sandyf

There are 5 IMF Reserve Currencies that make up the SDR - USD, GBP, EUR, JPY and the Chinese RMB. In the 60s the Pound Sterling was the major currency but superseded by the USD. Just because the USD may be the most common doesn't make the only reserve currency. Countries will spread the load so to speak and are certainly open to movement based on political situations. At this point in time, with military unrest and trade wars, JPY certainly stands out from the others.

Get off the high horse. Your comment "They don't want to fight, I can't recall the last time Europe started a war." was deliberately derogatory. Since WW2 European policy has been to try and avoid war, unlike the US that will create confict at the drop of a hat in places they have no right to be. The greatest threat there is to world order. Trump has no interest in peace, anywhere, he justs wants the the country of his choosing to surrender.

The point in question is Ukranian independence. The quality of European politicians has no bearing on the actions taken by the USA. It may come as a surprise but history does have some bearing on Ukraine's right to independence. If the US population do not believe in a country's right to independence, they should say so rather than be hypocritical about it, it is not a pick and choose scenario. BTW. The UK are tarred with the same brush, the government threw their weight behind the Kosovo UDI and then kicked Scotland in the teeth. Like every other country, the Ukraine case should be heard by the ICJ. Russia is interfering with due process and not only getting away with it, supported by the US. I am really glad my time is nearly up, a very dark future ahead.

It has its roots in Ireland but there seems to be a trading arrangement in the US, Kerrygold USA. I have bought some at Siamburi but it was a one off, their products are a bit hirt and miss. What i bought had a UK barcode.

You need to remind me, when did Europe become a country?

I haven't tried to change anything, the topic is about Ukraine independence. For some reason you seem to think that by making derogatory comments about Europe will detract from the US failings on the issue, both current and historical. Fairly obvious from the threads on the forum, historical actions are irrelevant to many.

Delusional modern day thinking is that everything can happen overnight, Trump claimed he would end the war in 24 hours. The facts of life are that empire creation, or rebuilding, is a long term plan, the US started in the 1700s.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with resources, it is all about independence from the Soviet state. Gorbachev tried to reform Russia but it didn't go the way he envisaged and he was removed from power, the hard liners never went away and now Putin is trying to recover what he can of the Soviet Union. This is why Russia is so against any previous Soviet territory becoming part of NATO. Ironic that the US took credit for the breakup of the USSR but now want to help Russia. "By the time of the 1985 rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last leader, the country was in a situation of severe stagnation, with deep economic and political problems which sorely needed to be addressed and overcome. Recognizing this, Gorbachev introduced a two-tiered policy of reform. On one level, he initiated a policy of glasnost, or freedom of speech. On the other level, he began a program of economic reform known as perestroika, or rebuilding. What Gorbachev did not realize was that by giving people complete freedom of expression, he was unwittingly unleashing emotions and political feelings that had been pent up for decades, and which proved to be extremely powerful when brought out into the open. Moreover, his policy of economic reform did not have the immediate results he had hoped for and had publicly predicted. The Soviet people consequently used their newly allotted freedom of speech to criticize Gorbachev for his failure to improve the economy. The disintegration of the Soviet Union began on the peripheries, in the non-Russian areas. The first region to produce mass, organized dissent was the Baltic region, where, in 1987, the government of Estonia demanded autonomy. This move was later followed by similar moves in Lithuania and Latvia, the other two Baltic republics. The nationalist movements in the Baltics constituted a strong challenge to Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost. He did not want to crack down too severely on the participants in these movements, yet at the same time, it became increasingly evident that allowing them to run their course would spell disaster for the Soviet Union, which would completely collapse if all of the periphery republics were to demand independence. After the initiative from Estonia, similar movements sprang up all over the former Soviet Union. In the Transcaucasus region (in the South of the Soviet Union), a movement developed inside the Armenian-populated autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabagh, in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Armenian population of this region demanded that they be granted the right to secede and join the Republic of Armenia, with whose population they were ethnically linked. Massive demonstrations were held in Armenia in solidarity with the secessionists in Nagorno-Karabagh. The Gorbachev government refused to allow the population of Nagorno-Karabagh to secede, and the situation developed into a violent territorial dispute, eventually degenerating into an all-out war that continues unabated until the present day. Once this “Pandora’s box” had been opened, nationalist movements emerged in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Byelorussia, and the Central Asian republics. The power of the Central Government was considerably weakened by these movements; they could no longer rely on the cooperation of Government figures in the republics. Finally, the situation came to a head in August of 1991. In a last-ditch effort to save the Soviet Union, which was floundering under the impact of the political movements which had emerged since the implementation of Gorbachev’s glasnost, a group of “hard-line” Communists organized a coup d’etat." https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/fall-soviet-union-in-pictures-1991/

