ericbj

"Trump’s Foreign Aid Cuts Could Result in Millions of Preventable Deaths" What this statement is in effect saying is that United States aid had hitherto (and despite its corruption and "politicisation") been saving millions of preventable deaths. The onus to do this should not be on one single country but on all countries able to contribute, whether through funding or directly-applied services. There should be an international organisation to oversee and organise this, with oversight by all nations that contribute and receive aid. With a view to eliminating corruption and the furtherance of foreign policies through 'colour revolutions'.

The short answer to the question is "No!" On condition that :- You are young or youthful, and not approaching senility; You are aware of, and follow, the requirements of healthy living; You are averse to taking unnecessary risks; and You have available sufficient liquid assets to self-insure. You may still wish to take out accident-only, inpatient-only insurance in view of the fact that accidents, such as on the roads, can arise from the carelessness of others.

Wages should be regularly updated to reflect the cost of living. This could vary considerably between different provinces. Businesses generally upgrade their prices to reflect costs and ensure continuing profitability. Although admittedly there can be other considerations, such as maintaining competitiveness. Or lack of competition.

No doubt there is a serious problem of rape of young white girls in some areas of the UK with high immigrant, mainly Muslim populations. However, this particular case is disturbing because of the lapse of many years since the alleged crimes. However the rape problem itself is illustrative of a UK administration - politicians, civil servants, and also "the fourth estate" - increasingly bent upon policies that pander to ideologies and interests that ignore the needs of the British people. It began in a small way in the 1960s, when Enoch Powell spoke out against the growing influx of foreign populations beyond the nation's capacity to integrate them. Powell was of course increasingly publicly demonised as a racist, which was a falsehood intended to vilify him. He avowed a deep love for India, its peoples, and its cultures as result of the three years that he spent there. Coloured constituents of his who went to him with their problems testified to the fact that he listened to them and addressed their requests. Politically-active friends of mine, an American and his South African Chinese wife, who wrote to Powell criticising his policies, were astonished to receive a polite and detailed response to the points they raised. They may not have agreed with him but thereafter they spoke of him with respect. They were used to being totally ignored by politicians with whom they attempted to communicate. Mass legal immigration was where the problem began. It was decades later compounded by the wilful destruction of fragile post-colonial nation-states in the Middle East and North Africa on the supposed grounds of establishing 'democracy and human rights'. Result: something quite different. Bombing 'back into the Stone Age', chaos, and a wave of of mainly economic refugees who sought, and were encouraged, to settle in the countries whose self-serving political classes had destroyed their livelihoods. Britain is being subjected to colonisation.

"Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

Countries and corporations that continue to supply weapons and other war matériel to the illegal military regime that seized power in Naypyitaw must be arraigned internationally as accessories before the fact to murder and other human rights abuses.

Have not seen the transcript of her conversation, but one has the impression that she was asking to know Cambodia's demands for settling the dispute. You have to have a clear understanding of the other side's position in order to know how to negotiate a compromise acceptable to both sides. Of course ultra-nationalists on both sides are going to want no compromise but instead a bloodbath (in which they will likely not be involved, but might feel redemption of an imaginary slight to their honour). Undoubtedly it would be undiplomatic if in the circumstances she criticized a subordinate, the 2nd Army commander. But most likely she had no say in either his appointment nor his actions, and anyway he probably does not consider himself her subordinate. In some countries the military is a law unto itself, which can complicate government.

Am not sure if this suggestion will help in your particular case: it does concern both [1] cash that one is obliged to hold in a Thai bank account for reasons of visa extensions and [2] "cash" in the form of bullion. In the case of [1] a document in Thai has been drafted and is being registered with a Thai lawyer bequeathing the balance of the account to one of my two "adopted daughters", a Thai national. (Both women have been known to me for nearly eighteen years, since I assisted their Australian Open University studies) There is a disadvantage with this arrangement - we are discovering, following the recent decease of her Japanese mother-in-law - caused by administrative procedures, costs, and delays in releasing the proceeds of her in-law's bank account. (An alternative would be for me to put the cash in a joint savings account. She would be able to access that at any time. Until such time as the bank discovers I am no longer of this world; when, according to the bank manager, the account would be frozen. Until…?) Drawback: I would suffer a loss of interest on a 12-month term-deposit. For my other "adopted daughter", a Burmese national, I have arranged for her to be the beneficiary upon my death of a small amount of bullion managed through a dealer in the Cayman Islands and held in my name with a well-established bullion-vaulting company in Singapore. Upon my passing away, the bullion will be transferred automatically to an account in her name, and she can then sell the coins as and when needed. A slight complication: she must be aware of her liability to pay income-tax on cash transferred to her Thai bank account. (Or go to Singapore and cash the coins there?)

