BusyB

The family jewels?

This a real man bites dog kinda story eh?

Surprise surprise! Or maybe not ...

I doubt the Russian army was ever what it was made out to be. It proved to be pretty useless from the very beginning. They failed to take the strategically essential airfields due to Ukrainian tactics and stunning bravery and patriotism. And look at all those unfortunate tankies cooped up in their metal boxes on the road to Kyiv - willing Javelin bait. Having to beg N.Korean troops two years later for your stumbling meat grinder isn't a sign of military prowess either. One thing is for certain, Russia won't even cast a sideways glance at the Baltic states or any other NATO state for the foreseeable future after the Ukraine debacle. That even though Ukraine's forces are not even fully fledged NATO forces. They've merely had a modicum of NATO training and been given a few of our less potent weapons systems, backed presumably by some intelligence but limited in range. They've completely humiliated the Russians in every single aspect of warfare from the high command right the way down to the trenches. Besides that the Baltics are now backed by 'tripwire' NATO brigades and more importantly Finland close by and Sweden - now both full NATO members. Talk about the law of unintended consequences. The 'Special Military Operation' ('the troops'll be home by Christmas folks' - just like Kaiser Wilhelm's boys in 1914) has been a complete failure on all fronts. Russia can barely make incremental gains and then only by gratuitously sacrificing tens of thousands of its young mens' lives. The burden of caring for hundreds of thousands of disabled and invalid men and women will be incalculable. They will also be lost to reconstruction as much as those who had the nous and means to flee are gone. The land Russia's acquired while drenching it in its soldiers' blood is basically a burden. Former coal mining territory largely populated by pensioners and laid ruin to by war. Crimea has been neutralized as a naval asset. Add to that the prospect of years of well equipped, motivated and financed guerrilla warfare resistance in any further territorial gains. The Russian economy was about the size of the Italian economy at the start of the SMO. It's been ramped up to something larger now, but in reality purely because Putin's had to transform it into a war economy which is not sustainable. The numbers (GDP, productivity etc.) might look good, but you can't eat bullets and it all goes at the cost of the civilian sectors including consumers. No-one outside of Russia would even consider buying a ruble - the exchange rate exists by Putin's decree and is even so at an all time low. Interest rates hover at around 20% to counter raging inflation. The shadow tankers and forcing the country's companies to onshore foreign currency revenues are signs of weakness not vitality. Globally Russia has become China's vassal and Beijing isn't overly happy with it nowadays. I suspect the only reason Putin is still in office has less to do with his fabled powers as a spy and ruthless gangster, and much more to do with noone else in Moscow being willing to pick up the poison chalice he's leaving behind.

And totally destroy what's left of its heritage as a fishing village/town. Great. Next to the Dolphin roundabout they leveled the Palm Gardens Hotel - one of my top 3 in Thailand. An older, 2 story, lovely, family run, affordable hotel with brilliant Thai cuisine, full of long term stayers, formerly a TUI resort with a swell pool and lovely garden, AND the quaint old town type shopping center opposite where there were real massage shops, trinket stands, small shops and of course great Kiss Food grub. They've replaced that with Terminal 20 bloody 1 - like Pattaya urgently needed another mall - and the hotel was still a desolate site last time I was there. Broke my heart it did.

I seem to recall that a huge number of them back then were Aussis ... it struck me as a kind of Oz Las Palmas 😉

The cops look as if they put him up to it 555 It's certainly entertaining. Unique. But is s/he transsexual or transvestite?

Silly moo.

Because if the claim is justified Leonardo knew about the design flaw and didn't modify affected models nor advise operators. Personally I think managers responsible for decisions and collusion like that should face extended periods in jail. And yes Boeing board I'm looking at you. I am still volcanically enraged about the decision not to let pilots know of essential flight characteristic and control modifications in order to save a few poxy bucks.

