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From Richardbarrow.com Yesterday, 1,000’s of people received this email. The thing they all had in common was that they had signed up for Thailand Pass. Some told me they had only signed up a few days ago. Others said they used a unique email to sign up. If you get this email, do not reply

Reminded of the ancient axiom: "all glory is fleeting".

Russia and Germany were both pursuing nuclear weapons at the very same moment and would have used them had they perfected it first. Eighty-seven years after the fact I view it as a catastrophe and cruel. But at the time all of East Asia, much of Europe and northern Africa had suffered mightily at the hands of the Axis powers, and perhaps none more so than Russia. And you didn't hear any one of them complaining when the war abruptly ended with the signing of the articles of surrender in Tokyo Bay. Now eight other nations have since acquired them. And you don't seem to think it's likewise barbaric that your man Putin is now threatening to use them? Nor do you speak out against his dropping conventional weapons on innocent civilians in Ukraine. You remain fixated on the present and the destruction of those with whom you share a common language. That, too, is a catastrophe and particularly cruel.

I'm certainly not advocating the use of nuclear weapons. Nine countries now have that capability. But only one--Russia--has warned that it has placed its nuclear forces on high alert.

From Ted Talks

Nine nations possess nuclear weapons. If we were to follow your illogical line of thinking, tassojunior, then any one of them would be given carte blanch based simply on the fact that they have nukes. Brilliant!

In a situation like this, I prefer to go with Churchill or Patton.

And do you recall what happened about three weeks later? Japan surrendered to the allies, thus avoiding an invasion of its homeland, savings hundreds of thousands on both sides. And while on the topic, less not forget the Soviet's role in the episode. Prior to the nuclear bombings, Japan's leaders were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining a sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea. So Uncle Joe passed on an opportunity to avoid the Japanese catastrophe in order to gain some more of the spoils of war.

Duplicate post

If you really were serious about "wanting to see as few people killed as possible" one would think you'd would be calling on Putin to get the hell out. Instead, you're trying to justify why he went in. Sorry, my friend, but that sure sounds like an apology. By the way, you avoided the question you cited in your post: are you better off now than before Putin started his invasion?

Apologists for Putin need ask themselves one question at this point: are you better off today than before the invasion?

From Channel News Asia JAKARTA: Travellers from abroad can enter Indonesia’s Bali island quarantine-free starting on Monday (Mar 7), said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan. Speaking at a virtual press conference, Mr Pandjaitan said the government decided to make Bali quarantine-free given the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia, where the caseload has subsided and the fatality rate is considered relatively low. The Monday announcement was brought forward by a week. Earlier, the government planned to allow foreigners to enter Bali quarantine-free from Mar 14. To travel quarantine-free, travellers must have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result taken before the departure and upon arrival, proof of a minimum four-day hotel booking in Bali as well as health insurance. They must also take another PCR test on their third day in Indonesia. Also from Monday, tourists from 23 countries entering Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport can obtain a visa on arrival instead of needing to apply for a visa pre-departure. Citizens of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States are among those eligible for the scheme. The government hopes the programme will help revive Bali’s battered economy.

From The Thaiger One public health official says Thailand has a “secret weapon” to bring back tourists… It’s cannabis. Some experts and officials hope that decriminalising marijuana, alongside declaring Covid-19 as endemic, will help tourism in Thailand bounce back to pre-pandemic levels. The public health official made the statement over the weekend at a medical marijuana conference at Surin’s Rajamangala University of Technology. Many experts and officials discussed the benefits of decriminalising the plant, not only for health purposes, but also for the economy. However, while cannabis cafes and shops have been popping up all over Thailand, the products won’t cause a ‘high’ as cannabis extracts with more than 0.2% of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, remain illegal. With Thailand the only country in Asia to partially decriminalise marijuana, Thailand has a “secret weapon” to lure in tourists after the pandemic subsides, according to Secretary of the Public Health Commission Chatchai Trakulrungsi, who spoke at the conference. Chatchai compared strains of Thai cannabis to “jasmine rice” in light of their uniqueness, which could be a big selling point on the global stage. He also claimed that nine out of 10 tourists want to try marijuana in some form or another (we have no idea where he got this information). T

So you're advice is to wait 11 years so the Putin can have a well-deserved "honorable" exit? And you think Putin plans to leave the Ukraine? There's one Russian we understand all too well. His intentions to invade the Ukraine were predicted with complete accuracy despite his denials.

