AndreasHG

I don't understand the first question: "I can apply up to 45 days (at Changwattana(?" I Extended my Retirement VISA in February and I have a check-list with the list of documents I had to submit. The TM.47 is not among them (the Immigration has all our VISA records online nowadays). Also, the TM.30 mentioned in the check-list is not strictly required. I ask the landlord to issue a new one to make sure my status is up to date before I apply for the extension (or do my 90 days report). All the forms were handed to me at the counter, and it took forever to fill them. Next February I plan to show up with all the forms prefilled. They can be conveniently downloaded (all but one). I don't know if anything changed since February 2024.

In other words, subsidize relatively unproductive jobs (or workers) at the expenses of the more productive ones. I don't think this is the right recipe for lifting Thailand out of the mid-income trap. And it would be a terrible idea to finance it with budget deficits and by increasing the national debt.

In order to prevent any issue, I ask my landlord to file a TM30 report right before I visit the Immigration for the 90 days report (usually a couple of weeks before). The TM30 report is filed online, therefore the landlord can do it also while staying abroad. He mails me a pdf to confirm he did it, and that's it.

LOL. Nothing against Russia per se. The fact is that in the West we don't like dictators, we don't like them because they poison dissenters with polonium or Novichok, and we don't like them because they treat their vassal states much worse than America does (see Belarus to get an idea, or think about East Germany, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Lituania, Estonia in Soviet times, all countries where Russians are still strongly despised). However, fortunately for us, Russia is and will remain for a very long time a poor developing country. It may cause some damages, but it has not even the capability to win a war against Ukraine, let alone against the West. The embarrassingly poor performance of its armed forces against Ukraine, from day one, months before the first western aid reached Ukraine in significant quantities, clearly shows the limits of Russia's laughable military might. Russia can blow away Ukraine from the face of planet Earth of course, using its nuclear might, but it will never be able to subjugate it. The best it can do is to destroy everything, turn Ukraine into an immense cemetery, and conquest a deserted land. But the Ukrainian nation will never be enslaved again.

I have no agenda. But there are two points I want to make: 1. Throughout its whole history as an independent country, Russia has been trying to punch well above its real weight. This attitude, Russia's willingness to act as a great power (and Russian people's widespread support of it) while not having the means to support this role, caused and it is still causing terrible sufferings to millions of people, starting from the Russians themselves. 2. Russia does not value human life as it should. Russians mesure their greatness only by the size of the land and the quantity of natural resources they control. This attitude is typical of backward societies, which economies are based on extraction, farming or nomadic herding (not on industrial production or services). The idea that, at present, the wealth of a nation relies upon the inventiveness and entrepreneurship of its citizens, and on an environment that fosters investments and promotes the rule of law is alien to Russians. This is evident by Russia substantial lack of innovations, large corporations (besides those involved in mining, energy, oil and related areas) and of any meaningful export beyond weaponry, commodities, raw materials and natural resources. Russian true innovators or entrepreneurs either emigrate or, sooner or later, close shop. This attitude has very tangible consequences on the Russian society and on its neighbors. We could see this state of mind in action during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. Slovenia and to some extent Croatia, the most advanced regions in the north, separated from Belgrade in a relatively bloodless way (especially Slovenia). Their industrial and service-oriented economies made interethnic fights counterproductive for all ethnic groups living side by side. The opposite was true in the central and southern regions of Yugoslavia, which economies were mostly based on farming. In those regions ethnic cleansing and genocide were much more appealing. Once a specific ethnic group was exterminated, its land could immediately become available to the members of the surviving ethnic groups. And indeed they indulged in ethnic cleansing and genocide! What we saw, with the Dissolution of Yugoslavia, is possibly the last Medieval war aimed at land grabbing. Before Russia started its criminal war against Ukraine, of course.

You make it appear as if the Soviet fought against Nazi Germany of their own volition, which is ridiculous. The only thing that Soviet Russia did on its own volition, was to invade Poland from the east, in 1939 and in agreement with Hitler whose troops attacked Poland from the west. Had it not been for the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Nazi Germany would never have proceeded to attack Poland, thus France, ending up in invading Russia itself. Russia itself was the cause of its own misfortune. Russia itself is responsible for the millions of deaths it suffered. Russia has no one to blame but itself for its suffering, for its backwardness, for the incompetence of its military, the incurable corruption of its ruling class, the inability to make the most of its human resources, counting rather on the exploitation of natural resources, best if achieved through semi-slave labor. But it has always been in Russia's DNA to play the victim and blame the West for its own misfortunes. Anything so that the responsibility is not placed on the megalomaniac Russian dictator of the day. In its millenial history, Russia went to be ruled by bloodthirsty Mongols and Tatars, to similarly bloodthirsty tzars, to bloodthirsty soviets, to bloodthirsty Putin. Nothing has been learned, nothing has ever really changed. The Russians are eternally condemned to pay with blood, tears and sweat for the megalomania of those who govern them. At times dragging their guiltless neighboring countries into the vortex of their tragedies. As someone said in a different post, "Russia is a human tragedy", a tragedy that seems never-ending. To me Russia is rather a black hole. A black hole that has swallowed up millions of human lives without ever giving anything valuable back.

