Old Man River

The only reason the PM is going eastwards is that he needs glorification at any cost. The west will not do it since this is an illegal coup, denies democracy, so he turns to similar types of regimes... to boost his ego...

It's about trade. Russia is a market for Thai rubber. China is a market for numerous items, including Thai rice. If Western countries want to be hard on Thailand for a myriad of different things, many of which have existed for many years, then Thailand will turn to others to peddle their wares.

Sure, why not try communism while at it. Worked so well for those two.

Thailand has no need nor intent on adopting communism, but you know that already.

Since the official unemployment rate of Thailand is 0.56%, just assume 99.4% of those of working age are earners and act accordingly.

Few years in a Thai prison will wipe the smile off his face!

He was arrested last year in Thailand and has already been deported back to the US.

Any loss like that a bank takes has to come out of its own capital, i.e. stock sales and retained earnings. It can't use its deposit accounts because that's customer money.

I haven't looked to see how much liquid capital (capital not counting buildings, equipment, etc.) that SCB has but this is a real hit.

I wonder if there is an acceptable capital to deposit ratio that meets international standards in Thailand?

As of FYE December 2014, SCB had shareholders funds of THB286.3 billion. Free capital (which excludes fixed assets etc.) comprised 87.96%. THB1.5 billion is therefore just 0.6% of free capital.

Capital to deposits is not a ratio that is commonly used to measure either capital adequacy or liquidity. In terms of capital adequacy, the CAR to Basel 11 (the international standard now) was 17.0% on a consolidated basis (16.9% on a bank-only basis. Tier 1 only ratio was 13.6% on a consolidated basis. Total capital to total assets was a high 10.6%. In terms of liquidity, net loans were equivalent to a conservative 76.16% of stable funds while the net liquid asset ratio was 23.75% - a high ratio by international standards.

Bottom line - still rock solid financials. Reputational damage however possibly major, especially in Thai terms as SCB (given its origin and Crown Property Bureau partial ownership) was always seen as being in some the Royal Family's bank and one where ethical and moral standards were possibly higher than elsewhere in the sector.

SCB is an excellent bank and is well managed. Fraud happens all over the world. In this one there are other things potentially involved and it is clearly a situation where the bank is doing the right thing.

The US Senate must approve the appointment of ambassadors, and federal judges.

Currently there are 49 vacancies only 12 nominees for judges.

Ambassador positions are about 25% vacant.

Who knows when the Thailand ambassador position will be filled?

A few months ago I read where Pres. Obama was having trouble getting approvals. Is it still log jammed?

Any loss like that a bank takes has to come out of its own capital, i.e. stock sales and retained earnings. It can't use its deposit accounts because that's customer money.

I haven't looked to see how much liquid capital (capital not counting buildings, equipment, etc.) that SCB has but this is a real hit.

I wonder if there is an acceptable capital to deposit ratio that meets international standards in Thailand?

I am not sure if E & O insurance covers this, but it might.

Stop calling it an unelected Senate, it's a Senate elected by unelected appointees. It's the same way Prayuth became PM.

While you're at it, stop calling the intervention a coup. Also, stop calling the government put in place by the military and loaded with past and present generals a junta. Definitely don't call the government by the D-word just because the man at the top was, um, indirectly elected and has unchecked power which he uses to quash dissent and subvert basic rights.

Oh, while you are at it, stop calling the 2011 elections democratic. When a political party is blocked from campaigning in parts of the country, the subsequent election loses the right to be called democratic.

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The senate will be elected by a select group of people, North Korea style.

Sanctions from the EU and US will surely follow!

Who will be in this select group?

By your comments you seem to already know so please enlighten me.

Really? My comments imply that I know who will be in the group. Um no

My comments imply that it will be like North Korea, ie the military will determine who makes the laws in this country.

Consider yourself enlightened!!

I will return the favor. No sanctions.

The senate will be elected by a select group of people, North Korea style.

Sanctions from the EU and US will surely follow!

Who will be in this select group?

By your comments you seem to already know so please enlighten me.

Everyone is claiming Thailand is so strategically located.....is there 1 nation that isn't? If people could claim that the Falklands was "strategically" located then I think the word has become rather meaningless. There is nothing strategic about this place other than the morale boost it brings to burned out soldiers, sailors and businessmen on vacation.

A map might be helpful.

With all the attacks from the previous articles, they now want to mend the tie with US. Well, blow me down. LOL

Thailand happens to be situated in a strategic location which links "New China" to Mainland China as well as Malaysia and Singapore. In addition, nobody wants to even think what it could mean if the Kra Canal ever happens and new deep water ports built with China involved.

Hence, it is best for everyone to not let China get a foothold into Thailand.

Suthep must be scratching his head,after all he did all the leg work to enable the coup to take place and now this.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

Too bad they won't actually follow through with this.

I expect they will follow through with this.

The charge is not criminal malfeasance and the penalty is a 5 year ban from politics. The current government intends on decreasing the power of politicians and this is in that direction.

