Patong2021

The fact was that there were biological compounds intended to be used in weapons. The invasion forced the Iraqis to destroy them before the. Coalition forces arrived. Yellow cake uranium was discovered and documented. Iraq had a stockpile of chemical weapons and had been used against Iran and the Kurds. Yes, there had been some destruction of the stockpiles, but Iraq refused to confirm that it would no longer use them. On the contrary, the Iraqis were given to boasting of their capability to use them. It is easy in hindsight to condemn the conclusion that there were WMD, but it was a fair conclusion based upon the previous Iraqi use of WMD and ongoing R&D.

It is reported that Musk made sure that the restrictions that would impact his China investments were stripped from the legislation.

I was expecting you to include a penis, without a noticeable adam's apple or big shoulders while you were at it. What about child bearing type hips? A flat head to balance your plate of crisps and Leo?

Let's see if Iran can buy him off. He had to fight Iran, Russia and Hezbollah to get rid of Assad. Arabs carry vendettas for generations. In the region, their loyalties can be purchased. Other times they cannot be.

The lively atmosphere and friendly interactions among passengers turned the flight into an unforgettable adventure. Creative revisionism at its finest. I expect it was more like; The shouting and alcohol induced chaos of the cabin turned the flight into an unpleasant experience for those who did not wish to experience the lower caste Surat lifestyle. Why would anyone want to promote this embarrassing event? It's like celebrating the drunkards on the Ryanair flights to Ibiza.

UK was still a signatory to the Treaty. Leaving EU did not abrogate the UK obligations under the treaty. Nonsense. A barrister and/or solicitor is expected to represent the best interests of their client. In government policy, a government must decide based upon the impact the law will have on national interest and the potential for harm to UK nationals. Sometimes a bad outcome is accepted if it prevents a precedent being set that could harm UK national interest of government policy. Sometimes the decision is made for political reasons to placate important voter blocks. In this case, the government is obliged to respect the ruling because of its being a treaty participant. Conservative government could have given notice of leaving the treaty, but did not.

He wasn't as bad as claimed. His period marked a period of sustained prosperity for the UK unseen in previous Conservative administrations. The UK’s performance was pretty good during the Blair era. The UK’s growth of GDP per capita – 1.42% a year between 1997 and 2010 – was better than in any of the other “G6” countries: Germany (1.26%), the US (1.22%), France (1.04%), Japan (0.52%) and Italy (0.22%). in 2010, the UK had a level of GDP per capita 17% higher than in 1997; over the same period US GDP per capita had grown by 14%. The UK‟s high GDP per capita growth was driven by strong growth in productivity (GDP per hour), which was second only to the US, and good performance in the jobs market (which was better than in the US). The UK‟s relative economic performance appears even stronger in the years prior to 2008 before the Great Recession engulfed the developed world. Source: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/uk-growth-and-productivity-1997-to-2008/ And yes, part of the initial success was due to the great Maggie Thatcher's rescue of the UK economy. However, it took a solid Bank of England performance and a responsible fiscal policy to ensure the long term success that the Blair administration delivered. Most of Blair's detractors are from the Jeremy Corbyn school of chaos who hate Blair for some of his administration's foreign policy decisions. The Blair fiscal policies were far more responsible and conservative than the idiocy that characterized successive Conservative administrations that followed.

If you hate Israel, just say that. No need to try and cover with nonsensical claims of being beholden to Israel. It is a well documented fact that the UK has more money invested in the Arab world than it does in Israel, and that the UK financial system, particularly its London bankers' prosperity is very much dependent upon Gulf financial interests.

