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simple1
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As said this proposed new tax applies to superannuation earnings of over A$100 per year. Even so, it's not fair as government had previously strongly encouraged Australians to investment more in Superannuation to minimise costs for supporting retirees. Also people aged 50 and over will also get a boost to the tax free additional contributions they can make from $25,000 to $35,000. This is after government had previously cut annual tax free contributions from A$50k to A$25k
These days it's commonly estimated that to retire in Australia with an income stream to support a reasonable life style requires around A$1m to A$1.5m. That of course does not take into account the ups and downs of the market. Twice in 20+ years I lost around 15% of my super savings, that hit can take quite a while to recoup.
I don't think the government has any right to interfere with how much you put into super , they should be glad some one is, someone coming through in the next decade will require 3 mill to live a good retirement , even now i am up around 2 mill.
Cannot stop you from putting money into super, they just closed the loophole on the lower tax rate advantage for those who are on a higher income tax rate
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Obviously I don't know, but I doubt very seriously that the US would get involved much in Bangkok or elsewhere beyond what they do now. Now they supply arms and some training.
The people of the US are war weary. I think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than 8,000 US lives Link and about $1.5 trillion dollars Link and of course there have been many other huge expenses such as patrolling the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf. There are also patrols to protect ships near Somalia, there was the attack on Libya, the current massive buildup of assets in the Asian waters and in Guam and The Philippines... There is China vs The Philippines and others, and N. Korea and...
The US military budget is $700 bil a year, about half of the world's total military spending. A lot of people are questioning it, wondering why.
I think the US would ramp up support in intelligence and supplies and maybe some special ops people, but another war to stop terrorism wouldn't go over well IMHO.
I certainly agree with everything you say concerning the people of the United States and another war (excepting N Korea should the North attack one or more of our treaty allies, such as Japan or S Korea). So you can understand I'm not talking about tens of thousands of U.S. troops into Thailand's South, or U.S. troops doing Baghdad again in Bangkok.
I speak instead of the assistance Washington would provide to Bangkok in respect to counter terrorism training and equipment, not large numbers of boots on the ground. Thailand is a non-Nato ally of the U.S. so we'd be obliged - more importantly, willing - to assist the Thai government to counter southern terrorism in the "north" of Thailand should the southern terrorists come north, which I'm highly confident they would not do. We recently concluded a successful effort of this nature in the Philippines, another formally allied country, using only some special forces in jungle counter terrorism warfare in conjunction with Filipino troops we helped to train.
No war in Thailand, simply assistance to a formal ally of the United States.
Thailand later lost the provinces it annexed from the former Sultanate or some such of Pattani, which extended well south of the present province's geography. So the Thais were pleased to get them back as a gift from Japan during WW2 for the Thai's good behavior while occupied. Now the people there want the border line moved yet again, but are going about it in the entirely dead wrong ways, i.e., terrorism. Either way, borderlines moved a lot during the past 200 years due to the colonial presence of the European powers. In present times, however, border lines are more difficult to move than the lines at KFC.
Maybe the US Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines contributed to the current cessation of hostilities in Mindanao. However what strikes me is after 30+ years of insurgency warfare and an estimated 120,000+ deaths, the insurgents have obtained a framework agreement for an autonomous province, planned to be finalised by 2015, exactly what they wanted all those years ago.
Hopefully their will not be a repeat of previously autonomy agreements being broken, by both sides. One was over ruled by the Supreme Court of the Philippines (2000?) that lead to resurgence of conflict.
I guess it boils down what lessons can be learned by all sides of the conflict in the deep South, a faster turn around time for achieving a mutually agreeable peace process and it will not take 15 years of on & off negotiations as happened in the Philippines.
So give in to terrorists demands or reward terrorist tactics by giving them what they want? Where does it stop if that approach is taken?
Read my post "achieving a mutually agreeable peace process". The point of my post it that these so called insurgency conflicts are finalised by a political dialogue, based upon some form of power sharing for the affected area/provinces. We are not talking about an endeavour to over throw the national government. The continuation of killing & suffering by all parties to the conflict is illogical when looking at recent outcomes. At least their has been an agreement to negotiate a template to achieve peace. Right now it seems the biggest challenge is to get the Juwae under control.
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Let's take a look at possible friends of NK--and in some cases, they are not really friends, just enemies of the US.
Myanmar--probably not anymore since they have moved in a different direction.
