khunjeff

Deleted since it's impossible to edit out my incorrect attribution of the original post to boomer69 instead of boomer6969 - apologies.@boomer69

Because they want to maintain continuity of operations, so the staff doesn't all fall sick and leave the embassy unable to fulfill its functions? This is the same reason that for many years they have provided annual influenza vaccinations to local staff at embassies and consulates, even though they're under no obligation to do so.

From the Foreign Service Act of 1980: 22 U.S. Code § 4084 - Health care program (a) Establishment The Secretary of State shall establish a health care program to promote and maintain the physical and mental health of members of the Service, and (when incident to service abroad) other designated eligible Government employees, and members of the families of such members and employees. (d) Costs of treatment If an individual eligible for health care under this section incurs an illness, injury, or medical condition which requires treatment while assigned to a post abroad or located overseas pursuant to Government authorization, the Secretary may pay the cost of such treatment.

???? It's worse than that: "Shared vans also now depart every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, costing B2,300 per person in a van shared among six passengers, a staffer operating the Sandbox Express Bus contact line confirmed to The Phuket News."

The leaked letters show that Thailand's "target" was only 3 million doses a month at the time they signed the contracts; that AZ was generous enough to let them suddenly increase that to 6 million a few months later; but that AZ made quite clear that 10 million was impossible due to prior commitments to other countries that had placed more sensible orders. Revising history in order to claim a "target" retroactively is rather embarrassing.

All Thai financial institutions comply with FATCA; they are required to do so by the Thai Government pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement between Thailand and the US signed in 2016. Although individual bank employees may disagree, no Thai bank has a corporate policy to refuse American clients. Account holders also don't have to "swear that [they] are not a US person", but every person opening an account at any Thai bank does need to fill out paperwork to determine whether they are a "US person" under the terms of the law, since that term encompasses many more people than just US citizens and permanent residents. The reporting of US person account information is automated. FATCA-Agreement-Thailand-3-4-2016(1).pdf

Correct, the US has stated repeatedly that its vaccine donations are made without conditions. It's a virtual certainty, though, that the set-aside for foreigners was brought up orally by the US side during preliminary discussions, but that they chose to omit it from any formal statements or agreements, presumably so that the Thai side can plausibly maintain a public facade that they are in complete control of the program. The idea that the Thai Government, of its own volition, decided in a spirit of kumbaya generosity to reserve doses for foreign residents is clearly laughable.

"The GPO said the company that has offered the lowest price of 70 baht per kit during the auction was Ostland Capital and the ATK kits were made by Beijing Lepu Medical Technology." And why are they buying from a middleman with no history of importing medical devices, rather than directly from the manufacturer? This has been the practice of the Thai Government for decades, and has resulted in numerous incidences of gross overpayments - and yet virtually any company in the world would be happy to sell directly to a foreign government at a competitive wholesale price. '“The GPO would save around 400 million baht from this purchase,” Dr Witoon Lianchamroon, GPO’s director-general said on Friday. “The test kits would cost 70 baht per kit which included VAT and the FDA has provided information on their quality and they are being produced by a giant Chinese comapny, Beijing Lepu Medical Technology.”' And why is VAT being charged on urgently needed medical supplies in the middle of a pandemic?

The Bangkok governor's legal authority only extends within the city itself, not the metropolitan area (since the surrounding provinces all have their own governors). Most people seem to think that the city's population is in the range of 8 million, but I've read that the registered population is only around 5.5 million.

1) The embassy reaches out to individual cases all the time. 2) The embassy never sends a "Red Cross rep" to check on American prisoners. 3) American Citizen Services staff do that job full time. The ambassador's protocol staff are completely separate. 4) The "private lake" at the ambassador's residence is a catchment klong for drainage, and can't be filled in without causing massive flooding during the rainy season. It is not particularly scenic, except from a distance.