Cameroni

Sure, Walz was quite poor, in the first sentence he mixed up Iran and Israel. He looked terribly nervous. Really bad. Even the BBC agrees Vance won.

Yes, if you eat Western food that can be expensive. I can't live without top quality bread, quality Lomo Iberico or similar, nutella, good steak (which means buying Austrailian btw) , croissants, Boursin, Gouda, Swiss chocolate, french green beans etc, and those are by far the biggest items in the groceries list. However, I still pay only half of what I paid in the home country for groceries.. So groceries are exceptionally good value in Thailand. Then in terms of electricity bill, even running the aircon non stop I pay one tenth of what I paid in the home country, water bill is also one tenth. So also exceptionally value. I live in a new-build 4 bed house with swimming pool and pay 560 USD, so again, exceptional value.. Almost everything is great value in Thailand.

More than double that actually, the average Brit costs the NHS £4,188 a year. But it costs each UK taxpayer £5838 each year. If you're not in the UK you're not paying these £5838 in most cases. If you look at the true value you have to look at true cost as well. The NHS is not for free. In actual fact, if you're outside of the UK and not paying UK tax and national insurance, you're clearly in the green as regards loss of NHS services to start with. You then need to look at your health insurance options in Thailand, which have become fantastic with insurance providers for expats like Genki for example. So actually people who live in Thailand can pay a LOT LESS than 5833 pounds for health insurance now and get more services for what they pay. Don't forget the NHS does not pay all treatments and does require payments in some circumstances as well.

Vance clearly defeated Walz in the debate. A win for the Republicans.

Building materials and houses here are of quality that is on a par with the US and UK, possibly not Germany and Norway, but for the rest of the countries Thailand is on par in terms of building quality. You pay far less for a quality restaurant meal than you would in the West, it's not just street food. Unsafe taxis? Not really. The rest is true, you do pay the same as back home, but you get way more for your money.

Yes, indeed. That's the the point of those 32 billion to influence society.

It's seen that way, because prices are so low. But like I said you can get great cafes and pastries, spas, restaurants here, shopping malls too. There's almost nothing you can get in the US which you can't get here, and there's a lot you can get here, which if you get it in the US would cost 8 times more. It's an image thing, because of low prices, electricity poles and flooding.

I know what you mean, the quality of the beef is poor often in Thailand. And portions are small, it's true. Good pastries are not easy to find in most places, though in Chiang Mai we have L'Opera, Chouqette, Nana's, St Etoile, Petit Jardin. You have to research, but it is there. But then again even in Europe you have to look for a good bakery with good pastries.

Yup, had it last year in Chiang Mai.

Depends what you talk about. I lived in America and I was not able to find Cafes of the high quality that are all over the place in Chiang Mai. Those giant theme Cafes like a Disney world or Park. Shopping Malls also are of higher quality in Thailand than in the US. Restaurants, okay, there's great restaurants in the US, but there's equally awesome ones in Thailand. The thing is you don't get what you pay for in the US, you pay a giant price for a Thai massage, but it's unlikely to beat a 1300 Baht Spa massage in Thailand. There's degraded places in the US too, it's not all Wyoming super ranches.

Soros gave 32 billion USD to the Open Society Foundations. Think about that. 32 billion USD. This is what they do with this money: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/open-society-fellowship

200 Baht for a massage? What a rip off. I go to the monastery here, and pay no more than 150 Baht.

America shows Europe the way. Great article.

The restraint from the West in allowing missile strikes in Russia, is about the most rational thing the West has come up with. You should be extremely grateful that Western leaders are not so fried in the brain that they want a hot war with Russia. Your dreaming of Putin being dislodged is Disney worthy. Like when Hitler was fantasizing about the Allies falling out. It's not going to happen. The Russians love Putin. The economy is doing very well.

Well, it's kind of Ukraine's problem now.

They want to tax you?! How dare they! Did you not explain to them that you're from Canada? Still nothing?

Yes, it's horribly expensive here, constant rip off. Almost like Philippines. I was charged 70 Baht instead of 60 for Pad See Ew just now. It's outrageous.

The Greater Russia stuff is nonsense on stilts, but there is some truth to the fact that Russia could never accept a pro Western Ukraine. That's kind of the whole problem.

Lol, they're from a website that details in exruciating details the promises by the West not to expand NATO to the East. They prove in detail how Russia was lied to and misled. Absolutely disgusting to claim clear evidence like the one KhunLa provided proves nothing, when it proves things beyond the measure of a doubt.

What is breathtaking is the active role Ukraine has played in involving the US and UK intelligence services in their dispute with Russia. The Ukraine situation has echoes of Poland 1939, with Boris Johnson flying in to persuade Zelensky not to sign the peace treaty with Russia that was on the table. And of course the US and UK pledging their support for Ukraine, which turns out to be useless.

Absolutely brilliant analysis by Kennedy. "An explosive New York Times exposé by Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz sheds light on major developments preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the report, the Ukrainian government entered into a wide-ranging partnership with the CIA against Russia. This cooperation, which involved the establishment of as many as 12 secret CIA “forward operating bases” along Ukraine’s border with Russia, began not with Russia’s 2022 invasion, but just over 10 years ago. Within days of the February 2014 Euromaidan Revolution that culminated with the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych and ushered in a firmly pro-Western government, the newly appointed head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, reportedly proposed a “three-way partnership” with the CIA and MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service. Ukrainian security officials gradually proved their value to the U.S. by feeding the CIA intelligence on Russia, including “secret documents about the Russian Navy,” leading to the establishment of CIA bases in Ukraine to coordinate activities against Russia and various training programs for Ukrainian commandos and other elite units. A graduate of one such CIA training program, then-Lt. Col. Kyrylo Budanov, went on to become the chief of Ukrainian military intelligence. Kyiv routinely pushed this relationship’s boundaries, violating the Obama administration’s red lines around lethal operations by carrying out assassinations of high-profile Russian fighters on territory controlled by Russian-aligned separatists. The Kyiv-CIA partnership deepened under the Trump administration, yet again putting the lie to the baseless idea that former President Trump was somehow amenable to Russia’s interests while in office." https://responsiblestatecraft.org/cia-ukraine-russia/

My favourite author. What a great writer he is.

Constitutional law was one of the classes I took as an undergraduate as well on my way to qualifying as a lawyer and going to work for the biggest international law firms in the world. Then I retired in the Cayman Islands. In Thailand now obviously.

Turkey is a European country? Really? Are you sure?

You think I don't see through your blatant attempt to pass GDP per capita off as a marker of wealth? If you think Iceland is richer than the USA you're truly clueless. They just have to divide the figure by fewer people because it's a tiny place, much like Britain. If you want to see true wealth, read this and weep: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) Who is at number one spot??? Who is it?? Who!?!! I want you to say it!!! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!!