connda

The trope that Russia is on the verge of buckling to EU "pressure" is right up there with all of the tropes about "Putin is dying," "the ruble is rubble," "the Russian economy is trashed," "Russia is losing the 'war'," "Russian missile parts are made out of North Korean washing machines," and "Russia refuses to negotiate." It's really great propaganda but it's fabricated pablum that is typical of Western anti-Russian propaganda. Russia laid out the conditions to peace in the region in December 2021, again during the Istanbul Peace Accord in March/April 2022 which were essentially signed and which had the primary concession from Ukraine that Crimea, whose population voted to join the Russian Federation as per UN rules, remained Russian, Donesk would become an autonomous region, and Ukraine would end its anti-Russian attacks on the culture, language, and Russian speaking people in Ukraine. Then the US sent in Boris Johnson to blow up the deal and it has been "Game On" ever since. On June 14 2024 Putin gave a speech where the conditions to a full ceasefire and end to the conflict were set out: Complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, within their administrative borders as claimed by Russia. Ukraine must officially abandon plans to join NATO. Ukraine must adopt a neutral, non-aligned, and nuclear-free status. Recognition of Russia’s annexation of the four regions and Crimea as Russian territory. Lifting of all sanctions imposed on Russia. Ukraine must commit to demilitarization and denazification Those same conditions are still on the table, but I doubt Russia is going to stop fighting when they have the momentum in the fight and the leverage to press for their conditions to end the fighting. The meeting of the EU chihuahaus (Macron, Starmer, Kallas, Mertz, and other EU dogs of war) in Kiev during the Russian Victory Day celebrations isn't pressuring Russia to do anything. Each round of EU sanctions blows-back on the EU which at this point is de-industrializing due to their attempts to economically hurt Russia. It's almost funny in a sad way to watch the West bare their teeth and bark: "You will do as we say, you will stop all fighting for 30 days so that the Ukraine can re-arm, recover, retrench, and plan for an offensive." The West can roll out guys like Kellogg to tell the world that "Russian is losing the war badly," and it won't make any difference. Russia has been upfront for over a decade and now they are serious: "Get NATO off of our borders and stop using Ukraine as a proxy to attack Russia." My guess - The NATO members will continue to huff and puff and scream and make demands. Russia will remain open to negotiations starting immediately but not tied to a so-called cease-fire which is just the same Western slight-of-hand as Minsk 1 and 2, i.e., fake cease-fires which allowed the West to arm and train Ukraine - I seriously doubt that will happen again. So Russia will just continue to grind on Westward toward the Dnieper River and by next year the conditions for peace will include Ukraine giving up even more territory that it will lose. Personally I believe the SMO will end with the unconditional surrender of Ukraine to the Russians by next year - or - the West goes crazy and jumps in and starts WWIII which at a minimum will be a three front war including Russia, Iran, and China. In the meanwhile the EU and UK will continue to devolve into authoritarian states where political parties backed my a majority of citizens will be called "extremist" and "fascist" and banned, as freedom of speech and assembly are also banned "in the name of Democracy and Freedom" Western Europe is turning into the same monster that was supposedly put down 80 years ago and its eyes are again looking East as it licks it lips and croaks hideously.

Now wait for them to do the exact same thing to get Yingluck back into Thailand. Money is power. Power puts you above the law. With money you can paid others to take the fall.

Yeah - just like they'll half the traffic deaths.

Vietnam Tourism Threat Looms: Could It Overtake Thailand? Probably... Let's see. The Thai cops descends on a hotel where Indian vacationers and having drug-free pool-side fun and enjoying music and beer - and they bust it as though everyone there are hardened criminals. Why? Why not - foreigners were having fun and foreigner tourist having fun just can't be allowed. If they aren't doing anything wrong, make up excuses and try to find reasons to bust them. I guess if Thailand wants to keep this behavior up, they'll continue to lose tourist to venues where tourist are actually welcomed by their host country. Here in Thailand, all tourists are pretty much assumed to be criminals and a national security risk, all of whom must be closely watched by the police. Thailand may not understand it, but they are losing their luster. If I was at a hotel listening to the music and drinking a few beers by the poolside and the cops came rushing in rounding up all of the vacationers and subjected them to pee tests and questioning? I'd never come back - ever. And I'd tell all of my friends and family as well. It was noisy! Ffs - who controls the volume level on the outdoor speakers at a hotel? The hotel staff does. Who controls the occupany numbers in the lounge and pool area. The hotel staff does. But "raid" the hotel because the (dark-skinned) hotel guests were having fun like people on vacation do. Beyond belief. Thailand needs only to look at itself in a mirror to ascertain where the problem with tourism loss lies. It's an "own goal."