Iran--Maybe, but probably not likely to break a fingernail helping NK. They want a bit of technology and stuff that's hard to get, but I doubt they consider themself a real friend.
Venezuela--Maybe, but with the death of it's former leader, probably not likely to go very far out on a limb.
Am I missing anyone?
Yes, Pakistan initially provided some of the technology to develop nuclear weapons, although it's alleged the main person/department involved was doing so without government authority. I believe Pakistan & North Korea still have diplomatic and trade relations.
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How many missiles are stationed along the border facing North Korea?
All we hear is this NK missile here and this NK missile there . . . why don't they report the hundreds of missiles pointed at NK?
Honestly, this is getting ridiculous - the wonderful free press
Googling this: 'US missiles aimed at North Korea' comes back with this:
Every single link is about one of the two NK missiles moving somewhere . . . nothing else
A bit of info below on South Korean missile offensive capability, it shows an extensive investment. Plus god knows how many US conventional & nuclear armed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Republic_of_Korea_Army
For a bit more paranoia “Officials said it was not clear why the Russians conducted the practice strikes. However, the simulations may indicate Moscow has targeted its offensive ballistic missiles on Japan or U.S. military bases in the region.”
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As said this proposed new tax applies to superannuation earnings of over A$100 per year. Even so, it's not fair as government had previously strongly encouraged Australians to investment more in Superannuation to minimise costs for supporting retirees. Also people aged 50 and over will also get a boost to the tax free additional contributions they can make from $25,000 to $35,000. This is after government had previously cut annual tax free contributions from A$50k to A$25k
These days it's commonly estimated that to retire in Australia with an income stream to support a reasonable life style requires around A$1m to A$1.5m. That of course does not take into account the ups and downs of the market. Twice in 20+ years I lost around 15% of my super savings, that hit can take quite a while to recoup.
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Obviously I don't know, but I doubt very seriously that the US would get involved much in Bangkok or elsewhere beyond what they do now. Now they supply arms and some training.
The people of the US are war weary. I think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than 8,000 US lives Link and about $1.5 trillion dollars Link and of course there have been many other huge expenses such as patrolling the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf. There are also patrols to protect ships near Somalia, there was the attack on Libya, the current massive buildup of assets in the Asian waters and in Guam and The Philippines... There is China vs The Philippines and others, and N. Korea and...
The US military budget is $700 bil a year, about half of the world's total military spending. A lot of people are questioning it, wondering why.
I think the US would ramp up support in intelligence and supplies and maybe some special ops people, but another war to stop terrorism wouldn't go over well IMHO.
I certainly agree with everything you say concerning the people of the United States and another war (excepting N Korea should the North attack one or more of our treaty allies, such as Japan or S Korea). So you can understand I'm not talking about tens of thousands of U.S. troops into Thailand's South, or U.S. troops doing Baghdad again in Bangkok.
I speak instead of the assistance Washington would provide to Bangkok in respect to counter terrorism training and equipment, not large numbers of boots on the ground. Thailand is a non-Nato ally of the U.S. so we'd be obliged - more importantly, willing - to assist the Thai government to counter southern terrorism in the "north" of Thailand should the southern terrorists come north, which I'm highly confident they would not do. We recently concluded a successful effort of this nature in the Philippines, another formally allied country, using only some special forces in jungle counter terrorism warfare in conjunction with Filipino troops we helped to train.
No war in Thailand, simply assistance to a formal ally of the United States.
Thailand later lost the provinces it annexed from the former Sultanate or some such of Pattani, which extended well south of the present province's geography. So the Thais were pleased to get them back as a gift from Japan during WW2 for the Thai's good behavior while occupied. Now the people there want the border line moved yet again, but are going about it in the entirely dead wrong ways, i.e., terrorism. Either way, borderlines moved a lot during the past 200 years due to the colonial presence of the European powers. In present times, however, border lines are more difficult to move than the lines at KFC.
Maybe the US Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines contributed to the current cessation of hostilities in Mindanao. However what strikes me is after 30+ years of insurgency warfare and an estimated 120,000+ deaths, the insurgents have obtained a framework agreement for an autonomous province, planned to be finalised by 2015, exactly what they wanted all those years ago.
Hopefully their will not be a repeat of previously autonomy agreements being broken, by both sides. One was over ruled by the Supreme Court of the Philippines (2000?) that lead to resurgence of conflict.
