ronnie50

It still looks like an initial Thai unilateral action for a possibly alternative reason and outcome (not the border). It's not clear Cambodia did anything wrong or out of the ordinary in that disputed area. And so the timing of this is very suspicious. The Thai Defense Minister still hasn't answered whether he was asked for a green light for the Thai army to take all these steps. Or whether they just do whatever they want.. and maybe, as a courtesy, tell him later - or not.

I checked the ICJ's website. The ICJ is a bit different from other UN-related bodies. It doesn't have "member" countries. Instead it has sort of two main parts - one is a country's acceptance of the ICJ (e.g. both Thailand and Cambodia have done so); but the devil is in the detail of the second part - it's where individual countries above agree to the courts verdicts as 'mandatory' or mandated I guess. Cambodia has accepted that, Thailand has not. That first list also has many countries in it, including the US which has not accepted the second part - nor has Israel or others of that ilk - because they refuse to accept the ICJs court rulings that could indict its soldiers or others (e.g. Netanyahu has been indicted). In short, Thailand doesn't have to abide or pay attention to the Cambodia filing, or the ICJ eventual decision. Bsically the ICJ has no teeth in many cases.

That's been my experience too (SWIFT better for once a year). My bank is hesitant to do a SWIFT transfer over the phone though. So I do it in person once a year when I'm visiting home country branch.

Hard to say whether this is WISE and SWIFT that encouter the limit or just WISE... But more than 50k USD needs extra form filled out and supposedly included, though some have said the bank will just phone the customer to ask why the transfer exceeds 50k USD and will then release the money into the Thai account. I don't use WISE, just SWIFT. Here are the limits WISE refers to.... and banks it no longer deals with in Thailand. https://wise.com/help/articles/2932335/guide-to-thb-transfers

I think this is the first time I've read about young guys from Cambodia and Myanmar, heavily armed, and meeting in a place like Pattaya to plan something (probably big). A gang fight with other Khmer and Burmese? Or were they hired by a third party for a big job like a major robbery or multiple gangland hits against the third party's rivals?

For Immigration/O visa/extentions, Kasikorn is probably best and easiest - I have an account there and was the first bank that would open an account for me (years ago, but I had a work permit). But I like SCB as the best bank overall to deal with for almost everything and a higher limit for incoming wire transfers (like Kasikorn). However, as @DrJack54 pointed out a few times, there is no SCB branch at IMM2 building in Bangkok. Depends on your needs. If you can only open one account, and it's primarily to meet the demands of Immigration to prove available funds, then go with Kasikorn - that's what I'd do if it were me. If you have a work permit or at least a one year retirement or marriage extension, you 'should' be able to open accounts at many banks. But nothing is ever guaranteed here, unfortunantely.

Yeah. Some Thai women aren't aware that the law changed many years ago that allows them to own land, sell land, etc., completely on their own, and keep the money, even if their last name is the same as their husband's farang name. (it used to be that Thai women would not offciially marry a foreigner because they'd be barred from buying land or owning stocks with a foreign last name). That changed a long time ago (30 years ago?). But the District Offices can still demand the foreign husband sign a form at their office that acknowledges the foreigner has no claim to ownership or proceeds of the purchase or the sale (I think that's hit and miss - my wife has bought land but she thinks to sell it I will need to sign a form at the District Office). Allowing all Thai women to have full rights to buy/sell land regardless of a change in their name (to a married foreigner) was a move to make things equal with Thai men.

Thai Army false flag? Did the Defense Minister approve in advance - or was he not even consulted. Only silence, other than more hand shaking. Meantime, it's all over Thai TV7 midday news and they are enabling nationalist nutters to ramp things up more . Shows school kids practising evacuation into air raid shelters. They even have Prayuth on the air. This seems well-planned in advance and is most likely a complete side step of government. First shoe to drop kind of thing and part of a different domestic objective - and not the government's agenda (to be clear).

Yes. Exactly. And why hasn't anyone (Thai news media) asked the Defense Minister if he gave the order, or at least was aware the military was planning this. I wouldn't be surprised if he only found out about the Thai military aggression (on his watch) the same time everyone else did. If that's the case, then the military pays no attention to the guy who is supposed to make such a decision. And it really, really smells of a hidden agenda.

Of course. But if it ever gets really serious, then China could get involved (in a way like US does for Israel).

I think all 3 questions are spot on. But another unanswered question is: "Who gave the go-ahead for the Thai army to cause an international incident?" Did the Defense Minister have advanced knowledge and gave the green light? Or just some very senior general that made the decision? If the latter, and the Defense Minister was not involved at the get-go, then this is very disturbing. A red flag.

Last time they tried that (with Laos) it didn't end well for Thailand. Many years ago of course..

They'd just buy more directly from China.

Okay, but not easy if not in Thailand at the time.

I can only echo the above questions - @BangkokHank and @wombat. Forget WISE and forget SWIFT for a moment. Why do Thai banks limit the amount of incoming foreign funds per transaction (often hard currency like USD). Or is that just the maximum without filling out a bunch of forms? The latter is hard to do if you are not in Thailand at the time of intended transfer and have an existing Thai bank account. Is it some kind of OECD sub-rule? I guess all countries might have some upper limit that results in an automatic flag. Still TIT