If Putin succeeds in this venture, he'll be wildly emboldened. His next target will be Poland, encouraged because all he had to do was raise the specter of using his nuclear arsenal to get NATO to cower. He figures if it worked once, why not play that card again. Day after day over the next weeks and months, from the safety of our living rooms, we'll have to bear witness to the human carnage. And we'll do so knowing that it could have been avoided. If NATO checkmated the bear by placing a formidable force inside Ukraine before the invasion even got under way, it would have put Putin in the position of having to risk killing not only Ukrainians but also British, American, German soldiers and a host of others. Stop and consider how effective Ukraine forces have been on their own. Imagine now how the tide would turn if 50,000 NATO troops--and their superior firepower--also confronted the Russian columns. If NATO had the opportunity to go back in time a month or so, I think it would opt to poke the bear.

If our former employers had followed that line of thinking, we'd all have been out of work at an early age.😉

From The Thaiger Thailand has always been popular as a country to come to live and retire. Many foreign retirees could come to Thailand and live a pretty good life. However, since the exchange rate has tightened up and the covid 19 pandemic, how has that effected retirees living in Thailand? Tim sits with Ben Hart from Integrity legal to find out more about Retirees and Retiring in Thailand. https://thethaiger.com/news/national

This is an example of enhanced digital media , a method used to manufacture video for advertising or--in this case--propaganda purposes.

Yes, they very well may when Vietnam reopens to international tourism on March 15. Cambodia reopened last October. I don't know if Vietnam is necessarily cheaper than Cambodia. With the rouble depreciating by the moment, I can understand why that will be a major consideration for Russian tourists.

Maldives or the Seychelles I think are more family and couples oriented and not exactly affordable. Christianpfc has a blog site where he has reported on his recent long-time stay in Cambodia. As I recall, he found it affordable, relatively safe but not on a par with Thailand. I believe he used the apps a lot.

From The Thaiger / CNN Russians were the most visible travellers heading to Thailand post February 1, 2022, when the Thailand Pass Test & Go option was rebooted. Even with its 2 days of pre-booked SHA+ quarantine and PCR tests, along with US$50,000 Covid insurance (which has since been reduced to $20,000), the Russian travellers were delighted to jump on a plane and take the long trip to the much warmer Land of Smiles. That situation has now radically changed and the world is reverberating to the full impact of Russia’s aggression and the invasion of Ukraine. Now there’s a mere trickle of daily flights between Russia and either Suvarnabhumi or Phuket in Thailand. Whilst much of the rest of the world have said ’nyet’ to the arrival of any planes from Russia, Thailand is still allowing them to arrive. But even if the planes are still coming (albeit in vastly reduced numbers), the pressure of world sanctions, bans and the plunge of the Russian Ruble has already made the decision for any potential Russian travellers. Now, the latest data from ForwardKeys, shows that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, now into its 9th day, has prompted an instant spike in flight cancellations to and from Russia, worldwide. On the day after the first tanks rolled into Ukraine, every booking that was made for travel to Russia was outweighed by six cancellations of existing bookings. Russians escaping their bleak winter and heading to sunnier destinations were suddenly cancelling their trips. The cancellation rates between February 24 – 26 were Cyprus (300%), Egypt (234%), Turkey (153%), the UK (153%), Armenia (200%), and Maldives (165%). Bookings for March, April and May were already reaching 32% of the pre-Covid levels of travel for outbound Russians. They were heading to Mexico, Seychelles, Eygpt and Maldives. And Thailand. The outlook for Q3 this year was looking even stronger. All that Russian travel enthusiasm has now collapsed and, given the harsh economic weapons thrown at Vladimir Putin, his banks, his ‘friends’ and his citizens, any recovery will be a long, long way down the track. Even if there was a swift and unexpected reversal of the Ukraine situation, Russia has already been dealt a fatal economic blow – in just one week the country been turned into a pariah state and much of the rest of the world seems happy to punish the entire country for Putin’s violence. For countries like the Seychelles, Maldives and Cyprus, Russian arrivals represented a high percentage of their international arrivals. In Thailand that was about 8% of the total tourist mix. And, whilst the Chinese are still in China for at least the rest of this year, the loss of the Russian travel market probably represented an even higher percentage of tourists that won’t be coming to Thailand in 2022. The world travel industry will be further hit by rising airfares (due to the sharp surge in oil prices), cancellations of routes (across Eastern Europe), a higher resistance to international travel (for perceived safety reasons) and a lingering instability in world politics. While the Thailand Pass is still seen by many potential travellers as a significant barrier to their choice of Thailand as their next travel destination, and the Russian and Chinese traveller-tap turned off, Thailand’s immediate travel future looks bleak. And this follows nearly 2 years of border closures, false restarts, over-hyped TAT arrival projections and the former Thai tourism workforce heading home to find other work. The loss of the Russian travellers underscores a critical need for the Thai government to quickly modify the Thailand Pass, or scrap it completely. With so many other factors now making international travel difficult, Thailand will have to rethink their short to medium term tourism strategies to retain its share of the international travel market. Of course there is no comparison of the humanitarian tragedy underway inside the borders of Ukraine at this time, but Russia’s aggression will likely have much more long-term, and far-reaching, effects than the clear and present danger it poses on the Ukranian nation right now.

