thaibreaker

Do you think it was any other reason why he was fired? Come on.

And they don't even want Norwegian, Swedish and Danish Kroners.. You can't exchange them most places, but if you find a place you can, it's 40% less than it's worth.. And I'm not even kidding. I exchanged NOK to Thai Baht a while ago, for 2.05.. The internet rate was 3.15.. Same with DKK and SEK.

Kind of like the president in a country I won't mention... When the statistics of new jobs created just came out, the solution was simple. Just fire the one responsible for those numbers, and hire a new one, who promised better numbers. Problem solved!

Tourism down by 5 or 6 %. Yea right. Yet it is visually noticeable everywhere in Thailand, according to reports. I have never seen low season this low before. Would I notice it if it was down only 5 %? Like 95 tourists instead of 100? Definitely not. Are they playing the game "think of a number.."?

You are back to pre Russia's invasion of Ukraine, I see. Come on, Sir. Everything changed in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Before then, Europe, USA and NATO still believed in talks and diplomacy to avoid a conflict. Biden did what was necessary at that point. We were wrong. Russia can never be trusted again, and we have been arming up since.

Yes. Like I mentioned above. But according to Russian propaganda, swallowed by some here I see, NATOs "expansion" is the reason Ukraine was invaded. No it wasn't. Like you point out, NATO has never been a threat to Russia. NATO is a defense alliance, not a war alliance. NATO would never expand if these countries weren't threatened, or felt they were under threat by Russia. Russia did this to themselves.

This. All true and accurate.

What a load of rubbish. Kremlin propaganda. Russia already has a lot of their borders next to NATO countries. They already have NATO bases at their footsteps. Ukraine would have been no different. Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Sweden across the Baltic sea. The reason Russia invaded Ukraine has nothing to do with NATO. Russia couldn't stand losing Ukraine, as their plans all along has been to re-establish the old Soviet Union. They needed full control over Ukraine in the long run, and couldn't stand watching Ukraine joining the west. Ukraine CHOSE to join the West, and to get away from Russia's very damaging and controlling society. Their choice, just like Baltikum did.

If you don't already have a Thai bank account, I would strongly advice you to apply for the Non-O 90 days in your own country (or outside Thailand) before you arrive. It is almost impossible to open a Thai bank account on a visa exemption these days (unless using an agent), and you will need that for your financial requirements. Coming in on a 90 days Non-O visa, makes the process a piece of cake.

Correct, but we all did. We were all a bit cautious with our approach in the beginning, but sent more and more qualified and needed equipment as the war moved on. The nuclear threats were taken more seriously in the beginning, until we all understood these were only empty words, and that their military was far from as strong as we feared it was. They couldn't even overtake Ukraine.. China was also on the ball and stated they would never approve a nuclear holocaust started by Russia. So this has nothing to do with Biden alone, but a joint understanding and approach by NATO as a whole, as the war moved ahead. However, both Biden and Jens Stoltenberg, the chief of NATO, were very firm in saying they would support Ukraine "as long as it would take". Unfortunately, in retrospect, it is now clear that if they would start supporting with much heavier weapons at a much earlier stage, Russia would probably have been driven out of Ukraine by now. But we didn't know how weak their military was back then. It took Europe a couple of years to send their 50-ish fighter jets for instance, after only supporting with body arms and light weapons in the beginning. The problem was since Ukraine wasn't a member of NATO, we (the west) decided not to go all in, but supported Ukraine nevertheless to secure stability in the region. Especially Europe could not sit still in the boat, watching Russia take over Ukraine. That would be, and will still be, a disaster for the future of Europe.

As I said, everything changed in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Until then, Europe and NATO, with the US, still believed in diplomacy and talks. Russia proved once again that you can't trust them. You can't reason with them. They only understand war and suffering. Biden did all he could during this war, but you know perfectly well that his administration needed approval in the Congress to keep up his support at the end of his term. That was when Trump really started to have a say from outside, and the speaker and several more important votes did exactly what he told them to do. Trump was going to end this war in 24 hours, remember. Aren't you American? You should know all this. Biden wanted continued arm support, but his efforts in the end were halted by the Congress and the Republicans for a long while, before he got at least some of it through in the end. That pause, not caused by Biden, really hurt Ukraine a lot. After Trump took over, it was full stop for a long while, of which we are seeing the result now. Russia has got a lot more "cards" in eventual peace negotiations now than they would have.

No NATO boots on the ground, before after the war is over, correct. Then just to secure peace. What Ukraine has needed, is more military and intelligence support, vehicles, tanks, long range weapons, more airplanes, more Patriot, Himars and all that, continuing without hiccups. Hellfire would be great too. Lack of all that is why Russia has been breaking through at a couple of areas these last months. Ukraine does a helluva job holding the lines, but they need more support. Europe is doing what they can, but it's not enough without the US. Yes, absolutely, the reason why Europe has woken up, is because of the Russian threat to European countries, that would have happened regardless of any American presidents. Times changed in 2022. I would say Europe has an even better reason to do it WITH Trump, because now we can't be sure the US will come to our rescue if Russia invaded more European countries. Europe is preparing to stand on their own feet.

