Lacessit

I was wondering when the racism card would be played. Classic look over there. AFAIK the Burmese and Yemen military are not trying to invade anywhere else, these are civil wars. Most countries feel the need to help Ukraine because Putin is a dictator along the lines of Stalin and Hitler, he would not be stopping at Ukraine if he wins.

Hitler didn't stop at Poland. He bided his time, then launched Operation Barbarossa. Putin is no different, he won't stop at Ukraine. If he wins. As Norman Schwarzkopf said of Saddam Hussein, he is not a military man. The logistic weakness of the Russian army has been exposed for everyone to see, and Ukraine is a repeat of Afghanistan, only ten times worse. On top of that, Putin never anticipated how crippling sanctions would be. He obviously thought Europe and the US were weak and divided. Russia is a small economy, compared to the US, Europe and China. It's basically broke, Russians will start going hungry if he keeps devoting what rubles he has to his military, which is already finding out the supply chains from the West have dried up. Another unintended consequence of Putin's war is the effect of it on Ukrainian GDP. It is forecast to fall by 45%, and a lot of that was food going to Russia. Farmers can't plough and harvest fields if there are tanks running all over them.

Three. 1973 Ford Fairmont, rust bucket by design that ate radiators because heat transfer was under-designed. 80's Ford Laser, possibly the most gutless vehicle I have ever owned. A second Ford Laser, better for power. Went through two windscreens under warranty until the Ford service manager figured out there was a high point in the frame responsible for stressing the glass. I guess I was a glutton for punishment. I had four Mitsubishi's as company cars, IMO an underrated brand.

Can't disagree, look what happens at Guantanamo, although those are not exactly innocent civilians. If the point is to terrify the Ukrainian population, the refugee numbers say the strategy is working. In terms of taking a city, there is potentially death behind every door for the Russians, and they do not seem to have the counter-insurgency skills necessary.

Where are they getting the aircraft from to transport these visitors? Oh, I see. The same place they got the 8 million.

You may be right; however, I would be questioning what lifetime really means. Toyota have built brand loyalty on the basis of product durability. The 1.5 litre engine and gearbox in the Vios is basically bulletproof, and there are plenty of examples more than 15 yo still running around. OTOH, there are some brands where the owner is continually digging into their wallet to keep them on the road. The old joke with Ford was it stood for Fix Or Repair Daily. With Jaguars, you bought two of them to ensure at least one was not in the service shop. IIRC, every MGA owner had the page on tuning the twin carburettors in the glove box.

Thanks for that, the horror stories I am getting are from Australia. Lifetime fluid is the new buzzword for planned obsolescence? Vance Packard would be proud.

Do elaborate, the phrase "Trans driving" gives rise to all kinds of speculation.

AFAIK any atrocities committed by the US or its allies are usually brought to light by a free press, and followed up on by the judicial system. Permit me to doubt they are in the same ball park or class as the current Russian war crimes against civilians, or any judicial system will bring the perpetrators to book. The people who shot down MH17 more than 7 years ago are still at large.

You may be right, but the only price inflation I have seen in Thailand is the cost of gasoline and pork.. All the foodstuffs I buy at the local markets are the same price, or cheaper in season. Condo rentals and ownership costs AFAIK are heading south, not north. If you think recovery is going to be hard, the Russians are going to find it even harder. Their economy is wrecked, and if they default on debt in the next month, the ruble will go even further down the toilet. The only businesses that will deal with them will be Chinese, and they will be turning the screws hard. I think you underestimate the impact the loss of all those "soft" Western technologies will have, half their commercial aircraft will be cannibalized for parts in the coming year. The nightmare of all dictators is when their people turn on them. Just ask Mussolini, Ceausescu and Ghaddafi. Inflation would actually suit me, after years of getting SFA return on investments.

I'm assuming they were not exhibitionists, AFAIK the shop is a legit massage operation. Takeaway.

Pattaya as far as quantity of women goes. IME any large city in Thailand has beautiful and available women, it's a matter of knowing where to look. We tend to forget 95% of P4P here is Thais with Thais. My regular massage lady was quite amused when one of the women who works in her shop headed out the door with a Thai male about the same age after a 2 hour massage. I asked where they were going, and she replied " To a short-time hotel."

Smart man, bet it would cost a lot less to maintain than a woman.

I'm optimistic common sense will prevail, and someone will take out Putin if/when he gives the order. That's what Mutual Assured Destruction is all about, no-one wins.

Please expand, how does that work?

There's been some horror stories about Nissan CVT's. Having said that, IIRC the fluid change is specified at 70,000 km, so 30,000 km is a fairly large safety margin. The horror stories most likely come from poor maintenance, or the wrong fluid being used. Do you find the CVT is rather gutless on the mountain roads?

I bought a 2018 Mazda 2, 3 years ago, 17,000 km on the odometer. Very pleased with it, brilliant small car with automatic and option of manual on the torque converter gearbox. Agile and surprisingly quick off the mark, easy to park. TBH, I don't like the modern trend to CVT gearboxes. I've driven a couple ( hire cars ) and I feel my only form of control are the brakes in hilly terrain. While CVT's are supposed to be more economical in fuel consumption, they can really be expensive to fix if they break down, and require stringent maintenance. I guess that's why there are so many Nissan March's and Almeras in the used car yards.

This is a set of Ping S56 irons I brought into Thailand from Australia in 2021, the ones I paid 3000 baht duty on. You read rules in 2016, they did not apply to me a year ago. You'd be really pushing to find the Ping brand in any pro shop or store in Thailand.

Actually, the women are nice until you get to the family law thresholds for cohabitation. AFTER that, they get nasty. IME, Thai women have it all over Australian women between the sheets.

IIRC, I did say you were not correct. Run that past me again about being rude?

Thanks for giving me my laugh of the day this early. Good one.

I might squirm if I had something to squirm about. If you are obsessed about the concept of being unable to bring sporting equipment into Thailand, when two posters contradict that assertion, keep on trucking. It's not as if I will be losing any sleep.

Mimi Reinhardt, the secretary of Oskar Schindler, has died aged 107. She compiled the list of Jews saved from the gas chamber by Schindler, and was Jewish herself. She is a reminder of heroes then, also of the pusillanimous apologists and fence-sitters for Hitler, just as Putin has his now.

That recently? 1960.

Perhaps it will become more significant if Putin starts lobbing nukes, which he has threatened to do. World wars start when we aren't looking. In 1913, the historian Christopher Clark made the famous statement the world was sleepwalking towards war. This was when trade between Britain and Germany was at a peak, and the Kaiser and England's King were cousins. Santayana's aphorism applies.