Ah, there you are, welcome as always to the splendid Fishwrap. Finally! we have actually reached a weekend. Do you have plans? Below is the Bulldog for Sunday, 24 November 2024.
I assure you my intentions towards you are mostly honourable. Â -- Le Duc de Burgandia, Passport to Pimlico (1949)
Air Asia founder plots low-cost Dubai-like Hub in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Tony Fernandes wants to put out tumultuous pandemic years behind us and connect the world in a low-cost flight format using Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur as Hub 1.
Five (5) people now have died from drinking cheap alcohol made with methanol -- the latest one, Brit Simone White, 28. How desperate for a drink do Limeys get? https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2906767/ Bangkok Hospital Udon Thani:
Youth vs Wisdom. It seems like youth is winning. A day earlier and a bright life shorter: Aussie Bianca Jones, 19, had what she thought was a tipple with fellow backpackers in Vang Vieng, and paid with her life. All five of the known deaths so far are foreigners. All appear to be 'budget travellers' aka backpackers. Â The physician who examined her said the cause of death was a methanol poisoning, from fake liquor. The amount of methanol in her body was high, leading to swelling of the brain. Â -- Police in Udon Thani after the death of Bianca the Oz.
It's cruel to say these young people are dumb. It's also pretty accurate.
AUTOS EXPORTS JAPAN A bad, double-bad development for the country's investment campaign: Number 5 carmaker Nissan Thailand to fire 1,000, which is merely a warning shot in yet another carmaker's waning days in 'The Detroit of Asia'.
You don't say! Who had China pulling out of a big Belt & Road Initiative in November on their Bingo card? But that's what has happened. It was only in August when beaming Chinese second-tier Communist Party officials did the ground-breaking ceremony for the large Funan Techo Canal project at Prek Takeo, east of Phnom Penh. The Plan called for it to look like this but as Mike Tyson puts it, "Everyone has a Plan until they get smashed in the face."
Now, here's the project, today:
The story is that quite suddenly, Xi Jinping and his Chinese Communist Party came to realise they don't have enough money for such a grand scheme. StratNews Global: https://t.ly/iwNc7
Quite possible. So where does this leave other supposedly vital, supposedly strategic, supposedly basic to ASEAN infiltration projects of this entire Belt & Road Initiative? Â Such as finishing off the Chinese PLA Navy's total takeover of the Ream naval base just south of Thailand's Trat province? and, Â Such as the 'orders' and whining of the PRC to Thailand to finish design and building of the Thailand-to-Laos-to-Yunnan railway?
TAIWAN CHINA MILITARY War games show Taiwan needs to fend for itself for a month if China attacks Chinese blockade would likely prevent U.S. from reinforcing Taiwan for up to 4 weeks.
OPINION ANALYSIS Also from Taiwan News, by Yeh Chieh-ting, contributing writer Fundamentally flawed Taiwan assumptions in US-China relations A grand bargain with China will not result in friendly reciprocation its advocates hope for
Not a headline you see every day... but more would be good Taiwan arrests, fines, then peacefully deports illegal Chinese fishermen Taiwan on Friday deported 15 members of a Chinese crew after they paid NT$3.2 million (US$98,000) for fishing illegally. Â ... The Chinese boat entered restricted waters near Taichung. The Coast Guard Administration sent a patrol boat, but the Chinese ship refused to stop for an inspection and tried to flee. Â That did not go well for them. Or for their would-be pirate bosses' pockets. Â Actual injuries in the melee were negligible.
CANADA INDIA At this point, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has produced zero evidence and not a single detail that backs up his allegation that the Indian government hired the killer who murdered Sikh separatist (terrorist?) Hardeep Singh Nijjar, citizen of Canada, in Vancouver. So... Â There's no evidence against Indian Prime Minister Modi. Â The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate.
Meanwhile, watch your step on that airplane Trudeau or his secret intelligence team has ordered increased security around and on board every commercial airline bound for India.
USA POLITICS The selection by, Literally, Hitler to serve as his Attorney-General Matt Gaetz has quit, over an alleged sex scandal of a decade ago. Anyhows Trump's team has instantly replaced him with former Florida Attorney General and recent political campaigner Pam Bondi (photo).
Sunday Reading and Watching By Our assistant deputy copy editing chief: When was the last good-to-decent film or video documentary that you watched? The Terrible, Shameful Sinking of the SS Arctic (5/5)
It was in the murderous North Atlantic, 50 miles east of Newfoundland where no one knew a word about it as just about all 800 passengers and crew died, including every woman and child. So much for "Women and Children First". And part of the tragedy was a sensationally stupid mandate by the United States Congress that the Arctic and every other ship of the 19th century's Collins Line must proceed at all time in all circumstances at Full Speed Ahead. Altogether, more than 300 died in or alongside the ship.
