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.

I’d be very curious to know how the Senate defines « AI ». I was an I/T specialist for 45 years before retiring 5 years ago. Certainly the term AI existed long ago, and I have no doubt that the algorithmes have evolved, but I don’t know what the strict definition of AI is such that a legally binding rule could be defined as to what constitutes AI versus any other software that does analysis of data. And without such a definition, I find it hard to imagine how AI could be regulated. Unless they want to get strict and just say that computer software can’t be used… only an abacus.

Good that the PM is showing his concern about this huge problem. Perhaps I'm naïve, but it seems to me that the first step is obvious: get the police to enforce the existing laws against burning, and make sure to publicly shame and SERIOUSLY fine (maybe even jail) some of the culprits to set a clear example. Will this totally eliminate the smoke and pollution? Of course not. But it would be a huge step forward and allow Thailand some leverage to negotiate and coerce the neighbouring countries to do similar work.

Perhaps it's also fake news that Thailand has some of the most polluted cities in the world as far as AQI is concerned, in particular when the fields get burned. I think THAT is a real concern amongst potential tourists, and I virtually never read any news (fake or otherwise) about people being prosecuted for burning their fields. And how about the two-price policy applied in so many tourist attractions in this country. Is that also fake news? Now there are two very real subjects the government could work on in order to improve the image of Thailand.

I'll certainly post some info here after the trip. Based upon the suggestions here, as well as from some Facebook posts, I'll likely ride down to Surat Thani and then see what the weather forecast is. If the weather looks promising, I'll go down the East Coast. Otherwise, I'll head west to Trang and then follow the west coast.

Hello all. I'm planning on bicycling in November from Chumphon to Penang, Malaysia. I've been living and biking in Thailand for 5 years, so somewhat used to biking conditions for central Thailand especially, but not southern Thailand. Any strong recommendation as to whether it's better to bike down the Eastern side of Thailand (via Nakhon Si Thammarat and Hat Yai) versus crossing over to the west around Surat Thani and going down the west coast (via Krabi and Trang)? Thanks.

I am very sad and disappointed not to see Pita become PM, and to see in general how this "democratic election" has evolved. BUT... let's get the facts correct. The "majority of people" did NOT vote either for Pita nor the Move Forward party. As far as I know, they received 148/500 votes, so not even quite 30%. Yes, they were the party that received the most votes, but this is NOT a majority of the votes of the representatives.

I won't compare Thailand to all of Europe, but I'm coming from Paris, and I've been living in Bangkok for the past 5 years on retirement. Bangkok is significantly cheaper than Paris for retired life. We pay for a typical lunch in Bangkok perhaps 6 EUR (200 THB) per person, and maybe 12 EUR (400 THB). In Paris, you're lucky to find a decent (French) lunch for 20 EUR, and perhaps 40 EUR for a decent (French) dinner. Housing? For a small studio (20M2?) in a reasonably safe area in Paris, probably about 1000 EUR/month. In Bangkok, we live in a lovely, modern 65 M2 apartment on Sukhumvit in Phrom Phong with a 25M swimming pool for about 550 EUR (20K THB).