Do you have any data to back up these claims? I am no fan of the Labour fiscal policies, but Labour was given a mandate to manage the economy as per the Labour economic platform which was well documented as being what I would term as F-ed up craziness. Who are the wealth creators who have fled and how much has it actually cost the UK economy. I offer that there are not many and that most if not all were already engaged in an aggressive tax minimization strategy. Maybe the UK needs to get really bad before it can get better because the UK electorate are so stupid and selfish that unless they feel real pain they won't think things through. Most of the loudest complainers are financial parasites. The UK is a nation of mob rule where taking a handout is the norm. In FYE 2023, 52.6% of all UK individuals were net recipients (living in households receiving more in benefits than they paid in taxes). That's a rather disgusting statistic and a rather grim reality for the UK. Laziness and ineptitude is rewarded. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/19/more-than-half-of-britain-receives-more-in-benefits/

I have a feeling that the sanctions are being felt in Russia now, even with the wealthy. The Russians I am seeing in Hua Hin are some of the nastiest, meanest scowling group I have seen in years. Gone are the young friendly under 30's. It's the government appartchiks and military people type. Cheap and angry at everyone. Last night I am out for dinner with my friends, and this Russian guy is staring at us in disgust the entire meal, just looking like he wants to start a fight. Never experienced that before. There are not as many in Hua hin compared to previous years, and they seem a lot more antagonistic and lower income. The other day, I see a Russian buying a beer with his family at 7-11. He goes outside, scorfs it down and then goes back to buy another, like real low class mongrel behaviour. Never ever have I seen a Russian act like that previously. They were always quiet, and kept to themselves. Unlike last year at this time, I don't see the Russians in the higher end restaurants anymore. I do see them at the food courts and the open market stalls more frequently.

A cruel and evil activity that reflects a culture's ignorance and savagery. The people who attend these events are often the same people who engage in criminality and who think nothing of cheating farangs. The have little compassion or appreciation of the concept of right and wrong.

Someone was watching the annual screening of Casablanca.

Except that is not how the Trump appointees and entourage live. Theirs is one of ostentatious display and pretentious conspicuous consumption.

The Biden administration has done rather well. What exactly did it do wrong? Ukraine: It has supported Ukraine's resistance against an illegal and barbaric invasion from despot Putin's Russia. Gaza: Gaza started a war with its breaking of a truce and continuous firing of rockets and missiles into Israel. What did you expect the USA to do? It has provided large amounts of humanitarian aid over the decades that the local arabs have misused. Syria: What did you want the USA to do? Invade? You would be complaining if teh USA had a presence in Syria. Make up your mind. Haiti: What do you expect the USA to do? Haiti is a sovereign nation. Again, you expect the USA to intervene. To what point? There is no benefit to the USA of a presence in Haiti. You complain for the sake of complaining. Wait. Trump will create an international mess the likes you haven't seen since a National Lampoon movie.

You are speaking from a position of absolute ignorance. The USN is under the control of career naval officers, most of whom received their command commissions during the Trump administration. Their first duty is to the US Constitution. The fact is that friendly fire losses are a common occurrence in a battle zone. Who are you to 2nd guess the loss ot the F16? Have you ever commanded a naval vessel during a missile attack? No, but here you are to blame anyone and everyone because it fits your ignorant political agenda. You can blame Biden all you want, but Trump left US political relations in a shambles and Biden's administration spent years repairing the damage. Yesterday, Trump threatened Panama threatening to invade a sovereign nation and seize a canal that is not the USA's That's the ignorant mindset of his collective. If that is done, the USA will be subject to the same sanctions as Russia is in the Crimea. Trump won't be happy until he has alienated the USA from the world. Eventually, Americans will be prisoners in their own fetid nation unwelcome in the world and unable to travel except to their lackey nations.

Actually, Biden restored the USA's reputation and stabilized its standing. The Trump collective believes that it can go it alone and does not need peaceful relations with anyone. What they forget is that the USA economy relies on exports. Keep alienating the customer markets and they will go elsewhere. Trump is going to ignite Latin American nationalism and he will be the first President in a century to unite Canadians by creating a seething rage against the USA. America is one step away from an internal civil conflict and Trumpians will regret being at war with the world when they start killing each other.

Poetic map making 🙂

This is just what is reported. The Russian practice of transfering oil between tankers at sea is leaving large spills on the open ocean.

