mfd101

Ireland has been moving ahead economically at a great rate for about the last 20 years. Attracting large-scale investments in high tech. Shows what a country can do to turn around its C20th fate with good government and clear-sighted economic policies. If the Irish can do it ...

A perfectly obvious PRACTICAL measure would be to ban ALL military formations, barracks and military equipment (trucks & tanks) from coming within 400 or 500 km of the national capital. The only military in the capital would be HQ staff. A similar rule applies in even in little ol' democratic Oz. With special provision under the Constitution for the use - approved by the Head of State (ie Gov-Gen) - of the (unarmed) military to assist police in national emergencies (eg earthquakes, floods, bushfires).

A loading on rude customers is quite common in other countries. I remember my father saying in the 1960s in NZ that this happened when householders were rude to workmen in or around the house. No reason the Russians (and anyone else!) shouldn't get a 10% or 20% loading on their bill for bad behaviour. And this should be mentioned in the 'Information' brochure they should be given - in multiple languages - before treatment begins. If the patient is out to it, then brochure goes to the caring person or persons accompanying.

My MIL (approx 6 years older than me c80) has never been to school. She signs her name with a thumb print. She spent most of her life as a labourer in the cane fields and the rice paddies. She used to walk bent over in an ¬ shape (as did many other elderly women when I first came to live here in Isaan 9 years ago). She no longer does, as though release from backbreaking labour has released her from soul-destroying serfdom. My FIL (3 years older than me at 77) can sign his name and that's all. He was 'taught by the monks'. He still works on his little farm despite being 2/3 blind. It's what keeps him alive.

Hope so, but of course - just like us - the young grow older and, characteristically, more conservative ...

The rankings above for ASEAN countries make no sense, noting the US$ per capita quoted.

Which is not counting about 50 million people in the 'informal' economy ...

The headline seems misleading, given the statistics actually quoted ... Much more mixed in reality.

So you would argue: No support or funds for Ukraine or Israel?

Looking forward to it, though if it's actually 10 years away I may be marginal (85 by then) to receive it. Or indeed need it ...

The next 6 months will be fascinating as the current Senate reaches its use-by date and assorted votes & referenda are to follow. How that pans out - and where Thaksin is in the midst of it all - will give us a good insight into the next 4 or 5 years.

Thailand - the hub of crony capitalism.

The art of politics - and particularly of extremist politics - is the art of simplification, for an audience that can't cope with complexity.

Amongst the poor peasants who constitute my family here, not so much. Small brunch around 1000ish. Long breaks from work in the fields in the heat of the day, say 1200-1500 - mostly sleep & gossip, little or no food. Small dinner at 1800 more or less sharp on time. More work after to close down the chooks et al outside. Everyone slim.

Mmmm, big player, Myanmar connections, looking shaky ...

Yes, the problem is that some people (mostly undereducated Usofans) have no understanding of irony or its cousin sarcasm.

Are you completely humourless?

We can only hope.

Mmmm, well you may be right but some of her performances on the international front have not been reassuring. Perhaps that's a matter of style (as seen from a non-Usofan perspective) rather than of substance.

Joe needs a new running mate who actually looks like a possible President. Any rational voter leaning towards Joe has to be conscious that he may not finish his 4 years. Of course, when you see Trump up close with his war paint cracking, you'ld probably have the same thought in his case too.

So their 'revenue collection target' is only US62B this year? [I take it this is personal income tax?] And there's a 'corporate tax target' of US22B. Making a total of some US84B. Which doesn't seem much if that's the government's total revenue for 12 months. Wouldn't go far even at Thai prices and without corruption skimming off 1/3 ... ???

It's going to be fascinating to watch the hydrogen vs EV contest over the next 20 years. Too early to tell which will win. Both are in their infancy, though EV is clearly well ahead at this stage. Meantime - here in Isaan - I'm sticking with petrol.

What noone seems to have grasped is that the Arab states are - quietly & carefully - on Israel's side in any stoush with Iran. As we saw a couple of days ago as the Saudis remained silent (and regularly assist US aircraft) and the Jordanians (over 50% Palestinian population) helped shoot down Iranian drones & missiles (at some risk to the Jordanian autocracy). Iranian Shiites are much more dangerous for the Arab Sunnis than anything Israel might do. And as to the Palestinians (a VERY mixed ethnic group), the Arab states are notorious for NOT welcoming them in to their own states. And even Egypt - similarly ethnically mixed - does not welcome them. I have myself witnessed what the 'pure' Arabs of the Arabian peninsular think of the Palestinians. I was chairing in the mid-1990s a meeting in Canberra with Arab-state military, and Oz Foreign Affairs (DFAT) had the stupidity to send along a Palestinian Australian as their rep at the meeting. Things were going well until he entered the room and opened his mouth. Immediately the temperature dropped some 10 degrees ... In sum, the Palestinians have no friends. The only sensible solution is NOT a 2-state one (which everyone keeps yapping on about, ignoring the impossibility of drawing appropriate lines in the sand). The sensible solution - but only possible after 50 or more years of peaceful coexistence - is a one-state solution, with all parties - Palestinian & Jewish - Christian, Muslim, Jewish & secular - treated as equal citizens in a fully-democratic state. Won't happen in my lifetime but.

An interesting phrase.

speaking from experience? Well, in late 2011 I visited The Tropics and specifically Thailand for the first time in my life, places that before then I had flown over on the way to Europe. And I encountered a hansum young Thai Khmer man, many years younger than me. And here we are over 12 years later happily married and living in Surin. Clearly the rush to the head was both overwhelming and enduring.