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I doubt that even a "landslide" would be enough to counterbalance the weight of the unelected Senate.

1. It's from the John Hopkins center which is a reliable source re Covid-19. The flu statistics are widely available, as well as the number of Covid-19 deaths. Everyone knows that the number of Covid deaths in 2020 and 2021 was more than the number of flu related deaths. No need to be pedantic with meta-analysis B.S. 2. Your comment was not particularly about Omicron, you wrote "Covid was never deadlier than flu", if It's "never", it also includes the previous beta and delta variants which were much deadlier than the flu.

Really????? "The World Health Organization estimates that 290,000 to 650,000 people die of flu-related causes every year worldwide. The COVID-19 situation continues to change, sometimes rapidly. Doctors and scientists are working to estimate the mortality rate of COVID-19. At present, it is thought to be substantially higher (possibly 10 times or more) than that of most strains of the flu." https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu

On top of it, this "promise" was not made to Russia, it was made to the USSR, which was dissolved in December 1991. USSR, which Russia left in June 1991 and declared itsbindependence. So basically, the argument is about a promise made to an union which doesn't exist any more, which Russia left before its dissolution anyway.

Starting Monday. Good timing as it leaves just enough time for the police to stuff their pocket in order to afford a proper Songkran celebration.

The perfect trap! No test before flight then get tested positive at arrival and end up financing hospitals owned by well connected groups.

Thanks for correcting the number. It's useful not only for start-ups but for anyone intending to have a successful career. It's not "sinister" but shows the pervasiveness of the party.and the extent of human resources which can be leveraged.

Having two ballots also doubles the opportunity to rigg elections. ????In particular, it should be less noticeable to rigg the party list ballots.

It's a nice fairy tale, but he was not removed because he was corrupt, they are all corrupt anyway: the removed, the removers, and the unremoved. He was removed because he challenged the dominant yellow/green network, and also because he had a good relation with someone who was not positively considered by the dominant network. It's just an issue of having a preference for the lesser evil. For me, elected crooks are a lesser evil than unelected crooks who cannot be held accountable of anything.

Do you really think that if any non-yellow party, such as Move Forward, would be elected, they would be allowed to govern and implement their program? Really?

It's not only about being isolated. They are embrigated since primary school in pioneer organisations. On top of it, all non- teaching activities, including at universities, are organised by the CCP. The CCP itself has around 900,000 members, which is huge, even in relation to the size of the population. But that was not directly my point. My point was that those educated abroad are not only broadly supporting the government, but also buying nearly every piece of propaganda. For example, I know well some of them currently staying abroad. They are smart and educated, exposed to information about Ukraine from free media, and this is not an issue which affects them or their country directly, i.e. it's not a nationalistic issue such as Taiwan. Still, they always seem to parrot the position of Chinese authorities when we have a discussion about it.

Not sure. I know several Chinese people who have studied abroad at Master level or even PhD, been exposed to critical thinking and to all kind of media, and most of them are still buying the CCP propaganda.

True, but Chinese people have been completely brainwashed an are very nationalistic, so they nearly all fully support the Chinese government.

"Russia Trump" did not bring the Chinese to their needs, implemented a stupid tariff policy which did not reduce the trade deficit with China, scratched the TPP, mishandled the response to pandemic, and was Putin's bitch. About the exit from Afghanistan, he applied the plan (un)prepared by Trump, and a treaty negotiated directly with the Talibans without involving the official government, lol! About the pandemic, oil prices and inflation, you did not expect the US president to control virus mutations and global energy prices, did you?

The TPP was a major initiative to counterbalance the influence of China, by linking Asian economies not only to the U.S. but also to other Northern and Southern American economies. The orange moron killed it because, ahem, it was launched by Obama.

Let's be honest. Whatever position Thailand may take on this issue, it has absolutely no strategic significance for anyone.

The Dem party is "stuck in the middle". Not democratic enough as it supported the coup, but also not yellow enough compared to the PPP.

No it's you consistently trying to push a lame justification for coups. We disagree on the main points - the main reason for coups is not corruption, it's about the elected government challenging or not the established yellow/green network. They don't care about corruption when it happens in their camp. They did not care about corrupt Suthep playing a key role in the Abhisit government, they did not care about Thammanat, they did not care about the former pro-Thaksin 5 crooks when they joined the yellow/ green camp. - the main objective is to keep power inside the yellow/green network

That's why I said Thamanat was only an amateur! ????

Come on. How can coups be useful when they just replace elected crooks by unelected crooks who cannot stand to democratically lose their grip on the country? You are simply making up an alternate reality. How can an alleged remedy be a remedy when it's worse than what it's pretending to cure?

Sorry but the Yingluck government could have been voted out as it intended to have elections organised (by an EC appointed by Abhisit). Or do you mean cannot be voted out because people wanted to vote for her? Really? Sorry but the coup makers did exactly what you claim the didn't do. They changed the constitution to make sure they would keep control whoever would be elected, did rigg the last elections, did ban political parties, etc... I did not say they manufactured offenses (well, they did to some extent), but that was not the reason they made a.coup. For example, the yellow judiciary has been quite efficient to remove Yingluck. So the democratic system worked: she was removed and elections were planned, without the need for a coup. They did a coup because they did not want elections, they did not want the people to choose to vote out PTP or not.

How can a coup be virtuous as it leads to a government which is at least as corrupt as the democratically elected government, and on top of it cannot be voted out or be made accountable. Really? The main aim of coups in Thailand is not to avoid absolute power does slip into anyone's hand. It is to make sure absolute power REMAINS into the hands of the dominant network (the so-called old elite), and not ultimately in the hands of voters.

You seem to consider there may have been something like virtuous coups in Thailand. In the history of Thailand, coups have never been virtuous and always led to corruption. The current bench in power is not an exception. Coups have only been reactions by unelected clans who feel they are getting deprived of their power and access to the gravy train. And as the current topic confirms, regularly interrupting a democratic process has not led to any improvement. There is a learning process in Democracy, by trial and error. This process cannot happen when it is continuously interrupted by coups.

By "in this department" I meant criminal activities ????

You are right about the appointed Senate (plus a few other mechanism integrated in the Consitution). That's quite possible they would reject the PTP, but the green/yellow network would even less accept Move Forward. So whoever wins (unless elections can be rigged enough to allow a win by an alliance of pro-military parties), it will lead to a deep political crisis.