I guess it boils down what lessons can be learned by all sides of the conflict in the deep South, a faster turn around time for achieving a mutually agreeable peace process and it will not take 15 years of on & off negotiations as happened in the Philippines.
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Your opinion and citing a post 9/11 article from 2001 when Bysh starts trying to build a case for war to save face isn't very persuasive. Yep, all those weapons of mass destruction we found was alarming. Iraq posed no serious threat to anyone, except perhaps to its own people, after first conflict. The second war was completely unnecessary and just another poor decision by a poor president.@f430murci: Currently N. Korea has a relatively low both rate, ranked at 137th in the world. For N. Korea to eventually recover if will need a decent birth rate to re-build it's economy & infrastructure. Regards your increasingly strident comments concerning international obligations to rebuild a country at the end of hostilities, you may like to remind yourself of the lessons of the Marshall Plan and the rebuilding of Japan. A lot better way to go rather that generating an increasingly hostile population and possibly the deaths of hundreds of thousands due to starvation.
During Gulf war 1, the coalition destroyed a great deal of the Iraqi civil infrastructure (in my humble opinion completely unnecessary) e.g. 92 percent of installed capacity destroyed, refineries 80 percent of production capacity such as power stations. After Gulf War 1 the UN spent billions is assisting with the rebuilding program. Also the coalition did not destroy the Iraqi military capability as a result of Gulf war 1, it still had the largest armed forces in the region, albeit mostly conscripts. A very interesting analysis from 2001 that proved to be partially correct at: http://mail.a-ipi.net/IMG/pdf/csis-iraqmilcap.pdf
Iraq is also a bit different. The cold hard fact is US and world needs stability in Iraq due to oil. The unfortunately truth is that creating inner stability in NK is perhaps not a large world priority once NK is no longer a threat.
Haha, yeah have more babies and get the US to pay for them. Brilliant idea. Something like one third of their children gave some form of dwarfism due to resources . . . Or perhaps whacked inbred gene pool if looking at midget leader.
Stop having kids you cannot pay for is logic of intelligent people not looking to be a leach on the butt of society.
Do I understand you believe N. Koreans are having children in the hope the US/UN will provide for them? You have to be flaming again. However, an interesting side note from a western businessman who set up a pharmaceutical company in N.Korea "it urges families to have more children, and discourages abortions and even contraceptives even though they are legal"
http://a-capitalist-in-north-korea.com/news/20121217102942-excerpt.html
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Who do the United States think they are ?
Deal with the internal problems of a foreign nation. Thailand has always been proud to be the only nation in Southeast Asia which has not been colionalized.
But they just doing as the USA require. Because of these imperialists Americans, we will have to be subjected to a body search on arrival. A reason why I don't go to America, but impose that there, it's a scandal !
They should rather clean the mess at their home with all the xxxx, rifle massacres there before interfere in things that are none their business !
Thailand cooperated with the Japanese during WW2 and was "occupied" until the Japanese surrendered four years later. Despite Thailand's declaration of war against the allies, the United States after the war prevented the UK from colonizing Thailand - the Brits had pronounced the Thais an enemy while Washington chose to recognize the Seri Thai resistance, declaring that during the war Thailand had been an ally.Due to the Thais cooperating with the Japanese, however, Thailand got four of the resource rich, present southern provinces which had been a part of Malaysia from the occupier Japanese because the Japanese decided to reward Thailand for its good behavior. Now a significant number of the the Malay oriented populations of the provinces want to return to their country, their culture, their religion, their particular civilization. So they're bombing and shooting to try to accomplish that. We call that terrorism. So now after the FBI's findings, there'll be a crackdown for a while at Customs and at Immi. That's the present conumdrum. This is Thailand, so just be happy to go report your address every 90 days and then go back to your normal routines.
Where did you obtain this information? At the time of the Japanese occupation they were Thai territory. The deep South provinces were ceded to Thailand by the British in the 1909 Anglo Siamese treaty. As a reminder the Japanese invasion forces landed on Thai territory at Pattani and Songkhla to attack Malaya.
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@f430murci: Currently N. Korea has a relatively low both rate, ranked at 137th in the world. For N. Korea to eventually recover if will need a decent birth rate to re-build it's economy & infrastructure. Regards your increasingly strident comments concerning international obligations to rebuild a country at the end of hostilities, you may like to remind yourself of the lessons of the Marshall Plan and the rebuilding of Japan. A lot better way to go rather that generating an increasingly hostile population and possibly the deaths of hundreds of thousands due to starvation.
