Dogmatix

The guy who deserves the kudos for thinking up the LTR visa scheme is ML Chayotis, the investment banker who was CEO of JP Morgan Thailand and SCB Securities. He is an advisor to the minister of energy and deputy PM, who is a former CEO of PTT. Hence the connection. He probably did a lot of pushing to coordinate with various agencies to get it done. Obviously he realised it should not be given to Immigration police to handle the applications and that probably involved a fight with arguments about national security raised. Although most people in this thread are interested in PR, it is good to provide other options that may suit some people better. The quota of 100 per nationality per annum for PR was introduced in the early 50s when they decided it was time to curb mass immigration from China due to fears of a communist fifth column. The fees were also raised four fold. To this day the quota has only consistently inconvenienced Chinese applicants, although India may have hit the ceiling a couple of times too. No other countries have ever hit the quota to my knowledge. One interesting question that comes up quite frequently now is, "Will LTR visa holders be eligible for PR and citizenship". Theoretically yes, if they are working and paying Thai taxes but the answer may not be that straightforward. Since there is no residence requirement for LTR, there may be crossovers to PR and citizenship once LTR holders meet the residence requirements, if it is allowed.

The Thai language requirement for PR was introduced by Thaksin’s first interior minister, the nasty and xenophobic Purachai. It is not in the Immigration Act. That is obviously off putting for many and may make it a less suitable alternative to LTR.

I think it would have to be like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A big enough nuclear response to make the surviving Russians want to give up.

If Putin is rational, he would have to think that, apart from any potential retaliation from NATO, the use of tactical nukes would make it a lot more difficult to get continued support from China, India, Brazil, South Africa etc as they will start to fear NATO sanctions themselves. But, if he is terminally ill, he might choose to let everyone go with him in a big puff of smoke, rather than lose face.

What would be the response to tactical nukes in Ukraine? Some have suggested NATO would respond with an large scale attack with conventional missiles on multiple locations in Russia identified as launch pads or otherwise connected with tactical nukes. That probably brings NATO into the Ukraine conflict and they would probably start by establishing air superiority. Non-tactical nuclear strikes on NATO members, I assume, would be countered with nuclear strikes on Russia with a view to ending things as quickly as possible. Putin always mentions the UK as a target due to its support for Ukraine and its vulnerability to massive missile attacks from Russia with and without nuclear warheads. The Uk decommissioned its AWAC fleet to save money and has to rely on the US for that. Otherwise it’s defended by a small number of Typhoons in scattered squadrons in the few remaining RAF bases that have been spared sale to developers of Wimpey boxes. There are a few land to air systems but all would be quickly overwhelmed by a massive Russian attack without a lot of American airforce assistance. Presumably the USAAF bases in the UK would mobilize pretty quick as they would be obvious targets.

It's a great idea for tourists. I went to the opium museum near Chaing Rai and found it very interesting. Tourists will be interested, even if they have never tried cannabis and have no intention of doing so. I hope they put in a lot of historical stuff like the Opium Museum. This is exactly the sort of thing Thailand should be doing for tourist post-legalisation.

Poor girl will see the error of her ways and run away from this drunken sod before long, hopefullly before he knocks her up. Then she will be off to Pattaya to make money doing what she did for free in the village, joining other Isaan girls who made similar mistakes.

What an amazing survey! Nothing has been done to prevent Bangkok and surrounding provinces sliding under the sea since the dire warnin signals given off by the great floods of 2011. The Yingluck government had 3 years to work on it and claimed an emergency budget which presumably disappeared into Thaksin's pocket but nothing was done. Prayut and Prawit followed the same trend and have done nothing to prevent flooding in eight years in power. And yet a survey found that nearly half the people are satisfied with this. God help us.

I recall the fitness manager at the British Club, a personable Kiwi or Aussie (I forget which), having an altercation with a taxi driver who declined to take him to his appartment after a night out. He was leaving his job to go home to get married and had a big night on the Pong combining leaving party with stag night. He did the usual dumb thing of leaving the rear door open so the driver had to get out in the rain to shut it. As a result of this decision he went home to his wedding almost unrecognisable to his fiancee, his face was slashed so badly by the taxi driver and made into a patchwork of stitches in nearby Bangkok Christian Hospital. Needless to say the tourist and regular police who hang out at the Pong didn't see anything and the taxi drivers who pay them to be allowed to wait in the queue night after night didn't see anything either and no one had any idea which driver might have been involved. So no one was prosecuted.

