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Let's not get overconfident about the situation in China. It has badly mishandled the real estate situation. And its mismanagement via lockdowns of the covid pandemic is now turning dire. All part of Xi's increasing heavy-handedness in dealing with the economy.

Excellent point. Compared to a month ago, the baht is actually up against the Euro, the Yuan, and the Yen.

Pretty easy to pat yourself on the back when you get to choose the dates. Should someone consider themselves lucky if they decided not to make that S&P investment 10 years ago?

If you do a search on maps.google.com you can see precisely where it's located. Just use the term "Chouquette Bakery and Cafe"

Chouquette Bakery and Cafe just north of the northeast corner of the moat makes absolutely superb baguettes.

I'm pretty sure that the govt does control prices on gasohol. Otherwise why are the prices at various stations in the same region exactly the same?

Except for the minor fact that they die at a much higher rate from covid than do the vaccinated and suffer more long term consequences. Apart from those quibbles, you make a great point.

While the German government would have had to have given permission to a German armament manufacturer to sell to Russia, it would not directly profit from such a transaction. And in the scheme of things, 230 million pounds doesn't amount to much. In 2016, for example, that would amount to, at most, about 0.15% of all German and French exports. And it's not clear whether these exports took place over 1 year are several. Most likely, several. So this is a vanishingly small number in respect to the economies of these nations.

Who, apart from someone like myself with way too much time on my hands, would even bother to decipher such a bizarre linkage of abstractions and try to connect it to reality?

New Research: Low Education Levels Strongly Tied to Being Unvaccinated, Major Contributor to Ongoing Hesitancy As schools across the country struggle to keep their doors open amid the Omicron surge, researchers have found a strong correlation between the unvaccinated and low levels of education.It found more than half of unvaccinated American adults who reported strong hesitancy to the vaccine had a high school education or less. Five of the top 10 reasons for bypassing inoculation included lack of knowledge about its benefits and therisks of remaining unvaccinated. https://www.the74million.org/article/new-research-low-education-levels-strongly-tied-to-being-unvaccinated-major-contributor-to-ongoing-hesitancy/ Education is a bigger factor than race in desire for COVID-19 vaccine Results from a new USC Dornsife study show that U.S. adults with higher education are significantly more likely to get a COVID-19 vaccination and to believe in the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. https://news.usc.edu/182848/education-covid-19-vaccine-safety-risks-usc-study/

I almost suspect that the author of this is composing a parody of a certain kind of academic argle-bargle. This sentence alone "The massive percentage of Nations have expressed sympathy and horror at the rising evidence of humanitarian abuses in the Russia/Ukraine situation while for many that echoes the same same but marginally different demonstration of mafioso geopolitical attempt in domination that has disrupted any reasonable concept of a normal and peaceful life!" is almost brilliant in its ridiculousness. I particularly enjoyed "the same but marginally different demonstration of mafioso geopolitical attempt at domination..." Or maybe it's just the work of a bot created by a mad leftwing professor. It is, in its own dismal way, a remarkable achievement. So many words to say so little. I think it can be boiled down to this.: "Crimes against humanity are happening in the Ukraine. The countries that are condemning these crimes are guilty of committing them too. If other countries don't want to go along and condemn Russia, that's their right." It is to be noted in nojohndoe's version, no responsibility is assigned to who is committing these horrendous abuses in what he calls, not The Russian Invasion, but rather the "Russia/Ukraine situation". Maybe we can coin a slogan for Russia out of this "Not an invasion Just a situation"

Well, if you mean by that nuclear weapons, sure. But as for its conventional forces, not real impressive. Which stands to reason given the size of the Russian economy, the prevalent corruption and cronyism, and the fact that it's basically a dictatorship.

So you think that people currently dying from covid aren't disproportionately from the unvaccinated? That would be a first. You believe that the unvaccinated are immune?

Yes, you mentioned that and gave us no link to your source. Whereas... West sends Ukraine heavy weapons amid fighting in Donbas Western nations say they are dispatching more heavy weaponry and even aircraft to Ukraine as part of an effort to strengthen the country’s military as Russia steps up its attacks in the east. The Pentagon said Wednesday that the Ukrainian air force has at least 20 more fighter jets available to them after an influx of parts in the last few weeks made repairs possible. Ukraine has “been given whole helicopters, including helicopters from the United States,” a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity under terms set by the Pentagon. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/20/ukraine-russia-fighter-jets-weapons-war/

Considering that my comment explicitly addressed the point you raised, I would like to know how you came to that conclusion. Here it is in its devastating entirety:

Missiles can fly 2 ways. Exactly how far from the Ukraine do you think Russia is?

Actually, the subthread (conversation) when someone pointed out that Ukraine has more tanks in the theatre than does Russia. Someone else pointed out that Russia has a lot more tanks in reserve And on from there. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe thaivisa.com has appointed you the arbiter of where subthreads begin and end. But until I get official confirmation of that, I'll go with exchanges that have actually occurred recently in the thread. But thanks for trying to be helpful.

And your conclusions to be published shortly in the Journal of It's All About Me

Well, it's significantly different from the cases where countries can't pay because they just don't have the cash. Russia could easily pay if it were allowed to access the international banking system. So their failure to pay won't have the same repercussions as it would were Russia broke. Russia is even talking about launching legal action against the blockade of its access. I have no idea whether or not they might have a valid case.

Only a few high end EV's currently can be charged via 800 volt chargers. I don't think Tesla is one of them. So fast charging should be a lot quicker.

But up until that point they'll be a lot more effective.

That doesn't jibe with what I've been reading. And I've provided links. You got any to share with us?

But those tanks were probably a lot better maintained than Russia's.

So, they're going to enjoy staying in virtual Italian villas and virtual London mansions rather than the real ones they own? And they'll sail the virtual seas on their virtual superyachts while their own impounded superyachts gather barnacles?

For those who don't want to believe that Russia seeks to reconstitute the USSR Back in the USSR: Lenin statues and Soviet flags reappear in Russian-controlled cities Colonisation appears to have superseded ‘denazification’ in Putin’s military goals for eastern Ukraine https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/23/back-in-the-ussr-lenin-statues-and-soviet-flags-reappear-in-russian-controlled-cities