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14
Tourism Cambodia Outshines Thailand in Race for Chinese Tourists
Look at wiwt happened in Cambodia one casinos were approved billions of dollars flowed in in construction money and then the next government outlawed them, same would happen in Thailand no doubt. -
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Report Bangkok Police Raid Detains 15 Women in Prostitution Crackdown
Sounds like the setup for a great new reality tv show. How about "Handcuffs & High Heels" -
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Report Thai Government Backs Thaksin's Strategy to Tackle Drug Menace
Are they going to start killing people again? -
111
Trump to Canada: “It will cost you $61 billion, but zero if you become 51st state”
Opinion polls at the start of the year had the Conservatives over 20 percentage points ahead of the Liberals. But with the new PM Mark Carney and his robust reaction to the tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, that lead evaporated., their voters fled. -
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Superstition and Power: Min Aung Hlaing’s Yadaya Rituals Aim to Secure Presidency
Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing is once again turning to superstition in a bid to secure his long-coveted presidency, as the country braces for military-staged elections in December. Over the weekend, the general visited Kengtung in eastern Shan State—an area with personal significance from his days as commander—where he performed a high-profile yadaya ritual, a form of Burmese occult practice aimed at warding off misfortune and summoning good luck. The centerpiece of this latest ritual was the enshrinement of a bejeweled crown, symbolically linked to the regalia of Burmese monarchs, at Lawkatharaphu Pagoda. Min Aung Hlaing and his wife presented the crown to Vasipake Sayadaw, a reclusive monk and spiritual adviser known for his influence over the general and his silent vows. Their association dates back to the early 2000s and has involved numerous rituals, including alleged instructions to security forces during the 2021 coup crackdown. Widely interpreted by the public as an attempt to enhance his political fortune through supernatural means, the crown offering is seen as an effort to conjure legitimacy and victory ahead of the regime’s planned election. Critics view it as another example of how Myanmar’s military rulers intertwine religion, ritual, and repression. Min Aung Hlaing’s obsession with astrology, numerology, and magical emblems is well-documented. In the past, he has consecrated pagodas in both Myanmar and abroad, unveiled a giant ruby and white elephant—symbols of divine favor—and commissioned the world’s tallest sitting Buddha in Naypyitaw, each move carefully timed with political events or crises. After natural disasters like the March 2024 earthquake and 2023’s Cyclone Mocha, his response was often more religious than humanitarian. Observers noted that his rituals consistently coincided with major threats to his power, including armed resistance movements and international condemnation. His aspirations to become president were thwarted in 2020, when the National League for Democracy (NLD) scored a landslide victory. The subsequent coup and dissolution of opposition parties, including the NLD and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, have cleared a path for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to dominate the December poll. Still, Min Aung Hlaing appears unwilling to leave his fate entirely to political engineering. His repeated invocations of “Aung Pi!” (“We did it!”) during ceremonies have come to symbolize his reliance on yadaya to defeat not just political rivals, but growing public resentment and armed resistance. Whether this fusion of mysticism and militarism will deliver him the presidency remains to be seen, but to many in Myanmar, his rituals are a surreal yet chilling echo of the military’s long history of ruling not just by force, but by fate. -2025-05-30 -
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Anyone bought a (decent) office chair from Lazada?
If you càll 15 years here new. I said in my opening comments that I was too lazy to go looking and it would have been convenient to get from Lazada if there had been some positive purchases, but it seems not.
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