Agreed. I think Pattaya is helped enormously by having a hinterland which supplies an influx of normal people who circulate in and out short and long term, independent of the tourism lark. Having said that, I was in Pattaya last year and was shocked by the number of times I was pestered (sometimes 3 times during a meal) by hawkers. And how often I was approached on the streets by Indian touts who wanted to advise me on losing weight or some other scam. Persistent sods and a couple of times I had to modify my stance from 'no thanks' to 'you worry about your own weight mate' to 'clear off pal that's enough' That was new in my experience. Even on the beach they were never very pushy, and I can't ever remember being offered watches and sunglasses eating dinner in the evening. The traffic was mostly gridlocked (also new) and the place stank of exhaust. It was chock full of tour buses off/onloading, blocking the traffic all over town; it took 35 minutes one time to get from Kiss Food on 2nd Road to the Dolphin Roundabout at 8 in the evening in a song thaew. 55 minutes to get from the Royal Cliff down to 2nd Road on a Saturday afternoon with Bolt. It's gone way downhill since my previous last visit in 2014. Won't be rushing to get back. Sad. I had many years of happy times there.

Doubt it. On that basis it should have burst at least a decade ago. There's a never ending supply of suckers in this world. Just need to look at recent political events ...

I stopped going to Phuket in 2008. The only place in LOS where I've been threatened with violence (tuktuk tossers of course) but that's another story and only a part of the whole. Pattaya was always laid back in my experience when it came to money - sort of 'OK guys there's enough to go round. Let's keep it chilled.' I found Phuket an absolute nightmare money grubbing grifter's paradise. Met hardly any Thai there I liked. As for the girls, in Pattaya they were always pleasant in my experience - in Phuket they wanted as much cash as they could get for minimum input. I don't think that's what Ms. Paetongtarn based her decision on though 555. Phuket has a much more advanced and developed water sports industry and is adjacent to the Indian Ocean. I used to go for the diving (something else beside yachting etc. Pattaya simply cannot compete with) but like I said, after 2008 I'd had a gutful of the dump even as a diving destination. For a tourist punter like me it was overpriced, lousy bang for buck, miserable service, greedy. Watching the seemingly endless python of pilgrim hordes snaking in and out of the trinket shrines along Patong Beach reminded me a bit of Las Palmas. I remember Phuket as flashy but overpriced, cheap and nasty, unfriendly and substandard for the average punter. On the other hand for those who live and work there for good money as expats, away from the madding crowd, who know where to live, where to find sensible prices and where to go for genuine entertainment and not tourist pamp, I'm sure it really can be a paradise. But for travelers with any taste, dignity or nous though it's a shrill toilet bowl. (And I'm no kie-nok Charly either ;D)

People have died for far less than that.

Verbal halitosis.

Never gonna happen. Anyone who's experienced complete network breakdowns that last for days knows cash is essential. I have - didn't discover it till I got to the chaos at the supermarket till as it was still breaking news. Fortunately I had enough cash to cover a few minor purchases. Others were having to offload their next week's essentials. That lasted for several days in Germany of all places. Due to a bad update in one of the main systems. Some ATMs were out as well.

Agreed. I was in Pattaya a year ago - first time since 2014 - I found the 'talent' anything but appealing. Real rough stuff. Not nice at all.

That's cruel 🤣🤣🤣

Or maybe she has bad taste or decision making skills?

That's exactly what the Catholics said when Martin Luther popped up and spoiled their act. Sooner or later even Islam will find out that nothing in this world was ever permanent and never will be. It took a thousand five hundred years to get to the Reformation. Islam is only 800 years old.

Do you apply the same standard to the US tech oligarchs? Musk? Zuckerberg who is now abandoning fact checking and aiming at the EU? Or the felonious Trump's verbal halitosis?

Wow! A two handed, steadied point. Note the tension. Such dynamics!

There is serious malicious disfunction (aka evil) afoot in the US now and it is virtually unchecked. It is very, very worrying.

I'm glad I never hung out with the western women you knew. There isn't a primate on the planet doesn't love sex - my experience with lovely women from all over the world anyway.

Fair enough comment in general. Agreed. But this young woman probably wasn't 'playing with fire'. At least not knowingly. She was a bright eyed student newbie over from Taiwan for a few days. She saw a pamphlet and thought what a great way to be kind and get close to these wonderful animals and support a good cause. She probably had no idea of the business or what it takes to tame elephants who regularly kill their mahouts.

I agree with the general sentiment. However I can't understand what Kissinger's being a Jew has to do with his perpetration of mass murder. Recalling specifically his Christmas present of bombing Hanoi. His Nobel Peace Price was worthless. However, he was the United States of America Secretary of State as I recall. Representing and acting on behalf of the US, not Jewry.