Let me ask you the same question: are you for real? It is evident that Ukraine lacks natural resources in comparison to Russia. What else? With regards to corruption, there is evidence that the Russian corruption is much, much worse than the Ukranian one. The Russian army poor performance is proof that the Russian military budget has been ransacked and syphoned. Misappropriated by Putin and his acolytes, the Russian military budget has been massively converted into the luxury items, the shining boats moored in Cyprus, and the prestigious properties in the most elegant areas of London, for which Russian oligarchs and siloviki (Rus: силовики) are worldwide famous. The Ukrainian army, despite a much smaller budget, but allocated much more effectively and efficiently, has been able to hold its ground.

Much better if he stays in a Thai jail till the war is over...

In my post, I paid tribute to the cannon fodder Russia supplied in great quantities, which was key to the defeat of Napoleon and of the duo Hitler/Mussolini.

Simply put, I am not. In the West it is customary to differentiate between innovation and intellectual work. Works of authorship (music, literature, cinema - e.g. Sergei Eisenstein - painting - e.g. Wassily Kandinsky - etc.) are protected by copyrights. Innovations are protected by patents, trademarks and trade secrets. According to the US Copyright Office: "Copyright protects original works of authorship, while a patent protects inventions or discoveries. Ideas and discoveries are not protected by the copyright law, although the way in which they are expressed may be". Therefore, music and literature do not qualify as innovations.

Great insight into the deluded minds of the Russian leadership.

Pitty that Russian literature and music did not contribute to raise the mental state of millions upon millions of Russians, in Tsarist Russia, Soviet Russia and nowadays Putin's Russia. Russians to whom is impeded to participate to the wellbeing share by the rest of humanity by their own rulers.

I agree. But American scientific development went beyond military uses, and newly developed technologies, even when originally commissioned by the military, found their way to civil applications. This in Russia never happened. The only goal of scientific and technological research in Russia was (and is) to produce weapons of mass destruction. Nothing else counts.

It doesn't go both ways. Ukraine is an economically underdeveloped country striving to develop through honest, hard work, due to lack of natural resources. Russia is an underdeveloped country, despite having plentiful of natural resources, which lives from one disaster to another, nurturing the illusion of being a great world power. And this has been going on for the last 500 years at least.

I assume you grew up reading the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (GSE; Russian: Больша́я сове́тская энциклопе́дия). Unfortunately, like anything published in Soviet (and nowadays) Russia, it's full of disinformation (Russian: дезинформация). Yours is a long list leading to nothing worth noticing, really: 1. Sikorsky did not invent the helicopter (see Wikipedia for more info). And to manufacture his first helicopter he had to move to the USA. 2. Popov invented the radio only in according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. In the real world (see Wikipedia for more info). 3. Rocketry: Russians did not invented rocketry. They took advantage of German progresses in the field and progressed starting from there. Arms of mass destruction is where Russia excels. 4. Tanks were not invented in Russia (see Wikipedia for more info). 5. Periodic table of the elements: discussed in a previous comment (see above). 6. Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov discovered the C vitamin only according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia and nothing else (see Wikipedia for more info). 7. Stem Cells were not discovered nor isolated for the first time by Russians (see Wikipedia for more info). 8. Albeit the machine gun was not invented in Russia, the AK-47 is indeed a widely used assault rifle designed by the Russian Mikhail Kalashnikov. Weaponry of mass destruction is the only technological field in which Russia has ever produced anything worth noticing. 10. Tsar Bomba: another example of Russian weaponry of mass destruction. 9. Matryoshka Dolls: finally, a genuine example of Russian ingenuity and inventiveness. The only one on your list.

Rockets used to send the first dog, the first man and the first satellite in space were not a Russian invention (an evolution of German V1s and V2s). The first satellite in space is deeply connected to military applications (weapons of mass destruction), and that's the only space where Russia is, at times, competitive. The above notwithstanding, it's worth noticing that Russia launched its first telecommunication satellite for civilian (but also military) use only in 1974 (the Molniya-M1S), 10 years after the United States of America. The Periodic Table of the Elements has a complex history, but the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev is credited with the definitive breakthrough.

Therefore, not even Borsch!

Rockets. Indeed: Russia sent the first dog in space, and the first man. But they perfected German V1s and V2s with the help of German scientists after WWII. But the rockets were not invented in Russia.

Rockets. Indeed: Russia sent the first dog in space, and the first man. But they perfected German V1s and V2s with the help of German scientists after WWII. But the rockets were not invented in Russia.

