Srikcir

3 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

they are not going to see the back of USD for a long long time.

In 2022 China had a 3% annual growth rate, down from about 8.5% for 2021 versus about 2.2% for 2020. Yuan has shown itself to be very volatile. As does the ruble, especially due to Western sanctions and disruption of oil refineries industry by Ukraine. Meanwhile the USD has shown itself a solid currency backed by a four year surging economy. 

The primary strength of BRIC currency is Russia and Saudi Arabia with their oil resources.

However, energy only constitutes 15% of global trade with the US in 2023 producing 22% share of world total compared to 2nd and 3rd ranked Saudi Arabia and Russia respectfully. 

See full article "De-dollarization Dreams: Why the US Dollar Won't Bow Out," by Shaoyn Yuan, Sept. 13, 2023 https://thediplomat.com

18 hours ago, Sandboxer said:

my observation

You missed Thais.

21 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The new Senate will comprise 200 members who will not be directly elected by the public

Even in a one-party communist system, the public gets to vote. It just doesn't allow the public to select the candidates; the CP decides the best candidates, albeit by loyalty and usefulness to the party. 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

How does one go about 'emergency braking' with moderation ???

By lower speed that would allow a safe emergency stop without passenger whiplash.

A bit of refresher in law.

"Fasten up: Car seats for kids are now mandatory in Thailand," Aug. 19, 2023, https://www.nationthailand.com

• Children under six years old must be placed in car seats that have proper harnesses and have passed the safety standards of the Thai Industrial Standards Institute or the drivers of the vehicles they are in will face fines of up to 2,000 baht, the Royal Thai Police (RTP) have announced.
• rules apply to all private cars, pickups and minivans, but have not been extended to public vehicles, including buses or vans.

1. Motorists who do not have a car seat are allowed to let children under six in their vehicle as long as three rules are followed:
2. Children must be placed in the back seat of vehicles with more than four seats, or in the front passenger seat of pickup trucks, but never in the truck’s bed.
3. Seat belts and harnesses must be fastened at the child’s waist.
4. Drivers must travel at slow speeds in the leftmost lane of all roads and highways.

The legal question this law and rules apply to tuk tuks? Literally I'd say "no" but the intent "maybe." Other than the tuk tuk driver had to be aware of the child riding in the back without any safety equipment and should have moderated his driving accordingly, ie., rule no. 4. But the parents are also negligent not to assure their child's safety, so simple as to hold the child securely.  

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Initial funding is key for these collaborations. Once profitable routes are established, airlines can operate independently, reducing the need for further backing

Then paid back as a government loan (subsidies are not debt instruments) including a sovereign interest rate, ie., T-bill interest rate. But only to airlines currently operating at a profit. 

4 hours ago, mfd101 said:

If that's the US Embassy in the top photo, it should have to pay a huge fine for ugliness. Completely unsuited to its built environment.

"Fortress London: The New US Embassy and the Rise of Counter-Terror Urbanism"

https://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/fortress-london-the-new-us-embassy-and-the-rise-of-counter-terror-urbanism/

• US Congress ruled that all embassies must be set back from the street behind a 100-foot “seclusion zone,” and be built within a self-contained site of at least four and a half acres

Hardly a pristine area that could use redevelopment, largely using funds from sale of previous US embassy property whose area was being developed into multi-million dollar housing. Already the area is building luxury apartments along this stretch of the river, in what is becoming a place of $45 million penthouses equipped with personal panic rooms.

• With the sale of Saarinen’s building to the property development arm of the Qatari royal family (which has hired David Chipperfield Architects to convert it into a luxury hotel), funds were used to acquire a former rail-yard site south of the river, close to Battersea Power Station.

14 hours ago, mfd101 said:

The voting system has 2 cultural aspects that Thais love: complexity beyond imagining and endless possibilities for intrigue and disputation.

 

Fun for all the family.

And a voting system that doesn't recognize the sovereignty of the Thai People. None of the Senators will be selected nor elected by the Thai electorate.  

40 minutes ago, kimamey said:

I wouldn't be surprised if he does go because if he did, someone would have to replace him. I wonder who could do that?

Former PM Prayut might volunteer. If one is without ethics, one can't violate ethics. And Prayut is the Charm of the military. 

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Two bomb blasts in Narathiwat province disrupted the start of the senatorial candidates' application process.

I suspect the Malay Muslims in Thai-occupied Narathiwat care less about the Thailand senatorial selection process.

I am a suburban lover living in a large townhouse gated community with a backyard of grass, trees, bushes and flowers. Know all my neighbors, close to regional shopping amenities and hospitals, and mass transit going north into Metro Bangkok and South to river ports. Foreigners are almost non-existant which feeds the curiosity of local Thai people and their children. 

2 hours ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

You really do not understand the way that polls work do you?  1310 individuals or 131000 or 1310000 will aLl give you the same percent +or -

First.

What is the geographic distribution. If all provinces were fairly considered, 1,320 polled if distributed equally amounts to about 17 persons that would become smaller if then broken down by age groups within a province. For criminalization that affects millions of Thais, the NIDA polling base appears ridiculous.

Second.

Every statistical sampling (note no mention that such was used in this case) has a standard error.

The standard error of the coefficient is used  to measure the precision of the estimate of the coefficient. The smaller the standard error, the more precise the estimate.

I have never seen a NIDA survey mention the degree of error in its polling results. Thus, it's cited results are not a scientific poll and might reflect a high degree of error.

On 5/16/2024 at 8:22 AM, bamnutsak said:

called for no further use of Article 112 of the Penal Codes

Generally, when a legislatively passed law by the sovereignty of a nation's Peoples has no further use, ie., enforced, should it not then be terminated by the same legislative process? It has been common for democratic counties that have long sovereign histories to amend, replace or terminate laws no longer appropriate in evolving democratic, progressive societies.

5 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Just a reminder

MFP and it's coalition won simple majority in the House over opposing coalitions but not 51% of the House ministers. Under pre-2014 military coup that simple majority was sufficient. But the military junta's 2019 Constitution allowed the Senate to add its 250 Senator votes to the House votes And so with a Senate appointed by the junta, the MFP coalition was denied control of the government.

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

frequent travels to Thailand

But not with family, friends or "loved ones," just by himself? 

There's something lacking in the background of this story.