AndreasHG

B.S.: Thai companies compete ferociously for business (unless they operate in "protected" businesses, like the liquor and alcoholic beverages industry). And competition keeps the prices low, so low that these companies often cannot afford to renew their obsolete equipment. Thai authorities are the ones who shall ensure that all vehicles circulating on Thai roads are safe, starting from the biggest and most dangerous ones: busses and trucks. Allowing 50 yo busses and trucks on the road, keep prices of transport low, at the expenses of safety. Greed and profit have nothing to do with this accident. Dereliction of duty and corruption have a much bigger role.

The UK was lucky enough to have a Margaret Thatcher and, and before her in the XX century, Winston Churchill. The going must get a bit tougher for the toughs to start going, in the UK. We are just not there yet.

ICE powered vehicles are typically equipped with lead-acid batteries. Albeit lead-acid batteries produce hydrogen gas during charging, explosions are an extremely rare event. Additionally, short circuits or overheating due to overcharging can lead to thermal runaway, causing the battery to catch fire, just like any lithium-ion battery would. EVs are generally equipped with lithium-ion batteries. These batteries become extremely dangerous when the lithium gets in contact with water. This may happen whenever the battery is not adequately sealed. You may watch a couple of videos showing lithium batteries reacting to water:

What a clown! Gorbachev had to withdraw 450,000 Soviet troops from East Germany because the Soviet Union was bankrupt and had no means to sustain them. Not only Soviet troops were withdrawn from East Germany: they were withdrawn from all the provinces of the empire, and financial support for all puppets governments (starting with Cuba and North Korea) was erased. NATO enlargement has been strongly demanded by the public opinions of former Warsaw pact countries, out of despise of Soviet Union after 50 years of subjugation, but also to attract Western investments, needed to resurrect their ailing economies, left in ruins by the disastrous Russian imposed communist management. Enlarging NATO has been the greatest humanitarian act implemented in Europe, after the Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) enacted in 1948. It contributed to the economic revival of the entire Eastern Europe. Hungary, one of the worst performing countries in the former eastern bloc, recorded a per capita GDP in constant LCU (source worldbank.org) growth from 2,467,680 in 1989 to 4,549,421 in 2023, an increase of "only" 84% in real terms. Poland recorded a 186% increase in the same period. Romania 178%, Slovakia 130%, Bulgaria 104%, Estonia 120%, Lithuania 118%, Latvia 109%, etc. Russia, during its millenary history, has exported nothing, to its neighboring countries, but hunger, misery and death. The issue with Russia is that the country culture does not value economic and personal freedom or human life. Russia has always had an economy based agricultural and mining activities. An economy that values "land possession" over entrepreneurship, cheap brute labor over skilled workforce. Nothing besides commodities and raw materials ever came out from Russia (exception shall be made for weapons of mass destruction, only real Russian contribution to human progress). Russian autocrats, from the Mongols who ruled the country for more than two centuries, to the tzars, from the Soviet leaders to nowadays Putin, have been constantly obsessed by two things only, which make the Russian economy rolling: Land possession and cheap slave labour.

I opened my bank account in Bangkok Bank without help of any agent and without any embassy letter. All I had to submit was: 1. the leasing contract for my apartment in Bangkok 2. A 90-day non-immigrant "O" VISA 3. A photocopy of my passport (picture page) stamped and signed by the consular office of my embassy (are you sure that this is not the Embassy letter Bangkok Bank is asking for? It may seem a silly request. But all Bangkok Bank tries to do, is to make sure your embassy knows you are in Thailand, and your home country authorities may trace you, in the event you are involved in any illegal activity such as money laundering. That's all). 4. My passport 5. A few thousands THB in cash. I went to the Exchange Tower branch of Bangkok Bank, locater near the Asok BTS station. The staff is used to deal with foreigners and eager to help. By the way, I also used Siam Legal to help me with my retirement VISA application. But I did not need the help to open the bank account. Don't use them for the insurance. You'll just end up paying much more for less.

UK laws regulating pensions paid overseas have nothing to do with any banana republic, unless by banana republic you mean the UK itself.

To be fair, this has been ongoing since long before the UK even knew there was an illegal immigrant issue. But, hey, blame it on the boogeyman... ...it always works and absolves the UK voters from any responsibility. There's nothing more quintessentially British, than feeling good about being righteous and polite, even while being screwed...

And with the risk of having to ask for the extension from the heirs of the owner, who originally granted the leasehold, 30 years before.

An article published by the Bangkok Post on this topic: Bangkok Post - Couple arrested in Bangkok for selling impure gold amulets

Interesting (ironic) article published by the FT on this topic: What does Trump’s $100k watch tell us about the future of luxury goods? (ft.com)

Great achievement indeed.

If you feel confident in judging the worldwide political community, then go ahead. But why limit yourself to the worldwide dimension? Isn't a universal or, even better, a multi-universal dimension more suited to your inflated personality?

It does, as the chart on the left below clearly shows (courtesy of Gold Price Charts & Historical Data - GoldPrice.org). The chart on the right is the price of gold in USD per oz. for the same, six months long, timeframe. It's not a new phenomenon: AMRO-Market-Insights_The-Thai-Baht-and-Gold-v2_Oct-02-2020.pdf (amro-asia.org).