From Malay Mail PUTRAJAYA, March 5 ― New air Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) involving Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia will begin on March 15, 2022 as part of joint efforts to reopen international borders. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed to travel the designated routes without being required to quarantine upon arrival. Wee said that as for Thailand, designated airlines from both countries will be allowed to mount up to six flights daily on the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route and up to four flights daily for the Kuala Lumpur-Phuket route while additional routes may be added subject to mutual agreement by both countries. On Cambodia, he said designated airlines from both countries will be allowed to operate up to two flights daily on the Kuala Lumpur-Phnom Penh route while additional routes may be added subject to market demand. He said the related standard operating procedures (SOP) and health protocols will be released by their respective agencies soon and travellers are expected to comply with the protocols responsibly in order to enjoy the VTL facility.

Moses, I can appreciate that you have a personal view on the Ukraine. But you're surely aware of what your megalomaniac leader is doing to your own country. Attempting to legitimize his actions with a photo array is an exercise in futility. In my book, all Nazis are crazy by definition regardless of where in the world they emerge. Just as crazy as the man who started this war. I accept that you personally know, and speak with, many ethnic Russian refugees who work in an around Moscow. I ask you to accept that most of the world believes that what is happening is an unnecessary and unwarranted tragedy that will end in utter disaster for Russia and the Ukraine, and to some degree for the rest of the world. Readers have come to know you as a good man. But even good men sometimes get the story wrong for any number of reasons.

You can find similar photos of crazies in any major city across the globe. It's not just the Ukraine that's for sure. Moses, your Siam Guides business has a fine reputation with members here. I personally think it's a mistake to get into the propaganda business, especially at this moment in time. You've contributed timely information on many topics from time to time. Please don't allow this to become a mirror of "Brink of War."

Insurance requirement of $20,000 raises questions From Pattaya Mail By Barry Kenyon he latest medical insurance rule for foreign visitors requires cover of only US$20,000 (640,000 baht), reduced from US$50,000 from the beginning of March 2022. The health ministry stated that the lower rate was to encourage international visitors, although it did caution the sum might not be enough. Meanwhile Tourist of Authority of Thailand website recommended that the detail on the insurance document should be checked carefully as inpatient and quarantine provision can vary a great deal. TAT also stressed that the policy could be from Thai or foreign-based companies. The latest rules apply to all Test and Go applicants except Thai nationals or work permit foreigners covered by Thai social security regulations. But ambiguity still surrounds the whole matter. A popular Thai-based option is the multi-company Thai General Insurance Association website https://covid19.tgia.org, popular because costs are reasonable and the age of the applicant is immaterial up to 99 years. The cost is based only on the country of departure. For example, 30 days cover for Covid-only illness from UK is 3,700 baht or about 85 pounds. However, the website’s drop-down box currently restricts applications to 30 days only and still specifies US$50,000, not US$20,000. Some other Thai and foreign-based insurers are advertising policies based on the newly-specified US$20,000. But some have an age limit below 70 or 75 years, whilst others charge extra for compulsory cover for loss of baggage, delayed flights and so on. The important thing is for entrants to Thailand to read policy offers in detail before committing themselves to payment. The better policies allow for cover up to 12 months ahead. Once in Thailand, most visas and permissions of stay do not require either Covid-specific or comprehensive health insurance to obtain an extension of stay at an immigration office. The exceptions currently appear to be O/A annual retirement, nine months Special Tourist Visa and O/X ten years. Foreigners holding these particular options or extensions of stay should contact their local immigration office as each has considerable discretion.