Great idea. They can call 1155 after they they have been to the Emergency Room to get patched up after the traditional machete attack by a taxi driver, or perhaps from the morgue.

The cannabis shampoo goes straight to my head.

It's funny that the first reading of the Cannabis Bill, which only set out licensing details for vendors, growers importers & etc and didn't even restrict sales to minors and preganat women, sailed through parliament. Now this version that amended by the all party parliamentary vetting committee for the second reading has bombed. The idiotic Democrat Party leadership that still can't see anything wrong with appointing a known rapist as deputy leader and putting him on a women's rights parliamentary committee, was quite happy to vote for the first reading. Much as I dislike Anutin for other reasons, he is right about this one. It has become overly politicised. The Democrats are under threat from Anutin's BJP in their only remaining stronghold of the South, having been already wiped out in their former Bangkok stronghold with no chance to recover there. The Democrats are also eyeing a possibility of kissing and making up with Thaksin after the next election to keep all potential routes to graft open.

Quite a confusing article. It is to be expected that international reserves are down. Thailand has been running a current account deficit since COVID and the BoT is hiking rates at a much slower rate than the Fed. In addition to the current account deficit there have been significant portfolio outflows putting further pressure on the capital account and international reserves. Probably the BoT has been intervening in the market to slow the rate of the baht's decline but that is part of their job to keep conditions as stable as possible. I don't see anything unusual here with the caveat that the BoT, I think reports only spot international reserves without netting off futures and forward positions, a standard they got from the Bank of England. This means that gains or losses in the futures and forwards markets are not reflected n the reported numbers. In 1997 I came from a meeting at the BoT where they told us reserves were still at around $30bn but it was suddenly revealed a few days later that netting off losses in the futures and forwards markets, the reserves were actually close to zero and the melt down commenced. We are not close to the 1997 situation at this point.

Fortunately amending the list of prohibited narcotics is not up to parliament. The category lists are annexes to the Narcotics Prevention Act which are in the power of the minister of public health to amend with a simple royal decree with the approval of the narcotics committee which is, of course, appointed by the minister. Anutin just had to publish a one pager in the Royal Gazette to legalize cannabsi. Need to watch carefully who gets the public health portfolio in the next govenment. If BJT is in the government, Anutin will push forcefully to get it himself or for one of him boys.

More ominous but not mentioned in this article is the fact that Parliament didn't pass the second reading of the Bhumjaithai sponsored Cannabis and Hemp Bill. Instead they voted with a narrow margin to withdraw it temporarily in order to toughen it up before reconvening the second reading. The objections those that voted against want to be addressed appeared to be mainly that the bill didn't do enough to protect young people from getting hold of cannabis and that it sanctioned recreational use (presumably be default). Bhumjaithai insisted that the draft was already complete and that holding up the process would make it unlikely to pass the third reading before parliament is dissolved which must be done by March. Anyway after getting an extremely flimsy bill past the first reading with ease, the growing backlash forced BJP to agree to a number of concessions toughen up the bill for the second reading but it wasn't enough. If it doesn't get passed in this parliament, the current free for all will probably continue for another year or more but the next government will be able to scrap the bill and draft a new one from scratch. If Thaksin has anything to do with the next government, the chance of tightening things up to make recreational use illegal will be much higher.

Exactly. They are a pretty moronic bunch now. They voted for the legalization and now want to jump on the backlash bandwaggon in the hope it will get them votes in the next election and/or help do a deal with Thaksin. Time was that I was a supporter of the Democrats when they had Chuan as leader and were against the Suchinda military government which they took over from. Again with Abhisit and Korn they had something going for them, even though the reds didn't appreciate them. Now I hope they will be further wiped out in the election which is a good chance without their former great white hope, the (alleged) rapist Prinn as deputy leader.

True. Especially for German speakers, since tripper - gonorrhea in German, as in the slang expression Tripper Clipper (charter flights bringing German sex tourists to Thailand).