In the 1970s the scare was of global cooling, caused by increased evaporation from the oceans leading to more cloud cover and increased albido. (The feckless CIA was considering the possibility of establishing colonies on Mars to escape a coming ice age) But now the global warming theory is irresistible as it is backed by Big Money. However have the climate experts taken into account the following factors? 1. In some times past with far higher CO2 levels the Earth was a much colder place; 2. That warmer temperatures and higher CO2 levels encourage increased plant growth, producing more oxygen. (Some commercial greenhouse growers purchase CO2 to increase the levels available to their crops) 3. Many meteorological stations that were once surrounded by countryside are now embedded within urban sprawl where temperatures tend to be higher. 4. Solar activity, which is cyclical, is a major determinant of climate. 5. The calculated 0.027°C increase in temperature per year may be subject to questioning in view of the complexity of the many varied climates that exist throughout the world, often with considerable differences within a given region.

The CCP is demonstrating the deceptiveness of its much-vaunted foreign policy of "non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries". The policy of intervening on behalf of a military dictatorship so clearly determined to crush and subjugate all elements of its own population bodes ill for China's relationship with that country in the future. This calls into question in other countries the sincerity of China's declared "non-intervention" policy. Is this a new imperialism of control through foreign puppets?

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/126411450816624/

I used to make my own using an apparatus made in the U.K. It used "alternating d.c." [current reversal once a second] and ran off a 9-volt battery. Distilled water has very low conductivity and to reduce its resistance is best kept heated. When my instrument eventually failed I tried to purchase one from SOTA Instruments, known for quality but not cheap. However they would not supply to Thailand because they had experienced refusal by Thai Customs to permit import. So one must either bring in personal luggage (Can declare as a water-purifying device, which is valid) or build one's own. Instructions for latter can be found online. Also recommended to check out the Bob Beck Protocol. Silver has been known as a disinfectant since time immemorial, long before Pasteur discovered bacteria.

It is obvious from Trump's perplexity regarding some of the actions of the Russians that he is being kept in the dark on certain issues by his own intelligence services; because they are pursuing their own ('Deep State') agenda. Exactly the reason JFK wished to break up the CIA and replace it with a genuine intelligence agency. So in the circumstances Trump was keeping himself informed. Not making agreements. The European "allies" are allies of the US Deep State, not of the President. The former want continuing war, the latter seeks an elusive peace. Elusive because the Russians have not yet attained the objective for which they entered into conflict. And they will not attain it as long as the neo-nazis, for whom Zelensky is the figurehead, refuse to accept their dis-empowerment.

If you transfer dollars to baht when the dollar is weak, then transfer it back when the dollar is strong, you will be losing. But in any case, while things will fluctuate a bit, it seems the dollar will continue downwards for more than a few days, because of increasing loss of global reserve status.

The skies on the horizon look pretty dark. But this seems like a bright streak, so maybe worth sharing, even allowing for a bit of hyperbole: $100 Billion ‘Ghost Field’ Discovery Could Power America for 30,000 Years "Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Ray Dalio have already grabbed a stake in this new energy technology... the White House and Pentagon are tracking it... "You owe to yourself to find out more too. Our investigator, Garrett Baldwin, names the ONE company that's carved out the leading edge for this breakthrough FREE in this video." However information on which companies to invest in is not entirely free because this is a marketing lead-in to Stansberry Research's 'Commodity Supercycles' "at the special price of … $79." See for yourself: https://orders.stansberryresearch.com/?cid=MKT836007&eid=MKT839219&assetId=AST368563&page=1 transcript: https://orders.stansberryresearch.com/?cid=MKT836007&eid=MKT839219&assetId=AST368558&page=3 In view of current precarity of most markets and of the global economy, it might be worth looking into.

Retirees - even the less well off - are a more reliable source of income than tourists. Tourism can dry up very quickly when there is a global recession. Which we may be about to experience.

He seemed to have realised the problems, at least in part. But lays the blame elsewhere. And instead of confronting the issues he is accelerating the decline. Nations can avoid defaulting on their debts by engineering hyper-inflation and paying off creditors in devalued currency. But it's a very bumpy ride.

See a head-shrinker.

People can be forgiven for taking Ukrainian propaganda at face value. Because western MSM and diverse official and semi-official sources have succeeded in hugely limiting access to evidence that once exposed the falsity of the claims (which are by no means new). ( https://news-pravda.com/world/2024/07/02/607769.html ) The claims of 'Ukrainian' children from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions being 'kidnapped' and 'indoctrinated' was exposed long ago in interviews of many of the children and their teachers. The interviews were on YouTube but can no longer be found there. The children leave the battle-zones voluntarily with the consent of their parents if still alive, and are lodged and educated in areas at a safe distance from the shelling and missile attacks that have targetted civilians. Many adults have also moved eastwards, away from endangered areas, although it is probable that some are now beginning to return, in an effort to rebuild their shattered lives. This may well be 'black' propaganda also (I make no claim to the contrary): https://realrawnews.com/2025/04/russian-spetznas-free-american-kidnapped-children-found-in-ukraine-warehouse/

A bit technical for the non-technical such as myself, but one can find some interesting snippets (e.g. touches upon amaloid proteins and clotting): https://drphilipmcmillan.substack.com/p/hidden-drivers-of-post-covid-dysfunction

