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Thailand Requires Digital Arrival Card Submission 3 Days Before Entry starting May 1
I'm not worried about anything, the form as it is configured now is obviously designed for tourists and not expats resident in Thailand. Probably designed by some highly educated person who just happened to forget about all the expats resident here with extensions based on work, marriage or retirement. -
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Aussie burger patties....anyone have any secrets?
yeah, you can experiment with thin smash burgers. the "maillard effect" ie the browning gives it flavor. since it's thin, and most of it is crusted, the flavor is intense. and some burger places specialize in this cooking technique for burgers. -
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Why is XI suddenly engaging in projection?
I have long despised Xi, and the CCP and their policies. However Trump is doing something very unexpected. He's driving up the prestige and the amount of respect that Xi and China have around the world, by forcing people to side with China. Nobody likes a bully, nobody likes an arrogant fool, and nobody likes schizophrenic economic policy conducted by an insane fool, who has no idea what the end game looks like. I suspect it's not going to be pretty for America. China can hold out as long as they want, the Chinese people will tolerate a simple lifestyle. Americans will not and cannot. Americans have no idea how to deal with deprivation nor do they have any concept of what the word sacrifice means. Xi may play the long game, which means the US loses in a huge way. Just how vulnerable is the US to China? In 2000, the United States was the top trading partner for over 80 percent of countries. As of today, this figure has shrunk to 30 percent, while China has now become the top trading partner for more than 120 countries. China is South America’s top trading partner, and it is Africa’s largest trading partner in terms of total volume, dwarfing U.S.-Africa trade by a factor of four, according to the United States Institute of Peace. Within this context, China has significantly invested in the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) to increase trade route options and bypass choke points, posing a significant challenge for U.S. trade. In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious political-economic infrastructure initiative to link East Asia and Europe through land, sea and air under China’s leadership and with the backing of its resources. The twenty-first-century MSR is responsible for the BRI maritime routes that connect China to Europe and the Arctic Ocean via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. President Xi has repeatedly emphasized that economic powers must be maritime and shipping powers. As China now positions itself as the world’s top exporter, top shipbuilder, and largest trading nation, with around 95 percent of its international trade carried out through sea-lanes, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will soon dominate global maritime trade. The Indo-Pacific is a major hub of global commerce and will continue to be the main target for China’s maritime control. The 10 busiest container ports in the world are located along the shores of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Indian Ocean hosts 80 percent of China’s imported oil and 95 percent of China’s trade with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. China also has a strong presence in port construction in the developing world: it operates or has ownership of 91 active port projects across the globe where military use is a possibility, providing it with a foothold in every continent except Antarctica. These projects are part of the MSR network, which, according to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) State Council Information Office, has reached 117 ports across 43 countries, mostly in the Global South. China’s position of control and influence over the majority of port infrastructure globally poses a significant economic and military security threat to the United States. Simply put, China could use its power to interfere with operations that rely on port access—including military and economic operations—and are vital to U.S. interests. In terms of overseas ports, the United States severely lags China, as the United States does not manage or own any commercial ports outside its territories. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), however, is beginning to invest ports. A bit late in the game? Never before has the humble ocean shipping container been this important to American business. If you can’t get one, you can’t move your international cargo — and supply has never been tighter. The cost of global trade is now contingent on how many containers exist, where they are and where they aren’t. How many containers exist is controlled by China. Virtually every ocean shipping container in the world is built there. Just three Chinese companies account for the majority of production, with Chinese factories now building more than 96% of the world’s dry cargo containers and 100% of the world’s refrigerated containers, according to U.K. consultancy Drewry. Carl Bentzel of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said earlier this month, “I am concerned that this equipment is controlled by a state-owned enterprise and that we’re completely reliant, and I have questions about whether or not there’s been market manipulation of what is potentially a monopoly.” https://www.csis.org/analysis/responding-chinas-growing-influence-ports-global-south -
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Exiting Thailand confusion
Whenever I've exited, you could. Someone would direct people to the auto gates, but if you just walked past to the manned booths, nobody has taken any action to force you to use the auto gates. -
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Trump Wields Executive Order to Dismantle State Climate Laws
Data: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; Chart: Former President Trump ran up the national debt by about twice as much as President Biden, according to a new analysis of their fiscal track records. Why it matters: The winner of November's election faces a gloomy fiscal outlook, with rapidly rising debt levels at a time when interest rates are already high and demographic pressure on retirement programs is rising. Both candidates bear a share of the responsibility, as each added trillions to that tally while in office. But Trump's contribution was significantly higher, according to the fiscal watchdogs at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, thanks to both tax cuts and spending deals struck in his four years in the White House. By the numbers: Trump added $8.4 trillion in borrowing over a ten-year window, CRFB finds in a report out this morning. Biden's figure clocks in at $4.3 trillion with seven months remaining in his term. If you exclude COVID relief spending from the tally, the numbers are $4.8 trillion for Trump and $2.2 trillion for Biden. State of play: For Trump, the biggest non-COVID drivers of higher public debt were his signature tax cuts enacted in 2017 (causing $1.9 trillion in additional borrowing) and bipartisan spending packages (which added $2.1 trillion). For Biden, major non-COVID factors include 2022 and 2023 spending bills ($1.4 trillion), student debt relief ($620 billion), and legislation to support health care for veterans ($520 billion). Biden deficits have also swelled, according to CRFB's analysis, due to executive actions that changed the way food stamp benefits are calculated, expanding Medicaid benefits, and other changes that total $548 billion. Between the lines: Deficit politics may return to the forefront of U.S. policy debates next year. Much of Trump's tax law is set to expire at the end of 2025, and the CBO has estimated that fully extending it would increase deficits by $4.6 trillion over the next decade. High interest rates make the taxpayer burden of both existing and new debt higher than it was during the era of near-zero interest rates. And the Social Security trust fund is rapidly hurtling toward depletion in 2033, which would trigger huge cuts in the retirement benefits absent Congressional action. What they're saying: "The next president will face huge fiscal challenges," CRFB president Maya MacGuineas tells Axios. "Yet both candidates have track records of approving trillions in new borrowing even setting aside the justified borrowing for COVID, and neither has proposed a comprehensive and credible plan to get the debt under control," she said. "No president is fully responsible for the fiscal challenges that come along, but they need to use the bully pulpit to set the stage for making some hard choices," MacGuineas said.
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