Thanks for the clarifications which make a lot of sense. I have very little experience with edibles but I agree they can be unsafe products as we cannot see what has gone into them or how much. Most of the problems of cannabis with newby tourists in Amsterdam are with hash brownies and space cakes (not to mention magic mushrooms). The edibles are often attractive to newbies because they have never smoked and don't wish to start. They consume too much either thinking nothing has happened after an hour or just because they taste moreish or both. Then end up in a helpless state for several hours and may be taken to the emergency room. Something similar, although usually of shorter duration, can happen when you smoke today's varieties of strong skunk but most newbies would cough and splutter and not be able to smoke enough quickly enough to get themselves into a catatonic state. There is already one YouTube video posted by a foreign backpacker couple, not looking to get high, who bought "CBD brownies" neatly packaged and labeled as such in Bangkok. Within a couple of hours they were slightly unpleasantly ripped out of their heads but were obviously not newbies and able to handle it. A few more cases of irresponsible vendors like that could cause a crackdown on edibles, especially after the new law comes in. Edibles are the way to go for those who don't want to smoke but I think it is best to make your own from decarbed product or decarb yourself, so you know exactly what you are taking and can start off with small amunts. If you are not a baker, you can just chuck the decarbed, ground up weed into a yoghurt or a cup of cocoa or something and it should work, if there is fat for the THC to bind with, such as full fat yoghurt or milk. No need to make extracts first. I am not sure, if it is necessary to mix the decarbed weed with coconut or olive oil first. Theoretically the full fat dairy product is enough but a teaspoon of oil might enhance the effect and the taste would hardly notice in a flavored yoghurt. I have seen little decarb machines on sale on Amazon and Alibaba with 220v plugs wich might reduce the odour of decarbing.

The mother doesn't want the trouble of having to visit her daughter in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, London once the fun is over. But I would quite like to see Ing in action as PM. None of Thaksin's kids appear overly bright the neither of the daughters are photogenic like ther Aunt Yingluck. Thaksin chose his wife because she was the daughter of a senior police general who could advance his career in the police but these are not genetic qualities that can be passed on.

What kind of teacher did he meet in Pattaya? Did he check her teaching credentials?

I belive they give a small discount for 3 or more siblings. At least Patana, like NIST and ISB, is theoretically non profit but that doesn't stop them generating substantial surpluses and I don't think they offer any scholarships or any form of assistance for needy kids. It's sink or swim. The top for profit international schools owned by Thai Chinese families like Shrewsbury, Harrow, Brighton, Wellington, King's School are more expensive than Patana but they have lower ratios of foreign students than Patana, NIST and ISB that maintain quotas for Thai kids and get embassy and corporate expat kids. Most students at the for profit international schools are Thai Chinese.

I understand that decarbed weed is merely baked flowers and nothing is extracted but does the MoPH agree that decarbed weed is not an extract? Also how about hash? Kief seems to be just a separated but unprocessed part of the plant in the same way that flowers, seeds and leaves are separated. Hash isn't technically extracted from kief. It is made by applying heat and pressure and can be made by just rolling kief in the hands. But the MoPH, police and courts may not see it that way for hash, kief or decarbed weed. Then you have edibles which could be made from decarbed weed just thrown into the mix ground up which is technically not an extract or from canna oil or butter which technically are extracts as they throw away the residual plant matter. No way to tell one from t'other without detailed lab analysis and the effect on eaters is the same. But, as I understand it, edibles will require an FDA licence under the Cannabis and Hemp Act which will only be accessible to large producers who have the ability to deal with the corrupt FDA and for CBD edibles only.

Probably illegal as it could be deemed made from extracts containing over 0.2% THC, as most is made with canna oil or canna butter0. But as Bruno said, you could make it yourself from legal weed without using the oil or butter. Just throw it in decarbed.

Many people went unpunished but the Thai CEO, Krirkiat, and at least two other Thais also went to prison. There was a strong suspicion that people in the Bank of Thailand were in on it or at least knew about it. It must have stuck out like a sore thumb at the reviews by the BoT's supervision deparment that something was wrong. Just looking at the financial statements anyone could see there was something very weird. ROE, ROA, assets per branch and assets per employee were obviously artificially high, as was also the case at other banks that collapsed like First Bangkok Bank and Nakornthon Bank. You didn't need a lot of branches or staff to lend to fake companies or family businesses with no assets or buy up defaulted Turkish car loans or Russian credit card debt. These ratios were red flag and any digging below the surface after seeing that would have revealed loans to borrowers that didn't meet BoT rules as well as overseas lending by banks that didn't have overseas branches or trade finance business. I was a banking analyst in the 1990s and it was very obvious at a glance that there was something badly wrong with most, if not all, of Thailand's small banks. So I just didn't touch them but the BoT must have seen this too. Krirkiat was a protege of the governor of the BoT who refused to see anything wrong at BBC.

That is the gross sentence adding up the penalties for all the offences he was convicted of. The net sentence he actually has to serve is 20 years. He is a foreigner, not the patriach of an influential Thai Chinese clan and owner of a huge business empire like Boss' father.