe to allow them to defend themselves. Failing that, a mutual defence treaty doesn't seem unreasonable, even though there is little likelihood of Japan ever needing to come to aid the US.

11 hours ago, Tug said:

Atta boy Donald it’s party time in n Korea and another alliance thrown under the bus China will be delighted but it’s probably a ploy to pressure japan in some way

Do you suppose Japan and China are going to join forces now?

I'll not believe it. How can they besmirch the good name of Pattaya like this?

Ha ha, no it is definitely her house, not mine ???? I'll never "buy" property in Thailand.

It's a new build property on the outskirts of Thalang, not near the sea. I think it's inside a gated village - I haven't had the chance to visit yet.

Good information about how Thais feel about new vs "second-hand" houses. I'd forgotten that ghosts were an important consideration ????

I know very little about the Thai property market - rental only for me.

But I have a Thai friend who has recently purchased a new-build house in Phuket, 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. At a best guess, is the value of their house likely to go up, down or stay much the same?