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Why are UK expats still doing the 800K deposit for retirement extensions ?
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Man Accuses 11 Lamphun Police Officers of Illegal Raid and Extortion
Totally agree. Hopefully his reward will not be a motor 'accident'. -
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What is a Proper English Breakfast?
One could say that an American breakfast, with the pancakes, the waffles, or the French toast replaces the carbs in the toast and the beans in the English breakfast. The problem with any of those American breakfast items though is that they do require some sort of sugary topping, either some syrup, honey, cinnamon sugar, chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, or some sweet jam or preserves. -
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Former PM Thaksin Calls for More Government Control Over Bank of Thailand
Yes, he has a PhD in criminal justice. But intelligence does not equate with moral and ethical behaviour nor with selflessness. -
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Day-to-day life in Myanmar
Like some of the other posters, I have a lot of experience with the country. Burmese is one of the languages I speak, as well as read and write. I had funded the building of a few rural schools years ago with my earnings from my Wall Street days, and I did a few other things such as try to enhance medical care, which has always been abysmal. Back then it was SLORC/SPDC in charge, but a few of the generals were not only aware of what I was doing, they also gave me a 'pass' and stood ready to assist me if any lower level mil types tried to extract 'tributes' from me. Some of those generals had the foresight, or maybe naive hope, that their own days were numbered and that democracy was inevitable. A few of them eventually ran afoul of their fascist colleagues and were jailed, so my 'get out of jail free' card evaporated, and I had to be more cautious. For a while I had free rein of the entire country, even areas where foreigners were not permitted to go. I used to have to take a few soldiers as 'security', as I was told some areas were full of 'dacoits' or bandits. I never had any problem, and though in some places I was a fascination (owing to my height and blue eyes), I was never in any danger. I was there for some of the country's previous major events, such as the 2007 Saffron Revolution and the 2008 devastation by the cyclone Nargis, that killed 180,000, mostly in the lower Ayewaddy Delta areas. I remember during the Saffron Revolution, folks gunned down in front of my hotel, where there were only two guests, the other being Magnum photographer James Natchwey. As the OP may know, even when the military decided to take their ill-gotten gains and step down, they wrote a new Constitution that had a provision where the Tatmadaw could retake power "at any time for any reason". That was supposedly the justification used in the coup from a few years ago. Like in Thailand, the powers that be had also stacked the deck in the nascent Parliament, with most members being appointed by the army rather than facing a popular vote. Those things set the stage for what has happened, as many mid-level military officers, seeing the wealth accumulated by previous leaders like Than Shwe and Maung Aye, had been waiting their chance to move up the ranks and steal from the national trough. The short period of democracy derailed their plans, but not their ambitions, and it was just a few short years before they made their move. Junta rule is different this time, because the people have chosen to rise up, especially in the ethnic majority areas such as Kachin State, Karen State and a few others. Absent junta support from China, Russia and Singapore, plus natural gas sales to Thailand, the junta might already have fallen. As is, it controls just the major urban areas and their surroundings. The Burmese people are astonishingly brave. One can only hope this junta has an expiration date, and the lovely people of the country will once again get to enjoy freedom and some degree of prosperity. I suspect its future is something like the nations of the former Yugoslavia or maybe as associated as the UAE, where individual ethnic areas have a good deal of autonomy, but maybe there is a common central government.- 1
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11
Deadly Forecast: How Climate Change Could Claim 30 Million Lives by 2100
The " Leaders " have proven being incapable . Money and power is what motivates them , the rest is just blabla ... -
13
What is a Proper English Breakfast?
I only eat egg and bacon at hotels, or sundays back at the farm now. Not an every day meal, anymore. Some few hotels have quality sausages, and not just these can sausages or simular, I add one of those on the side as well. Useally two brown/german style bread, prefer to stack on top of my bread tomato beans firstly to moist the bread, bacon, and 3 fried eggs sunny side up. Very tasty Breakfest sandwich -
23
Trump wins on the Stormy case as sentencing delayed "indefinitely".
Hold on a bit. Any conviction is not final until sentence has been passed. -
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Trump wins on the Stormy case as sentencing delayed "indefinitely".
The only true democracy left on the planet. Stick to thailands kiddie politics for your own credibility
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