Karma80

If you throw enough made up <deleted> against a wall, some of it will stick.

As a Canadian, the rhetoric from the methlab Canada sits above is profoundly worrying to most people I know. The shameless lies about fentanyl, drugs pouring in from the north, and cartels, to make an executive order legal is truly a disgrace.

An open-door policy on visas to a low-cost-of-living tropical country, with no control of weed or prostitution. All promoted by the clickbait of YouTube. What could go wrong? Add a DTV visa so that you can effectively live in the country for 5 years, having booked a cookery course. Thailand's immigration policy might be ok, but couple that with absolutely zero enforcement and a corrupt police force, if they even show up, what did anyone really expect?

I'd fly Thai direct or Cathay via HKG in business. I prefer Thai to Qantas, but Cathay fares are normally very good in business and the extra stop in HKG is usually well timed and the lounges excellent.

It's one of the few benefits of living in Phuket. However, we're looking to leave because of the traffic and low end tourist dumpster situation.

I was in Bangkok last week on business and stayed at a 5* hotel. The lobby was full of Chinese who had checked out but were camping out, lying and sleeping across sofas and chairs with feet on the furniture. The staff were exasperated and repeatedly asked them not to do it, to no real impact. If Thailand doesn't clamp down on this rental behaviour now, the Chinese will continue to push boundaries. I am curious which buildings are heavily impacted by this in Bangkok.

I fail to see the uproar. Why should a tourist be able to open a bank account? They can't in any other country. Get a proper long term visa and you can walk into any bank in person with legit ID and open it. DTV isn't a long term visa and some people need to get over that.

Exactly this. The US was the leader in the global minimum tax drive and has moonwalked away, but it likewise has a stated intent to have the "lowest taxes"; whatever the mercurial administrations take of the hour is on that. It's time for Thailand to compete on taxation again and encourage the repatriation of funds.

This article aged like milk quickly.

Don't they want to tour the hubs of human trafficking and city pollution anymore?

The new US administration is not a reliable partner. Thailand will be smart to look to regional neighbours. Indonesia just became a full member of brics, and Thailand a partner member last month. Only a matter of time before full membership.

Remind me why the Kingdom of Thailand should care about the whims of the President of another country?

Phuket is the new hub of money laundering. Just opening the floodgates to more Russian mob cash and tax evasion.

I am so glad Lazarus has returned from the grave to lead the nation in an entirely unelected, but completely barred, way. I'm confident that Thailand will make great inroads back from being considered an international joke of a government based on coups and elitism.

I think they vastly underestimate how this has blown up all over Chinese and HK social media. Today the HK security services dispatched a task force to Thailand to co-ordinate rescue operations for their missing citizens. Social media is full of people cancelling flights and bookings. HK people have plenty of choices about where to go. The HKD is very strong, and they have a lot of spending power.

My wife is HKer and everyone on that side is messaging us, urging to keep our doors locked when in the car. The CN social media is in overdrive with warnings of Chinese being kidnapped off the streets in Bangkok or here in Phuket. It will be very hard for Thailand to counter that. Chinese have a choice of where to travel. Japan and Korea will benefit. Guess we'll just keep on transforming Phuket to a Russian province.

And yet, every year, nothing is done except have more meetings.

If you have not travelled to Japan in the last 12 months, you might be in for a bit of a shock about hotel prices in Tokyo, Osaka, etc, as prices have surged with no slowdown in demand, in line with the collapse of the yen vs USD. My colleagues in Tokyo are now trying to limit domestic travel as business hotel prices are stretching our budget.

And in other news, sunrise happened today. A testament to the cronyism and corruption in the Thai government and elite circles, this farce should be ended.

Welcome to 2024 as we enter a new era where power over politics and entire nations is openly wielded entirely by the unelected and wealthy who remain unanwerable to anyone because of it. Want to challenge him? Sure - be buried in a billion dollars of law suits. Thaksin is just Thailands version of Musk.

Thailand has one of the most corrupt police and justice systems in the world, backed up by a political system which is mired in equal amounts of corruption, all sitting on a platform of extreme societal inequality. And you're somehow cool with letting a few innocent people die? Have a look at the offences you can be sentenced to death for in Thailand. It might surprise you as being quite easy and with a slip of the tongue.

Maybe Dad doesn't have the time to write the extra speeches for her.

We want to give tax cuts to corporations, and can you pay for it. Welcome to Thaksin-onomics.

Seems he can just tell MPs to do his bidding and be completely open about it with impunity.

I wonder at what point the rest of the establishment just says enough is enough with the puppet PM and the openly meddling father who is still banned from politics.