"They agreed to foster bilateral military cooperation through exchange visits of military personnel between the two countries at various levels."

First China, now Russia. Why in the world does Thailand need to align itself militarily with the Chinese AND Russians? Thailand faces NO external security threats. Thailand has no mutual borders with either country. It has by extension common seas and air space with China but absolutely no geographical commonality with Russia.

Maybe getting the backing of two of the nations on the permanent UN security council though is a good idea if Prayuth is planning some drastic military operations in Thailand. He might need to forestall possible UN resolutions or actions.

"Gen Prawit confirmed that he would attend an international meeting on anti-terrorism to be hosted by Russia in April."

What timing by the Russians. They see every Ukrainian soldier as a "terrorist." Perhaps the meeting will occur in Crimea, Russia and Prawit can help Putin understand Thailand's circumstance.

First China, now Russia. Why in the world does Thailand need to align itself militarily with the Chinese AND Russians? Thailand faces NO external security threats. Thailand has no mutual borders with either country. It has by extension common seas and air space with China but absolutely no geographical commonality with Russia.

Because the civilised world doesn't accept the coup. Thailand has no friends at the moment and beggars can't be choosers: Russia, North Korea and China - sooner the Generals are gone the better it will be for all Thais.

There isn't anything wrong for a country to try to increase trade partners. The generals are well aware that China/Russia etc. don't give anything away. There are no free lunches. Staying in the middle, as best as possible, is the way to go.

There is no way that the generals or any other country wants to be over run by the Chinese.

As it relates to NK, throw them out of the mix. They have had trade representatives in Thailand for many years, regardless of who has been PM. I doubt they have ever had much to offer.

This is old news. The PM was not happy with the comments made by the spokesman, who retracted his statement. What they know is that the bombers were fluent in Thai which would make it much more possible that the bombers were Thai.

"hardline red-shirt leader Kwanchai Praipana"

This habitually very violent criminal is the absolutely last person to speak about reconciliation.

If the red shirts want to progress, they need to dump these thugs and miscreants (including Thaksin) that supposedly are speaking for them.

Until such time, they remain tainted by the despicable actions of those that are seen as in charge of them.

.

I fully agree. RS's will be part of the next election as should all Thai's. The key, as you say, is to eradicate the violent element.

Way to go Generals, you bunch of Thaksin wannabes

The reasons are low household consumption and low export rate. The high household debt levels and low exports have nothing to do with the generals. This all started before.

I use a VPN for Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora all the time.

Very useful.

If you are cheap you can get free VPN 's that are extensions to your browser. One is Hola and explained at www.hola.org

I am told that Hulu now blocks VPN's. Check It and let me know. It is blocking mine and their technical support said they now block all VPN's.

used it last night

Thanks. I will re-chat with the VPN provider.

I use a VPN for Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora all the time.

Very useful.

If you are cheap you can get free VPN 's that are extensions to your browser. One is Hola and explained at www.hola.org

I am told that Hulu now blocks VPN's. Check It and let me know. It is blocking mine and their technical support said they now block all VPN's.

When I use my VPN with chrome, my local IP address and public IP address are both blank. I get the exact same result when I turn the VPN off and use chrome. With or without the VPN, I'm invisible.

"With or without the VPN, I'm invisible."

Perhaps. 'Could be. No idea about your security settings or addons & whatnot. But if I were to get results like that I'd be questioning the test or method I was using and looking for second opinions, and not necessarily sitting back with a warm & fuzzy that I was "invisible". Just me though.

In retrospect, it may just because IPads can't use Flash. Actually, it s a pain not being able to use it on my IPad, but this info is useful for my PC.

When I use my VPN with chrome, my local IP address and public IP address are both blank. I get the exact same result when I turn the VPN off and use chrome. With or without the VPN, I'm invisible.

"With or without the VPN, I'm invisible."

Perhaps. 'Could be. No idea about your security settings or addons & whatnot. But if I were to get results like that I'd be questioning the test or method I was using and looking for second opinions, and not necessarily sitting back with a warm & fuzzy that I was "invisible". Just me though.

I am kind of questioning it, hence what I've written. I don't know enough about this other than to question. The VPN does seem to work though.

Any advice?

When I use my VPN with chrome, my local IP address and public IP address are both blank. I get the exact same result when I turn the VPN off and use chrome. With or without the VPN, I'm invisible.

I use Firefox rather than chrome, but in FF, there's an option to set Flash to "Ask to activate". If FF is configured that way, your real IP won't show.

Maybe you have something similar in Chrome enabled.

For me nothing shows. We don't have flash. I'm on an IPad.i normally use Safari.

Note, with the VPN I can get the blocked sites, not without, although hitting the link provided by the OP shows both public and local IP addresses to be blank with or without the VPN.

When I use my VPN with chrome, my local IP address and public IP address are both blank. I get the exact same result when I turn the VPN off and use chrome. With or without the VPN, I'm invisible.