There is one thing that always puzzled me about Russia and its millenary history. I cannot identify a single contribution to wellbeing, prosperity or welfare, the invention or conception of which humankind shall be grateful to Russia. To the best of my knowledge, Russia did not contribute to a single one of the great inventions or discoveries, which radically changed the humankind way of living, in the 19th, 20th and 21st century. This is particularly puzzling, because Russia pretends to be a great power. At par with the USA, China, Japan, the UK, Germany, France, etc. I look around in my home, and every single appliance I see, from the airconditioner to the washing machine, from the microwave hoven to the TV set, from the refrigerator to the dish-washing machine, from the printer to the vacuum cleaner, not a single thing was invented or conceived in Russia. I check my car and, again, nothing of it came out of Russia. Not the electronic ignition nor the injection, not the ABS nor the ASR. Not the radial tires, the stratified windscreen, the airbags and the safety belts, not the electric starter and the generator. If I look into my iPhone or my computer, the outcome is the same. No feature, technology, device incorporated into my mobile phone or laptop is the result of an original idea which came out of Russia. I know you are likely going to blame Communism (which too, by the way, was not conceived by Russians, as we will see later). However, I just read an interesting book written by Orlando Figues, "The Story of Russia". Apparently, Russia was already a miserable country under the Tzars. Despite the opulence displayed by the Russian Imperial Court and the boyards surrounding it, the comparison with Europe shows how miserable the average population living conditions in Russia were. In the early 19th century Western visitors noticed that Russians peasants were still working their land barefooted, and technically were still serfs (it is estimated that approximately 70% of the Russian population was made up of serfs when serfdom was abolished in 1861, only 4 years before slavery was abolished in the USA). And, actually, the misery of Russia started even before the Tzars. It started under the Mongols, who ruled Russia for over 200 years till the 15th century. Mongols brought Moscow to prominence, and Mongols abolished the private property of the land in Russia, introducing a form of Communism in Russia, 400 years before Karl Marx reinvented it. I acknowledge that asserting that nothing ever came out of Russia is rather inaccurate. Russia donated much of the cannon fodder that contributed to the defeat of Napoleon and of the Hitler-Mussolini duo. The AK47, a.k.a. Kalaschnikow, has been a real god-gift for self-proclaimed liberation armies and terrorists around the world, even making its way onto a national flag (the one of Mozambique). There are even rumors that Russia is the real inventor of the extermination camps, Hitler, Pol Pot, and other terrible dictators popularized. Stalin's Gulags were the model to which they took inspiration. But as of yet, besides weapons of mass destruction, serfdom, death, mourning and misery, nothing really seems to ever come out of Russia. And that might be the exact reason why all its neighboring countries prefer to look to the West for inspiration. Everyone shall be allowed to strife for a better life for their own children. What is your opinion? Can you name a single Russian innovation that is contributing to the well-being of humanity as a whole? May such a country legitimately pretend to be a great power at par, let's say, of the United States of America?

If Putin decided to retaliate with tactical battlefield nuclear weapons, then Ukraine shall immediately receive similar weapons from the West and reciprocate. I am sure this message has already been delivered to Putin. Putin has much more to lose from a nuclear war than most of us. He is used to live in multimillions mansions around Russia (like the $1 billion Italianate palace complex, located on the Black Sea coast near Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai, Navalny uncovered before being poisoned). He is not eager to relocate in an underground cave, where he would spend the rest of his days. An especially likely outcome, if he starts throwing nuclear bombs at the doorsteps of Russian territory, and if Ukraine answers in kind.

You're correct. But I couldn't find a satisfactory product description in the Thai Toyota webpages (at least not in the English ones).

It is surprising how many people still believe the unscrupulous Toyota dealers' claim that the Fortuner has nothing to do with the humbler Hilux. Actually, the Fortuner is still based on the Hilux chassis (see the Fortuner wikipedia page Toyota Fortuner - Wikipedia). According to Toyota the two vehicles share also the very same engine (2GD-FTV (High) / 4 cyl 16 valve DOHC VN Turbo Intercooler), the same transmission (4WD with Differential Lock,6 speed Automatic with Sequential Shift & Paddle Shift), same front suspension geometry (Double wishbone with coil spring and torsion bar), etc. Does this mean the Fortuner is a bad vehicle? Not at all. It is designed to meet a set of specific needs, and it is good at that.

The Toyota Fortuner and the Corolla Cross are two very different vehicles. The Fortuner is built on the Hilux pick-up truck chassis. It's a body-on-frame design which makes it suitable for heavy duty use (off-roading, carrying heavy loads, towing, etc.). This comes at the expenses of fuel efficiency, road handling, comfort and safety. Average mileage per liter of (diesel) fuel is approximately 8 to 9 km/l in urban cycle and 10 to 11 km/l on expressway (13 km/l the estimated fuel consumption by Toyota Australia Specs & Dimensions | Fortuner GX, GXL, Crusade | Toyota Australia). The Corolla Cross is a unibody vehicle and is more suitable for an urban environment such as the one found in Bangkok. It is a nimbler, more efficient vehicle with a mileage of approximately 19 km/l in urban cycle and 16 km/l on expressway, for the Hybrid HEV models, the drivetrain of which is optimized for urban use (24 km/l the estimated fuel consumption by Toyota Australia Specs & Dimensions | Corolla Cross GX, GXL & More | Toyota Australia).