No boots on any ground. Ukraine has been fully capable of fighting the Russians all by themselves, but they were abandoned by the US when they needed them the most, with arms and intelligence, and still are. No, you obviously don't understand how the US role has changed within NATO from when Biden was president, until now. They were a clear unity back then, now there are very much a split between USA and the other NATO nations. Why do you think the European NATO members several times have had crisis meetings to discuss Trump's solo ride with Russia? The US wouldn't even include Europe with any peace talks and cease fire with Russia. Trump even blamed Ukraine for the war, and still does. The European part of NATO is no longer trusting the US, they're not even trusting they will come to a rescue if article 5 was going into effect. However, we still need to have the best relations we can with the US, and that's what we saw the last time Trump came to a meeting with NATO. With Rutte embarrassing himself by licking Trump's boots. They did what they thought was necessary to not lose the US support. NATO is in crisis, but European countries have finally decided to arm themselves considerably more because of the Russian threats these last years. That is also because we no longer can trust USA to be our allies. These are the facts we are facing in Europe today. With Kamala, everything would have been different. We would still have a strong NATO, better armed, and a better united one for sure. With no hiccups in the support of Ukraine. Btw, I don't know if you remember how Trump threatened to take over Greenland, even with military force.. Greenland is a part of Denmark, a highly respected NATO member.

Seriously? Biden's (and Kamala's) administration would have continued to arm Ukraine, and supported them any way necessary. And more importantly, they would never abandoned other NATO nations, like Trump has been trying since day one. Trump is back at it now, like he did back in February, telling Ukraine and Zelensky that they never should have started this war... He is clearly in Putin's pockets. RUSSIA INVADED UKRAINE!

Facts. With Harris, Ukraine would never have been abandoned by Trump and his embarrassing administration, like we have seen since January. The fact that people on here don't understand that, shows they have no clue about this war.

Go to soi 6, and One Stop Visa, they 100% sure are doing them, the financials and everything. The price has gone considerably up, but that may be temporary, until the dust settles down.

At least One Stop visa at soi 6 still does. I asked Maneerat a few weeks ago for a friend, they had put a hold on it for new accounts. But seems they are up and running with Krungsri Bank now.

No idea. I used Wechsler, or WAIS. My sister got 128, so I'm happy with that 😎

Maneerat doesn't do new visas based on retirement though, 3+12 months, included opening a new bank account. At least for the moment. Only a few agents in Pattaya still do them, because of the banking issues (they drive to Bangkok). Maneerat can do the 12 months extension though, if you come in on a Non-O 90 days visa based on retirement.

Tried this IQ test recently. Got 132. I'm sorry I'm not up to your standard, and would be wasting your time. You ever tried getting a friend? Your standard pretty much weed out all the Thailand expats.

Yes. Btw, stop calling each other childish names is something the US should adopt.

Double post

Yep, we better be careful with our choice of life partner. I won't marry again either. Staying 6 months a calender year was very easy for snowbirds when the Norwegian embassy still provided us the income letter. Those days are also gone next year, but getting an O-A from Oslo is still an option. Or a 90 days non O visa from Oslo. Or do the visa exemption, extensions and border runs. It's more time consuming though. In addition, the Thai baht is very strong, also compared to NOK. I remember when 1 krone was 6 baht, 20 years ago.. 3.16 now, but it was just around 3.00 before Trump.. That's a 50% decrease of value, and a lot less baht for our money. At least we can thank Trump for a slightly stronger krone against dollar and baht at the moment. It isn't easy here anymore, but I still choose Thailand over any other country in SE Asia.

Hmm. Don't know what to say to that. I guess you didn't do any vaccinations during covid? I didn't either, but for a different reason. I very much doubt that's the reason why the Thai smile has vanished for so many though. But thanks for the input.

Here are some pointers to why foreigners might find other destinations. 1. Global economy, expensive tickets. 2. Taxation of foreigners staying more than 180 days a year. 3. Dual pricing. 4. Too strong baht, making everything more expensive. 5. Immigration and visa issues, and strict immigration officers at borders. 6. Banking issues, very difficult opening new bank accounts. 7. Clash with Cambodia, and closed borders. 8. What on earth happened to the Thai smile? 9. Ripoffs and scams. 10. Burning season. 11. Too many Russians and Indians, signs and menus in Russian. 12. Neverending work on roads and pavements. That said, I personally love being here. It's my retirement destination.