englishoak

1 hour ago, Laza 45 said:

...so will they ban lamb chops because they use dogs to round up the sheep?

Sheep dogs arnt beaten to round up sheep and chained up... get a clue.

Unlucky its done, whining and doomsaying is all you got left....the future will bring both pain and pleasure ive no doubt, but it will  in our hands and NOT Brussels.. THAT is what we voted for and we WILL make it work, and I will wager the EU will collapse long before the UK does. 

The UK will be just fine and thanks for the saltiness so many here have contributed its lovely to see so many still as butt hurt now as 4 years ago. ????????

13 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Pilger did some good presentations on regime-change operations by the CIA, but he is a far-leftist. 

 

I find it puzzling how many who documented abuses of the West - both from a right and left perspective - somehow take the brutal, kleptocratic CCP's side, now.  The hypocrisy makes me question all they said before.

Pilger is an excellent reporter, done some fantastic work but like many his speciality has been mainly focused on the atrocities of the powerful west and consequently has a blind side and fails to acknowledge any regime/nation as it grows in power makes poor decisions, engages in propaganda and generally lies, abuses and manipulates its own population along with others more and more as it grows... things can always be worse, something else Pilger I think often fails to realise.  

There is no good guy nor governments in the realm of the big players, ( laos globally is irrelevant  ) there is no fantastic system nor utopia...over time only power matters to any system. All are flawed, Communism is immediately deadly to its own people,  Capitalism is easily corruptible, Liberalism is ridiculously self destructive and Democracy is an illusion of choice, Dictatorship, religious or not is usually a nightmare and Monarchistic cannot be discussed. A true republic works the best of all but is not perfect by any means and also erodes and is corrupted over time. Democide is histories greatest killer and all powerful nations are guilty of that, none more so than China throughout its history.

I do know one thing, a people dosnt become kind or enlightened by being starved, beaten, and indoctrinated to hate or be scared of others. for the past century or so China has been unable to create anything original but steals everything else the world does create then pretends its home grown. If anything it has the worst parts of every system ever thought of.This is not a power to look upto or imitate. 

Modern China was born out of communism, corrupted even before it became capitalistic, does not entertain the illusion of democracy and literally installed a dictator that is nothing more than an uneducated mafia family head. This man is not a smart man education wise, only politically astute and a survivor. To him and the CCP the Chinese people are really nothing but animals and means to more power/ wealth.. thats all 

If anyone thinks this Chinese model of mass surveillance, control of thought, speech and intolerance about anything critical of its regime is going to improve the world they are sadly mistaken.

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Some say that Corona was a trial for the real event. I don't know, but it's possible.

With the other milder plagues come out of China in the past decades each one being more concerning than the last Its possible, especially when combined with a Chinese generals analysis of and conclusion that China needs desperately to expand its territory which would not be peacefully tolerated by the world especially the USA and that Americas is by far the most desired land on earth so the best means are by biological  warfare and population tolerance China has 6 x the population of the US so in the event of say a 60% population reduction in a pandemic China would still have 2.5 x that of the US does today.  China in manpower at least can afford the risk, plus it has no checks and balances about how it deals with its population that most of the world does, at least in the developed one of the west. In short the CCP might do things no other nation could get away with, what concerns me with china CCP is It has no morals and no interest in humanity other than its own self interests.

I dont write anything off being possible where China is concerned.. Of course I would expect a scorched earth policy to occur before the US gave up its land to any invading force or takeover, even in an aftermath of a horrific plague.  

7 hours ago, owl sees all said:

There will come a time - when? - that the US will have to make a decision about Thailand,

 

China knows that the way to hurt the US is economically. It cannot win in a military conflict. So it is gradually exerting influence all over.

 

IMO China will soon provide an alternative to the Petrodollar. All the countries that deal with China can settle in the new money; a crypto backed by gold perhaps, or gold itself. China has been stockpiling gold for two decades. US gold reserves are unknown, but are thought by many to be non-existent.

 

It's hard military US power or the soft creepy power of the Chinese.

How many countries currently use the Chinese currency ? None, how many use the dollar ? all of them. 

a world reserve currency needs stability, a background, a trading history, pedigree and trust... China lacks in all of them.China is and will be unable to offer an alternative to the Dollar, however.

There are getting on for 8 billion in the world, and less of them poor every year, the dollar is imo likely to get stronger rather than weaken and demand for the dollar isnt slowing but actually increasing. 

A new world reserve currency would likely be digital based one and not one owned or controlled by one nation, China has nowhere near enough Gold to back a reserve currency but the world collectively does. blockchain protected and likely to be backed by a basket of global nations central banks, perhaps the global gold reserve.  China might be one of them but it isnt going to be the next worldwide global currency, not without a full on fully hot war first anyways. Having said that.China went hot to some degree long ago only not with conventional weapons.

We are already in a global war, one of politics, economics, biological, business acquisition,media and narrative control... China is winning atm on all those fronts and has been for a couple of decades simply because the world turned a blind eye, it has now woken up and so things will get more intense from here on... 

Far as I can tell anything that involves fun and freely getting on with your life in privacy is going away rapidly,

Oh well done the pub scene while young and could have fun.  Not a chance im signing in anywhere to simply have a drink like school registration, Itll just save me money by not bothering.

