mfd101

Does it occur to anyone that the word 'stockpile' might be a mistranslation? And what he actually said might possibly have been "We will have ordered and received in total ... ".

Maintenance might be a small problem.

In my family village (c1000) there have been no cases of covid or related deaths. Which means that the Thai problem with risk & probability & safety kicks in. As we see when the PM - in the second half of the monsoon as downpours pour down - suggests it might be a good idea to clear the canals. Or as we see with safety barriers on roads not installed until at least someone has died on that particular corner ... So in my 'immediate' family of 20 people eligible for vax, only 3 have so far been done & they were working in BKK. Only when people start getting seriously ill and dying in the village will they move on vax.

Article in today's 'Australian', headed "China makes preparations for E's demise" "Chinese authorities are asking local governments to prepare for the potential downfall of China Evergrande Group, according to officials familiar with the discussions, signalling a reluctance to bail out the debt-saddled property developer while bracing for any economic and social fallout from the company’s travails." And lots more detail ...

I was visiting Thailand for the first time in November 2011. Arrived in CM for a couple of weeks stay, just after they had recovered from floods. They were highly amused that BKK was now under water ...

Everything depends on how skillfully the Chinese authorities wind back the ponzi scheme. If panic sets in, everything crashes (property is 27% of China's GDP). I watched a couple of days ago a video as some 15 new but empty high-rise apartment buildings were dynamited (Suzhou, I think). I remember arriving in a small (1 million) city in NW China in 2010. The railway station was huge, gleaming new, but the only train in the station was my one. I inquired about this and was told: No worries, there'll be 10 million people here in 5 years ...

Yes, many mistakes all round, it seems to me. But - as in Oz, but just about any other country as well - governments at political & officials levels, together with medical advisers, did the best they could in rapidly changing & unforeseen circumstances. Easy for the rest of us to stand back & criticize (eg the falang hysteria here over the last 2 or 3 months re Pfizer)

That's not really fair. He makes the point - valid in my view - that Sinovac was the only vac available to Thailand in large numbers at the relevant times. The others were NOT available at the time (ask any Australian). Of course there were also mistakes made (refusing Indian help with AZ, which was soon cut off anyway because of India's own needs, & no doubt some brown envelopes passing around).

If they probe far enough, he might start first to squirm, then to talk. And if he talks (preferably in public and on the record), wouldn't THAT be fun!

Competitions improve performance.

Singapore has - in addition to the Philippines - expressed its full support for Oz acquisition of nuclear-powered subs. This was in separate conversations between the 2 PMs and the 2 Defence Ministers. Singapore already regularly hosts US nuclear subs.

Yes but before there was always a strongly allergic reaction to ANY mention of nuclear power (based of course on the subliminal association of 'nuclear' with nuclear weapons & nuclear war).

Talk is cheap. Action is expensive.

Interesting then that, as I mentioned above, the Philippines Foreign Secretary said today that he is strongly in favour of the Oz move. He said that ASEAN countries have no military capability to protect peace & stability in the region. The Philippines is of course the country (along with Vietnam) which has to face Chinese aggression on a very large scale every day of the year in the South China Sea (a piece of geography that really could do with a name change!).

The initial public opinion surveys in Oz after the announcement startle even me: Positive reactions in the 80%s from Liberal & National voters, 60-70% from ALP voters and 50% from Greens voters. Similar results on eventual move to nuclear power across the continent.

No such thing. Canada is part of the Five Eyes intelligence-gathering and -exchanging agreement.

Piffle. Nuclear propulsion and nuclear weapons are 2 entirely different matters. Australia's strategic problem is that it is so remote from the Asian mainland and its maritime area of interest is so vast, the only practical solution in preparing for maritime warfare (ie trying to deter it) is nuclear propulsion for its subs. Diesel-fueled with electric batteries is just hopeless in the circumstances. What has made the difference now is that the US & UK technology means that the nuclear fuel for the subs is packaged and will last for some 30+ years without maintenance or refueling ie without Oz having to develop the full nuclear-capable industrial package. But the industrial package for nuclear power installations across Oz will inevitably follow by the 2030s, opposed to the end by the infinitely head-in-the-sand Oz Labor Party. When you have a huge continent with 90% of the population in 6 or 7 cities, the small nuclear-module power installations that are coming down the track are the obvious carbon-free way to go.

And the relevance of all that to the state of play in 2021 and 2030 and 2040 is ... ?

Continue creeping quietly through the jungle, in all directions.

Philippines Foreign Sec expressed this morning his strong support for the Oz move, noting that the ASEAN nations are militarily incapable of maintaining peace & stability in the region. Personally I'm in favour of the Russians joining the deal too. Then it could be called RAUKUS, which would be self-explanatory for the masses.

Yes, I meant the other more recent Trans-Pacific Partnership.

No point in just complaining. DO something: Go to the transport people. (Of course some brown envelopes may have been involved too, in which case you'll make no progress.)

Main item on the agenda for 2022: China's application to join. To be vetoed by Oz. Embarrassment all round for Thailand.

So after only 16 replies it's obvious that the 'survey' is badly designed. Doesn't allow for those who are already double-vaxed, whether in Thailand or elsewhere ... Start again with a better-designed set of questions & you'll get more useful answers.

The problem arises when people think that all issues they're interested in are MORAL issues (not just practical issues or intellectual ones). And if every issue worth talking about is a moral one, then anyone who disagrees with me must be an immoral person and there's no way he or she is going to convince me of anything. I used to think this was a Lefty problem: All conservatives are immoral and therefore I speak in tones of moral outrage. Whereas (I thought) people right of centre were practical people who sounded condescending because they thought Lefties were just inexperienced (students!) and would gradually change as they grew up. But now I see, particularly in Usofa, the same pseudo-moral outrage on the Right (Me! Me! Me! I can do whatever I like it is my right and noone's going to stop me). So much for civilized discussion.