WingFat

It occurs to me that there are only two countries that tax worldwide income; the USA and Eritrea of east Africa. Americans get a foreign tax credit on their US taxes for taxes paid in a foreign country, so no change for them. I don't know about how it will work out for Eritreans. For the expats that hail from countries that do not tax their citizens if they are out of the country for a specified time (usually it's 180 days or more) in a calendar year, they have been enjoying tax-free living while expatting in the LOS, in many cases, for decades. While I sympathize with those who will find this a challenge to pay Thai taxes, the saying of "there's no free lunch" comes to mind. And the argument that these people contribute to the Thai economy in other ways, well, so does everyone else. Whatever the case, nobody should have to be double-taxed on the same income. I surely hope that if this issue arises, it gets ironed out such there is no double taxation.

He isn't called Big Joke for no reason.

Concerning BRICS and their proposed gold-backed currency: The US government holds more gold than all the BRIC countries combined. And the two main BRIC countries that hold of most of the BRIC gold are Russia and China. You gonna trust them to pony up the gold if you're holding their new currency and decide you want your gold instead ? Further China and Russia are in serious decline economically, demographically and culturally. And from a rule of law standpoint, have fun with how most of the BRIC countries' conduct their systems of justice. And don't dismiss the military strength of the US compared to all the BRIC countries combined. The USA is not the shining example either, but its shirt is cleaner than those of the BRIC countries. But if you want to trust a BRIC currency over the US$, knock yourself out.

Worse than that. An ingrown toenail.

But, but, but...they can't release him early; his fellow prisoners will miss him too much...oops, he doesn't have any fellow prisoners. The nurses maybe ?

I suggest Mr. Thaksin is a few stuffed brown envelopes shy of an early parole...I presume he will rectify the situation promptly.

Of course, 1 year can be perceived in the context of 1 year for various mammals; dogs for example, their year is about 1/7 that of humans. Therefore the beloved Mr. Thaksin could be looking at 52 days. He's already spent many days so the remaining days of the 52 days is less. Also, there are other mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc that their 1 year is even less than dogs. Perhaps Mr. Thaksin could be freed immediately. Or, it could even be he's already spent more than a 1 year sentence depending on which "creature year" is used. Therefore, Mr. Thaksin could be entitled to not only be freed immediately, but also be entitled to compensation for enduring a more lengthy sentence that he should have. Some bargain rate property in Ratchada might do the trick...

If I have to remind you of the current EU fiasco of the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; let's try the Balkans in the 1990's, or, or, or...have a nice day and hope your memory returns soon.

Ah, my broken clock was right; he actually returned. Now, just how long will he actually be in jail ? Not long; no way he would return if there wasn't some grand plan in place for him to eventually become PM again.

Umm, hate to be so bluntly obvious, Ukraine, the Yugoslav war in the in the 1990's to prevent wholesale genocide. That's often enough since WWII.

Yep, it's been that way for years and years. Lot's of folks from the EU and elsewhere love to hate and bash the USA; until they need them, which is quite often. And people should try an understand the USA has backed out of getting involved in many regions of the world the last 15 years or so. The whole freedom of navigation thing courtesy of the US Navy was instituted after WWII and benefited nearly all countries, including China. Globalized trade that the world has enjoyed since WWII is coming to an end as the US is not going to be the guarantor of freedom of navigation as it has before. This will affect China in a big way. They will now need to provide security for their oil tankers getting oil from the ME. China only has a few ships that can go beyond 1,000 miles and they have very little, if any, "blue water Navy" experience. China recently inked a multi-hundred million dollar deal for oil with the Saudis and the Saudis required the Chinese to provide security for the transport to China. China agreed as long the deal was done in Chinese Yuan and not the US$. Outside of this deal, the US$ still remains the dominant reserve currency and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Wonder how these ladies would react to being required to pay taxes on their "nightlife income", and if such income is recorded on the books.

Perhaps he/she needed the money to transition to a no-he-she...

Petey is not the only mis-guided soul in this classic example of throwing good money after bad: his friends, relatives and the bank didn't exactly display sound judgement in their agreeing to loan him the money.

I bet that he'll bet he never bets again...