John Drake

Seems to me that they can afford an Elite visa.

Pretty good returns. I can see why the Chinese are willing to risk it. Slap on the wrist fine and a free trip home are the only penalties.

Get another luxury wing of the hospital ready.

How could it get more complicated? You've got bodies by the score and the English is going to be scarred for life--one way or another.

This sounds like an episode of The Saint or Sam Spade.

Too many people on this forum and elsewhere gleefully celebrated the ousting of Prayuth. Fact is, for those of us on retirement extensions, he was the preferred option. For almost a decade, he mainly left things alone. He was dedicated to the status quo, for everything, including us. And however much it may hurt some to admit it, Prayuth did a better job balancing between China and the West than the current China uber alles government.

I, too, make my own pizza. If you want to season to taste, try tomato paste, instead of tomato sauce.

It's okay with the desktop. On my phone, however, the ads obliterate everything else, and I can't close them, because they're oversized and will not reduce.

To China's credit, its officials actually speak up and advocate for their interests. Compare that to the US Embassy, which does little but sit back and absorb abuse and mostly goes quiet whenever their citizens are dumped on. I'll never forget the incident four years or so ago, when a Chinese tourist was slapped by Thai police at, I think, the airport. It resulted in Thai officials almost crawling with apologies and special Thai honor guards meeting tourist flights from China. Check in on the US Embassy's twitter feed some time. The ambassador seems to spend most of his time visiting tourist sites and talking about the great Thai/US partnership. (It must come with the job description, I guess, because I saw Americans in China complaining about the US ambassador there doing the same thing and sweeping everything else under the rug.)

And today was the warmest I've experienced here in the Bangkok suburbs since the middle of October.

Never a dull day with this guy.

Looking at your link, it seems that Narai made himself extremely unpopular with his pro French attitude and it all resulted in his and his family's execution and the ousting of the French in 1688. Your article says they didn't return until 1856.

Whatever empties out the lines of people at Chaengwattana milling around for extensions. Maybe some immigration officers can be sent back from the extension desk to the 90 Day approval desk, where the last two times it has now taken me 14 days to get my receipt after I submitted the request online.

The grip gets tighter every day, especially since the Thai and Chinese media essentially merged back in 2019.

Huh?

Whoever controls the Mekong.

I thought the French were kicked out of Thailand in the late 17th century after they tried to conquer Siam and couldn't. Then, no more relations until the mid 19th century. So maybe not 333 years of diplomatic relations in total.

I can smell the wood fires burning already.

And if the Thai media refuses, then the Chinese police that Srettha is going to let operate in Thailand will arrest them.

I've said the same thing and would do the same thing. But his identity is wrapped up in being a big time businessman.

What happens when a Chinese policeman arrests/shakes down/assaults an American, British, Australian or other Western citizen? Wonder if the American embassy would even bother to protest.

It might be worth it to let the militias split from the legitimate government which is now under arrest. Let them form their own state. That would leave the rest of Myanmar independent. And the ethnic armies would soon get tired of China telling them what to do, so that would be a problem for Xi on his own doorstep.

I have a Thai friend who owns a US$2.5 billion company. He travels around in a bullet-proof van, because he had someone try and kill him over corporate competition. I would never change places with him.

Only in the filing of taxes.

China provides the military support for the government and controls the the ethnic militias fighting the government along the Chinese border. Where does this leave the ousted/arrested government, which is the only legitimate government there is?