John Drake

I really hope this guy hasn't snookered Elon.

Thought Thailand was going to be a space hub. https://thediplomat.com/2023/01/thailands-space-age-in-the-making/

No, he mostly left immigration alone. And that is what I want. Leave things alone, there. Prayuth also did a much better job of balancing between the US and China. Srettha has become so pro Chinese, in fact, he makes Prayuth look like an American ally. Srettha's economic policies will whip up even more inflation and, if he's not careful, his turning Thailand into a hub of Chinese businesses that might try to evade US sanctions and tariffs might just torpedo FDI from the US he's so hungry for.

Good to see that the Time article noticed the pro Russian, anti-American slant.

O-1 Bird dogs did the job well enough in Laos. These light aircraft are perfect for the SE Asian terrain and the types of missions they will perform.

I keep telling you, Prayuth was better.

Well, this news ought to knock Farangs Behaving Badly right out of the headlines.

What did Thais expect to happen once they turned to China for most of their economic problems?

Actor? Singer? At 41 obviously not on a retirement visa. Just what sort of visa is he on?

The Australian, it appears from the car camera, CCTV and testimony, is an aggressive loon who deliberately caused a couple of road accidents and threatened/detained a woman while trying to enter her car. Send him to jail, then deport him. Not a small incident and he has a clear record of acting violently.

A 41 year old man playing on a skateboard in the middle of the street?

Stop honking your horn?

Pattaya is next!

I believe you're correct. Western men should tread carefully for the next few weeks. Smile in the stores, wait your turn in lines without complaining, and restrain yourself from making any ill considered gestures. That said, the guy is a goon and deserves everything coming to him, especially after he demonstrated that he thinks he's better than other people. That's what he thought, until he was revealed as just another thug with money.

Glad there is an option to vote for RFKjr instead of two old drooling idiots.

So China got the better of the deal.

The moment he touched her, following his threatening obscenity filled rant, he assaulted her. Dumb move. He has put his own head in the noose. No pity. About my second or third year here, the village crazy guy sat down in front of the gate to my house and wouldn't move. I couldn't get out. Amazingly, I sensed that knocking him over and pushing him out of the way just might cause more of a problem than it solved. I called my housekeeper and she and her daughter came and managed to move him away. Good thing I did, btw. Because although the guy was barefoot and looked like a bum, he is a member of a wealthy and influential family in the village. Occasionally, it happens, he gets out and goes for walks. He's still around. Has only camped out in front of my house once since then. Settled that one peacefully, too. Housekeeper called his family and they came and picked him up. Going apesh*t like Urs did is about as stupid an act as I can imagine.

Arrested.

The only person consistently uncovering illegal Chinese activity was Chuwit. And now he's gone out of the country to die. So China gets a free ride.

You're correct to take that attitude. I was wrong not to add that I think everyone should be able to continue on their existing visa/extension without changes being made to it. That should go for any immigration changes. It would be unfair to alter the requirements for people who have taken out visas in good faith that they meet all requirements--and that goes for additional extensions, too. Still, I think the change from 50 to 60 years old to match Thai retirement is a good idea. Why? Because I guess except for retired military relatively few people get sizable enough retirement money from things like SSA in the US, which doesn't kick until age 62 at the earliest. I don't know the retirement age for UKers and Australians, but if it's similar, that means they too would be among the people in Thailand on retirement visas needing to violate work restrictions in order simply to live here. Remember also that people under 60 have an advantage in that they can more easily find legitimate work and work permits.

The woman sitting to the right was launched from her seat. You can see it. The only way a body moves like that without force being applied is if Father Damien is in the room doing an exorcism.

Go look at Urs own video! He storms up to the woman, yelling GTF Outta here. Not an accident at all.

Might be a good idea if retirement visa/extensions were upped to a minimum of age 60 to match the Thai retirement age. While it still would have allowed the other Swiss to get through, this one, if it's an accurate report about age and visa, would have been stopped. Same thing with the bikers last year. Seems a lot of them were in the low 50s too. Just match it to the Thai age of retirement and make things work more cleanly.

Again, I'm more interested in how he got a retirement visa/extension at age 45, according to that Bangkok Post story. If the report is accurate, that is something to follow up on in relation to others in Phuket, especially Russians.

See "'Kicking' Swiss man in Phuket loses visa" in The Bangkok Post.