During Gulf war 1, the coalition destroyed a great deal of the Iraqi civil infrastructure (in my humble opinion completely unnecessary) e.g. 92 percent of installed capacity destroyed, refineries 80 percent of production capacity such as power stations. After Gulf War 1 the UN spent billions is assisting with the rebuilding program. Also the coalition did not destroy the Iraqi military capability as a result of Gulf war 1, it still had the largest armed forces in the region, albeit mostly conscripts. A very interesting analysis from 2001 that proved to be partially correct at: http://mail.a-ipi.net/IMG/pdf/csis-iraqmilcap.pdf
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APEC countries, including Thailand, agreed to implement the Advance Passenger Information (API) System that is specifically designed, among other security issues, for counter terrorism. Do not know the current status of this project or if it incorporates alert lists from other countries outside of the region.
In 2001, APEC leaders issued a Counter Terrorism statement, part of which called on APEC economies to establish cooperation to develop electronic movement records systems that will enhance border security while ensuring movement of legitimate travellers is not disrupted. The implementation of API systems across the Asia-Pacific region would significantly enhance regional security and for this reason APEC leaders have endorsed API systems as an effective counter-terrorism measure and 'Pathfinder Initiative'.
http://www.immi.gov.au/managing-australias-borders/border-security/systems/api.htm
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The western justice systems usually chase paedophiles all over the world in an attempt to catch and punish them.
My question is, why is the woman who committed the offence of molesting this child not in jail?
The alleged offense occurred in Thailand & the working girl would be subject to Thai law (don't hold your breath). The law referred to in the OP is applied to Australian citizens traveling abroad who engage in illegal sexual activity as defined in Australian legislation. So far their have only been a small number convicted, from memory Australian pedophiles committing offenses in Indonesia and Cambodia. More detail at:
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It should have been implemented years ago, tougher visa regulations, ie criminal history checks would be a good start. Perhaps a linked computer to Interpol to cross check as well
Interpol already has online communications in place for all member countries, Thailand being one. Will depend on authorised Thai staff to actually access the system Refer http://www.interpol.int/About-INTERPOL/Priorities
"We run a secure global police communications and support system (known as I-24/7) that connects all 190 National Central Bureaus (NCBs), along with other authorized law enforcement agencies and strategic partners, allowing them to instantly access, request and submit vital data"
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Iraq: Where Terrorists Go to School
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/opinion/iraq-a-school-for-terrorists-thanks-to-america.html?_r=0 -
The Courier Mail article states the father was arrested for assaulting his son, sounds like revenge by the son
based on absolutely no fact whatsoever. well done
From the Courier Mail article "The man, who cannot be named, was also charged with assaulting his son causing bodily harm on Brisbane's bayside in February this year" Sure my comment was pure speculation, but tell me how you think the Australian police became aware of this allegation.
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Nothing new here, the weak response from Thailand to be able to handle this sort of terror activity, over the years ,has made a laughing stock of their armed forces and Governments for the past thirty years and more so since 2002 and just down the road a major problem , two Muslim nations, one would be ranked at three.
many people would rank usa as the leading terrorist country. At least the people that get bombed by americans every day, and there are a lot of them. But they are not farangs so they do not count, right?
Stop being silly. You know what a terrorist is? Easy enough to research definitions these days, without even having to buy a dictionary.
Amazing to read people claiming this nonsense, but you've got to admit these analyses of other countries are a little like "report cards", like a Kindergarten teacher reporting on the students' behavior. Not that the US's reports aren't largely trustworthy (compared to reports from say, Iran and China on the same matter)...the controversial drone strikes in Pakistan are in a small area that is well-known to be used as training for terrorist attacks abroad, such as in Europe, and the area is outside of the control of Pakistan's central government...it's still ethically questionable but the basic justification is there...
I'd be curious to see what they have to say about Malaysia, which seems like an even bigger destination for people from terrorist countries.
A 2012 report ranked Malaysia in 90th place for risk of terrorist attack, so would imagine 'they" would have bugger all to say
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Did they participate in the Korean war?
And for what side.
Do not know why you asked what side as Thai government is traditionally anti communist. Yes, a small contingent, fought alongside UN forces. Also contributed during the Vietnam War, with approx 12,000 combat troops with around 1,200 deaths.