It does, as the chart on the left below clearly shows (courtesy of Gold Price Charts & Historical Data - GoldPrice.org). The chart on the right is the price of gold in USD per oz. for the same, six months long, timeframe.

Instead of writing "as least she has a backbone, a rare quality amongst Liberals", writing "as least she has a backbone, nowadays a rare quality amongst UK politicians" would have been a more accurate description of the reality. Sadly, it's been a long time since Margaret Thatcher ruled Britain.

Hezbollah customarily using muslim civilians as human shields, and none has anything to say, especially from the pro-Palestinian field. Iran supplies the Hezbollah the weaponry to hit Israeli civilians but, with regards to the Hezbollah's infrastructure defense, it expects the Shia Lebanese population to volunteer their families and themselves as human shields.

I haven't seen much backbone on display, from the likes of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak. Did I miss something?

Don't take Rolex, please. Rolex is the epitome of a bad example, when it comes to value for price of wristwatches. Designing the Trump watch took no more than one day at most. Its components, starting from the wristband, look like standard, machined parts, available off-the-shelf ($3,900 in 18k gold on eBay 18K Yellow Gold President Watch Band Strap For Rolex 26MM Datejust President | eBay). The tourbillon timepiece manufactured by Olivier Mory retails for CHF 23,100 ($27,400), has an original (albeit ugly) design, and it is certainly not manufactured at scale (Maëlstrom - Skill Watches).

This article sounds a bit like BS to me. The EU has long time ago established a common medicine market. If Denmark intends to import medicines from Asia, firstly it has to obtain the EMA's approval (it's the European equivalent of the FDA's approval), which not only pertains the pharmacological composition of the medicine, but also the compliance of the manufacturing processes and of manufacturer's organization. Secondly, once the medicine is approved, it becomes available not only to Danish consumers, but to all consumers within the area where the EMA's approval is legally binding (the EU Member States as well as in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The process is quite straightforward: Authorisation of medicines | European Medicines Agency (EMA) (europa.eu)

Really? Produce for the domestic market? Are you aware that Denmark is part of the EU and any medicine sold anywhere in the EU can be sold in Denmark? Wholesalers must not receive or buy medicines from non-EU/EEA countries (third countries) nor handle intermediate products (laegemiddelstyrelsen.dk)

Interesting article today on the Financial Times on how the Hezbollah, by providing military support to the Syrian regime of the al-Assad family, and by helping to crush the popular uprise in the country bordering Lebanon, became permeable to the Israeli intelligence agencies. The Hezbollah evolved from a homegrown terrorist organization, whose adherents were handpicked from members of closely related Shia tribes, to regional power broker, enlisting ever-increasing numbers of fighters without adequate vetting, becoming arrogant and careless in the process. Furthermore, to support the al-Assad regime, the Hezbollah had to interact on a regular basis with the notoriously corrupt Syrian intelligence services, and with the Russian intelligence services, whose every move is closely monitored by the USA. The Israeli intelligence agencies had therefore countless opportunities and time to infiltrate the Hezbollah, draw a detailed organizational chart, and carefully select sensible targets. The suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of the Hezbollah has not been in vane. If many Hezbollah leaders faced the divine justice this month, it is also thanks to the sacrifice made by the Syrian people.

LOL. Is defeating the Nazi an invention or an original conception? Really? How much vodka did you already gobble today, Ivan? By the way, without the US aid (the so called Lend-Lease to the Eastern Front) the Soviets would have been crushed by the Nazis.

I agree: they are not fakes, although their design is clearly inspired by the Rolex Oyster, the only watchmaker that undemanding watch enthusiasts really appreciate. It's just a lie that they are the best watches made: the components, starting from the heart of every fine watch, the movement, used in making them are "cheap", at least when compared to similarly priced timepieces. Even the dial screams of "cheapness" and poor craftmanship. And its's also a fraud: 200 grams of 18k gold cost around $13,000. One hundred diamonds priced from $10 to $30 each, $2,000. The Olivier Mory Tourbillon movement $1,200-$1,800. Add $2,000 of other components and assembly (and I am generous), and you have a $18,000-$19,000 USD sold for $100,000.

The Swiss movement shown in Trump's watches website is manufactured by Olivier Mory's BCP Tourbillons, known for its affordability (BCP tourbillons equipped watches retail for as low as $7,350: Chapter 4.7 Onyx Tourbillon C. Lémanic | BA111OD), 105 hours power reserve and manual winding. Pay attention to the fine prints in Trump's website: "Trump Watches are intended as collectible items for individual enjoyment only, not for investment purposes. The images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product". Definitely not a nice watch, at least not for a demanding collector.

All goods are classified into Customs Codes. You may learn what they are here: HS Code Definition | UPS Supply Chain Solutions - United States Thailand customizes the HS codes, adding additional digits after the harmonized code. See here for more info: PowerPoint Presentation (bot.or.th) Import duties are calculated based on the CIF cost, the HS code specific to the imported goods and the country of origin (only if a certificate of origin has been issued by the exporter).