I didn't see any facts only delusional perception. The real fact is that neither the US or Russia were happy with what Reagan and Gorbachev did, with the old guard looking to go back to the old ways. Trumps interest however probably has more to do with the Leo Wanta story. https://www.amazon.com/Wanta-Black-Swan-White-Hat-ebook/dp/B00ZVH4FCQ

You are free to put whatever interpretation on what was said, but that would be making things up. "Gosh, we've been moving NATO closer and closer for decades, and Russia just sits there, minding its own business." You should consider more carefully what has been said before making your insulting comment.

Does any cancer invade the whole body at once.

Obviously you do not understand short circuits. My wife asked me to replace the battery in her phone, burnt my finger as soon as i connected the new battery, short in the phone but it was the battery that got red hot. Of course you would think the battery was at fault for not storing the power that created the heat to an acceptable standard.

The use of power banks on board should be banned. A fault in the connected device can lead to a rapid discharge and overheating. I cannot understand why airlines have not insisted on power banks being fully discharged before being allowed on board.

Obviously McCarthy never died, the legacy lives on. It is quite infantile to see NATO as a country that wants to take over Russia. As for minding it's own business, what rock have you come out from under.

There is a saying about true words and jest. Russia took a large part of Europe after the war, only the naive would think they don't want it back.

It is more obvious you failed to understand the answer.

Nobody thought that there would be still be conflict 3 years down the road. The US put something like 80K troops into Poland following the invasion. What is different now is that Trump has taken away the catapult and it is back to the drawing board. If Ukraine falls, where will the Russian advance stop? All a bit ironic, like the Red Scare never existed.

Tell that to Greenland. If Trump wants to stop sharing information then he should be denied the ability to collect information via other nations. At least when the US gets out of NATO, no need to move the HQ, just the bases.

Delusional, quacking like the duck.

I can only assume you have never seen the HSR train stops in Laos, all part of the same project, Kumning to Singapore.

Indeed. Getting people to sell up and move wasn't as easy as they thought. U-tapao has scaled back expansion on the basis it may never happen. From the EEC committee meeting 4 years ago. 5. The progress of high-speed rail linking 3 airports, expediting the handing over of land, opening up the areas for construction and ensuring the project’s completion as scheduled The meeting considered the on-going progress of the high-speed train linking 3 airports project, noting that the project was progressing according to the plan of the committee that has been assigned to expedite the project. The progress includes the relocation of public utilities to allow for the construction work to commence. Most of the land will be ready for handing over by the end of March 2021. As for the handing over of the land that will need to be expropriated, the matter is now at the stage of concluding the purchase agreement by the Railway Authority of Thailand, which will then hand over the land for construction of the railway by the end of September 2021 at the latest. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.eeco.or.th/en/filedownload/2762/file-the-1-2021-meeting-of-the-policy-committee-of-the-eastern-economic-corridor-eec-special-development-zone

Indeed, in this day and age new rail projects have a lot more hurdles to deal with than previously. When it comes to screwing things up the UK is a front runner on HSR.

But the US needs the world or it wouldn't have over a hundred military bases in over 40 different countries. Time they packed their bags and moved to Russia with their new found mates.

Pattaya has always been an alcohol consumption zone, free entry with large Changs in bars at 70 baht. Should have been called Martini Town.

The US is only wealthier nation because they, unlike European countries, didn't have to rebuild after WW2, just enjoyed the spoils of war. It should be the international community dealing with Russia, not Europe or anyone else. The US however is not interested in an international community, only themslves, history has shown that only too well.