thaibeachlovers

From the BBC article: The recent popularity of zouxian attests to the mounting desperation for some migrants to leave China, said Alexis Zhou, a freelance researcher who writes about Chinese migration in North America. Since the pandemic, it's been very difficult for an average Chinese person to obtain a visa from Mexico or Central American countries, she said.

One wonders how they were able to stay in the US as the BBC story points out that they are economic refugees that just disliked living in China because of politics. No stories of persecution, arrest or torture for being the wrong ethnicity etc.

Yeah, they do like to keep banging that tired old drum, LOL.

Are you sure about that? Britain has scrapped so much of it's military since BAOR ended that IMO it doesn't have the wherewithal to defend itself against Russia. Britain even has to rely on the US for it's fighter planes.

I have an ex friend that smoked weed regularly long as I knew him ( over 30 years ). Changed from an amazing guy into a sniveling loser.

Hasn't worked for me yet. Guess I'll have to drink more coffee.

I looked at as much as I could tolerate of that ( about 1 minute ) and had to laugh at the stunned look on the face of the guy not talking. Perhaps Biden should have shown up given he swapped a man responsible for American deaths for her.

But, but , but she is such a wonderful person and totally worth swapping a notorious gun runner for that she should receive adulation wherever she goes in the USA.

LOL. How about addressing the reason I gave about why they ain't prosecuting all those naughty people referenced in the post I quoted.

No doubt they are all visiting temples, eating street food, having massages and tucked up in bed by 10 pm.

Beat me to it. Given many will have found other work, they will need more than the pitiful wages they used to work for to return.

Hurricanes, wildfires, drought, floods, whirlwinds and now too much snow. A religious person might be wondering if the USA was being punished by God.

If a ( IMO ) pro Biden DOJ is reluctant to prosecute could it possibly be that they don't have any actual evidence that would lead to a conviction? Even the DOJ needs some hope that they will win cases before bringing prosecutions.

I considered he was using a "joyful" holiday to make a political speech to divert attention from something else- perhaps the end of his agenda in a few days when the GOP control the money. Whatever the reason, he didn't have to do so then. It's not like racism is going to magically vanish because he made a speech about it.

Not according to the Ukrainian person ( I think an ex Ukrainian politician ) interviewed on Al Jazeera who was complaining that the training had not already taken place. However, we shall see in due course which version is correct.

Something else to think about is that the US will not be manning the Patriots for obvious reasons, and the Ukrainians need to be trained. So now that the Russians know they have a window before the Patriots are functional they are IMO likely to launch even more drone and missile attacks on infrastructure, just as winter is getting really cold. Given the offensive on Russians in the east seems to be stalled, the possibility of a winter offensive by the Russians and the possibility of a new front on the Belorussian border towards Kiev, it could be getting even worse for the Ukrainian people.

Re the Patriots, before anyone starts claiming it is a winner in the war, according to what I saw on Al Jazeera, one Patriot missile is 4 million US$ and one Iranian drone is 250,000 US$, so all Russia has to do is use up all the Patriot missiles in attacks with massed drones. Depends on how many new missiles the US is prepared to pay for, and from the 3rd of January the GOP control the money. Apparently they are somewhat reluctant to have a blank cheque policy for Ukraine. There was a comparison with WW2 when the US loaned Britain weapons, which had to be paid for after the war, but I don't know if that is the same with Ukraine, or if the US taxpayer is going to pay.

I assume you are talking about Afghanistan. There are many successful invasions in history. Britain is an example of that, with the Saxon majority being absorbed into a society run by the Normans.

Are you claiming that Fergie was having fun in public, or going on tv to rubbish the royal family?

I agree, which is where the Falklands comes in useful. If they knew they'd be going there if can't be returned to home country IMO the number attempting to cross would be significantly less. Surely no one is claiming that a person without a valid visa should be allowed to choose where they live on British territory?

Early days, so let's give the cops time to find the extent of the rot and whom is involved.

After a ferry sank many years ago ferries suddenly acquired loads of life jackets. Perhaps it's changed, but on the car ferries it used to be obvious that the life rafts were not capable of being used. I always had a personal inflatable flotation device of my own that I used when traveling by ferry in LOS.

Why is it always Britain's responsibility to "rescue" them? Surely the French also have a responsibility to rescue them if in trouble and take them to a French port?

Surely the international thing only takes effect if the voyagers were in distress? As long as the boat was seaworthy and had enough fuel to get back to France that should negate any responsibility of Britain's.Are you saying a seaworthy small boat not in distress in the channel is the responsibility of the British government to bring into a British port? That is a nonsense. After all they chose to get on it of their own free will and it was good enough to leave safe harbour on. They didn't magically appear in British waters, did they? They are indeed humans and chose to leave their own country, and pay criminals to get them to the French coast and to get on a rubber boat, so why have they become a British responsibility?

Once the Australian solution was started the boats seem to have stopped. IMO Rwanda is the British version of the Australian solution, but surely there is still a British island far away that could be used instead? As long as they are on British territory no legal problems and far away from all the goodies is probably enough of a disincentive to stop the boats from France. Perhaps the Falklands could yet prove useful.