carlf

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early

Mon dieu ! Elle est où la France ?? 🥖🇫🇷🥐🍷😭

About 60% of the Israeli population disapproves of Netanyahu. Would you therefore conclude that 60% of the Israelis are anti-semetic?

I had a problem about 5 years ago with my Lenovo portable (ThinkPad....generally very reliable machines) which has a French AZERTY keyboard. I went to several stores at Bangkok Fortune Town, no doubt tbe best collection of PC stores in Thailand. No luck at all. Impossible to buy or even order a ThinkPad with the French keyboard. I doubt this has changed. So I wound up buying another new one when I returned to France. I think you're out of luck.

Something that I've often noticed, and bemoaned, in several years in Thailand is that I rarely see any Thai person reading a book (paper or digital). Almost everyone has their nose constantly in their telephone, with TicToc, FB or Instagram. Rather sad. Coming from France, I see the same thing amongst the youth in particular, but I do still see a reasonable amount of young French reading books. Here in Thailand... virtually never. A shame, and I fear that this is a symptom of this lack of education here.

Good idea. Make those sweets illegal because adults could leave them around. Perhaps also we should make cars illegal also. I read from time to time about parents locking their kids inside by accident, or driving badly. Also, knives should be illegal. Very dangerous if parents leave them around. I could probably think of a few other items. Pfffff.

The USA undeniably came to the rescue of Europe during WWII. But if Trump is going to remind France about how grateful they should be for the USA's support 80 years ago, perhaps he should remember and acknowledge the critical support that France provided to the emerging USA in 1778 almost 250 years ago. It goes two ways.

You should have this next month. Loads of posters now in the BTS advertising Starlux direct flights as of June to severe US West Coast cities, eg LA, SF..

Thanks for pointing to that other article. But this still doesn't really clarify as I read in that article "The position of 10-year Long-Term Residence visa holders and permanent residents is still under review, with officials yet to clarify whether these groups will be subject to the tax."

Worries about abduction might not be the only reason for favouring Japan as a destination over Thailand. I went to Japan for holiday a few times recently and it was such a pleasure breathing fresh, clean air. I could clearly see Mt. Fuji from Tokyo, a few hundred kms away. The Japanese respect laws, don't throw trash everywhere, don't burn fields, and they recycle. I love Thailand, but those are clearly areas for major improvement if Thailand wants to attract quality tourists.

"A recent study highlights that European tourists in Asia typically allocate about $250 (approximately 8,475 baht) per day for food and beverages." Wow! Maybe my friends and I have an unusual lifestyle in Bangkok, but I'm sure that we never spend 8475 THB per day, per person for food and drinks. If they're basing decisions on this number, I fear they will be disappointed by the reality.

I'm sympathetic to your frustration, but just for info, I've sent numerous documents from France (Paris) to Thailand (Bangkok) over the past few years, and they've rarely ever taken more than 5 or 6 business days. Ca peut tomber en marche. 😌

I won’t take any government statements about cracking down seriously until I see several photos published in the press of arrested farmers in handcuffs for burning their fields. When we, and the farmers, see those photos we’ll know that there is serious control.

This is a classic problem. They need to analyse the reason why domestic pork is more expensive, and find reasons to justify the extra cost to the consumer. Subsidizing by the gov’t is a bad idea.

Given the info from the Thai government that they now want to make my life as a retiree in Thailand much more complicated with a tax declaration, and possibly paying taxes here, I've decided to curtail my time in Thailand to under 180 days per year, so I'm clearly traveling less and spending less in Thailand than the prior years. I suspect that I'm not the only one. It's possible that they're desire to grab more money from the foreigners just might back fire on them.