During the United Nations-mandated conflict in the Korean peninsula, Thailand provided the 21st Regiment of about 1,294 men. The Kingdom also provided 4 naval vessels and an air transport unit to the UN command structure. The contingent was actively engaged and suffered heavy casualties, including 129 dead. The returned to Thailand in 1955
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The Courier Mail article states the father was arrested for assaulting his son, sounds like revenge by the son
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As US intelligence has allegedly identified Thailand as a transit point for extremists you would have to assume they know the identities of these people. Unless the US advice is purely based upon profiling a countries border control arrangements, the question is why are the extremists allowed to transit through Thailand.
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Read this full story in the BKK Post this morning. It's gut wrenching and scary. I feel bad for a Marine that possibly had thoughts of joining the insurgency, but seems to have had second thoughts and alerted his command post to an imminent attack. He paid for it with his life. Sounds like his Brother In Law who was home at the time of the attack is lucky to have not been taken as well.
A correction, the BKK Post front page article says the victim was allegedly an ex member of the insurgency & was a member of the Marine unit at the base that was attacked & killed 16 insurgents. It is alleged he had tipped off the Marines that the base was to be attacked.
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Would love to know exactly what Daniel P Powers (Legal Attaché at U.S. Embassy Bangkok, Thailand. ex Assistant Section Chief at FBI Counterterrorism Division) is referring to when he mentions "freedoms" in Thailand and his suggested course of action.
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this guy has a name: US FBI legal attache Daniel P PowersAnother official with a brain fart? Or this is a troll post. There are no studies from the US or the UK that a law enforcement or intelligence agency would pass on to this guy.
He said Thailand is on that list because of its freedoms and hubs of the movements.
Legal Attaché at U.S. Embassy Bangkok, Thailand. Past. Assistant Section Chief at FBI Counterterrorism Divsion
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An alternate source ranked Thailand 8th in 12/2012 for acts of terrorism, so in the space of four months it has climbed the ladder to 4th? The ranking was based upon the number of incidents, deaths, injured and the level of property damage. A quote below from the news source:
Thailand ranks top among the Southeast Asian countries, followed by the Philippines (No 10), Indonesia (29), Myanmar (33), Malaysia (90) and Cambodia (101)
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If you are for real & disenchanted with Singapore why not look at H.K. Sydney or Melbourne. I do not know of any large financial institutions with Asia Regional H.O. in BKK which speaks volumes. As a hint ANZ Bank is expanding it's presence in Asia
If you are not happy with your current employer why not look at other companies in Singapore. Alternately vendors who specialise in the Banking & Finance sector such as IBM who seek staff with process knowledge.
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You guys living there would know. Just had a mate email me also, he saw the story on the news and has booked a holiday there in June. He was a little concerned as the chief is asking for 5,000 more coppers and the safety zones and he says it sounds like an extremely dangerous place and was considering changing his destination. He asked me my personal opinion but I can't answer positively as I have never been there.
Get him to read the URL you provided. Given the stats based upon the large volume of Australian visitors to Phuket, the likelihood of any issues for him or you would be minimal.
On average about 50 Australians die on the island each year - about half from natural causes, the rest from misadventure, including motorbike accidents and drug overdoses.
"There is assault, but the behaviour of some of the Aussies on holiday here, they stir it up themselves. There [are] only so many yobbos you can see walking up the street with a beer in each hand and no shirt bumping into the locals before something does happen"
Actually he did and his concerns were that they have to set up safety zones and employ 5,000 extra police to the area apparently indicated to him that the island was not safe. If he interpreted that from the Australian news report then how many others?
Australians visiting Thailand has been growing exponentially for years, never slowed down even with some serious incidents of violence. Again look at the numbers in comparison to incidents & it's minimal risk. Probably the same as you, I've been visiting Thailand for 25 years, lived here (Pattaya) for approx 3 years elapsed, never had one personal safety issue (except a number of near misses with damn stupid Thai & Western drivers) or suffered a scam.
Have to admit no longer interested in the main tourist locations in Thailand for holidays, due to the massive increase in tourists - don't mind living here. Now go to other countries for holidays.
Bomb Kills Two Top Provincial Officials In Thai South
in Thailand News
Posted
Might be referring to this riot. Good on the Bangladeshi authorities for arresting 300 of the rioters
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-02/south-asia/34217239_1_buddhists-traditional-communal-harmony-muslim-bangladesh