Nid_Noi

“…Federal data show that 23,700 illegal migrants were apprehended crossing from Canada into the US…” The word “apprehended “ tells the whole story. The non-apprehended must have been in the hundreds of thousands. Canada is just a springboard for entering the US. Canada has not the resources to monitor closely its border 365 days and nights of the year. Who are the fools who want to migrate to Canada? I know some people are masochist or they will complain later on that they have been cheated by the posters of the Canadian Pacific railways showing the Rockies, the grain elevators of the Prairies or the fishing villages of Nova Scotia…or the “free” healthcare.

Entering Thailand (Ranong) coming from Kawthung (Myanmar) mid-December 2024, I was asked to show an onward ticket even with a visa expiring mid- April 2025. Never been asked before at land, sea port or airport of entry. Depends on the mood of the IO. Sometimes they are “chatty” and find any excuse for conversation.

Thailand is for sale. All agricultural land is being cleared and put on the auction block. As land ownership is only for Thai, the upper class dictates the price and conditions. There is no competition between buyers, just agreements. Some areas are an ecological disaster with soil scrapped from its arable land. No farming or crops any longer possible. Then it sits for years without any takers with weeds growing back with the next monsoon unless a landslide kills any possible deal.

In 1913 you could not make a 2 week holiday trip to Thailand unless you lived in one of the neighbouring countries in S.E Asia. You cannot compare the cost of living of an average household during the last 150 years (since the Industrial Revolution). Wealth exploded during the Industrial Revolution. There were no corporate taxes, wage taxes, income taxes and very little municipal taxes (mostly tolls, fees and levies). For example West European countries were booming and the infrastructure in roads, railways and canals made it possible to take the train from London to Istanbul or Moscow. After the defeat of France in 1870, Von Bismarck requested from the French government as war damages the payment of 5 billion Gold French francs. He knew France would not be able to pay and put other harsh conditions in case the French defaulted. In less that 2 years the total amount was paid. There were not enough workers in Western Europe to work in the steel industry so a huge immigration was coming from Eastern Europe. If there was poverty it was not the fact of unemployment but lack of health, education, skills or wars. Still in 1950 the average American yearly wage was $3,300 and the average price for a 2 bedroom house was $7,700. The house was worth 2.3 times the yearly wage. Today the average yearly salary is $62,000 and the home median price is $430,000, almost 7 times the average salary. If you put in consideration the amount of taxes taken away by municipalities, sales taxes, state taxes and federal taxes, the effective salary is only $49,900. Why the average household becomes poorer is because the burden of taxes and fees. Before 1954 most European countries did not have VAT but by 1968 the whole economy was “covered by the VAT (goods and services) and other collective social benefits paid by the taxpayers to the enjoyment of non-taxpayers.

Tesla still has 39.9% of EV market share in Thailand despite all the bad publicity made on Musk. Space X stock doubled its value to US$200 (not publicly listed) and X valuation reached US$44 billion (from US$10 billion in September) so it’s back to the purchase price. Not bad…

Meanwhile Tesla stock is on the rebound (+5.27%) and BYD share is down 7% with a debt of US$7.04 billion. Just to mention that Warren Buffet sold his <5% ownership in BYD due to its ballooning debt. The total debt/equity ratio for Tesla is 10.7% while BYD’s is 29.26%. Huge advantage for Tesla which is not overly reliant on borrowed money to finance its operations. Its debt is well covered by operating cash flow (189.4%) while BYD debt coverage is 62.1% only. Tesla balance sheet is very strong. Once it’s driverless automobiles hit the market the stock will be a “darling” of the NASDAQ

The US are the first destination chosen by the Thais wishing to emigrate. The 350,000 US-Thai residents came by successive waves during the Vietnam War, after the Amerasian Immigration Act of 1982, the Asian financial crisis and after some of the coups d’état. Rama 9 was born in the US where his parents graduated as MD from Harvard. So there is a connection between the 2 countries. Many of the infrastructures built in Thailand comes from the US during the Vietnam war (airports, harbours and other places for supporting the population and contractors collaborating to the war effort. Most of the military equipment used by Thais between the 1970s and 2000s came from American inventories left in S.E Asia. Never forget that more than 50,000 US soldiers were stationed in Thailand (to be added to the thousands more coming from Vietnam for rest and recreation).

What about Ukraine? No more opposition either in the main street media and no more elections in the distant future. Anyway elections would be a no-value until all Ukrainians are back home.

