John Drake

Khaosod reporting that Anutin says he will retire from politics if Bhumjai Thai gets less than 12 seats.

What you're referring to is now called "Xivilization" by Chinese state media.

Should have amputated.

Eventually, every criminally inclined pervert makes his way to Thailand.

Looks like all that web chatter in China about Chinese being kidnapped in Thailand was right after all.

It seems that most of the country is in the "unhealthy" AQI zone almost permanently now. I wonder if there is a breakdown out there of how many days over the past six months air pollution readings across all of Thailand have hit or gone above the AQI 150 number?

Turn off the TV and read some books instead.

Yea, you're right. They are already "in" the pasta and hatch out if you go too long without eating it first. So will flour. One way around it is to store the pasta in the freezer, but that sort of undercuts the strategy of buying in bulk to prepare for food shortages and power outages. Still wonder if weevils hatch out of noodles too.

I know you left Thailand some time ago, but you have a good point here. What will happen to Western expats in Thailand, especially if a war begins between China and the US/UK/Australia/Japan? Will Thailand go all in with China or try to feign neutrality? Comparative insight might be seen with what the military government in Thailand did in World War II. Here is an interesting article about the Catholic church and how it was used as a part of the war against the West at the time. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23020303

I wonder if mealworms or weevils get into unopened noodles the way weevils do to unopened bags of pasta.

You might want to go ahead and set up your GoFundMe account right now.

I think a lot of that is true. And you know what? If Trump is the opponent, Biden is still going to win.

China threatens Filipinos working in Taiwan.

The abortion fundamentalists were energized by the Supreme Court decision that Trump's Supreme Court appointees made possible. And Trump essentially outsourced his court nominees to the crackpot Federalist Society. Turns out the only thing they really care about is about taking a position on banning abortion that 90 percent of the American public disagrees with. Another bad "personnel" decision that Trump is trying to run away from.

I doubt that they and their families are exposed to the poison air outside for more than 20 to 30 minutes per day. The rest of their time is spent in air conditioned and air purified cars, offices, and homes.

Do these people still operate in Libya? They were committing atrocities there as well. Ought to eliminate them from the scene there as well.

Conditions probably favor a PRC attack on Taiwan within the next year or so. The West is caught up in Ukraine and scheduled arms deliveries to Taiwan haven't yet happened. For those of us in Thailand, it makes for serious thought. No doubt Thailand will side with China against the US. The only question is will they do it openly, as they did when they declared war as Japanese allies in World War II, or will they do it through feigned neutrality that actually favors China. Does that mean those of us from the US, UK, Australia are held as enemy aliens (first scenario) or more likely just kicked out per China's orders (second scenario)?

Yes, genocidal Putin and the communist dictator Xi are so much better.

I do all my book stuff on Goodreads. But I'll mention something worth reading, here. James Zimmerman's The Peking Express: The Bandits Who Stole a Train, Stunned the West, and Broke the Republic of China. Just out.

Now I know why so many British keep falling off balconies.

The WSJ article in particular mentions replacing the US and Europe politically. And the economic schemes of China are almost always paired with political consequences (see high speed rail in Thailand, where China has wanted exclusive rights to development of property along the railway lines). But Brazil is perhaps the biggest prize of all, while Russia has been made into a subservient economic colony of China for all intents and purposes. Again, BRICS seems to be evolving into something much greater than a mere grouping of countries based on investment goals. If Brazil continues along the China path, just how long will it be before BRICS applicant Mexico follows? Ten years ago it would have been beyond belief that Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt would defect to BRICS/China. Brazil is a tipping point.

You have misattributed your remarks above to me and left this sentence hanging. And, of course, you've not dealt at all with the points I was making about Brazil turning into a Chinese ally. Instead fixating on calling my comparison of Lula to Castro as "nonsense" and "ridiculous," even though The New Yorker made the same statement. So, do you or don't you think it is a problem that Lula is taking Brazil into an alliance with China and Russia? It's much deeper than most think. You only need to look at who is the new president of the BRICS' New Development Bank in Shanghai. It's Dilma Rousseff, Lula's protege and successor as Brazil's president.

From the New Yorker.

Yes, I do think that is the determinative factor, as you put it. Completely unrealized, especially on this forum, is the success that China is having in putting together an anti-American coalition around the world, particularly focusing on the Global South. Brazil is a key. That Brazil is now aligning economically and politically with the Communist giant should generate concern. Maybe more concern than what is happening in Ukraine, because at least in Ukraine there is active opposition to one of the BRICS' expansionist aims. Is BRICS becoming more than a convenient acronym to denote investment growth? Is it becoming a political entity to counter the US and Europe? Brazil becoming an enemy of the dollar, the established world order, and already seemingly greenlighting the Chinese invasion of Taiwan is a pretty big deal to me. Just the sort of position Castro would have taken had he been alive, except that Cuba was an insignificant country. Gush over Lula all you want. He's hostile to the US. At least Castro liked baseball.

This from your link. When somebody says they don't want to enforce the law because it would hurt the "poor farmers," what they really mean is the large agri business concerns whose names we probably cannot mention.