If it was a typical Thai dance party, half the people there would have popped positive for drugs on pee tests. Indian party with 200 people. No drugs. You'd think that would be the kind of people Thailand wants - drug free! "But they were drinking and having fun!!! BY THE POOL!!! That's not allowed in Thailand!!! GRRRRR" 🇹🇭

It's past time to take vacations somewhere else where foreigners on vacation are allowed to have fun. Thailand is no longer that place. It just seems that all foreigners are simply unwelcome unless your here to quietly engage in a Buddhist retreat. Dear Foreign Tourists: Just send your money to Thailand, and then book a vacation somewhere else. Don't come here. We don't want you. Having fun is not allowed and if you dare to have fun you'll be treated like criminals. Signed, Thailand

Foreigners had a party! And in Thailand, parties are illegal for foreigners. No more foreigner birthday parties; no more foreigner Christmas parties; No more graduation parties; no vacation parties in Thailand for foreigners! Bad foreigners - no parties for you!!! So now foreigners having parties at a hotel is now "unauthorized." When did we need authorization to have a party. Dirty foreigners listen to loud music, drink by swimming pool, have fun at hotel. The Thai public is SHOCKED! I guarantee that on any given holiday weekend in our village, there are 200 Thais drinking and partying and playing loud music, often though speakers mounted on the back of pickup trucks that shake the ground a 1/2 a kilometer away. It's never a problem. But the Thai public and the Thai authorities just made this into a problem! Think about it. So if Indian Kon Keark or Kon Farang have a party at a hotel. "They are loud, and obnoxious, and there is alcohol, they dare to have fun by the a swimming pool!!! KICK THEM ALL OUT, DIRTY FOREIGNERS!!! However, if these were Thai nationals, it would be a non-issue. You know - just happy go-lucky smiling Thai people having fun in The Land Of Smiles. So The Solution? 15 to 20 flights a day to Vietnam! GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!

Can't wait until the Lawfare genie used to make Trump a "felon" is used on those who released the Lawfare genie out of its bottle. My guess is there will be a lot more felons convicted of fabricated felonies over the next few years, except this time it will be that the shoes will be on the other's feet. In 2028 both sides can point and laugh at the "convicted felons" on the other side of the fence. Yep - the Lawfare Genie should have been left corked into it's bottle and never opened.

@Red Phoenix The article is still mainstream and they are still pushing fear-porn. "Gotta watch it - Covid kills people and it may kill you. Masking may seem irrational, but hey - Covid may get 'cha if you're not vigilant." They also insinuate that anything but shots are snake-oil and that Ivermectin is still "only for horses." Essentially they ignore the thousands of studies that have been conducted and the meta-data analysis of those studies that have been conducted for over 5 years now. But the article does highlight that people are, in fact, psychologically damaged and irrationally fearful of what is essentially now a mild flu. I've had it - it was a mild flu. Unlike the "Ever-Maskers" I doubt I'll get Covid again. There's nothing like a functional immune system which has been exposed naturally to a pathogen. I get the article. The same people who caused the problem in the first place now are faced with a workforce of "worker bees" who are no longer as productive as they use to be due to "fear of Covid." Good - it serves them right. Article like this are an attempt to nudge those psychologically damaged by the Covid fear-porn back to a semblance of normality. My guess it will take a generation or so. Congratulations mulitinational corporations and the WEF/WHO elites who wanted their masked, compliant worker-bees, but have found that the worker bees are now damaged to the point of not being productive and therefore hurts their profits. At the end of the day it's about power and greed.

This link is not behind a paywall: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-evermaskers/ar-AA1C66Vl

That's probably close to 25% or more of the population here in Thailand based on what I see when I'm out at Big C or Marko. And out of those, I still see individuals driving in cars with no one else in the car with a mask on. And even now there are corporations who force their employees to wear masks - that's gotta suck. "Don the face diaper of compliance or find a different job." It's irrational and it's nothing except projecting power. I doubt the the executives of these companies wear masks that they require their employees to wear all day. At our local Amphur hospital, the masking rate of patients and staff is probably close to 95%. What I find interesting is that one of the guys who works there and is the liaison between the nurses and the doctors and who takes patients to their seats at the room they are assigned to, takes their paperwork, and literally is in physical contact with all patients - the guy never gets sick. And I know the head doctor at the hospital as he's a personal friend of our family. If staff want to mask up, it's up to them. I think he personally masks up to make the "terminally fearful" less frightened. When my wife and I come for appointments he takes his mask off. However, in our Amphur I'd estimate that 20% to 30% of the residents are perpetual maskers. In our own village the percentage is lower - maybe 10 to 15%. But I find it interesting as I consider these people to be psychologically damaged. Those on AN that are supporters of perpetual masking will say that the locals are wearing them because of the bad air or due to a spike in Covid (8000 people out of 70 million), which actually in many cases true (bad air), as when the air quality goes to sh*t more people wear masks, but lately it's been raining almost daily and the winds and rain have cleared the air, so the air quality hasn't been bad at all. So those wearing masks - alone in cars, alone on motorcycles, alone walking down the street, alone at home - these people have been damaged psychologically. Imho, the damage done to these people was deliberate and criminal

Make Fruit Expensive Again Only in totally broken capitalistic systems would decreasing prices be viewed as a bad thing.

That's essentially how it is right now defacto.

This will mirror the Red Bull case: Everyone and there brother is a target for criminal action - except the perp.

bob smith