Diversity showing its strength again ? this scum was recently released from already going a stint in jail .. what a contribution to society this animal is. 

Thug demands.... 

Propaganda, pure and simple. 

49 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Agree that it is in everyone's interest to have a deal.  But it is only natural and logical that the EU will not bend to UK pressure for a last minute deal on UK conditions.  Germany already preparing for a No Deal is quite sensible given the history of Brexit.

I don't agree on your last statement that the EU will be just as badly affected as the UK in case of a No Deal.  It's in everyone's interest that a Deal is made, but UK will be hit much harder than the EU in case of No Deal.

I agree its in everyones best interest to have a deal, i also agree initially the UK would be hit harder in the event of no deal but, The very worst hit however would be the EU member Ireland, which it has itself said a number of times a no deal would be a total disaster, more burden on the EU. As the UK continues to make trade deals around the globe the pendulum swings back again and the EU will be the worse off just as the UK will find new markets. These other trade deals and partnerships in the event of a initial EU no deal would just galvanise better deals for new UK trade partners and the EU would begin to lose ground to them too. A US deal could come relatively fast especially if Trump is reelected which is the last thing the EU wants without a deal itself first. 

The city of London which contributes by far the most tax revenues through financial services will and is expected to experience rapid growth and investment once decoupled,  its very good at what it does and Id expect the UK gov to support future incentives for financial business growth of the city. It will no doubt attempt to capitalise on Hong Kongs imminent demise, it is already making that clear and the public offering of long term stay arrangements to HK residents was a clear dog whistle that the city of London will be very welcoming to financial and banking interests in HK needing a new home. Frankfurt cannot compete with the Banking regulatory freedoms and incentives the UK will be able and willing to offer our former colony, theres no doubt about that. 

Nope I am not worried about an initial no EU deal, it is likely to be very temporary at worst. 

Thailand has nothing special or unique to offer the wealthy, Angelina Jolie might have thought it cool to get a few tattoos and a few footballers et al but its got nothing to offer the real wealthy. 

True Wealthy arnt interested in second quality only the best. Thailands not got top class much of anything from what I could tell that isnt beaten hands down by dozens of other locations around the world for pretty much everything... Dont get me wrong i love Thailand but its not a place id bother with if totally loaded for tourism. 

On 6/18/2020 at 9:22 AM, samran said:

I certainly can’t.
 

Giving up free and unfettered access to a market of 400m people and 20 trillion in GDP for some tim tams. We’ll even throw in the Vegemite for nothing!  
 

While Boris huffs and puffs about fishing rights, the welsh farmers are frozen like deers in headlights about the thrown under that green and gold lorry filled with more efficiently grown Australian beef and lamb.  
 

Bring. It. On! 

Tims Tams are ok but Thai Tivoli is better imo  its VB and Barramundi id like here, vegimite is <deleted> though. 

Those 400m people etc arnt going anywhere and Europe isnt going anywhere either nor the UK, its independence thats all.

There will be a deal on trade, if not initially one will happen in the not too distant future, most business knows this already, its just currently media/political posturing  atm as this phase of the  game isnt yet over. The UK will however have unfettered access to the rest of the globe to do deals with, Thats worth a lot lot more and far greater potential including and very likely with the EU too, or it risks its competitors in certain markets out competing them for the £ like beef or lamb as youve pointed out. or maybe chocolate wafers like Tim Tams over liddle wafers.   .. really its a good position to be in.

Since the plague, the ability of having an independent more nimble and regulatory flexible approach has become self evident, most economists and financial heads I know accept that, ask Italy what being thrown under the bus is like or Germany  being told to pay 42% more in... 

I had no issues with quality commonwealth meat before and wont have in the future,  just wait until we do a deal with the USA .. good luck competing with beef prices and efficiency then. you can fight it out with NZ for the lamb for quality and price. Welsh and Scottish livestock farmers will have to up their game and become more efficient then, thats a good thing too. They have gotten too fat on EU handouts nd become slovenly in efficiency for too long imo anyway. 

The rest of the globe is waiting to make trade deals with, and the UK is most likely going to become even more of a financial powerhouse thanks to the city and decoupling from ever tightening banking/investment regulations no doubt helped by HK soon going the way of the dodo,  we will be just fine. 

No pain, no gain. 

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

In real speak got some bad feed back from the usual mob and lost his bottle. Are there no politicians with a spine anymore?

Not a question of spine imo,  in the current climate, unless its on the fringe, Farage might get away with it but hes been tagged with being a racist for so long 99% have already made thier minds up about him... mainstream party  ? nope i dont think so. Not until the Mary whitehouse attitude has blown itself out anyways.

Unfortunately the Social media busybody mob combined with the Rabid MSM means, anyone in the public space saying anything different to the current popular trend gets shredded and attacked. We are definitely living in times of moral hysteria of perceived heresy and being outcast from a society for

 having different thoughts or opinion. Lets hope they dont start burnings and killings as people were accused of being  witches before.. sadly we are getting closer to this kind of thing every year. Humanity is definitely regressing and its doing so wayyy too fast for my liking of late. 

37 minutes ago, franzs said:

This moron should clear first the problems in his own country before he points his finger in other directions

Yea lets totally ignore Chinas ongoing genocide.. cos Trump...