soalbundy

There is no sensible 'if' which is why I replied the way I did.

No, Putin's hold on power has become precarious of late, even if he gave the order to use a nuke (a low yield would be the size of a Hiroshima bomb) it is the military commanders who would actually initiate the strike and I doubt that they would do so, they better than anyone would know the consequences for themselves and their families. This isn't a scenario where hundreds of american missiles heading for Russia have been detected on radar and a well oiled machine is set in motion to counter strike, a commander would be told from a failing dictator to send a nuke to a country on the border with Russia for no rational purpose. It would be Putin's last order.

It's certainly having a negative effect on the FX the Euro is down from nigh on 38 to 35.4

I wouldn't say that, in my village the jogging path 1 km is full of Thais in the evening, young and old, my missus (47) does 5 rounds every day.....I don't.

Look at some of them..before and way before.

got rid of the insects though

you visit the wrong porn sites

You never know, they may have found a useful productive job in the mean time.

might save their eardrums. culture is someone with a guitar and a 1000 watt speaker?

Lots of Russians in London demonstrating with Ukrainians against Putin so I read (BBC?)

Yes, and those already with settlements? This was only ever about the money, nobody cared where it came from, now because of the Ukraine it has become an embarrassment and all the ministers now have halos and are full of indignation. Getting at what these oligarchs own is going to be difficult, there will be straw men and front firms, they are wealthy and will have the best lawyers and no doubt influence in government circles. It will be difficult for the newbies for a few years but money has a smell of its own. The corruption in the West isn't so blatant as in Thailand but it is there non the less.

Let us not get too saintly about this, the UK/London is also awash with oligarch's money who all have golden passports, yes the UK 'wants' to do something about it but 'it is complicated and will take time" read "we hope this all blows over and we won't have to do anything.

It is near Britain because it starts with UK

It will be paid in dollars which will make it too expensive for the average household now anyway. What a dipstick to so naively, openly, make such an announcement,normally such things are kept quiet and hope nobody notices.

I doubt that would happen but they may have trouble finding a carrier or cargo insurance, Merk for instance is considering refusal to ship goods to Russia, other shipping companies may follow suite. It may be enough for America or the EU to issue a stern rebuke as in "we will buy our rice elsewhere in future" indeed the large importers themselves in the West may change their rice suppliers. All this won't help the poor rice farmer who has never heard of the Ukraine.

That is good so if they can easily afford it, remember all situations are temporary, nothing lasts, and when the dust settles, as it will, it may be advantageous to have been seen walking a tightrope between fences, especially if you are little.

She will lose sleep over this?

It isn't in their backyard is it. Wait and see how long these sanctions last, compassion usually ends at the wallet.

There will be pain but this has obviously been planned and sanctions taken into account. I imagine that Putin thought this was going to be a quick occupation after which things would quickly return to normal. That hasn't quite worked out, in the short term things will be manageable but the long term will be a different matter, not just for Putin, the pain will be felt in the West as well especially in Europe as far as energy is concerned, it will be a case of who blinks first.

The West is different right?

I don't know about storming,there appears to be a lack of cash in the general Western populations pockets, rent increases, petrol, gas and electricity all cost more, taxation etc. wouldn't tempt me to take a long flight to Asia if I was living say in London, maybe no holiday at all would be on the cards.

Not just there

That's why it wont happen

Best job they ever had.

What about gathering intellectual information....like porn for instance.