French President Felix Faure died making love with a prostitute in 1899. He had a seizure in her arms. It must have happened more than once.

Let's start by having fair elections in Ukraine without any involvement of the EU, the US and Russia. Zelensky has postponed the elections using the war as an excuse. Let's have a durable cease fire and get the Ukrainians back home.

Just wanted to add that you need to carry your luggages into a special room when checking for departure. Luggages are open and checked for eventual forbidden items. It seems that no scanners have been installed making the checking process long and tedious.

Always amazed by these bamboo bridges in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Especially the ones supporting the weight of vehicles.

Things are not improving in Siem Reap. I was there mid-February 2025 and the hotels were empty, hardly a dozen people in the swimming pool. Not many people visiting the temples. It seems most people are part of tour groups arriving for one day visit and leaving the next morning. Restaurants and stores are empty. We were the only aircraft on the tarmac when we arrived from Bangkok. Only half-a dozen arrivals and departures for the whole day. Sad to see some beautiful hotels without clients. Maybe Cambodia should start avoiding charging people heavy fees in US$ and should allow land ownership to foreigners.

You have to do better than that as you seem to have answers for everything. The EU commission has always been cleared about its choice about the EU heads of state. EU subsidies require EU states to be obedient to the Führerin Frau von der Leyen. EU has been promoting firewall policy to keep right wing parties out of coalition government. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-10-2025-000150_EN.html https://capitalresearch.org/article/george-soros-romanian-ghosts-explaining-the-democratic-society/ Soros has been very active in Romania for the last 6 months. We may see a new “Maidan” type of revolution but this time it may backfired because Obama’s Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is not there to fan the flames.

Could it be another reason for the absence of Chinese tourists? There have been several documentaries about factory closures, lack of jobs, people fleeing cities, real-estate developers filing for bankruptcy, empty airports and railway stations as well as mall closures. Any lately visitors to China witnessed this exodus?

The French crew is also doing domestic flights. The previous day they operated 2 domestic flights.

Outsourced to who? McKinsey???

We flew non-stop between NYC and BKK 20 years ago on Thai Airways A340. Food and service were exceptional in business. We did not have pods with lay-flat seat but the width and comfort of the reclining seats were quite good with excellent support for legs and feet. I slept half of the flight.

Bangkok Airways is using wet leases for backup during the high season. Last month we used Bangkok Airways between Siem Reap and Suvarnabhumi. The flight was operated by a French Airline Airbus A319 Amelia with French registration and French crew (except for 2 Thai speaking flight attendants). I asked one of the crew if it was usual for them to fly local flights in S.E Asia. Amelia has wet leases contract with Bangkok Airways for 6 months a year for domestic and international flights. They have contracts with other airlines in Africa, Caribbean and western Pacific Islands. Crews rotates between different countries and love it as long as they stay bachelor. Why would Thai aircrafts and pilots do in the off-season? Operate money loosing flights and ask government to cover their losses?

Some Samsung Galaxy tablets as well as some Lenovo tabs have a built-in GPS module and do not require cellular or internet connections. Once you loaded the navigation application and necessary maps, you are set. It works independently using GPS satellites signals (either GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo, etc…).

The delay shows the BRI (Chinese Belt and Road Initiative) is facing hurdles. Many countries have delayed their implementation due to the amount of debt owed to China and other dependencies to China. https://www.cfr.org/blog/countries-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-whos-and-whos-out https://chinahandsmagazine.org/2024/09/20/promises-and-pitfalls-the-hidden-costs-of-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative/#:~:text=While the Belt and Road,projects highlight the risks involved.

…and seize the vehicle. Vehicles would be sold at auctions to finance a fund for victims of rogue drivers and riders.

Seems to be the exact replica of the Cambodia Digital Arrival Card. You just enter in the website page dedicated to this procedure your name, passport number, address in Cambodia, flight number and airport of entry. Then after entering these infos you get a QR code with your name above it. The IO scans your QR code, still checks your passport, apply a small sticker on your passport and then you go. For Cambodia it can be done 4 days before entering the country. So you can print it or keep it digital on your phone or pad. When you leave Cambodia you get another small sticker on your passport page next to the arrival sticker with your departure date. If you have an e-visa the digital arrival card is free but if you don’t you must pay the same amount as the e-visa (US$60).

Magic Jack https://www.magicjack.com/account/mjLandingpages.do?page=index