For Covid, extremely dilute chlorine dioxide (sodium chloriTe + acid such as citric acid) is all you need. Dirt cheap. Disgusting taste. Worked well for me. Three days of hell in bed, up on fourth day, cycling to town for a meal on the fifth day. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8442261/ : "… treatment with 24 ppm of ClO2 inactivated more than 99.99% SARS-CoV-2 within 10 s[econds] …" For the theory - thought to oxidize critical amino acids in the spike protein: https://www.hilarispublisher.com/open-access/chlorine-dioxide-in-covid19-mechanism-of-molecular-action-in-sarscov2.pdf See also: https://drsircus.substack.com/p/is-chlorine-dioxide-safe-powerful

Hatred or adulation of public figures is best avoided. They may be right. They may be wrong. But one needs to understand what brought them to prominence. Before pre-judging the issues. What issues are they claiming to confront? Are these problems real, or invented (deliberately fostered maybe)? Are the solutions proposed practicable, in the circumstances? Are the solutions being applied in a manner likely to produce positive results. ------------------ My present, admittedly tendentious, views :- 1. The United States is facing a very large, and snowballing problem of over-indebtedness. Brought about by its issuing the global reserve currency, the US dollar. This has resulted in the long-term postponement of the negative effects that would have been quickly felt if its local currency had not also been the world's reserve currency, in the form of US Treasuries; the partial possession of which by foreign trading partners means loans from abroad. Borrowing can promote economic development, but research suggests that when annual borrowing reaches about 90% of GDP, returns on loans break even, and beyond that point GDP fails to increase proportionately to increased borrowing. US Government debt to GDP is currently about 130%, and considerably higher if one includes corporate and private debt. And, with much higher interest rates than in the recent past, the debt will grow even if the budget were balanced (which is far from the case). 2. The rush towards economic globalisation, with the lowering and even abandonment of protective measures such as tariffs, has failed to take into account large differences between more developed and less developed nations, in wages and other costs such as taxes and social and environmental protections. Resulting in the hollowing out in more developed nations of manufacturing and even some service industries. Including loss of career opportunities. I.e. a social impact guaranteed to produce resentment. 3. There has been a growing economic divide between the ultra-wealthy and their coterie of policy-promoters on the one hand and the bulk of the population on the other. The former has generally benefitted from economic crises which have left the general population more impoverished. The explanation: there has been inflation over the years well in excess of the official c.p.i. numbers of around 2%. Government "money-printing" goes mainly to the big commercial banks who loan it out at very low interest to their major clients. The latter have little need for extra consumer goods, and so invest it, for example, in the stock market and real estate, causing prices in those sectors to boom way beyond what is normal based upon anticipated annual returns upon investment. [That the mega-wealthy have more recently been migrating from the quoted sectors to precious metals, notably gold, various major currencies, bitcoin, and certain specific stock-market sectors, could be useful to know. They have private sources of financial information] ------------------------ The foregoing are, in my estimation, some of the major issues that Trump claims he will resolve. Can he do it? No desire to pre-judge the results. But he seems to have got off to a bad start. Instead of reducing the budget, as desperately needed, he has increased spending. To a degree that makes Musk's savings look like peanuts. His antagonistic nature has led him to further raise the Pentagon's bloated military spending. He is inconsistent in his pronouncements, seems to have no clear strategy for achieving what he seeks other than confrontation with all and everyone, including countries hitherto closely allied to the U.S. His brashness is repugnant to many foreigners, although it may be appreciated by some Americans. Diplomacy is certainly not his forte. If his predecessors set the US dollar on a downward spiral by using it as a foreign policy tool, he has accelerated its fall. But then he says he wishes to see it devalued in order to reduce imports and promote exports (from factories that have yet to be built). Threatening to invade other countries on the grounds of self-interest is an argument that can be used by others. But perhaps he has in mind Obama's "Americans are a special people." [not subject to international law and such like constraints]

Might be worth trying other banks. About twenty years ago when coming every year to Thailand for about six months on a triple-entry tourist visa, I decided it would be better to have a savings account in Thailand rather than holding on to a wad of foreign bank-notes and traveller's cheques, which could get lost or stolen. The Bangkok Bank asked if I had a work-permit. Answer "No." Refusal. SCB: same question, same answer, same refusal. Kasikorn Bank: same question, same answer, and their response "That's alright!" They opened the account. Some years later I opened a deposit account with them prior to obtaining a long-stay visa. And now also have accounts with the SCB.

Ignorance can be bliss. https://greenmedinfo.com/blog/flying-should-come-health-warning

Iran is involved in conflicts in its neighbourhood. But it did not initiate them. There are countries that ramp up tensions all over the world in order to create conflict and further the interests of their financial elites. They call this supporting democracy and human rights. Iran once upon a time was a democracy. But it had a socialist government. Unacceptable to outside business interests. So it was overthrown and replaced by a repressive dictatorship to the liking of the foreign interests. But this was eventually overthrown by a theocratic nationalistic dictatorship, unyielding to foreign dictates; and ready to screw up their interference in the region.