herfiehandbag

Money. Musk made a very significant investment of his personal wealth in Trumps campaign. He expects a lot in return.

A "money crush" perhaps?

You may show no particular bias, I am not really interested in the domestic US political positions, but you misunderstood, or at best seemed confused and contradictory over several of my points; in particular the vulnerability of the Crimean Peninsula, if it is to have any bearing on the future of the war, relying on one bridge. I also think that you underestimate the effect upon the efficacy of the US Military if afflicted with the sort of "big shake up in the military from the Trump side" on which apparently I can bet my bottom dollar. And yes, the significance of maps. I can, read and understand, the implications of battle maps, and have a fair amount of professional training and experience of so doing. That is what frames my arguments.

Defining who is winning is open to various interpretations. Yes they have taken 100,000km2 of territory. Most of whose cities are evacuated, infrastructure rubbled and farmlands laid waste. They have Crimea - perhaps the original "Causus Belli" - Sevastopol as a base for their Black Sea Fleet; but much of that Black Sea Fleet is at the bottom of the Black Sea. The peninsulas communications are dependent on one bridge, which Ukraine has demonstrated it can cut when it wants. The much vaunted Russian Army, touted as superior to NATO and almost on a par with the US is trashed, and they have paid an enormous price in casualties, ever more difficult to replace. They failed to contain the Ukrainian move into Kirsk, and are relying on hiring in troops from North Korea to defend Mother Russia! Their economy is boogered. Ukraine, battered, is still standing, still fighting and still hurting Russia, and shows no sign of failing. Ukraine's closest political and geographical allies, are showing greatly increased determination to stand up to Russia, are doing so through the auspices of a somewhat reinvigorated NATO alliance, which is waking up to the fact that it is probably going to have to manage without the US. The US military may well rapidly lose potency under the inspired leadership of a Fox News presenter, and with large swathes of it's command structure possibly facing dismissal or Courts Martial! Certainly no-one is going to rely on them! So when you are considering winning and losing, you need to consider more than battle maps.

I don't want to be pedantic, but Claudius succeeded Caligula. That rather suggests that, if one follows my rather tongue in cheek reference to Vance being Caligula ( succeeding Trump as Tiberius - the original comparison, not mine) then you are expecting Biden to return as the successor to Vance! I know that it is a long time since I (and I suspect most of us for that matter) studied Ancient Rome, but I really don't think American Presidential politics, although in many ways producing some extraordinary characters, is quite that bizarre!

I initially missed the "Jr", bit, and thought it was probably more <deleted> but really should read it, if only because of who was spouting it. I then realised that it was Donald Trump Jr, and gave up because it was inconsequential <deleted>. Let's face it, when Daddy finally ingests his last cheeseburger and expires he will leave them nothing anyway...

Interesting OP photo. Raises a couple of points ...

Rather a good comparison - although if Trump is Tiberius does that make Waltz Caligula?

There again, he may not be so keen, now that photographs and accounts of his meeting Epstein are circulating. He (Trump) knew Epstein and his "proclivities" well enough to remark " he likes them very young".

I noticed yesterday a new (to me at least) police outfit/livery escorting the obligatory VIP van towards Chiang Rai Airport, en route no doubt for the midday flight to Bangkok, after a weekend in the Casinos of the Golden Triangle. Previously it was "Highway Patrol" cars in maroon and beige. Now it is silver cars, marked as "Police Commandos"!

Are you sure - rumours are rather swirling... Personally I don't particularly care - I dislike the autocratic almost mechanical way in which he operates - that alone is enough to frighten the horses! What he gets up to in his private life is of no matter.

It would take a matter of hours to teach Ukrainian crews to programme and launch these weapons, even whilst Kiev and other Ukrainian cities are under a daily barrage of missile and drone attacks, aimed at destroying the power grid as winter approaches!

Well apart from: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Territory, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia. All listed in Wikipedia as countries which tolerate such killings to various degrees. Funnily enough all Islamic countries as well.

No. Thailand has a relatively low rate for most "formal" taxes, compared to many countries, partly through design and partly through incompetence in collecting. However, when you factor in the "informal" taxation inevitable when dealing with any government organisation or individual with absolutely any regulatory or law enforcement role the "take" is probably as high as most countries; they're all at it! There was a thread running, (only slightly tongue in cheek) a few years back suggesting that all uniforms (brown, khaki and green) should be tailored without pockets!

"Trump's Cabinet of horrors exposes his totalitarian drift," Perhaps a bold attempt to shape a brave new approach to domestic government within his new administration? Perhaps giving out jobs "for the boys" to pay back political and electoral debts? Perhaps he just doesn't care, or has thought through, that he is proposing a nonce and a nutter for two of the most consequential jobs in American government! Then there is inventing a whole new job and government department for his new bestie Elon Musk? That one's easy to understand, Musk has money, huge amounts of it! Mr Trump is defined by money.

So what will happen if, for example, the Senate refuses to confirm Matt Gaetz?

Indeed, it took them over six months to get their heads around the fact that I live in Thailand! A fact I declared from the very start!

And still spouting Bull<deleted>! Extraordinary!

Umh, the runway runs North South. Taking off across the runway is not frightfully practical...

It is a "grift". Donald Trust loves money, wants money, needs money. Money is central to his whole personality, as a super wealthy man, with all the trappings, as a magnificently successful businessman with the absolute midas touch (!) and that in turn feeds into his political life. The Presidency itself doesn't bring a lot of money, expenses paid, relatively modest salary, nice house, but not money, the money he loves, wants, needs. Elon Musk has money, an awful lot of it. It is a grift. Ramaswamy may bring some initial political legitimacy.

I expect he would at least try them - dunked in bright yellow chemical "cheese" and then deep fried... Frightfully sophisticated, and would give a new, umm, twist, to his farts!

So, Kennedy to head up the Health Department! Look on the positive: he will be whisked from home to office, meeting to meeting by limousine. Washington's bus riders no longer need fear the prospect of his determined gurning visage advancing up the aisle of the bus towards the empty seat next to them!

YMCA, it's fun to stay at the YMCA!

Bankruptcy as a result of a stations editorial policy is one thing, and can be discussed and predicted until the cows come home. The pulling of licences from privately owned broadcasting undertakings, for political reasons, is a very different matter.

How can I break this to you, gently Gamma Goblin, I know it was a long time ago, and you were an impressionable teenage boy - then again you really don't convey any more sophistication as you revel in your dotage(!): "Heart of Darkness" was about Belgian ruled Central Africa, the Congo, well over a hundred years ago. Thailand is (several) continents away, and cleaves to an utterly different culture, religious and political tradition. I really cannot imagine any similarity, except perhaps superficially Sukhumvit Soi 4 in the early hours!