Another high quality taxi driver on display.

Air India has a well deserved, negative reputation. It should not be part of *Alliance .

Please educate yourself. Very different models of infection and at risk people. Tomato flu aka Hand, mouth foot disease is a manageable viral infection caused by Coxsackievirus A-6 and A-16 of the enterovirus group. It is most likely in children age 5 and under. It infects tens of thousands in Thailand. It is a predictable annual seasonal epidemic that spikes in June, July and August. It is most severe and frequent in Bangkok, and less severe in provinces with lower population density. It is an expensive illness because of the toll it places on families. MPox aka Monkey pox Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus of the genus an Orthopoxvirus. This a disease that was initially imported from Africa, most likely by Europeans. The initial western outbreaks were traced back to raves and sex fetish events in Spain and Germany. Visitors to these events brought the disease back to their homelands and from there to Thailand. The western quick response was instrumental in containing a pandemic and the vaccination of at risk individuals acted to slow and in some countries stop the spread of disease. Unfortunately, enough infected westerners entered Thailand and had intimate relations with Thais, most likely sex workers, to result in 800+ infections as of August 2024. It was being managed through vaccinations of at risk Thais. It all changed last August when the new deadly Clade Ib strain of the virus appeared in Thailand. The carrier was a European who had arrived in Thailand on August 14th on a flight from the Middle East, but his journey had originated in Central Africa. Fortunately, he was quarantined and all of his Thai contacts tested negative. (Whether the Gulf based airline informed its at risk passengers is uncertain.) The quick and well directed intervention by the MoH protected Thailand's national health security and helped prevent a national catastrophe. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2859542/first-case-of-new-mpox-variant-recovers. Thailand then took further steps to protect its people by adding a screening requirement for the disease for the countries already on its Yellow fever screening list. Thailand's response was textbook near perfect and deserves praise. Most critics of public health and Thais in this forum are oblivious to how close Thailand came to a health catastrophe that could have destroyed tourism for 2024 and created a real fear of foreigners. Thailand's response to a possible norovirus outbreak can be expected to be no less top quality. I would expect that the MoH is first investigating. It is often difficult to quickly differentiate between the standard food poisoning that we can all get vs. a norovirus infection. I prefer to let the quiet, non headline chasing health professionals at the MoH do their job and am confident that they will respond appropriately.

Why would you need links for events that are widely reported. The number is now 3 cruise ships and 300+ passengers & crew. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-12-20/norovirus-sickens-hundreds-on-three-cruise-ships-cdc The reason why cruise ships infectious illness outbreaks are known is because they are now reportable. Previously, such occurrences did not have to be made public. We can thank the US CDC for requiring that level of disclosure. The Cruise industry has tried for years to have the reporting requirement reversed. These outbreaks are not spontaneous. They occur because infected people board the cruise ships and infect people. In most cases, the passengers know that they are sick, but still board anyway. Many infectious diseases are imported to a geographic zone by foreigners. This is a known fact and it happens whenever a domestic population is "disrupted" by foreign agents. Covid as a mass infection was first identified in the Koh Samui area and was prevalent amongst the European tourists who were visiting Thailand. They in turn infected other Europeans who brought the disease back to their homelands. The local Thai service industry staff, who were infected, carried the disease to their home areas. A more brutal illustration was the 2013 cholera outbreak in Haiti. Nepalese UN personnel were cholera carriers and their sewage waste contaminated the community where they were billeted. Because an illness is not reported or is under reported does not mean that it does not exist or is not present. We are currently seeing a resurgence of Covid infections, Flu and RSV. in western nations. The infections will be transported to vacation destinations by infected visitors.

Indian or Middle Easten?

Tell that to the 2 Holland American cruiseships and the hundreds of passengers vomiting and crapping their pants.

Google what? The new cabinet is in place and Freeland will be forgotten in a month. You forget how only a few short months ago there were demands for her to resign.