AlexRich

To prove your point you send a post by Katie Hopkins, a well known right wing grifter? Beggars belief. I refer you to the recent Mail on Sunday article which provided a long list of Reform Party candidates making pro-Putin statements. Just one example: Jonathan Mappin - "being friends with Putin is very smart. We love him" Add to that Chris Bryant, MP who accused Farage of receiving more than £500k from Russian State broadcaster Russia Today. Farage denied it, of course. I could go on, but you're not worth the effort involved. But have a look at this: https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/nigel-farage-from-russia-with-love A number of questions for Putin puppet Farage.

We have the same in the UK. Then it was Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, in the 1930's. We see the same today with Farage and his Reform party, with extensive links to Russian affiliates. The vast majority of the old muppets who support them have no idea what lurks behind this mob of fascists. They are all linked ... Farage, Le Pen, Trump, Orban, AfD in Germany ... and all roads lead to Russia.

The Lend Lease Act of the United States supplied the Soviet Union with the equivalent of $180 billion (in today's money) of arms and equipment from 1941 - 1945. Without this support the Soviets would have lost the War. An inconvenient truth that the Soviet lovers on this board will find hard to swallow.

No, indeed he won’t. Bob’s bought into the myth of Putin as a master strategist with an unbeatable war machine. His army get their ass handed to them every time they come up against a semi-capable force. it’s interesting to watch the antics of people that have invested so much in a belief that they can’t let go of it, even when the evidence is right in front of them. In the UK we see the same with the Brexit fiasco, and in the USA we see it in the rants of muppets who believe an election was “stolen”. We are living in the post truth world, and it is as scary as f#ck.

Yet another Putin puppet projecting what he wishes, not what he knows. The last thing Putin wants is NATO troops against the thousands of drunks and criminals he’s pushed to the front line. The WW3 threat is a joke, because any attempt by him to provoke that will land him with a bullet on the brain. This 3 day project has been a disaster for Putin. He’s a diminished figure in the world, a second tier power to China. The myth of Russian military might has been demolished in Ukraine, with some of his best troops wiped out by a bunch of wheat farmers and tech geeks with weapons. His much vaunted weapons have turned out to be poor quality and dysfunctional. One of the main reasons that the Russian elites fear a nuclear war is because Russian nuclear warheads will malfunction and drop on them. Russia is a joke militarily.

They are winning the way that the US was winning in Vietnam. Holding ground but making little advance despite the GOP US Congress holding back on military aid for 6 months. That was a window of opportunity for Putin ... all he got was retreat and still more dead troops. Putin's best hope is a Trump victory, because without that he is a dead man walking. Putin puppet Trump will simply hand him Ukraine and then proceed to weaken the Western alliances against Putin. He'll also get to work dismantling US democratic structures in the same way that Hitler did in Germany during the 1930's.

Your Putin love has clouded your grasp of the fact that Russia is a relatively small economy that will exhaust itself economically the longer this war goes on. Their ability to ramp up production is severely curtailed ... the reason why they are begging the likes of Iran and North Korea for weapon systems. What great superpower does this? If Western powers were as weak as you make them out to be Putin would have made a move on them by now, particularly after all his red lines have been crossed? So why doesn't he? It would be the end for him ... his troops and equipment would be wiped out within days and his fate would be a bullet in the head. I don't know over how many years you've convinced yourself that Putin was this invincible strong man, but it must be psychologically painful watching his demise?

You’ll be wrong of course, but you’ll explain it away as a show of “humanity” on the part of Putin. He could do it anytime he wanted to, because he is so powerful and tough, and his army are unbeatable … but his humanitarian side took over. Looking forward to it.

Don't you just love those Putin is holding back comments ... i.e. he could win but chooses not to? Fairy story ... it's all going very wrong for Putin ... we are all expected to believe that if we don't let him win he will engage in his own suicide by using nuclear weapons ... a misunderstanding of the Russian mentality. “You probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw” Lenin quote. You have to show them steel ... then watch them withdraw. They fear strength, and exploit weakness.

An update from a St Petersburg bot farm ... Russia would take Kyiv in 3 days? How's that working out for ya? If Trump loses in November expect a Russian capitulation ... with some chaos in Russia as Putin gets "disappeared". Stroke or heart attack would be my best guess. Whenever you hear Putin talk about peace talks ... you know he is losing.

Come back to me when your beloved England are lifting that trophy. Let's hope we are both alive?

No … that’s equally stupid.

Singing about the Second World War in Germany is provocative and embarrassing ... most of the Germans passing by had nothing to do with it, and none of the England fans singing it took part in that campaign. Shameful idiots.

In case anyone thought that Jeffrey Sachs was an honest and objective commentator. The Hill did a fact check on him. For anyone who hasn't fallen for Kremlin mouthpieces in the West, of which there are many. https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4727046-from-economist-to-kremlin-mouthpiece-the-troubling-transformation-of-jeffrey-sachs/

Oh I could, but it wouldn't change anything, so I won't waste my time going through Russian propaganda point by point ... although I wonder whether the people who spout it actually believe it to be true? Every generation is populated with "useful idiots" and Russia makes good use of them.

What a load of <deleted>! Looks like someone's been forced fed Russian propaganda?

Alex Jones is a grifter and a malign propagandist ... but it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who believe every word that comes out of his lying mouth? Same goes for Trump.

Yes, I agree with that. My suspicion is that they will tax you and only give a refund if you can present the correct paperwork. And what is deemed "correct" will change depending on who you are dealing with. It looks like a gargantuan mess. I will spend a few months in Thailand each year, but that's it.

There is some truth in that, with double tax agreements between countries. The problem is that if the tax paid is below the tax that would have been paid in Thailand, the Thai tax authorities will seek to recover the difference, If Thai tax would be 50,000, but you paid UK tax of 25,000, the Thai authorities will tax you 25,000 instead of 50,000. There will be some exemptions of course, but the whole system is going to get messy in the future. Big winners will be tax accountants.

I believe that Thailand is part of OECD agreements involving bank information. If you have a Scottish address for the account the information will not go to Thailand. If you have a Thai address on your account it will. Either way, if you are in Thailand for more than 180 days you are a tax resident, and your Scottish bank interest is taxable under these new rules. Not including that detail in your return is tax evasion. The problem is that even if they don’t know now they might find out on the future. Countries are being more and more open about information swaps. So it makes sense to organise your life to have residency in the country that has the least tax impact, and only be in Thailand below 180 days.

Planning a retirement in a foreign country is a precarious business, as all the advantages are being whittled away by global agreements on tax. Rules change frequently. Makes sense to visit Thailand for a proportion of the year, and then move to another country or retain a home in your home country. But it is a significant challenge for anyone who who is married with children at schools in Thailand. For them it is a whole new world. I can't help thinking that we will see an exodus of expats and a much lower level of foreign expenditure.

It is true that we don’t know the full facts. However, anyone who does their homework on how to live in Thailand knows that hitting a Thai, and an old man at that, will only get you in serious trouble. So you need to keep a calm head all times.

Two weeks isn't enough time to acquire a balanced view. Most Brits in Thailand are well behaved. There are some bad apples in Thailand, some are foreigners but many are amongst the local Thai population.

Hitting an elderly man is just shameful. I think Matthew needs to spend some time in jail.

I think that going to Ao Nang would benefit your health, so it sounds like a good plan.